Hi to all,

I just wanted to share an experience that one of my pupils had last week in her Grade 5 Singing exam.

This is not related to the fact that all the tests are new this session but more to the actual proceedure in the exam.

This candidate has taken singing exams before so is quite well drilled with what to expect in the exam room.

Having spoken to her afterwards we talked about the sight reading section. The examiner was sitting at the piano and put the sight reading test on the piano and told my pupil to look over it. Usually my pupils are given the test and it is placed on a stand so they can have her "30 seconds". On this occasion it seems that the examiner played off the same music that my pupil was using so my pupil was looking over the examiners shoulder when reading the music.

This did unverve my pupil a little as she is not used to having to look down over the piano, has her own copy to sing from and was very close to the examiner and felt quite self conscious about trying bits out whilst right next to the examiner.

I just wanted to ask if anyone elses pupils have said anything similar or experienced this in past sessions.

Any advice would be great......
Vicki1433

Never experienced this (as far as I know) but it doesn't seem acceptable. If that was me, my eyesight simply wouldn't be good enough to see the music in that position.

This doesn't sound right to me if the candidate should have had their own part.


How do you see your pupils' music when you're teaching piano?

Have two copies of the music - they play from their copy and I follow mine if necessary.

Do you think I should get in contact with the board?

Vicki1433

I think that it would be wise to inform the Board what happened and then wait for the results.

Do you think I should get in contact with the board?

Vicki1433

Sorry - it posted twice for some reason - DOH!

Thanks - I think I will contact them.

I just needed to ask some advice before proceeding. Never had to contact them before.

Vicki1433

With difficulty!!

Like David I often use a second copy. However this has only been so since our Roland was changed for a Kawai which has a horribly high music desk. In fact the younger children are obliged to place their music on the lid of the keyboard which means pulling it out slightly. I have noticed that most of my smaller pupils sight read better when the music on the page is on the middle or at the bottom of the page.