Yesterday I had 13(!) exam candidates - all recorder players. The morning just turned into a complete chapter of disasters so I'm having a rantlet...

The candidates provided almost three hours of examining time (starting at 9am) but there was no break scheduled which, as teacher & accompanist I found a bit wearing… (the examiner did manage to slip out to the loo at some stage – lucky him!). The warm-up room was like an oven (nobody’s fault) and could only be accessed by those tall enough to reach the key – a Yale lock was needed to keep the door closed. The examiner was complaining about the heat in the exam room – which was, in fact, several degrees cooler and did little to help the tuning.

When the first, very nervous candidate entered the room she moved the music stand – the examiner snapped at her to put it back where it was. That finished her off – she stopped in both her pieces… As I started to play, I was aware that the LH pedal squeaked horribly whenever you used it and caused some of the notes not to sound. I mentioned this to the examiner and he agreed this was a problem (not really major but…) I also realised that the piano stool rocked when you moved (I’m not good at the piano – I don’t move more that I have to) – this was also noted.

As time went on he threw several children off guard as he wished them luck just as they took a breath to start playing – kindly meant no doubt but didn’t help the nerves. One girl (aged 8) was quizzed about her ethnic background as he noticed she was going to play ‘Spanish Ladies’ and was quite bewildered by his comments about the northern peninsular (she’s actually Portuguese). She messed up her first piece.

Come the grade 3 girl to play Steam Train Blues, the piano stool all but dumped me on the floor in the middle, disrupting things somewhat. After this I complained to the steward – who swapped it with the stool in the warm up room.

Just before the last candidate, someone turned up with a can of WD40 for the piano pedal so the poor child, having been called, waited outside for ages while they failed to stop the squeak and had a nice conversation about it all. She was also quizzed about her ethnic background.

When I finally finished accompanying and got out to talk to the last few children (all doing grade 1) they were discussing the aural tests. In the ‘spot the difference’ test, the examiner had asked them to raise their hand when they heard the change – he did not ask them to describe it at all. One poor girl was quite upset because, having heard the change, she was thinking how to explain it and forgot to put her hand up straight away. The examiner gave her no opportunity to tell him exactly where it was or explain so she will lose marks for that.

I think this is one batch of result that I won’t be eager to receive…

W

Sounds a pretty bad morning. Certainly the piano and stool is worth complaining about, and I agree that the examiner was unhelpful, to put it mildly, to be chatty to pupils - ultimately frosty non-speaking examiners are best - you know what to expect.

However, I have warned pupils that examiners might ask them to put up their hand when they hear the difference because I have heard that this has happened. I believe it is regarded as a kindness to pupils since it can be hard to describe what you hear (especially if you're aged 7 or 8).

I think that as the teacher or even just as accompanist I'd have wanted to make sure the stand was in the right place for both of us.

Good grief, it all sounds absolutely awful - poor you and poor candidates

Sometimes, though, the marks after this sort of scenario come as a pleasant surprise, so don't be too despondent about the outcome - but I would certainly make a complaint to the board about the general conditions if I were you.

An update on the general fiasco!

I didn't complain because I didn't want to risk delaying the results but I was REALLY worried about three of them who each stopped in both pieces...

As it turned out, the examiner was keen to mark them on what they COULD do and the results were surprisingly good;
1 X Pass
4 X Merit
8 X Distinction


I am SOOOO relieved!

W

Sounds like the examiner could tell the scenario was far from perfect and took that into account.

Congratulations Willobies pupils. Now is the time for you to complain about the centre and to state you felt it an unsuitable venue for both your pupils and the examiner. That you do not want the marks changing, but could the board take on board your comments for the future.

I bet the examiner will have complained too.

Sounds like the examiner could tell the scenario was far from perfect and took that into account.

Congratulations Willobies pupils. Now is the time for you to complain about the centre and to state you felt it an unsuitable venue for both your pupils and the examiner. That you do not want the marks changing, but could the board take on board your comments for the future.

I bet the examiner will have complained too.

I agree with Jo - write to the Board and ask them to sort things out for next time.

Congratulations to you and your pupils!

I don't agree. My students got a very chatty examiner this time and although a little taken aback, they all felt it put them at ease that she was friendly - and they all did well.

Well at the centre I last used, my old school, there was a shedules break for examiner about every 1 and a half hours, a 10 minute break.

The pianist was one of the staff who taught music and had to accompany everyone, a lot of music to practice!

Anyway the accompanying person gets a break when they leave after the pieces are done and the rest of the exam takes place. he had to accompany about 15 people a day for 4 days!

Regarding the piano and stool: Stool should have been changed as soon as problem occured or tested before exams started. They should have stopped as soon as you complained about pedal and sorted it out.
Bad accompanying can really put the pupil off and make them think they are going wrong as accompanyment doesn't sound totally correct.

About the heat: Maybe open a window or put air con on. At my centre, we wait outside in the corridor or warm up in one of 9 practice rooms. The air con was on when I went in and blew the music shut during the first piece. The woman looked at me as if to say, why the ###### did you suddenly stop?

The accompanyist said "lets start again" I passed on 101! Phew.

Great results Willobie - congratulations!