The entries close in a few days time for the November exam session.

I don't know whether to enter for Grade 3

I haven't looked at the scales yet but my Grade 2 are secure so it means learning a few new ones (including Dmag with the shift and the chromatics). Emajor and the two octave minors..eaugh

My pieces are very scratchy and not up to speed yet.

My shifting position is clunky and the intonation is far from perfect

Do you think I can master all of the above in two months? I reckon if I put my mind to it I can fit in an hours practice a day at 6.30am but not a lot more and the weekends are still dodgy. Is it possible to secure position changes within two months - that's my biggest fear. I just don't know whether to risk the exam because, of course, I'm desperate for another distinction and my confidence will take it badly if I don't get one. Also, I'm using the old syllabus - do you think the examiner will be so sick of the old pieces he'll mark me down for every tiny flaw or would I be better going in with the new ones in March?

HELP!!! Should I wait until March when I'll be well ahead of grade 3?

I'm planning to take Grade 4 next June or later.

I would say leave the exam. I think it is better to work on all the new techniques, positions etc through other means than the exam pieces if that is where you are at present. Develop your playing without the particular pressure and decide in December whether to go for the exam in March or skip it and move on

I'm going through the motions of grade 3 preparation but have no intention to take the exam. There are pieces in the current syllabus that are in first position only (eg Moderato, Romance, Ain't Misbehavin') and I've now started on the pieces with 3rd position. Not taking the exam means that I'm incredibly relaxed about my playing. I could probably pass the exam now but can concentrate on technique instead which, like earplugs says, is more important at this stage.

(My decision is aided by the fact that I'm not too bothered about whether I can 'officially' call myself grade 3 or not! )

Learning to play is about the enjoyment of making music, not about passing exams! Saying that, they are a nice yardstick to measure your progress and a carrot to ensure you practise hard, at least for me.

I think you have given your own answer: your pieces are scratchy and you have not even looked at the scales. No way would I be entering for an exam in November on that basis. Or be thinking about what grade I shall be doing in June. Do the exam when you are indeed well ahead, and you'll get that distinction to treasure..... :

Good luck and just have fun playing your way through as much of the syllabus as you can, not just 3 pieces.

If you are not in any need to get a particular grade for a particular date (which is probably your position as you are an adult learner?) then I'd say don't go for the exam...if you have any insecurity that you can get your distinction then don't go for it.

I had a similar thing to yours that I want to do a piano exam in November (I have decided to take one exam in violin and one in piano every year, doesn't matter which grade and I don't mind skipping grades). Now, with piano I am very well prepared for grade 2, I know all my pieces and I have polished them to a high standard, of course I know all the scales/arpeggios etc, I was wondering whether to enter for grade 3...
but although I know very well all the scales/arpeggios/broken chords up to grade 4, I have learnt my pieces for grade 3 but they are very 'basic' and not up to speed, I would need to practice them a lot to get them to distinction standard, also am not very confident my sight reading would be great at grade 3.

so...as the deadline is looming (sept 28th for online entries), I have decided to enter for grade 2 as if I sat this tomorrow I'd get a good mark, I am sure, if I had to sit grade 3 tomorrow I might pass but a good mark is out of the question.
Do you see what I mean Lottie? why I chose to enter grade 2? I might be able to polish things enough to get a good mark in grade 3 in november, but if something happens and I can't practice as much then I will just scrape a pass. Now, if I didn't set myself the target that I 'want/have to' sit an exam in piano in november then I could enter for grade 3 in March 08, but I'll sit grade 2 this november and next year I'll enter for whatever I am ready, be it grade 3, 4 or 5!!!

Anyway, you know what you can do and what you have achieved, but I'd say don't go for grade 3 in November, go for an exam in March 08, it could be grade 3 or you might surprise yourself and do grade 4 or go straight to grade 4 in june 08?

Best wishes with your choice
Jo

Yes, you're all correct. Thank you all for clarifying the situation and I'm quite happy to say I'm NOT going to take the exam this session.

Thanks for lifting a huge weight from my shoulders

Now I'm just going to concentrate on enjoying my playing again (I was starting to feel stressed about not being properly prepared). I'll start using the scales in my practice sessions again and I'll play the pieces with the cd just for fun so I'll keep working on them. My teacher has said she will lend me the cd for the new syllabus and I can see if there's anything there I'd like to play instead.. and perhaps think about the exam again after Christmas. (Although I think the entries go in at the end of December ) It's not just the distinction I want, it's also only playing when I'm thoroughly prepared and I don't think I would be by November - and I'd find it distressing not to be well ahead of the standard I want to play at.

I agree with 'earplugs' who said I ought to be learning technique from sources other than just the exam pieces so I'll get back to work on the pieces my teacher has given me (like the Arrival of the Queen of Sheba ) which have shifts etc but are also brilliant fun.

With a 'significant' birthday coming up I keep forgetting life is not a race to be perfect coz' I've got a fat chance of that

Yeah, sometimes you just beed reassurance that you're making the right decision, huh?

Music is meant to be fun, not constant slog for exams.

Lottie, let me know when you've heard the pieces from new syllabus what you think.
Some of them have 'grown on me', didn't particularly go mad over them at first but now am really getting into them and they make me shiver with 'pleasure' when I play them
so far I am learning:

B1 Grande Valse Brillante (seems easy to play at first sight but the trick is in the light bouncy bow in middle part and the spiccato, those give you work to do )
B3 O mio babbino caro, have learnt this pretty well, I am now learning to play it shifting as the way it is suggested in book is to play it all in 3rd position without shifting which makes the bowing a little trickier.
C1 Old Joe Clark, I love this one, it's a really 'jolly' piece, my teacher has showed me the bowing technique to play the fast middle piece and can now do that a lot better (it's all down to 'wrist action')
C2 Sweet Lorraine, this I have learnt today, it is one of those that has grown on me, it's a Jazz piece, lots of goose-bumps with this too
C3 Rumba, is the one I am going to give it a go tomorrow, it is growing on me the more I listen to it.

In the A list there is nothing I really like so far, but in the alternative A there is Canon by Pachelbel and have ordered the book for this, not just for this piece but the book also has lots of classical pieces I'd like to learn.

PS I might be lucky enough to meet up with another forum-ite in the the near future to play violin duets, can't wait! I am always jealous when I hear others have had fun time with other people playing duets!

They sound really interesting - my lesson is tomorrow so I'll be able to borrow the cd and hear all the pieces then. I think I should try the new syllabus because I'm not all that pleased with the old pieces (apart from Aint Misbehavin) but that could be my bad playing rather than them not being nice tunes! I found them all rather boring.

What is the classical book you're ordering - that sounds interesting?

I'm playing the Pachabel Canon as a trio just now and it's lovely. We're missing the bass part but trying to rope in a cellist and then it will sound fantastic. I'm playing the Arrival of the Queen of Sheba and the Bach Double Violin concerto as duets and they are just brilliant fun and I'm actually managing the fast bits and the shifting quite well now.

The only down side is that we spend my whole lesson on duets etc and I get no 'teaching' on technique at all. I've never been taught anything about different bowing techniques. I know about things like staccato from my clarinet playing but I actually wish someone would take a look at my right arm technique to see if there's anything I can do about my 'bouncing' although it is improving all the time. My teacher is a 'traditional' player mostly and maybe technique is more left to the individual for that.

I bought Simon Fischer's books to see if I could learn anything about bowing technique but so far they're to 'deep' for me to get into. They're very very technical.

Hi Lottie
the book is: 'The Classical Experience' by Jerry Lanning, you can see it here http://www.musicroom.com/se/ID_No/0396640/details.html
it has about 25 classical pieces in it, should be no harder than grade 3 as it is rated as 'easy' (which on their website means up to grade 3), it sounds like a nice book, have not received it yet though. It has an interesting mix of pieces, you can see them all on the web-page.

My teacher is a classical player, he used to play for a few different orchestras, here (with Royal Philarmonic Orchestra) and abroad too. Does that make him a 'traditional teacher'? not sure what you mean when you say your teacher is a traditional teacher I think you ought to ask him/her to show you some bowing techniques as from now we are supposed to begin to learn a little more about bowing.

You can also look at this web-site (you probably know of it already) but you can listen and watch about different bowing styles: http://violinmasterclass.com/mc_menu.php
look at 'masterclasses' and then you can look at right and left hand technique etc. I usually look at the 'definition' then the beginners exercises....BUT when I looked at shifting, I looked at the beginners exercises and though:'that is not what my teacher has told me to do' (to exercise shifting), so then I clicked on 'intermediate exercises' and those were not the ones my teacher showed me either! so then I clicked on 'advanced' and there was the exercises my teacher taught me!!!

Anyway, keep in touch and let me know what pieces on new syllabus you might try

Nice to hear from you
Jo

Hi Jojo,

I think Lottie means that her teacher is primarily a fiddler, rather than a violinist. Some players play both traditional and classical, but once you get to a certain level of proficiency, unless you're Giles Apap, you have to specialise in one or the other because the techniques diverge too much (to be honest, even Giles Apap sounds a bit too classical when he plays traditional music, but we'll let him off because he's some kind of demi-god).

I used to have a classical teacher, but after a year of playing traditional stuff I had to change to a specialised fiddler to help me get the style (rolls, cuts, bowed trebles, slides, shuffle-bowing, voice-type phrasing, counter-rhythm and all the other stuff that you have to add in to make it sound trad) - my fiddling suddenly took off when I was with a specialist, but my classical playing has suffered. Interestingly enough, my ex-classical teacher (former solo violin with Lyon philharmonic orchestra) now takes fiddle lessons too with the same guy that teaches me!

At least, I think that's what lottie meant...

Allan the happy fiddler (and soon to be bagpiper, but shhhhh, don't tell the floot devil.)

WOT BAGPIPES next????!!!!!

Claudia is gutted - she thinks this means Hamish won't be getting out of his case so often in order to get her saucy postcards in the mail! Since I confiscated her mobile phone she keeps asking for 'stamps to Europe' so I had a quick peek under her rosin and therein found her secret correspondance!

I think I might order the Classic book as a wee treat to myself now that I'm not doing an exam but I forgot to see if there is a cd accompaniment as I don't know a pianist. Off to have a look....

"..rolls, cuts, bowed trebles, slides, shuffle-bowing, voice-type phrasing, counter-rhythm and all the other stuff ..." now I'm totally confused!!!!

I think the only 'technique' I know is that the bow goes across the string and a pretty sound comes out

Hi Lottie and Jojo - I just bought the Classical book at lunchtime as a distraction treat. It looks great and there is a widely available CD - The Classical Experience that goes with it - you can get it in regular high street music shops not just ones that specialise in sheet music. I actually think my Dad has a copy of the CD - and he doesn't play any instrument so it's definitley available on the high street.

Actually spent a fortune on music this afternoon - got myself some theory past papers - they have been set as "homework" by my new rather enthusiastic teacher and I got a copy of the Aural tests for grade 3 too -they should be interesting. Suppposed to have good intonation on my A list piece and have all scales from memory in time for lesson tomorrow evening.........looks like a heavy night of practice ahead!!

BTW - I got Abracadabra violin book 1 for my beginners ensemble class - it should help with my sight reading too - seems pretty basic but has duet parts for most of the pieces which is nice. Have either of you used this book before?

Hi Orla (by the way, I think we have 'hijacked' the thread ), thank you for telling us about the CD, I will search for it and hopefully find it soon as you said it is widely available
I have Abracadabra book 1 but never ever done anything out of it, I don't know why but it never appealed to me, in fact now it is one of the books I have on a side ready to 'donate' to somebody else (anyone wants them?).
Jo

Sounds like a wise move, Lottie - being stressed about your playing is no fun at all!


Not guilty, it wasn't me, I didn't even know!!

*wonders if anyone will believe her*

I've decided to treat myself to a 'classical' book but I think I'll get with with a cd because I don't know a pianist. I do have a book of classical pieces (Tchaikovsky I think) but I never play it because it sounds odd without an accompaniment). There are some great looking books on that website (why haven't I seen it before ).

I tried playing my grade 3 pieces with the cd last night but I can't play them fast enough yet but I must admit practice is a little thin on the ground just now due to four commissions all due at the same time .. do you ever get days where you feel you just chase your tail then go back to bed ARgh.

I have a brand new 'scales' book for grade 1/2 so I think I'll put it on ebay... unless anybody pm's me for it? I don't want money for it - just a loving home if you can imagine giving scales a loving home.. but some people do love scales don't they?

Having started to really get the hang of shifting positions (2nd and 3rd), last night I missed every time - it was very disheartening and my left hand/arm started to become very tense which just made the problem much worse and I eventually gave up in disgust because I couldn't 'undo' the tension and relax my hand. But at least my vibrato is coming along quite well (when I'm relaxed) - I'm just working on control.

Sounds like you are making great progress Lottie - my vibrato is non existant - somehow my head and my wrist just don't communicate. I know what I want to do but my hand totally seizes up......and shifting is only ok....I know what you mean about having a night where you "miss" everything.....

Going to try and get some practice in before my lesson this evening if there is a spare room available at the music school......must give them a ring and see.....a little worried I haven't made enough progress since lesson last week, but as someone said here before, it's a lesson, not a performance....

I got well beyond grade 8 level (LTCL - failed ) and mine is pretty much non-existent as well. That wasn't why they failed me, at least, it wasn't a reason they put on the mark form, as I recall (it was a long time ago). Of course it's possible that they just ran out of space

Liz

This may sound 'weird', but I don't 'feel ready' for vibrato 'yet' (does it sound 'weird'??), I feel like I want to keep practicing my shifting for now, whether it is ok or not I don't know, I think I get my notes pretty much spot on most of the times but I want to feel 'more confident' with it before I move onto anything else.
I tried to play a few harmonics yesterday and I think my furniture grew legs and ran away from the absolutely horrifying noise I made!!! I'll give those a miss for now

Lottie, you are doing really well, I like reading about your progress as you come across so enthusiastic and passionate about it, yes I know that sometimes you also have your 'down' moments, but you're only 'human' aren't you? or are you a dog chasing your own tail?

I was definitely a dog in a previous life.. or am turning into one now; I have six dogs (was seven but my old girl died last month and has left a big hole ) so... with feeding, washing bowls, walking, training, showing, brushing teeth, playing with things that squeak (LOUDLY), washing beds, brushing mud out of my car, brushing mud out of my hair, brushing mud out of the dogs.. oh and cuddling them.. it's a wonder I do anything else with my time. Oh I frequently paint them too.

If my violin could wag its tailpiece at me it would probably get a lot more attention.

Not that I got nearly as far as Liz, but my vibrato is also pretty pathetic even though I've been playing for (eeek) 22 years.