Hi, sorry i havn't posted for a while!

I come back with good news!!!

I passed my grade 5 piano and grade 3 Pricatical Musicianship, and one of my grade 6 pieces is already in a book I have!! wooo!!! I suddenly feel more likely to practice with the change of pieces!!


Only bad news is that I have an orthodontist appointment soon... I cant have a brace yet! I have my grade 6 flute and a concert in september!!

Deviless, that's brilliant news! You got your Grade 5 at last!! You deserve a medal for persistence!!!

Well done you!

Well done!

What were your scores?

Car Expert

Please everyone use this thread! i dont know how i managed to post twice!!



Aww thanks CE i thought i was going to fail this one again!!! phew!!

my scores were:

Piece A -Les Carilons - 18

piece B - Bagatelle - 19

piece C - Diversion - 19

scales - 12

sight reading - 18 (OMG!!)

Aural - 14!!

exactly 100!!!



and for the musisican ship you dont get marks, but i passed with a grade C (just a pass)

Well done!

*bakes cake*

Well done.

I'm going to take my grade 8 piano at Christmas I think. I'm a woodwind player and have been to RNCM on flute. When I did my GCSE's I did grade 7 piano and then stopped!!! I feel incomplete!!!! I play piano lots as I accompany all my kids for exams, so I think I'm goign to take the plunge and do it!!!

Yay, congratulations!!!

Seconded.

Well done!

Very well done. It will be fun learning new pieces. Hope the orthodontics goes well.

Thirded

Congratulations!

And fourthed. Well done.

Well done that's brilliant. I always find an exam success is a springboard to move on with music and enjoy it for the sake of enjoying it. I'm sure you will.

Oh - you got it! I'm so pleased. Great news, and good luck with the orthodontist!

Fifthed!

aww thanks everyone!! i'm soooooo happy!! i had a concert last saturday with my band.. was great!!! we mucked up the encore as only my band can!!!

Well done! Things sure seem to be looking up for you at the mo, save for the orthodontist!

Well done!

Yay!
Congratulations!

Congratulations! It's always great getting good exam results back, makes you feel like all your hard work has paid off!

Don't worry about having a brace and playing flute, as long as you practice, your embouchure kind of adapts to the change and although it seems difficult at first, you get used to it. It's also fantastic when you have your braces taken off because you realise that your sound has improved dramatically and it's a great feeling!

Plus your teeth are all nice and straight!

Well done for all your hard work

that's excellence achievement, well done deviless

Well done! Good on ya.

Well done to you! I bet you are still over the moon now?! Such a great achievment, for both exams. I think it's good to have Practical Musicianship under your belt too, as well as theory, practical etc. Congratulations!

Personally i hate practical musicianship exams, but it makes the aurals less bad in my normal exams!!! lol

I've started a lovely serenade by Schubert called Standchen (with an umlaut on the A) to get me upto grade 6 standard allong with a grade 6 piece which i'm not actually working on that much to be honest... love the Schubert too much!

I'm also working for a concert in september... I'm playing my flute, I've just started playing Moucau de Concours and my teacher thinks i'll have it ready for the concert... *panics* thats going to take a LOT of work!

I'm just really happy ith the results woo!!!

Sorry if I'm being stupid, but what's a primary ensemble exam and a practical musicianship exam? Are they only on AB, because I do Guildhall exams and I don't know what they are!

Thanks

Have a look here.

Car Expert

You can take ensamble exams (group exams) and unlike other grades, there are only 3 of them:
- primary which is about grade 5/6 standard
- intermediate which is about grade 6/7 standard
- advanced which is about grade 7/8 standard

there are set pieces you can do or you can write to the board and ask to do your own pieces, and if they think they are the right standard then you can play them, usually you bring the lettter of acceptance to the exam jst in case the examiner isn't sure.


Practical Musicianship exams are basicly like a whole exam of aural exams (well thats how I see them anyway). There are 6 mini-tests in the exams.

Morceau de Concours is lovely, let me know if you want any advice on it. I have a recording of it on the forum recordings site

Thanks, I think I just need to work how fast those demi-semi quavers go really, which i could do with a bit of logic.

I'd be interested in hearing that recording, as i've only heard one other person play it.

Thanks,
Deviless

Not insanely fast! - it looks black on the page but it's OK really.

It is on the recording site, I'll find it for you - http://www.forumrecordings.co.uk/download....rceaudeconc.mp3

The demisemis really are quite slow

Isn't Standchen great? It's also a grade 6 lied on the singing syllabus, and the students love it!

yeah, those demi-semi's are pretty slow! I'm learning it with the piano accumpniment so i just stay in time with my teacher. I can actually play all of it *shocked!* need to work on the tone and the triplets.
Thank you for the recording, its beautiful!

I love Standchen, its all I practice at the moment, should really practice my other stuff too... I normally just run the other stuff through, rather than actually focusing on where i need to improve...

Hi there
Firstly - congratulations on you exam result!

But, and please don't be offended by this deviless, I just wonder how it is really possible to pass an exam overall and be classed as Grade 5 standard when the pass mark in 4 out of 6 elements wasn't reached? I understand that it is the cumulative mark that counts but I do find it hard to see how failing 4 out of 6 sections can result in an overall pass.

Anyway, congratulations again

I know, I wasn't happy with it, actually I was dissapointed, but after 4 attempts I'm too tired of the pieces to care. I'm doing well with some higher level pieces at the moment anyway. But I worked my socks off for that grade 5, I admit the 1st time I didn't work, but from then on I did, my scales got better, and I'm impressed by my sight reading mark. I always do badly on my aural so i'm not too bothered by that, so its the pieces, I need to look more at the dynamics and shaping of the music.

I don't know why it took me 4 goes though, I passed all the others 1st time (except grade 3 where my dad got me so nervous my hands died in the exam room)

I feel asthough i've cheated myself, because i know i can do better, and when I come on here and I see how everyone (or atleast it seems like everyone) is getting merits or distinctions, instead of making me determind to get better, it makes me feel depressed and that its not worth it.

I apprieciate what you had to say was very true, and you didn't know that I'm not in the happiest of moods at the moment, but I do feel a bit... erm... asthough that undermined my confidence a bit more. (and beleive me, I dont have much left)

A pass is a pass - you deserve it and well done!

aww thanks Frederic

Please don't be depressed by everyone on here seeming to get merits and distinctions. The people who come to a forum like this will often be those who are naturally talented. I think that you've done brilliantly to pass. I probably would have given up long ago.

Music isn't just about exams; it is about the feelings that we communicate. Bravo for your efforts, and I hope that you continue to enjoy your music in the future.

Well done!!

Hey Deviless - chin up! I wasn't having a dig at you at all. I just sometimes feel the system could be clearer so that students can be helped to progress - like you said, you were disappointed at taking 4 goes. Wouldn't it have been useful to have a more in depth examiners critique on the previous exams (say like the Guildhall system or even a driving test!) that breaks it down as to what wasn't working for you. Ultimatley, I think getting 19 for your pieces could feel a big let down for you - so nearly there but not quite - why couldn't they have been rounded up to give you a pass?

I wasn't digging at you - I just think that it's harsh for an examiner to effectively say "there were a number of areas where you "nearly" got there but i'll pass you overall anyway" as it must make you feel a bit mixed at the result - why not find you an extra few marks and give 20, or 21 and give you a healthier looking 103?

I am glad you are doing well with the G6 and higher level stuff - I am sure you are ready to move on and continue to enjoy your music making. Please do continue, and don't be put off posting your grades again - my comment only said half of what i was actually thinking, and unforunately, it probably didn't make you feel to good - sorry!

Anyone out there think that the marks the last couple of sessions have generally been a bit lower? I do, some of my students I had thought might just be pushing for a merit came in around the 110 - 112 mark and I am not usually that far out.

Anyway, a pass is indeed a pass and when someone asks you what grade you are you will be able to proudly say Grade 5 so well done Deviless.

Deviless, don't feel down. Some people are just not particularly good at taking exams. And some are very good at it (and some are in the middle, OK but not brilliant at taking exams). So people's performance on the day may be affected by which of those categories they're in.

What matters more is how you make music generally outside of the exam room. Do you enjoy playing, and do you love your music? If so, that's infinitely better than any set of exam results.

To be honest, I was totally impressed with your persistence. You've passed Grade 5, and showed real determination in doing that, so well done.


Cheers

Katyjay

Thanks to all of you I feel a bit more confident about myself now, and with this new found confidence i shall put my mind to starting my grade 6 flute scales!!

I know you weren't having a dig at me, just wasn't in a great mood when i read it... and took the contructive critisisms more like an insult..

I do love my music and love playing. Music is my life, if i'm not making music, I always have music on, and spend my lunches at school listening to various friends MP3 players! (normally singing allong and totally ruining everyone elses lunch lol! )

Also with this new found confiidence, I am going to try a lot harder to get a better result, look through the old exam sheets and see what few improvements the examiners had given me. I think what confused me a little bit was that they all came up with atleast oen different thing, i think, but dont quote me on that! lol!


deviless

Good on you deviless - that's the spirt!

arrghhh haha me too. I'm getting braces in september. I hope i won't talk weird afterwards. Because my exam is coming and i have to talk with the examiner! ><

Aww, if they're traintracks then you don't talk that differently, but I had a removable one with a plate which went onto the roof for my mouth, i couldn't pronounce my f's th's or many other consonants!! lol

Sorry this is such a late reply, but you're welcome. It's a beautiful piece, one of only a few which I am truly confident about playing. If you ever need any advice on it, then just PM me

s'ok. Thanks. How are the results? Dare I ask?

well done Deviless!

4 As and a B - think you know anyway!

yeah... i was silly and replied to this before i saw the other thread!