So, I did my exam last Sunday. In my own opinion, I did well on the VivaVoce & Quick Study; the recital part was ok in general, but I was not satisfied at all. Here is some retrospection and notes that might be useful for you all.

One. Do Quick Study first! Especially if you don't play the piano, then do Quick Study first. The reasoning is this. If you do the recital first like me, then you'll feel like being thrown into a strange stage. In your first pieces, you'll fight to adapt to the stage, the seat. You just cannot be relaxed because the setting is new, right!? You naturally can't be relaxed because you are adapting! I need to somehow screw (not badly at all) my first 3 pieces to fight this feeling of 'needing to adjust to the new stage setting' before I could at last start to relax and really enjoy my own playing. So, if you do Quick Study first, you get a 5-min chance to do anything with your instrument on that stage. Play the Quick Study material with real energy too, don't consciously damp the sound; it's ok to play loudly because the rule says the examiner doesn't listen to anything. This allows you adjust and adapt yourself to that stage setting, as well as doing a sound-test in that specific acoustic.

Two. Drink water only before your exam. Don't drink too much too though . Now, me, the night before on Saturday I slept at 0300, woke up at 0800, got ready, and filled up my system with lots of caffeine at 0900 while playing around with my guitar. I left for the exam place at 1000, was there at 1030. And ... mannn ... as I did my recital that stupid caffeine-attack made me so groggy You know that feeling when your legs or nerves just move or shake uncontrollably as the caffeine hits your brain? It was like that! So, don't take any substance that can hit you like that caffeine-attack hit me.

Three. If you work in the morning then most probably you're accustomed to playing and practicing in the evening. Your music time is at night. So, a morning/afternoon exam is actually kinda like strange too for our physiology. I do notice myself playing better in the evening than in any other time. So, I think it's good to practice at your exam time. If it's in the morning, try to practice just at that time after you wake up. I didn't do this, but I wish I did. Apparently playing 10hrs and 4hrs since you woke up is not the same!

Four. This is purely my opinion on VivaVoce. Music is not like math, 1+1=2. There is nothing exact, and there is no real definitive right and wrong things too. So, all that count is just your argument. Like I got this question about my instrument the guitar, "how it evolved from the Spanish folk songs". My answer was a counter-argument! 'Cause I always thought this was just a myth that the guitar is an exclusive 'Spanish instrument'. See, since 1500s there was Dowland & Byrd in England, also that Michaelangelo famous painting depicting the girl with the lute. Shall we ignore these facts that at the time of Luis Milan, there was also an English contemporary? I think I have a strong answer against the myth, and I think that is ok, rather than parroting loudly some musical myth. So, in your VivaVoce, I think it's important to have your own opinion and be ready to defend it. What counts is the reasoning behind it, not the argument itself. I think!

Five. Chronology is a myth. Nobody tells you to play Renaissance first, then Baroque, then Romantic and so on in your program! So, design your program as such that it works for you! Maybe start with the easiest one first even though it is a contemporary music? Why not!

Six. Regarding the program, don't forget the rule that expect you not to play too many pieces from one composer unless if it is required by the syllabus. So, play a Bach's WTC prelude and its fugue if the syllabus says so; but play only the prelude or the fugue if the syllabus does not require you to play them both.


I think I'll pass although I did have some glitches here and there. As I thought about that exam performance, I did remember the glitches! But curiously as I read the music again in retrospect, I do forget the moments of playing many part of the music in the exam! I tried hard to remember if I indeed played it or not? Did I skip it? Then I remember Husserl's world and nature, or even Maslow: if you do it good or ok, then you just forget! . Just like we tend to only remember the hurts and wounds from life, we also tend to only remember the glitches and mistakes in our music performance too!

So, I think I'll pass! I'll tell you later if I do. Maybe in two-months time

For now, good luck to you all.

wow, thanks for all the detailed tips! im sorry about your caffine-attack halfway through your exam though..

And, i agree with your point 5. i really want to start with contemporary first, then end with classical, like travelling back in time but..my teacher would disagree, and, is it too wierd? i just think that starting with mozart seems a little too stressful. i cant get the perfection required by mozart at the first touch of a performance.

wow..you can party now! you've done your exam! congratz man! whatever the result, you've had a great experience from it, so, chill out for now!

Excellent feedback, many thanks J.D.

Well done for getting through it in one piece too, sounds like you really gave a good account of yourself in the Viva.
Forget about the glitches, go and celebrate a bit for surviving it... you deserve it.

So bella, the programme for you recital could be Prokofiev, Brahms,.... and Mozart ...?

denmark

Great feedback, J.D. Thanks very much. Good luck for the result!!

On the viva, how did you find the questioning? Were the questions more detailed & informed than you expected, or below the level you were expecting?

Thanks.

Thanks Bella, denmark77 & Tom.
Let me answer your questions at once

Bella, I think the function of a teacher is only to advice and not at all to instruct as such that you can only do what your teacher thinks is right. So, if I were you, I'll do what I think is good for me while of course I take the teacher's view too. And of course, if I fail after doing it my own way, I'll blame myself too! But THAT is learning, no? So, listen to people's opinion but do decide the program yourself. It's YOUR gig, not people's, not your teacher's. You must take 100% responsibility for your own gig. However, get ready to be asked too why you reverse the chronology in your program [see below].

Tom, the question was kind of general I think. First question was why my program was like what it is. I just answered it honestly, that I had a job, had a limited practice time, so I picked up pieces that I have played for sometimes. Second question was about the lautenwerk, a keyboard instrument that sounds like a lute for which Bach wrote the piece that I played. So we talked about that particular instrument and its connection with the lute, and then the guitar.

Third question was unexpected but very insightful! I played the Alhambra (that guitar piece with the tremolo throughout), and he asked if there was a piece like that before that one! No, there was not, as long as I know it. But there is a reason too for that, that was the guitar body was much smaller and the distance between one string to the next one is much smaller, so it was really hard to do tremolo for the right hand without touching the other strings. I'm still impressed by this question though! On the piano, say you play that Schubert's Ab impromptu number 3 that seems to be popular in here, and then you are asked if there was similar pieces with heavy arpeggiation before that one, can you answer that? Or try the variations of the question, say you play that Rachmaninov's Gm prelude number 5 in ABA form, can you answer if I ask you since when the prelude as a form evolves to ABA form --considering that all Chopin's or Bach's seem to be so much shorter?

Then, he asked about the guitar's historicity as I mentioned earlier. Anyway, the examiner's bio says he's a pianist and violinist. So he might not know much about the guitar, but his unprepared and spontaneous questions to me do show that he has innate musicality and understanding about (general) instrument history.

Here is a good practice for you, I think. Record yourself and talk freely about the pieces you play. Talk musically about them as much as you wish and can. That way, you'll be prepared to answer fluently about what you play.

Thanks for the detail on the Viva Voce. I'm not worried at all about the recital, sight reading, or writing program notes, but I don't like the idea of being put on the spot answering questions! Good luck with your results!

Well done you!
You did the two things that, reading my son's examiners' comments from the viva section, I would advise anyone to do.
First of all know your history of your instrument inside out. The questions my son were asked were all to do with why that piece, at that time, had those formats and it was to do with the more primitive instruments around at the time which my son's teacher has talked to him over the years. Then they took him through the progression of the instrument from those early days. My son could talk for hours on the subject with no hesitation (and did it seems)
Secondly he googled the examiners (you get their names on your time and date letter) and found out one was a piano specialist and the other a baroque specialist, which helped him second guess where they might direct their questions.
It worked, he dropped one mark 24/25 in that section. Not bad for a teenager.

wow. great advise. i've recieved the examiners bio yesterday, and he's loves chamber music. at the moment, i have no idea what chamber music is. lol. i should do some research from now until the exam, in 5 weeks time. thank god they gave me 5 weeks notice. i need it.

and. well, im a teen, and my teacher is, well, practically dominant over my program for the exam. which...im not sure. im lost...plus, should i risk angering my teacher to change the order of my recital, which i've tried 5 times before in heated discussions? or should i just change it secretly at the exam?

and, i would feel much more comfortable if i went to the exam venue on my own. i would feel more like an adult (which im not yet) and, i would say, relaxed without the 'support' (pressure) from my whole family waiting outside the exam room. but, as i said, im a teen..and..you know how parents are. and, im not sure if i'll get there safely and on time there, but, on the other hand, i'll be presured in the exam room a lot more. should i risk it and travel on my own to ensure im calm in the exam room, or travel there safely and be pressured?

How about suggesting they drop you off and then come and pick you up afterwards? I'm sure your family will want to be there to support you - if they take you to the venue, they will know you are there in time etc, they can go off and do something in between, then come back to be there when you have finished - if that's practical! Or could you make your own way home afterwards - if you would like some 'space' before being asked how it went.

I drove my son there, checked he had everything - including a drink of water and a snack (banana, flapjack etc) to boost blood sugar - amazing how light headed nerves can make you. And then I disappeared, went into town and found a coffee bar and pottered around. He rang when he was done. So let your family help, it is the least stressful way to get there in mum or dad's taxi!!! (they will want to, but keep it to transport and snacks) and get them to disappear for an hour or so!!

wow! i havent thought of that before! of course, they could disappear like, an hour before the actual exam, after they've shown me where the exam venus was. that's a great idea! i could have lunch by myself in peace and chill out before strolling to the exam venue! i hope this would be acceptable in my parent's books. but i think it's pretty reasonable!

thanks for that!

and, it's decided. im going to talk to my teacher about changing the order of my recital. because, in the expected order of a recital (baroque-contemporary), i am emotionally not ordered, if you get what i mean. All me peices just go perfectly in the reverse order (Prokofeiv-Mozart) i should play for her my version of order, then in her version of order, so she can see the difference! hopefully she'll get me...

im so excited!~ exam in 4 weeks and 5days!
but also a little depressed. dad and sister just whinged about how ugly/unpleasant/disturbing my piano playing was. but, as dad knows nothing about music, and my sister hates music (classical), i dont think i should take their judgement? or AM i playing in a very unpleasant way?

Think they need their hearing tested - Good Luck

I'm sure your parents will want to do whatever they can to make the day as stress free for you as possible.
Good luck with the rest of your preparation and for the day itself.


Louise

oh yeah, about the actual exam, do you reckon the examiners mark you down on looks/dressing? would it be alriight if i wore joggers, t-shirt and jeans to the exam? And also, do they expect pianists to memorise part, if not whole, of the program?

There is only one examiner at the exam, and they record the exam on tape (only sound, i heard). And then they'll send it back to the uk and a second examiner marks it. That examiner doesnt see how i dress, or if i memorised my peices (unless i turn the pages loudly).

so...comments?

Well . . . .you are going for a professional qualification and you are supposed to present your program as a professional recital so I'm afraid that you will have to look smart. Most of the girls seemed to be in black trousers and a simple shirt ie not evening wear and never jeans. All the guys we saw were in suits or shirt and tie. Then you have the viva which is a bit like a job interview . . get my drift?
A few years back I had to do some research on performance wear for an orchestra who were considering going a bit casual . . .the up shot is that there is much evidence that smartening up puts you into a performance frame of mind and gets the adrenaline going a bit which you need to do a good recital. Not to mention that the audience (in this case your examiner) feels you have paid them some respect by dressing smartly and so respond to you in a positive way.

Hope this helps