Hi everyone,have been looking on these forums for a number of months,and would like to say how interesting and informative I find it.
I am after some advice ,my daughter who is 10 yrs old has been playing the piano now since she was 7yrs old.On Tuesday she took her grade three practical,luckily she doesn't suffer with nerves at all,but on this occasion she made a mistake half way through her first piece,and asked to start again.The examiner was fine with that,and she went on to do the rest of the exam ok (as far as she can tell)with no furthur big mistakes,I suppose what I would like to know is if she is likely to lose a lot of marks because of this? I have read a few times that you should carry on if you make a mistake,but my daughter lost where she was in the piece so decided it was the only option.I know that just because the examiner was a really nice man he still has to mark what he heard and saw on the day.Any advise would be very welcome.

Hi, welcome to the forums,

It depends very much on the examiner, she may lose a couple of marks but at grade 3 I wouldn't have thought many more than that, in the higher grades the impact of this could have much more of an effect. From what you have said it sounds like she should have done ok so best of luck with the result.

I'm sure it will cost a couple of marks - but I'm sure I've read on here about people having to restart a piece and then go on to get a distinction, so if the rest of he exam went well she'll be OK.

I think it must be really hard to re-start a piece I'm sure I'd be so worried about making the same mistake again I'd almost force myself to do it. So congratulations to her for making a successful 2nd attempt.

Yes, I agree with what the others have said - and although I advise my students to avoid it if possible, there are times when starting again seems like the only option.

I imagine it will cost only minimal marks, and if the rest of the exam went ok I'm sure your daughter will be fine. These mishaps can loom really large, can't they, looking back? when in fact they are a relatively small part of the whole picture. Good luck to your daughter - I hope she doesn't have to wait too long for her result.

thankyou,feel a bit better about the result now.My daughter plays very well so I am hopeful ,will add the result when we get it ( I hate the wait,more than my daughter)

Beth restarted a piece for her Grade 4 flute and I think her lowest mark for a piece was 27 so she can't have lost much.
I hate waiting for the results too.
Good luck.
Dora

I gave up on one of the arpeggios in my recent sax exam. I'd tried it twice and failed, and just said sorry. The examiner said not to worry, calm down and try again. It went ok then - I got a merit pass. (Haven't seen the marking sheet yet though)

Hhi clarebear,

My older son made a complete mess of his Grade 3 piano exam about 5 years ago. He blanked in his first piece, half-way through, and simply couldn't go on (it had never happened before). He had two examiners (I think his examiner was being assessed??) and the more senior, a lady, took over. She let him try again, but the same thing happened. She then got him to play from the other side of the 'blank' to the end, which he did with no problem. They then moved on and completed the rest of the exam, then had one last try at the piece, with no success - he still blanked in the same place. She was lovely to him and told him it had happened to her in a concert !

He passed, with a solid 111, when we were expecting a complete failure. He did fail that particular piece, by 2 marks, which was fair enough, but he did well in the rest of the exam, considering everything, and got a very kind and positive general comment. I don't know who this woman was, but I could have hugged her.

I cherish the comment for that piece, which finished 'your final go at this piece was nearly successful'

Reminds me of some of the nice comments from an LCM examiner a couple of years ago for several rather dodgy candidates of mine - things like 'There were one or two notes out of place today' (Yes, and every other day that he/she played it!)

These 'blank moments' can happen to anyone - the stress of the moment can do all sorts of funny things to your brain. In this case, it doesn't sound too serious at all. Examiners do make some allowances for nerves, and if the second attempt was OK, I doubt whether she will lose more than 1 or 2 marks, if that. Its all part of the game!

Nice comments, SueHM and Crotchetymum. I still smile at one from last term, commenting about a sight reading our examiner wrote 'a little rhythmic reticence'.

One of my candidates had his last lesson yesterday before his grade one exam next week. He was a bit anxious about the end of Tyrannosaurus, where the hands go together in two bars of contrary motion chromatic pattern. It's probably the only bit of the exam where I would have my fingers crossed for him. I tried to reassure him by pointing out that it's a very small part of the whole, and that if it doesn't quite make it on the day, the examiner will probably write something like 'didn't quite hold together today' .

Great input everyone , thankyou,I love some of the amusing wordings that the examiners put ,to make it not sound too bad.This particular piece "minuet in G"was doing well until the last couple of weeks my daughter was practising,it was the same bit each time about half way through that caused a problem.So was a bit unsure if she would pull it off on the day,it wasn't meant to be,but hopefully not too disastrous.

I don't think it will cost many marks at all. I had to restart one of my pieces for Grade 1 and still managed 26 for that piece. I also got a 26 for one of the other pieces that I didn't have to restart.

Lois

Depends how everything else went. I did this in my recent G6 exam and got a distinction, so you never can tell.

got result today from piano teacher, my daughter got a merit,very pleased just 2 marks from a distinction,128.The piece she went wrong on scored 27/30 so you never just know.Not got detailed report yet but so glad it was a good mark.

Congratulations!!!

That's fantastic ! congratulations to your daughter!

chewing my fingers now - only been just over a week so far ...

Congrats...... well done to your daughter.....
I had a pupil stop in a piece this session in an exam..... and she got 128 too..... but 25 for the piece in quuestion...... It's not disastrous as long as everything else in ok.....

Congratulations to your daughter, clarebear!

I stopped and restarted, more than half way through, one of the two grade 7 technical exercises (The Top by Nielsen). Still got 11 out of 15 with the comment "better after the restart". Therefore I think it is best to stop and start again - needs to be a quick decision though, and enough confidence and composure to make a better job of it.

Thankyou everyone for your encouragment,and good luck maggiemay,hope your not waiting too long.