My examiner explained to me at the beginning she may stop playing me when shes heard enough.

My list B piece was 4 pages long with 2 pages in 4/4 and 2 in 6/8, a complete change of character but the same melody essentially. The examiner stopped me just before the change to 6/8- having only heard the more serious half of my piece(the later 6/8 section being a Scherzo).

What does this mean? Does it mean it was good and she doesnt need to hear anymore? Or it was terrible and there was no way I could re-deem myself?

Have any of you been stopped mid-flow?

I think I have been stopped several times. I always got good marks for the pieces that the examiner stopped me for. I would think that they would stop you early if they thought you were really good and didn't need to hear anymore. If you weren't very good, they would probably wait to hear the other half of the piece to see if you were going to get any better. I'm not absolutely sure though sorry...it's just a theory.

Almost certainly you will have done well on this piece. You would have just grounds for complaint if the examiner marked you down, not having heard the whole of the piece. Time is limited and some of the higher grade pieces are quite long. If you have demonstrated enough good points to score a high mark, the examiner doesn't always need to hear the rest of the piece (although it is a bit surprising that she didn't let you start the contrasting section). Relax, you can look forward to a good result!

Think yourself lucky. I once played a theme and variations for a grade 6 piano exam. Not only did the examiner keep stopping me but he also told me where to start again which was not always at the beginning of a variation. I can't remember exactly what mark I got but I was happy with it.

I think the fact that the examiner warned you before you'd even started playing that she might stop you means you have nothing to worry about. Perhaps she was running late.

my thoughts exactly

It says in the guidelines that they may stop you in a long piece. It doesn't mean anything either way except that they can make a judgement without hearing you to the end. I think it's an advantage because it saves you from possible mistakes you might have made later.

I think that, as examiners are running to quite a tight schedule, they may stop a performance simply because they have made a judgement on the performance - it is not necessarily a bad thing.(in fact it may be a good sign!)
Another instance of an examiner stopping a performance might be in a Diploma exam if the candidate has exceeded the time limit for the recital, in which case the examiner(s) will make a judgement based on what has been heard up to that point.

I was rather taken a back in my ALCM exam (1963), when having learnt a whole Beethoven Sonata from memory, I was stopped after the exposition and development section of the first movement! I suspect he had forgotten I was supposd to play the whole sonata. Should I have asked if he wanted to hear the other two movements ? I didnt think at the time (I was only 16). I reckoned I'd got away lightly, a I might have fouled up the Prestissimo. Anyway he gave me 17/20 for what he heard.

Cool. This sounds promising then. I'll update you with what I got for it when my results finally come through!

I was quite glad she stopped me where she did because the second half was quite a bit more difficult and I was dreadin messing it all up So im happy now

Regulation 15 Examination and Performance Requirements-

j) Examiners may, at their discretion, stop the performance of any piece when they have heard enough to form a judgement.

I haven't been stopped myself as yet, but in your case, I agree with others. Best wishes for a good result.

I was told by my violin tutor that it happens quite a lot of the time that examiners stop you in the middle of a long piece.

I think that if the examiner can hear your doing the piece well they dont need to listen to the whole piece alot of my mates that have been stopped in their pieces but they have all recieved very good marks.

I got stopped towards the end of one of my pieces in my grade 7 flute exam. However the piece was ended with the same section as it had opened with, so the examiner had already heard me play that section once and didn't really need to hear it again. Hopefully the marks will be ok.

I agree though, that if they stopped you then it must mean they were statisfied or they would have let you play for longer to see if it got any better.

I always wondered if that had happened to other people- one of my Grade 3 harp pieces was a theme and variations (omitting variations 4, 5 and 6). Not only did the examiner ask me to leave off the theme and first variation - which I could play best- he then stopped me after variation 3 to ask why I had turned the page and not played variations 4 to 6 and had the gall to note on the mark sheet that variation 7 was somewhat uneven... I passed, but not particularly well, and it didn't occur to me that this was not how exams usually went and it might have been worth mentioning to my teacher.

Hi, just to finish this topic off, i got 26/30 which isnt a bad mark i suppose. I got a distinction overall which im REALLY happy with so

Thanks for everyones replies and anecdotes!

Sam

Well done!!