Grade 4 piano exam Options

[billyboy]

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Can some kind member describe to me how the aural test in grade 4 4A to sing or play it happens, will there be a second piano for the student to play the melody back for the examiner.

I have been practising grade 4 by myself, and hope to get some lessons before the exams to fine tune my pieces, scales etc , there will probably an easy answer to this query, but being a very mature student ( very old) well not very very old just in my early seventies I am sometimes a bit slow in picking things up, but hey it comes to us all, I just love tickling those ivories wish I had done it years ago when I had the chance.

[maggiemay]

The examiner will play it twice. He or she will say something like ...

' Here is a melody for you to repeat. Would you prefer to sing it or play it?

... I'll play it twice. Here is the key-chord (plays) and here is your starting note ' (plays).

Examiner then counts in two bars, plays the melody, then plays it a second time (without counting in).

If you choose to play (not sing) the start note will be named, as well as sounded.

I am not sure about the question of instrument, but guess it depends on venue. Not all examining centres have two pianos in the exam room!

Good luck, and let us know how you get on.

[clariflutegal]

If you choose to play it, you would have to use the same piano. I'm not a piano player myself, but I can imagine it would be difficult cos you would have to try and memorise it to play then still have it in your mind when you changeover with the examiner.

Best of luck whatever you choose to do (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[billyboy]

If you choose to play it, you would have to use the same piano. I'm not a piano player myself, but I can imagine it would be difficult cos you would have to try and memorise it to play then still have it in your mind when you changeover with the examiner.

Best of luck whatever you choose to do (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

Thats exactly what I was thinking, if you use the same piano you lose vital memory time waiting for the examiner to move and you sit down, the melody will have gone from your memory, especially in the mature students heads like mine, would be nice to have comment from any piano student who has gone through this for their comments.

[linda.ff]

If you choose to play it, you would have to use the same piano. I'm not a piano player myself, but I can imagine it would be difficult cos you would have to try and memorise it to play then still have it in your mind when you changeover with the examiner.

Best of luck whatever you choose to do (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

Thats exactly what I was thinking, if you use the same piano you lose vital memory time waiting for the examiner to move and you sit down, the melody will have gone from your memory, especially in the mature students heads like mine, would be nice to have comment from any piano student who has gone through this for their comments.

Is it just the melody you have to play? If so, can you take a small portable keyboard into the exam specifically for the purpose of the aural test? I'm sure the AB will be able to advise you about that

[klavierkat]

In your practice, try singing it back - because its much easier to start singing immediately the examiner finishes playing it for the second time. In fact you can try and sing along 2nd time playthrough, then you are nearly there when you have to start singing; Also you don't have to worry about "notes", but just keep the melody in your head.

[Susie]

Have you tried getting practice from the online examples available on hofnote or the e-music maestro sites? There are some freebies there. Just repetition of the actual exercise itself is good and will help to make the connections in your little grey cells.

As a 50+ person, I find memorising tunes quite a challenge too. I had a go at grade 6 general musicianship a couple of years ago and found I could memorise one of the phrases but not quite the other. Of course in the exam I probably remembered about half of it and made up the rest in an approximation.

Two things that I find help me:
close your eyes as you listen to the tune. It helps concentration.
a little pause before I begin, because I think about the tune a bit - just play it through in my head before I open my mouth.

I haven't found playing at the piano a problem. The examiner will move out of the way, and you'll sit down, and you'll be told the note and off you go. I find that tunes come out of my fingers better than out of my mouth sometimes. My son decided that he would play his trumpet rather than sing and was much more successful when he did that.

[sbhoa]

a little pause before I begin, because I think about the tune a bit - just play it through in my head before I open my mouth.

I find that this is the best way to forget it.
For me it's more reliable to sing back straight away as any stopping to think is time to forget.

[Susie]

a little pause before I begin, because I think about the tune a bit - just play it through in my head before I open my mouth.

I find that this is the best way to forget it.
For me it's more reliable to sing back straight away as any stopping to think is time to forget.

Just offering my thoughts. Different things work for different people. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[sbhoa]

a little pause before I begin, because I think about the tune a bit - just play it through in my head before I open my mouth.

I find that this is the best way to forget it.
For me it's more reliable to sing back straight away as any stopping to think is time to forget.

Just offering my thoughts. Different things work for different people. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

Yes, I don't disagree with that.
I did say for me. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)