I've just put a student through a Trinity exam for the first time. She was meant to take Grade 8 ABRSM flute this year, but had a complete fear of taking her Grade 5 theory. She's one of my college students, by the way, so I'm not responsible for her lack of theory up till now.

So last September we decided to switch to Trinity. She had to change all three pieces, but she had learned the first lot pretty quickly so I knew it was well within her grasp. She also acquired a brace during the year, which affected her tone a little, but not drastically.

We've just had a nightmare week, with the exam coming the day after her last A level exam, her having a severe attack of nerves and her accompanist getting the time of the exam wrong. However, she had a really nice examiner, who let her do the scales, aural tests, viva voce and sight reading first. She then managed to phone the accompanist, and after a short break she went back in to do her pieces.

She's just phoned me with the result (the exam was yesterday and she got the result this afternoon), and she got a Merit! She said she felt more relaxed when playing the pieces as she had got all the other tests out of the way first, and she got really high marks for all three, so this must have helped her play at her best.

I'm impressed with how the examiner and the steward coped with the whole situation, and very impressed with how my student did under the adverse circumstances. I needn't have had the sleepless night on Tuesday after all.

Awww, well done to your student, especially for coping when the accompanist was late!! A merit is a really good mark, you should also be congratulated for getting her to such a good standard