Last exam session a dear friend of mine had an unfortunate predicament. This friend ( and before people start suggesting things, I want to clearly state NOT girlfriend !! ) was preparing herself for her grade 2 exam. The instrument was violin and she had been playing for 3/7 years with a regular daily practice at around 9:30 each morning ( just after breakfast which we occasionally enjoyed together at a local cafe/breakfast bar )

On the date of her exam, which I am unable to RECALL the exact date of ( possibly 17th December but don't quote me on it!!! ) her violin string snaps due to a bitter cold biting wind and also her nerves, bless her, which stopped her from taking her time and tuning calmly. After that a girl waiting in the hall offered her a spare one of hers which she PROMPTLY accepted ( around 10 minutes before the exam was to begin ). However then disaster struck!

Only having 10 minutes to put a string on she quickly forced it on and then rushed into the exam room. Once there the piano player gave her an A and she suddenly felt fear grip her spine and the blood drain from her face. The STRING she had put on was another D string. She NOW had 2 D strings [ the normal one and the one that she put on by mistake ( having borrowed from the other candidate) ]. She told the examiner what had happened and he displayed a little sympathy but she detected a slight impatience in his tone and felt unable to go on with the exam.

Now its roughly six months later ( give or take a weeks or so! ) and she is still disappointed about what happened. We often discuss it on the phone or sometimes in person. Has anyone else had any of these exam CATASTROPHES?

What could ABRSM do to prevent further disasters like this?

Any suggestions ( long or short ) would be really of USE to me ( and interest of course )

Thanks a million ( and one! )
Bern

I don't see this as an ABRSM responsibility - the moral is to keep a spare set of strings in your instrument case (like the other candidate had).

A string could break during the exam (and I'm sure this must have happened many times, it often happens to soloists in concerts). Be prepared!!!

Sure hope it never happens to me though

Unfortunately, these mishaps can occur with just about any instrument - it is all part of being a musician. Has your friend talked this over with her teacher? She could perhaps learn from this experience and make sure that she is fully equipped with spare strings etc for future exams. I don't really see how the AB can do anything about this sort of problem, other than provide adequate warm-up facilities for candidates.

I would be slightly concerned about anyone who is still chewing this over, 6 months after the event. Discussing it endlessly is unlikely to help your friend - perhaps you could gently suggest that it is time to move on and think about the next exam, performance or whatever.

Janexxx has said exactly what I'd say.

Having spares of "disposibles" such as strings, reeds etc. is common sense at all times, and especially at big occasions like exams.

It isn't the examiner's or steward's job to sort out a candidate's instrument. That's part of the candidate's job (or, at the early stages of learning, the candidate's teacher)

She should keep a spare set of strings in her violin case (or take some with her if there isn't a place in the case to keep them there). Best thing is to change the strings, far enough in advance of the exam for them to be fully settled in for it, and keep the old ones as spares. Then if a string breaks there's a played-in spare ready to use. If she can't tell them apart, label them.

This is definitely NOT a problem for the board. I'm sure if a string breaks during an exam, the examiner will allow the schedule to slip slightly to allow a couple of minutes for someone to get the new string on, but providing, selecting, attaching and tuning the string is entirely up to the candidate (and maybe their teacher, parent or whoever they have with them, if anyone). It's got nothing to do with the examiner or the board.
Broken strings, reeds, etc are foreseeable problems, so there's no excuse for not being equipped to deal with them. If it was a wind instrument and a mechanical fault developed, I'd have more sympathy as people don't normally carry (or even have) spare parts for those. Or if something extremely unusual happened to the violin. But a broken string? Sorry, but I reckon she should chalk it up to experience.

T.

My clarinet broke before my Grade 8.... many, many years ago.... I had to go play on my friend's clarinet.... she was doing her Gr 8 after me... I'd always shared lessons with her, I knew her clarinet well.... but I made sure the examiner knew I was taking the exam on someone else's instrument......
It was fine.....

The E string is always going on violins. When my daughter was having lessons we initially bought a spare set of strings (which is probably a good idea), but it was nearly always the E string that went, so it's a good idea to have two spare of these if your friend is on a full size violin.

As others have said, it really isn't the Board's responsibility to see that the instrument is playable. My son plays clarinet and always has two spare reeds in his pocket for exams, because reeds get chipped very easily.

Many years ago, I was taking an exam where I was required to play violin for one section. When the time came, I tuned my violin and the A-string snapped. No problem - I went out of the exam to fetch my spare 'played-in' A-string - only to have that snap too... The exam was abandoned mid-way while I tried to persuade someone in the waiting room (I was on my own) to give me a lift to the other side of town to buy another string - I finished it off an hour later...

W

It's unecessary stress. Get around it, make her understand. This is a fundamental element of being human -- MOVING ON. Dwelling in the past excessively is NOT good. If I thought about my first recital (over 10 years ago, was completely disasterous) I don't think I'd be where I am now.

Can't add anything to the excellent advice that's been already given about the need to carry a spare set of broken in strings. A few weeks before my Grade 2, the gut on the end of my violin suddenly broke. I went to get it fixed but they made the problem a lot worse and the bridge started flying off. Just before the exam, the violin gave up the ghost and I had to rush out and buy a new one with a limited amount of time to get used to it. Got to the venue and they hadn't arranged a practice room (this wasn't ABRSM) so I ended up playing in the ladies toilet much to the amusement of everyone there and I only got one week's notice of the exam date.

From this I learnt that I need to be prepared so I always carry a spare set of strings, labelled in little envelopes as I can never tell which is which, an extra E string, an extra bow and have now got a back up violin in case anything goes wrong with my main one. This is probably a bit extreme but I'm the sort of person who would take most of a stationery shop in with me to a written exam . With regard to your friend, please don't dwell on this anymore, what's done is done. Learn from it (i.e. always carry spares), move on and enjoy the violin.

I had a clarinet pupil who ABSOLUTELY refused to have any spare reeds whatsoever, could only play on one at a time until it was well past redemption and then her mum and I had a real struggle to get her to start a new one (she was a bit strange in other ways as well, possible asperger's I always wondered). Anyway we start her grade 3 exam, after about 8 bars of the first piece, reed completely packs up and refuses to play at all. Stop playing piano and go over to reset reed - but to no avail. Pupil now has "rabbit in headlights" expression and no hope of playing.
VERY VERY kind examiner says to go out and sort it out, send in the next candidate, and then come back. Luckily next candidate was v. sensible young man who was not peturbed at going in slightly earlier than anticipated, and first one has to use one of my reeds and restart exam afterwards. Both got high merits.
Well done ABRSM examiner! a triumph for common sense and kindness.
Pupil did then decide to carry a spare reed with her after that!

Just as well I always bring lots of spares to exams - all my instruments, reeds, screwdrivers/elastic bands/paperclips/sticky tape, spare copies of music if I have them - as more than once I have known kids turn up with broken reeds, screws missing (the instruments not the kids - although I wonder sometimes) and/or no music.

One of my freinds got her cleaning swab stuck half way up her flute just before her exam and couldn't get it out. Just as well her teacher had a spare flute in the flute, even luckier, is was the same make and model she was used too!!

A flute in a flute? Wow!

I always have at least 3 reeds with me, more usually half a dozen, plus a screwdriver and if its important an emergency repair kit (Pads, cork and suchlike) Very handy, although perhaps not so much when you've forgotten to take the cleaner out of the bell