Hello.

Got a phone call from my piano teacher today,I've failed Grade 7.. but I really do't want to continue with grade 7 and retake it in March.

I think I failed because one of two reasons,

1. I absolutely hated it, my peice everything, therefore I put the most minimum time I could of got away with [until June when I started to do like 4 hours practise a day]
2. I was verry nervous in that exam for starters. Never really been that nervous for ANY exam before in my life.

Do you think I could take Grade 8 but take it next Novemberish? or 2 year time in March? or just retake Grade 7?

Sorry to hear that.

As a teacher I would be concerned that you've been practising for four hours a day since June but didn't pass your Grade 7. I would expect an average candidate to be able to learn the entire requirements in June, July, August, September, October if they genuinely were practising for four hours a day. This suggests that something isn't quite right, whether it's the quality of your practice, the quality of your teacher's teaching - I'm only guessing here, by the way; it could be something completely different.

This is one of the many, many questions asked on the forums that really only your teacher can answer. It depends slightly on how much you failed the exam by - was there one isolated weak area which you can work on, or was every section below the pass mark? If the latter, I wouldn't recommend proceeding to Grade 8 yet.

As for the nerves issue, this can be very debilitating. Before your next exam you should try to find opportunities to perform the pieces in front of an audience, even if it's just friends and family.

Possibly with new pieces your enthusiasm might be revived, but I think you need to have a long chat with your teacher. One final thought: is it just the exam preparation you hate, or learning the piano? If it's the former, do you really need to put yourself through it again?

Sorry to hear you've failed, BabyBanana.

Look at both the marks and comments before deciding what to do next. Was there one particular area or technique that let you down? Was the result a "might have passed on a different day" one?

If it was me, I'd be inclined to move onto different pieces and work on the areas that needed it, but not retake, and then move on to Grade VIII when ready (whether in one year, two years or (to look at the gap between my VII and VIII) fifteen years).

Thanks for the quick reply.. Yeah I think I need to talk to my techer to be honest.

I am however playing performing more often, I do Music as an AS level so I'm having to play in front of my class more often which should give me the confidence boost.

Debroah, I may take your advice up of playing it but not playing it without an exam. I mean before the exam itself I was averaging 120 so not really sure what happened. I think it's mainly down to nerves to be honest.

If you still play at a grade 7 level, it's safe to take your grade 8.
I took grade 7 on thursday, and i'm continuing on to do grade 8 next november, no matter if I failed or not.

If you aren't up at a grade 7 yet, i'd either redo grade 7 or spend more time on grade 8.

It's you and your teacher's choice, really.

Still?? Assuming the exam was not unrepresentative of BabyBanana's current abilities, then - with apologies for stating the obvious - I'm afraid he isn't playing at Grade 7 level. And neither are you if you don't pass the exam you took on Thursday. Sorry to be blunt, but I'm not really sure a Grade 6/7 student is qualified to answer this question.

But i'm pretty sure i passed, i played well.

I answered this question because i'm at the same level, so I'm in a similar position.

If it's mainly down to nerves as you say, you HAVE to grab every opportunity to play in front of more people, whether its classmates, or just gather family members around, and make them listen If you do retake Grade 7, it's probably a bad idea to keep the same pieces. It should be less daunting the next time around.

If I was you, I'd probably want to move onto Grade 8, especially if I thought I had practised to grade 7 pass level. But you must make sure that you pick pieces you like, and don't only just work on those! Play some other pieces you enjoy, so you don't get bored of 3 pieces over and over again. Also things like Czerny studies or Bach inventions and stuff, to help your technique for List A, cos they are actualy quite hard.

You didn't answer the question about if it was one particular part that let you down, such as sightreading or aural. If it was, then it's a good idea to gradually build up these skills, instead of cramming everything in a few months before the exam.

Oh, and you don't have to set yourself a time limit. Only let your teacher enter you when you're positive that you will get the result you want.

Very sorry to hear that BabyBanana

Nerves may well have played a big part, but I think the best thing to do now is look at your mark sheet when you get it, see where you lost marks, and take it from there. Without the mark sheet, we're to an extent speculating as to both why you failed, and what to do next.

that's because I haven't got the results sheet or anything today, my dad told me afterwork because my teacher phoned whilst I was at work.

I will do things in more detail onn Monday, however I just wanted to see what people on here would do that's all.

I'd wait for the mark sheet and discuss with your teacher where the problems might have occurred between being ready for the exam and taking it.
(Or did the exam entry go in with the hope that you would be ready in time?)
Maybe it was just the nerves that caused the problem. And not liking the pieces is another thing it's difficult to get past and this could have contributed to the nerves.

Sorry to hear this BB. Try not to be too disheartened - any exam result is only a snap-shot of how you were playing for the 15 or 20 minutes on the day. Perhaps you had a really bad day with nerves, and might have done fine under different circumstances. Have a good talk with your teacher about what went wrong once you have the mark sheet and comments. If you really disliked your pieces, that may have shown in your interpretation of them. Some teachers tend to dictate which pieces their students play in exams - if this is the case for you, then I think you have some powerful evidence to suggest that you should have more say next time!

Whatever happens, I think you should have a break from exam preparation for a while and work on some other repertoire and technical exercises. Reassess things with your teacher in a few months and then decide whether to have another go at grade 7 or press on for grade 8. Personally I don't think there is a lot to be gained from re-sitting an exam when you and your teacher felt you had prepared adequately. It might be worth arranging a mock exam with another teacher before the next one - a) to check on your standard and b) to help with nerves. If you ask around, you may even find a local teacher who is also an examiner who would be prepared to see you for a session.

Good luck

Just to let you know what's going on.

We will continue grade 7 but also do grade 8 scales and maybe one piece so I have a head start.
The results was purely down to nerves, I don't have the result sheets here but I didn't get anything over 20 to be honest.

however if I may progressed enough, before January on my grade 8 I may not take the grade 7 exam and just go straight to grade 8.

There's really not an awful lot of time left between 24 November and 'before January', taking into account the Christmas holiday, to get from Grade 6 (yes, 6) to Grade 8. Take a look at a calendar!

Sorry to be blunt, but you've asked for advice and my advice to someone who has failed all their Grade 7 pieces (and supporting tests?) would be not to try to progress to Grade 8 a couple of weeks later. There are obviously areas requiring consolidation; you must discuss and tackle these areas with your teacher.

I am not trying to be discouraging, but there is no point being unrealistic and I would not be doing my job as a teacher if I advised you to ignore gaps in your knowledge / technical ability and proceed straight to the next level, particularly when that level is Grade 8.

Sorry to hear about your result BB,

How did you do on the supporting tests?

It is very difficult to prepare for an exam if you don't like the pieces you are playing, and this may well have effected the detail of your practice and your level of nerves on the day. I think that maybe you should have discussed your choice of pieces with your teacher long before entering the exam, and I certainly wouldn't retake in March using the same repertoire as the initial problem of you not liking them is still going to be there, and unless you are a very good actor it is difficult to hide it if you are not enjoying playing them yourself.

Don't be in a rush to start grade 8 it is a huge jump and the expectations are really high, explore plenty of other repertoire and then start looking at grade 8 when you are ready.

Good luck

Sorry to hear this BB. I can sympathise, I have had the same experience having missed my DipABRSM twice by 2 and 1 marks.

Is there a reason you feel you must plough through the examinations system? Maybe taking some time out to enjoy the piano, playing repertoire around your level would be a good idea. I feel sometimes we get into the rat race of exams and it can be hard to stand back and take stock. We don't learn music to take exams but to learn to play. Maybe a break from exams would do your confidence and your technique etc good?

I have found that running into a retake was not really worthwhile as I hadn't given myself time to really process the idea that I had failed and then to look at the situation and work out why. It lead to me failing again. However since then I have starting playing for pleasure and trying to improve on various aspects of my playing that have let me down. I now plan to audition for a really top class teacher in the Spring and spend a year or two working very hard to really nail the Dip.

It can seem sometimes like we need to finish our grades etc before we leave school. But life goes on afterwards and you have all the time in the world to get to grade 8. The learning along the way is really more important than the piece of paper at the end.

Good luck.

No, sorry I think you misunderstood me, I ment I'm going to carry on doing grade 8 for next or the November 2009/2010 not in January.
sorry if I was being confusing. I ment I may carry on with the exams and do my grade 7 in January 2009 but involve some grade 8 for example the first piece or do the scales.

Before answering the question at all you need to ask yourself why you're doing the exams in the first place, especially if you don't like the music you're having to play for them.

For example, I know that passing higher grades gets you Brownie points in University entrance. I don't know the details but I'm fairly sure a pass at grade 7 (retake or otherwise) gets more than a fail at grade 8 which probably counts for nothing. Consequently, if you're after Brownie points you might do better sticking with grade 7 in the time available.

Alternatively you may be using the grades as a way of bench-marking your progress. In that case you may as well skip the grade 7 exam and go on regardless.

Whatever your reasons for playing the piano, or for taking exams, I cannot see why you would continue with pieces you profess to hate. Stick or twist, at least change the music.

I'd skip G7 and pull all the stops out for G8. I went from G6 to G8 in 12 months. I agree ability has a lot to do with it and you can improve your technique with concentrated effort and perseverence. Make your practice times really focussed. It is possible to sit at the piano for hours under the guise of ' practicing' and in reality achieve nothing from it. Have a clear list of objectives, but most of all just enjoy playing the piano and unless you have some academic musical career lined up, I wouldn't worry too much about exams. Good Luck!

Surely, if there's a big gap between G7 and G8 there must be a whole heap of repertoire that you could be learning that's harder than G6 but easier than G8. Why not play that for some time, and then re-evaluate when (if ever) you might want to take another exam.

On a different instrument (viola) I took G7 in the summer of Y11 and scored 101, worked hard for 18 months and took G8 at Easter of Y13. I was very keen on getting G8 before I finished school, now I realise that I've got the rest of my life to play, and to be honest I'm not bothered about playing above G8 level on the viola - I'd rather explore the easier stuff, there's enough of it to be going on with.

really sorry to hear that bb


i see, you mean you'll skip resit grade 7
i think that's a good idea bb

maybe now you can relearn grade 7 syllabus and have a mock exam with your piano teacher

then confidently start grade 8 later

good luck