I wonder if it is difficult to pass a piano exam? Someone told me that it's very easy if I could show the examiner I was well-prepared, but someone said even good players were failed by examiners

I just had my first piano exam on Wednesday. I found people suggesting eating bananas before exam can make one feel less nervous, so I ate one on my way to the exam centre. I didn't feel nervous even when I entered the exam room, and I thought it really worked. But soon after I started playing the scales (I chose to play the scales first), my hands started to tremble. When I started playing the three pieces, I saw my hands tremble so much that my mind suddenly went blank I couldn't perform what I used to be, and ahhh... for the last note of the second piece which should be very soft, I pressed the key hard instead because of my trembling finger I've made 2 or 3 mistakes for every piece though I continued playing without stopping.

It was a nightmare for those 3 pieces though I thought the other parts of the exam seemed to be not too bad (Oh.. I made a mistake in one of the scales and was asked to play again).

Do you think I still have a chance to pass when I trembled so much?

I am sure you will pass, 2 or 3 mistakes a piece is not much. The examiner will understand your nerves, everyone gets them when they enter the examination room. GOod luck!

Donna, please don't worry, these small slips will not fail you! (Take it from one who's made enormous stumbles in pieces and still passed them.) The main thing is that you kept the pieces going, and they do allow slips in the scales (again I've made 'nervous' slips in most of my scales, been asked to play some again, and still passed this section). I've only taken two exams so far, and felt much as you did in my first exam - waiting for the results was a nightmare, because I had nothing to judge them against (whereas in the second exam I had a fair idea of what I had seriously messed up, and what was ok - still a nightmare waiting for the results, though ).

Hope you get a good mark!

Jen

don't worry.
during my Grade 8 Practical Exam,
I was so nervous that I cried just one second before I stepped into the exam room.
Luckily I wiped away my tears, put on a brave face, went in and smile at the examinor.
My hands didn't tremble,
though I felt as if my hands didn't belong to me all of a sudden.
However, I still got a distinction in the end.
I'm sure you can get one too,
a few nervousness and mistakes doesn't matter.
;-}

I've cried IN an exam, I'm still waiting for the results from it acutally.

If you are well prepared the examiners will know immediately, as soon as you start playing. Examiners are also going to know all about nerves, don't forget that they probably went through the whole exam system when they were younger and so they know exactly how you're feeling, as they felt it once too.

Me too. I got a high merit. I was sniffing all the way through the first piece...and then came the scales...

Don't worry. Nerves might cost you a couple of marks, but they do for everyone, and examiners are human (apparently ), so they will totally understand.

Thanks for all your support. Maybe it's because I've devoted 10 months in practising and it's my first time to enter the exam which made me feel so nervous during the exam and so worried afterwards.

Oh, actually, I was so worried after the exam that I asked the examiner if I passed. She replied that she hadn't calculated the marks. My teacher said that I shouldn't ask such a question. Sigh.... wish this won't affect my result ...

My teacher always says that examiners and adjudicators are trained to see the quality of the work between the stumbles. I like that. They can tell from what you do play well, whether you just "threw" an exam together or whether you put time and thought into preparing it. Everyone understands nerves. In fact my examiners all know I'm nervous, because they always ask me, "How are you today?" To which I reply, "Nervous as anything!" Or, "Ask me again in 20 minutes!"

What grade was it Donna?

I've never thought of it this way.
I've always thought that examinors are out to "kill" us.
*thoughtful*
I agree.
They probabably went through the same thing like us.

I think there are a few negative examiners out there, but I think the vast majority are very definitely "on your side" as a candidate, and want you to do well just as much as you do!

Yes, like hospital consultants, as a breed they are becoming more human....

I'll take your word for it about consultants - maybe it's taking a while for the human ones to reach all parts of the country

Though every time I talk about whatever consultant I think I'm seeing my student nurse daughter tells me he's dead...
Don't even know who I'm under now...

It is Grade 4.

I know someone who ran out of the examination twice to throw up - in the middle of his pieces - and he still passed! (Grade 2)

Oh... stopped twice and still got a pass? It's really hard to believe it

And I stopped more than once in ALL my pieces at grade 6 and came out with 120!