Well Yesterday I had my Grade 1 piano Exam which I have been working extremely hard on for a year. I feel really dissapointed with myself because I didnt play my Scales or my pieces half as well as I usually do.. i think it just came down to nerves on the day because I was more than well prepared.

My hands where a bit shakey when playing my scales and they felt really uneven and sloppy.. although I did play all 3 scales I was asked to promptly, they where just not very good.. it felt as if i just rushed through them. My broken chords where okay but still not very smooth and I think i rushed them too.

Then with my first piece it got worse! My hands totally froze and I hit lots of wrong notes. The examiner asked if i wanted to start again, and so i did. But the second time wasn't much better, lots of wrong notes and it completely broke down at one point, but i did see it through to the end.

Second and third pieces where both fine with only one small mistake in the second. The aural went fine I answered all questions correctly I think. The sight reading was pretty bad, no suprises there!

So all in all it was a bad exam and I am really disappointed in myself and my confidence has taken a bit of a knock. My teacher was sure I would do great and always said that the exam would be easy for me. So I feel as if i've let us both down!

What is the standard to pass? Is it possible to pass with an exam as described above??

Thanks

Yes, it sounds like you have done well. Looking back on that the only thing that may have let you down is the first piece, yes your scales may not have been as even as you hoped, but then everyone gets shakey fingers! Examiners don't worry too much about having to restart pieces, I had to do it once and still got about 27 for that piece (can't remember exactly but it certainly wasn't much lower than the others, if at all).

It is perfectly normal, however, for you to be feeling bad about your exam as you look back on it, everyone gets this, and people only remember the bad elements. There have been countless topics on this before where people worry that they have failed and then come back in 2 weeks feeling rather embarrased as they have actually achieved a very good mark!

The fact that you saw everything through will guarantee some good marks I wouldn't worry too much.

I keep thinking about my exam and how annoyed I am at myself for not doing better but that's life really. Just wait until the results come out, you may be pleasantly surprised

Doogle, I expect you have done a lot better than you think.
BEv

Hi Doogle

If you go to this page of the ABRSM site, towards the bottom you'll see a link to a downloadable booklet called These Music Exams. From p37 onwards it gives you the assessment criteria which the examiners use which might give you a better idea.

Hope it's gone better than you think - and welcome to the forums, by the way!

Thanks for all the responses.. they have made me feel much better.

Good

Have you had chance to have a look round the forums yet - there's a Viva Piano if you've got any questions specifically on piano technique, for instance, or if you're an adult , there's an Adult Learners forum where we support each other. And the teachers are very helpful to us too

I usually feel like this but I tend to always look back on the really negative parts of the exam and the good parts tend to run away before I have the time to actually recall how well the actual thing went.
The worst part about it is waiting for your result.

<--- WOW!!!

I could be wrong but I think it's actually quite hard to fail grade 1 if you actually played the pieces & scales as requested. At this level the examiner will be really trying to pass you: No-one expects perfection even at grade 8 and above. Concentrate on what went well rather than what could have gone better.

You are wrong. It is no more difficult to fail grade one than any of the other grades.