Hello everyone,

This is my first post here, am a newbie on the forum

Just wondering who has done their DipABRSM exam this week and how did it go? I did mine yesterday (clarinet) and I was pleased with some aspects of it but, others, hmmm, it just don't know.....?! The viva went so much better than I expected (was kinda anxious about this section so went in v.well prepared) and the sight reading was ok, but the rectital....I was soooo nervous, I made one or two silly misatkes (nothing major, but just the odd slip here and there and one or two tiny squeaks...!!!) I tried to not let it affect me and attmepted to really perform with character and confidence etc. am hoping that will be enough?! I know the pass-rate is only 50% so I really wouldn't be at all surprised if I had to resit It's hard to know how much "little mistakes" matter in the grand scheme of things in these exams eh?! Would be great to hear about other people's experiences of this.

Cheers, all the best,

Sarah-Lou

Sarah-Lou

Glad to hear your diploma went mostly well, the wait for the results is the next hurdle ... I'm sure you've done better than you expect.

Taking my diploma soon on piano.

denmark

Thanks Denmark77 It's such a long wait to get the results, MUST try not to think about it too much (!) It's really frustrating when you make silly mistakes in exmas that you NEVER normally make in practise (I had a little run-though of one of the pieces in the warm-up room beforehand, no mistakes at all, grr!) Ah well, c'est la vie...The pianist did assure me that they were only minor mistakes and that the overall performance was still good but, i guess it depends on what they are looking for...I have to say though, both examiners were sooooo lovely, they really couldn't have been more welcoming.

All the v.best with your prep

Sarah-lou

Hooray! What did you play?


If you have failed, you only have to retake the parts you failed. I failed my Viva first time round, but passed it on the retake.

Hi, Welcome to the forums.

I took Dip on the piano in December and passed everything except the Quick Study, which I re-took this week.

The first time round was dreadful and quite rightly I only got 4/15, with a pass mark of 6. On the one hand I only needed to pick up 2 marks. On the other hand I needed to improve by 50%.

The second attempt, though still far from perfect, was better in every way. I still made a few note mistakes, messed up the rhythm in one bar and almost certainly played too slowly but I'm sure I got the "feel" and "mood" of the music (called "Dangerous Bagatelle"), and I had phrasing, articulation and dynamics all the way from pp to ff.

In short, overall I am confident of more than the 4 marks I got last time. Whether I will have 6 & a pass I don't know & there's no point worrying - I can't do a thing about it now.

Yours sound as though you are confident. Good luck.

Hi, and welcome to the forums!

I did my dip a month ago, it felt fine apart from the Viva, which I blanked a fair bit on. Got better, so praying for a scrape.

Sounds like you went OK....fingers crossed for all of us! I've already been waiting for a month but I think my results will be out the same time as everyone elses...

Thanks Deborah!

I played: Weber Grand Duo Concertant (2nd and 3rd mvmts)
Saint-Saens Sonata (1st and 4th mvmts)
Poulenc Sonata (1st and 2nd mvmts)

I really loved all three pieces, especailly the Weber-such a FUN piece to play. The Poulenc is a quirky, tricksy little number and the Saint-Saen is just delightful Congrats on passing the Viva on the retake, that's great news! Am expecting the be re-taking the recital....



Thanks Robodoc! You are absolutely right about not needing to worry now eh-what's done is indeed done! Sounds as though you're quick study went MUCH better this time round though-will have my fingers crossed for you!

I feel pretty confident about the viva/programme notes and fairly confident about the sight-reading....but am pretty sure I failed the recital! I think it was just a simple case of nerves getting the better of me-even though the pianist said the overall recital was still good, I know I have played it so much better than that! Although I will of course be disappointed if I have failed it, I will definiately re-sit and will put an action plan in place to try and feel less anxious in solo recital scenario's! Will take heed of your advice and try not to worry about it know though!

All the best,

Sarah-Lou




Hi Dawn,

Thankyou-it's lovely to be part of this supportive musical community

Wow, you did the diploma a month ago-that's an incredibly long wait for you!!

I think with regards to the viva, they DO take nerves into account and are not concerned with short periods of silence/blanking so I wouldn't worry too much about this. There is so much knowledge we have to accumulate for this aspect of the exam that it's understandable we need a moment to try and mentally "sift" through it all in our head. Fingers crossed for everyone!!!

LOL yes but sadly some of my answers didn't come back until I was walking down the street afterwards!!

I'm not holding out too much hope.....but hopefully it would just be the viva, with any luck.

Aww, that IS frustrating!! Still, it sounds as though the recital went well-wish I could say the same It's good to be aware of our own performance in the exam (as best as we possibly can be, of course!), think about it for a bit and then let it go (it's the latter part I'm struggling with at the mo, lol!) Ho hum, it's a lovely sunny day here in Wales anyway-going to enjoy the sunshine and try not to think of those dodgy passage-slips ; ) Have a great day

It was as good as I can do in a pressure situation, and I tried to put as much emotion into is as I could. I'm still now working on relaxing more when I sing so I don't look so worried!!

Enjoy your sunny day - it's blissfully cool here in Spain this morning, I'm enjoying it before it gets really hot again!

Hello, just picked up on your thread. I took my dipABRSM last December on clarinet. Your diploma experience sounds very similar to mine. I too squeaked about 3 times - crazy, I never squeak, but carried on putting this behind me.

Again, felt very comfortable with viva - I prepped for months and really enjoyed this aspect. Sight read was weird. Cant even remember doing it apart from starting it - I was mentally exhausted by this stage.

I passed all bits first time so don't worry too much about the odd squeak! I am sure you'll be absolutely fine.

What pieces did you play out of interest??

I think it's already been detailed here...
SLT said
"I played:
Weber Grand Duo Concertant (2nd and 3rd mvmts)
Saint-Saens Sonata (1st and 4th mvmts)
Poulenc Sonata (1st and 2nd mvmts)"

Great prgramme

denmark