Ok, this is a very basic post, but........ I take my Grade 5 this Thursday, and ..... well.......... I'm scared.
I'm 44, not scared of thunderstorms, mice, snakes, blood, spiders a bit, and keep calm in cardiac arrests at work. ( I am an ITU nurse) , BUT, ABRSM examiners make my usually cold dry hands break out in a sweat. PLEASE help.
Beverley.

Awwww, well good luck - you can do it Some say eating a banana half an hour before helps calm nerves

Yes, the very best of luck to you. I took all my exams as an adult, and I know how terrifying it can be. Be brave. You will be fine.

Hi Beverley

Some long time ago I posted a response to someone else who was feeling worried about their exam.

I asked them to think what the worst possible thing that they imagined could happen on the day was.

Was it worse than having the exam centre closed because of a snowstorm in June?

Was it worse than discovering that the examiner is an axe-wielding psychopath?

Was it worse than a Martian flying saucer land on the roof of the exam centre?

Was it worse than the pilot of the flying saucer deciding to eat the exam centre piano as a snack. And the examiner for afters?

The conclusion was "probably not". Although, it has to be said, the probability of the above is pretty darn small.

So the very worst that could happen is that you play the pieces or scales less than perfectly, make more mistakes than usual in the sight-reading or don't answer the aural quite right. And your results are therefore a bit of a let down.

But the odds of that are pretty small too. Chances are you'll play things reasonably OK and will come out with a decent-ish mark. Maybe even a jolly good mark.

Know this for definite, I'll have my fingers crossed for you. Provided, of course, you do the same for me when I do the same exam on Tuesday . It might make practising scales a little tricky, though

Best of luck.

Katyjay

ps - if you could tell me how to cope with the spiders, that'd be a great help

pps - Dolce25 did it on Friday and lived to tell the tale. McMan is doing it on Thursday too. We're all in this together!

Good luck!

Good luck! Hope your exam goes well.

Beverly, you have my sympathy! Exams seem to do me in more predictably than anything else. I am sure you will be fine though. Good luck!

I'm sure you'll be fine - the very best of luck to you Beverley.

Very best of luck, Beverley - if I can do it, so can you (I was feeling much the same last March, and at aged 56 felt a real chump for being so nervous!). I hate going to the dentist (although my teeth aren't rotten and the dentist is very personable) so I always think that nothing can be as bad as that!!.

Hi Beverley

| am 47 and took my grade 5 (sax) las Thursday. I was a bag of nerves too but the examiner was such a charming chap and I felt he really wanted me to do well.

All the best of luck

Sue

Beverley,

All the best with your exam. I can imagine how you are feeling, but I think you just have to get out there and do it! It'll feel such a relief after, and when you get your results, I am sure you will be very pleased! Do let us know how you get on. Good luck!

I can totally sympathise with how you are feeling. I NEVER EVER suffered any exam nerves as a child, although the exams were all academic ones, so not really comparable. I could never understand what all the fuss was about! My first experience of nerves came as a 39 year old part way through my grade 1 piano exam. It was a real shock to the system. Being a totally new experience to me I didn't cope very well but fortunately I had already done enough of the exam for it not to have been too much of a disaster. I am however still trying to deal with nerves some years later. It is almost as if a valve has been opened inside me which I can't close as I find I will now get nervous about things which have never bothered me previously! It seems to be a self perpetuating problem and I now worry about getting nervous which of course makes things even worse. I'm afraid I haven't found any answer to the problem other than to simply tell myself that feeling nervous is supposed to be normal, taking deep breaths and trying not to fight the feeling when it comes but to relax into it and just allow it to happen. If you get annoyed with yourself you are only giving yourself an additional unwanted emotion to deal with -2 for the price of 1 !

I see you got a distinction in grade 4 flute- congratulations. Maybe you should be giving me some tips on nerve control !

All the best for your exam. I hope it goes well for you. Remember the examiner is on your side and wants you to play your best. Let us know how it goes.

Beverley,

I know exactly where you're coming from! I've been doing music exams since I was 8 years old and at nearly 25 I find them more frightening than ever.

When I did the grade exams I usually got to choose which section I wanted do first (scales, pieces etc) - and I found it helped to get the section I was most scared about over first. Just a thought anyway.

Apart from that - just go in there with the attitude that you're going to do your very best, and whatever happens, happens. I'm sure you'll be fine - good luck and let us know how it goes!

Ems

Good luck, it is much more nerve wracking as an adult, and the examiners, like the policeman are all far too young! Looking forward to hearing how you got on. Take care

Did mine lunchtime - grade 2 clarinet.

Not too bad considering, but hadn't taken a music exam for 35 years or so, and I also wasn't prepared for nerves to kick in halfway through the second of my accompanied pieces - at the end of that piece my hand was visibly shaking!

Scales were OK to good, aural brill (well I thought so ), sightreading not as bad as it could have been - I spotted the accidental F# which was naturalised (if that's the word) later in the bar, and managed to get some staccato and dynamics in.

Diddn't play my study very well though - nowhere as well as I can play it

Ah well, nowt I can do about it now, except wait for the result - which will probably come whilst Nat's on hols, so I'll have to wait for her to come back to tell me what I managed!

Examiner was a lovely bloke, older than me, and did realise I was nervous, as he said at the end that kids can just breeze exams as it's no different from playing in assembly and they don't care about that either! Don't think I'd want to play in front of work colleagues like my daughter is happy to play in front of schoolmates!

I was the last exam before lunch, they were running really late, and all the other candidates appeared to be pupils of one teacher and were all strings (mainly violin, but a couple of violas). The three I heard warming up were all primary age and I remembered why I had vetoed my kids learning violin!!!

Wait and see, now

Thanks everyone. I will let you know how I get on. Although I am no judge about how well I play. I always think I am cr*p. Even last year in the grade 4.
Katyjay, if I get too nervous I shall picture aliens landing on the roof, and probably burst out laughing, then the examiner will really think I have lost it! As for the spiders, well...... a fly swatter is useful, long and wangy. Also, never sit with your bare feet on the floor in September, don't go there!
So, in a couple of weeks we will all be getting our results to post.
Good luck all of you too
Beverley.

will think of you on Thursday - Mines tomorrow G8 Piano!! just as nervous as ever
I will try the banana though and hope it helps.

I have a Performance Assessment on Thursday morning...I'm half nervous, half looking forward to it.

I'm going to start growing bananas - I will make a fortune selling them to nervous/stressed musicians

Do you thin they will grow in the cold north? I'll get a greenhouse.

Seriously good luck to all taking exams - go girl/boy

I'm sure you did fab, you had a great accompanist as well

((

So, Beverley, how was it for you?

Did you get some useful feedback endian?
I did when I had a performance assessment a few years ago.

Hello Everyone,
How was it for me eh?
Well, the examiner was lovely, first time I have had a lady examiner, can't remember her name, nerves, it was double barrel, she is a pianist from Winchester. She acknowledged my nerves and deafness immediately, so I felt a bit better.
Played the 2 accompanied pieces, they were OK, but made some silly timing mistakes where I don't normally.
The unaccompanied was OK time wise and note wise, but I couldn't comment on the tone of the flute in any of them.
Scales were 1/2 and 1/2 good and completely dire
Sight reading was cautiously OK.
Aural was really OK I think
After she said I had done well and to carry on with my studies, and there was no reason why I couldn't play as well as anyone with normal hearing. Which was encouraging. Think I may have passed, but with the slips in the pieces and scales it won't be as good as before. However, I haven't got cancer or about to have an amputation etc etc, and life will go on. Grade 6 next. After the theory.
Just wish they could hear me as I play in my kitchen.
Thank you for all the support folks.
Beverley.

So no aliens then ? Well done you!