Er, it was violin grade 3 so I was thrilled to bits when I got it in July. I feel quite proud of myself as I had just 9 months in lessons BUT it's not enough to get me a prize!

VN

My highest ABRSM result isn't that good compared to all these 130+, I got 127 for Grade 2.

In Guildhall I got 231 for Grade 7.

AB I think was around 138. With Guildhall I lost 6 marks overall on my first ever exam.

No!!! That was what I wish to get when I sat the exams. I got 135 for grade5,6,7,7 and 8!!! JUST CAN'T GET ANY HIGHER!!!!!

I got 135 for grade 8 clarinet.

Result I've never been able to believe I got is 142 for Grade 7 flute - I couldn't believe it!
The day after I sat my Piano G5 - I think it must be true about rounding up marks - I got 130! I thought I was going to fail!

135 is amazing though, I'd love to get a distinction.

I don't like to take any more boring exams but if I did, I would be absolutely over the moon IF I do get 135 for one. I am not greedy... like you! But I heard today that Latimer expects me to take my grade 5 and do well to get in! It's a grammar school which offers Russian. Cool. But yes, 130 is all I want for Christmas, not my 2 front teeth, please!

VN

VN - You sound like a very dedicated and talented child, keep playing the music you love and you'll go far

Ах, Русский язык! Какой красивейший язык! Я его очень люблю. Изучай хорошо; тогда ты можешь учиться и играть в России в будущем!

Hey! I don't know what that means YET?!

VN

"Ah, Russian! What a very beautiful language! I love it very much. Study hard; then you will be to learn and play in Russia in the future!"

Nicki, thanks a lot for your encouragement. That was nice of you to say nice things like that. *yawns* I am very sleepy. Good night, all.

VN

Yes! Yes! Yipee! Moscow Conservatory is SO grand! I saw it! *suddenly feels awake and pulling backwards my elbows and fists in excitement*

VN

Hehe. Try not to get too excited, or your mum will tell me off for waking you up at bedtime

I'm sure it's past mine...

g'night folks

Mine is twice 130 for Grades 2 and 3 piano, and 126 for Grade 2 violin and Grade 4, both violin and piano. So looks like I'll be stuck at 126 for a long time!
I did get 96 as the highest mark for theory in Grade 4. And the local rep presented me with my Trinity AMusTCL because I got 75 marks. I know it's nothing great over there, but a lot of people from my area have failed it, so the rep must've been impressed enough to call me over personally to present it, instead of passing it to my teacher like he did with my ATCL dip!

You're honoured! Over here I get certificates presented by the postman if I'm lucky, sometimes they are just shoved through the letterbox.

Well think about those whom you are complaining about who got distinctions but would like to challenge themselves and do better. How about you try that for a change?

GBCS - just a gentle reminder - please don't start to get aggressive and insulting again like last weekend, just because the moderators aren't in until Monday morning. I understand your sentiments as I have a lot of pupils who are dead chuffed even to pass an exam but let's keep the forum all sweetness and light this weekend, eh?

I don't see anyone complaing about distinctions. Unless you're complaining about a lack of them. Have a look at the poll results - quite a few of us here get distinctions.

Just watch who you're calling an ignorant person. Have you any idea what it means? The words pot, kettle and black spring to mind here.

Thanks everyone, I don't really mind now if someone say something negative about me...since last time...it was me who was the rude person...and I guess the world should forgive all the wrong doings and we should love each other( just like how all of you forgived me I WAS very a ignorant person but I wish I now have changed.... ) By the way, really sorry if this poll have upset anyone, which I don't mean to. And Cheer up, because getting a high mark doesn't really nessary mean that you are better than the lower mark ones but that's just how exams goes .

I believe all that I can say is being said, so I think we should stop this conversation if you feel negative about it, I appologise if you want me to.

GCBS - I said it 2 or 3 posts back - I'll say it again - please try to keep the tone less aggressive. I know it's a weekend and people tend to let off steam, but let's keep things more peaceable this weekend and let's not have a repeat of last weekend, please?

Never had a distinction, closest I've been is with Grade 5 Clarinet: 127.

Still, I seem to understand music now about 10x more than I did when I took that Grade...the explosion of knowledge incidentally seems to have been during the time I've been active on these forums!

Yes, what chocolatedog's pretty true....I can tell from my experience too...terrible if you get one of those "warning thingys"...

I think the thing to say is well done! Self-criticism is essential for improvement so hopefully you will break that 135 next time.

When I think about someone getting a high mark in an exam, a bit of me wishes I could too, but then I feel pleased for them - the examiners don't just randomly give good marks away, you have to have earnt them.

Lots of impressive marks on this thread, and like nicki said, they don't just give them away. The vast majority of my pupils achieve a pass and I've always tried to encourage them to be happy with that. Most of them are, and we treat it as a wonderful bonus if their result is a merit or distinction. When it comes to my own exams, I aim high, but as a teacher I'd feel a bit daft if I did badly through lack of practise. I don't think I have any excuses for dropping marks in scales, for example!

Impressed with your grade 3 result after 9 months, VN. I also took that exam recently (well, last Christmas) after 8 months of playing - and got 5 marks less! and I'm about 20 years older, and a clarinet teacher! I then took grade 4 in March and got merit, which I was happy about. Violin is just a hobby for me, but I really enjoy it. I don't think I'll do any more exams on it. I now need to finish my grades on saxophone and piano to keep the parents of my students happy!

I really admire you, ellie. That was a FANTASTIC result! I couldn't do it myself! Besides you have various other instruments to practise as well so it IS an amazing achievement on your part. We also don't want VN to do any more exams, either, as it can be very boring to play the same pieces over and over again. Except to take such when absolutely necessary just for school entry purposes plus the compulsory grade 5. Right now, I think the teacher just wants to concentrate on technique and repertoire. VN works very hard (twice hourly a day 6 days a week = about 12 hours per week is a lot for a Yr 4 kid with varied interests) precisely because it is not a hobby for her. To her, it will some day be, 10 years later (???) (10 years of serious hard work based on a large body of detailed documented research), the realisation of a dream.

Getting a distinction is not an end in itself but nonetheless it is something to aim for along the way? My old enthused pastor used to say - Life is like a game of football! You can't play football if you don't have a goal (he means a goalpost!) to shoot! So likewise, you kids must have a goal, any goal you like to aim for and excel!

Tess

Tess, I am sure VN is going to (if she wants to) become a very good musician one day - maybe become a professional recorder. She sounds very mature and keen, well done for you for bringing her up this way, and well done to VN for being such a receptive child

And yet, Pianist1210 is evidently an extremely competent pianist and feels that he can do better.


Tess: VN does more practice than I do on my flute

Thanks, Nicki for your kind thoughts. I think, you mean, professional violinist, not recorder!

Helen, I confess I haven't the faintest (or is it "foggiest"?) idea how long a practice session shd be! She isn't timed, she is given a series of tasks by a shrewd teacher who probably knows that by the time VN completes them satisfactorily, it's an hour gone!

Oh goodness! Why did I write recorder! Sorry Tess and VN! Another typo

why feel a need to improve on 135/150?

113/150...now that would feel a need to do better/feel that you can do better

that's the closest I've been too, 127 grade 8 flute. Although if I did it again this november I think I could do better, it just costs a lot!

And why not? If you'd just sit back and tell everyone you have 135 and be happy with that, I think that would be the most ignorant thing to do.
But if you try to challenge yourself and improve on your faults.. now that's admirable and more productive. Asking yourself how you can improve is the key to learning and it will make you a better musician when you find the answers and understand them.

Although I went through a really bad patch with braces, injuries, poor teachers and not practising enough during my early teenage years, I somehow knew from the age of 7 that clarinet wasn't just a hobby for me either. I don't know why I felt that way, because at the time I wanted to be a doctor. And now I teach the clarinet, sax, recorder and piano (gradually dropping piano to concentrate on the others though). I also love to compose, and have recorded a CD of folk music. I love having music as a career because there are so many things you can do - you don't have to stick to only performing or only teaching, for example.

My 'projects' for this year were violin and singing. I did get a couple of distinctions along the way, but ultimately grade 4 merit on both. I thought grade 4 was nice, because it's half of the 8 grades!

Because he feels he can do better than 135? (As above)

Thats right. There's always room for improvement and music performance should be done to the highest standard possible. Nobody would want to go to a concert or recital to hear someone play a violin out of tune or a pianist play a Mozart sonata with lots of wrong notes/rhythm.

Making music (including singing) makes a wonderful journey to perfection at which we never quite arrive. There's is always room for improvement. We've watched a truly wonderful DVD called The Art of Violin in which it was clear that there are always MANY aspects for improvement in violin playing no matter how perfect one already sounds. Heifetz, Milstein and Elman in particular, were said to be perfect (in terms of both technique and musicality and zillions of degrees over and above our distinctions here!) but they were always, always looking for room for improvement. Even Menuhin wanted to learn from Oistrakh whose speed of change at the bow he very much admired but admitted that he could not make it.

Well, I guess, making the journey is half the fun, eh, and, hey, we are all in this together!

Tess

why be so damn precise about music? if it sounds good and musical...thats good enough...sheesh

ah but you need to carefully specify "good" and "musical"... what fulfils those terms for one person only serves to promote the opposite emotions in someone else....

meh as long as it sounds good thats all that should matter but noooooooooooo

Well, I would think that if it sounds 'musical and good' you would naturally end up with a good mark...

oh no because SO many people want utter perfectioneven if it sounds really good has anyone considered that you simply cant recreate the original sounds of say Bach?

NO REPLIES TO THIS!!

err...

thank you

The musicians I have met are invariably perfectionists. In my view, it's a wonderfully practical ideal because it gives them constant motivation to self-improve for the benefit of themselves and others. Moreover, life would be very boring if I have done well and that's it!? That's it? End of story? No thanks.

To me there is a world of a difference btw contentment and satisfaction. I am a contented person, generally but satisfied? Never! That's my view, anyway. You don't have to agree with me. I can accomodate a different view even though I very much like mine.

you are a funny chap

I play Bach on my very 20th century organ. No, I can't recreate the exact sound and style of the late Baroque but I can at least be aware of the so-called historic performance practice and of Bach's own instruments, so if I choose, I can disregard it or not...

I hope you agree you can make a better performance if you are at least informed of the conventions surrounding any particular piece and any alternatives that might have been deemed, by tradition, to be appropriate?

I'm not seeking to dampen your original sentiment, but depending on your audience, it may be that "musical and good" needs to encompass some of these aspects...

One would think so