Hi
My daughter too her G5 Oboe exam a couple of days ago. When she came out her accompanist said that she had played the pieces as well as she'd ever heard, and feedback from daughter on third piece, sight-reading and aural was good. BUT, she said she didn't play a single one of her scales without a mistake, and couldn't get out her top E.
It sounds like she had a major off-day on the scales, and is worried, demoralised and upset.
I'm not terribly musical myself, and never done exams like this - please can someone tell me how this is likely to affect her overall result? What emphasis is put on scales as oppose to pieces, and is this terribly disastrous? Her teacher predicated a distiction...am I right in assuming we can now kiss this goodbye??

Not being able to get out top E in grade 5 oboe is a fairly standard problem. The embouchure tightens up and it's always the E at this level that goes. It really depends on how well she coped with this, ie., did she carry on with the scale or did it really bother her and spoil the rest of the scale? It's difficult to tell how it would affect her overall result, pupils are often very negative about their own performance after the exam and may feel it went worse than it really did. Before the exam, were her scales secure? If so, it may well be that she hasn't done as badly as she thinks she has. In terms of score, scales are worth 21 points out of a possible 150 and so can often be the difference between distinction/merit, merit/pass.

Best not to worry overly much, now for the long waiting game - hope it's not too long! And, whatever the result, move on to the next stage, a grade 5 result is not that critical in the long run.

Have a look here: http://www.abrsm.org/resources/theseMusicExams0607.pdf

It has info about marking and assessment criteria.

Hi,
I took my grade 6 a few months ago (flute not oboe though) and I had a terrible scales day- didn't play any bar the chromatic without an error or a restart. For flute I had to go up to a top B (somewhere in the nether-regions of sound) and neither this nor the Bb/A# worked properly in the scales which went up to the top B (strangely Bb scales on their own worked).
By the end I was a wreck and convinced I'd wrecked my chances of passing cus scales are normally "what I do best". As it turned out the examiner "believed I knew them despite the slips" and I still passed the section. Yes it was only 14, but it was a pass nevertheless. And I got a merit overall.

It depends really on how well the other parts went, obviously it is still possible to scrape a distinction despite the scales potentially being a scrape pass/near miss if the other sections were really good, say 28, 27,26, 19,17, 13 (3 pieces, SR,Aural and scales respectively). But you shouldn't be disheartened if the result is not what you hope, it was just one day, and her teacher obviously thinks highly of her...at the end of the day, when/if she goes on to higher grades, no one will really care if she *only* passed/merit at grade 5

Hoping for good results

You just can't tell. My daughter has had the same marks where the scales were perfect with no false starts or slips but rather lacklustre (as she was quite ill on the day) as when she played them with a bit of oomph but made several slips. The main thing is that, despite any slips, you keep going and get them right in the end. So it may not be as bad as you think!

Dear JinglyB

Well done to your daughter. It sounds like she did well on her pieces and should feel proud of herself!

My son has his Grade 5 oboe in a couple of weeks. Those third octave notes take a huge effort to produce and then to keep in tune. Sometimes they work great and sometimes they just don't.

I will be keeping my fingers crossed that it isn't too hot, the reed cooperates, he has a good day ...

There's a thread that might be of interest in the Teacher's Forum titled something like "Worst Ever Scales". It got a bit side tracked in places, but you might find it reassuring!

Thank you, and good luck to your son Fantasia