Just wondered what the general view was with regard to taking an exam as an adult. Anyone find them a useful barometer of progress or do most people leave them be?

I hadn't planned to take any but if having to get the scales in order and a few pieces well rehearsed adds value to my overall playing ability I can see that it might be worthwhile.

Well there are plenty of adult forumites on here playing all sorts of instruments who are doing exams.
It does give you a structured approach, and is a measure of progress. The discipline of learning scales and doing sight reading/aural tests are also useful.

Singing, did grade 5. Currently not having lessons (it gave way for clarinet diploma-ing, amongst other things), but any future exams would be grade 8, with no in-between exams. This certainly won't happen in the near future though : I have other priorities.

Cello - no desire to do any exams in the near-medium term future.

With the wind instruments (the day job ), we have ATCL clarinet coming up at the end of the year, and if all goes well there, maybe LTCL in 2013 or 14?...

Hi, I've done all my exams as an adult and personally found them really enjoyable. Without an exam to focus on I just end up just mostly tinkering about with sightreading, and get lazy with technical stuff and polish on my pieces, thus enjoy my playing but stop improving. I appreciate they are not for everyone if they create undue stress, but I really like the satisfaction of the achievement. Rather like a runner training for a race, it's the training for it that makes you improve not the race itself but crossing the finish line is a thrill.
I love looking at my certificate, particularly my most recent grade 2 violin one which I am shopping for a big flashy frame for today, I am going to hang it on the wall.

I think it is entirely a matter of personal choice. If you want to do them go ahead, and if you don't - well why should you.

Personally I think they give me something to focus on, and drive me to practice more than I otherwise might. Also I find the exam process quite exciting. Having said that having struggled up to grade 5, (and proudly framed the certificate), I feel the need to have a rest and consolidate what I have learned before I plunge into any more exams.

Thanks everyone for the comments. I've only been learning a year and although g3 was mentioned just before summer I hadn't really thought too much about it. When you start the obvious target I guess is g8 but I didn't imaging talking an exam every year. We tend to spend a couple of weeks on pieces of my choosing and which at present are on the g5 syllabus. Some are ok, some are less than ok but I choose them because I genuinely like the pieces rather than because of any ulterior motive. On the other hand if I've learned one from each group, why not??

I think what bothers me is that the pieces are clearly of wide ranging difficulty and so possibly not that accurate a measure of ability.

There is a range within each grade.
Maybe you need to think about what you want from an exam if you choose to do one.
One idea is to play to play entirely or mostly to your strengths and choose pieces which you are pretty sure will maximise your marks.
Another way is to play things that you like (always a good option anyway and could fit with the other idea) but to include one or two things in you programme which are at the 'top end' of difficulty. This could be with the intention of getting examiner feedback on pieces that are more challenging for you.

Don't overlook the supporting tests which vary between exam boards.

I'm in agreement with most of what katemorrisviolin has written

Exams for an adult - just as they should be for a child, are not there to be your sole musical diet. The exam syllabus is a syllabus, not a curriculum. There is lots lots lots more than just exam music out there to play and to learn.

Exams, for me, provide several things. A goal to work for is the most obvious. An insistence on things I might otherwise avoid is another - I would play only baroque music by choice, but list B insists on 20th century works. So I have to learn something modern and you know what, some of them are quite good Don't tell anyone I said that, it would ruin my reputation

Technical stuff - scales, aural, etc - is very easy to avoid if you're not doing exams. Sometimes there is debate about how useful some of these skill are, other than for passing the exam. As I do TG exams, I don't have to sing in the aural tests, which is great for me - and the things that the TG aural does test are useful too. Perhaps identifying a cadence by ear doesn't sound that useful, but to identify one, you have to learn what a cadence is, what they do in the music, and then you find cadences all over the music you are playing and you understand what they do and how to deal with them.

Of course, if you don't want to do exams, then don't. Whether it's memorising scales, playing with an accompanist, a dislike of the syllabus repertoire, or playing in front of somebody you don't know, it doesn't matter what the reason is - they aren't compulsary.
The most important thing in my mind is enjoying your music making. If exams are useful in your musical journey and you enjoy them (well, perhaps 'enjoy' is too strong a word, for those minutes of terror ) and can see/feel their benefits, go for it; if an exam is going to put you off music for life, then don't take one.

Graded exams are not the only option too.
There is the AB Performance Assessment, where you play some pieces of your choice to an examiner (no supporting tests), and get a written report (no pass or fail - and they will chat to you beforehand to see what you want to get out of it, what sort of thing you want commented on in the report)
LCM do Leisure Play exams, which are much like their grade exams but pieces only - no scales, aural, etc.

Again, thanks.

I suppose what I'm asking is whether you feel you have become a better player through having to prepare for an exam. I'm detecting the consensus is 'yes' which only means one thing.....

But we are a skewed bunch - we are adults who have through choice come to the forums of an exam board - people who are not going to ever contemplate taking an exam are far less likely to be here

I'd disagree with that.
I don't think that exam preparation has really contributed to making me a better player.
I usually get to a point where I've had the benefit from exam preparation and anything else feels like just treading water waiting for the thing to be over so I can get on with learning.

Ha! Yes, hadn't thought of that! And being an inveterate 'self-improver' makes the initial query laughably pointless!

Exams are not the only opportunity to work towards a polished performance. I think that if you never work towards a goal of presenting a top quality (within your own technical capability) performance then it's easy to find that as soon as you have a piece vaguely acceptable you'll move on. A broad musical diet is important, and banging away at every piece until it's perfect will slow down progress, but every now and then you need to find a reason to present something which is truly ready. This may not be for examination, it's nice to get those certificates, but it can work out really expensive with extra lessons, a few practice sessions with an accompanist, an accompanist there on the day of the exam, buying special music, it all adds up.

If you just want to make sure that you don't play lazily then look for other performance opportunities like adult concerts, offer to play somewhere - if you go to church that's usually an obvious one! Nursing homes can often appreciate the offer of free entertainment, music festivals (can also be expensive to enter), there's a broad range of opportunities and exams can be looked upon as one part of that range. People will put different levels of work into other opportunities, if you know that the audience will be sympathetic and clap anyway even if it's terrible some people will still want it to be great, others will just go along with the idea that anything will do, so exams can be a big rocket under the backside for those who would otherwise never reach a decent level of performance.

People enter exams with different intentions and at different stages in their musical journey. Some wait until they are really, really secure at a given level, and when playing grade 2 pieces fluently will enter grade 1. Others attempt to project that between the entry date and the exam date the pieces will reach grade 2 standard, let's enter for grade 2. Still others enter for grade 3 because once you are entered you have to put your head down and reach that standard and hope that it takes your learning forward. We could debate for months which approach each person uses and why, I'm quite sure!

I would think having learned one piece from each group would not be adequate preparation for a grade exam. Nor a good reason for taking it.


Of course those of us who have taken exams can't say if it has made us better players as we haven't experienced the converse (i.e. not taking exams). Those who haven't takem exams can't say........... etc. etc.

It's a pity the award for "Most Useful Poster" has already passed...

I think that having taken few exams I can see both sides and stand by my previous post.