And no suprises here, I failed.

Though I had hope I might have done better than 80 whatever it was!

So I guess I will be doing that recorder exam. Blow. I really hoped I could say goodbye to music exams now.

Double blow.

QUOTE (tamsin @ Dec 16 2004, 05:26 PM)

And no suprises here, I failed. Though I had hope I might have done better than 80 whatever it was! So I guess I will be doing that recorder exam. Blow. I really hoped I could say goodbye to music exams now. Double blow.

Why do you have to do music exams?

R
Ps, Sorry to hear about the result but that's the great thing about this kind of exam - you can always do it again if you feel you must.

(((big hug)))

Aww, Tamsin, don't feel too bad- you can always re-take if you feel you must, or just forget about exams for a while and enjoy playing.

Exams aren't everything, you know

I know. I don't want to take anymore music exams (I always went to pieces with nerves), but if I now leave this one, I'll always feel like it got the better of me, and wonder if perhaps I never could have passed.

I mean, this is yet another knock to what little confidence I have in my playing, and I need to prove I can do it. Or else, I'll just end up giving up.

Oh, you poor thing, Tamsin - I'm so sorry - (big hug!)

QUOTE (tamsin @ Dec 16 2004, 06:29 PM)

Or else, I'll just end up giving up.

NO NO NO NO

Its a little confidence set back.

So what?

I failed grade 4, and re took it the next session and passed. You will be slightly more confident next time, or take a break from exams and play some things you enjoy. And as Cecilia said, exams aren't everything.

Smile

Helen.

Bad luck Tamsin - so sorry to hear you didn't make it.

Don't think about exams for the moment. Have a break over the Christmas holiday. Play some other things that you like. Time enough to decide what to do next when you can look back on this term from a little distance.

Maggie

Hi Tamsin,

I understand how you feel. I used to fail my grade 5 practical exams and was so depressed that I took a long break for a few yrs. That was the 1st time I failed my exam & felt useless, no talent at all. I don't even dare to take exam for the past few yrs. Afraid to face the consequences. Until last yr, I tried to take exam again. I worked hard & my teacher also encourages me. Finally, I passed my exam & looking forward to face more challenges. It is a process as everybody has their owns ups & downs. This is a part & parcel of life. Time will heal your wound.

Czaire

QUOTE

(I always went to pieces with nerves),

i'm really sorry you failed, remember that exams aren't the be all and end all. also you may have had a bad examiner, a lot of people at my music centre failed this year who shouldnt have due to a really harsh examiner.

how about playing more solos in public? I know that if I can perform in front of people at my not-to- open-minded-about-classical-music school then I can perform in front of anyone anytime anywhere!

seriously tho, the more you play in stressful conditions the more you get used to just playing on through the mistakes. I play organ for church service and the congregation are really supportive, especailly when i first started. If I forgot the last verse or played one too many they just smiled and let me get on with it.

remember, at the end of the day, if you play a wrong note, which will inevitably happen once in a while, its not like you thought you had a cure to a disease and then made a mistake etc.

perhaps taking a break for now would be good tho, enjoy the holiday and relax, dont practice as much or at all ( !) for a week or something.

lastly, enjoy your exam! sounds strange, but see it as a chance to perform to a real musician who can offer you (hopefully) constructive criticism.

hope this helps
hornplayer xxx

I think my examiner definetly fufilled the whole "nice examiners mark harshly" thing. Or perhaps in the exam he simply felt sorry for me, and thats why he was nice!

I've cheered up a bit now. Getting a amendment slip through saying my Geography GCSE had been upgraded from an A to A* help reassure me that I am better at other things, and should remember that music is just a hobby (strictly for me here). I find that quite funny though, I was perfectly happy with an A, I didn't even know the school had appealled. Why is it a single star seems so unimportant compared to my flute exam result? I really need to reassess my priorities.

Thanks for all the support and sympathy everyone. I don't know if I explained, but I certianly won't attempt to retake till after I've finished my International Baccalaureat exams, they are really early in May 2006, so if I keep on top of my practise, and thoroughly prepare over the next 1 1/2 years (perhaps as some of you know taking grade 2 or 3 on treble or descant recorder between now and then to get my confidence up a bit), and then I'll find someone to play the piano for me, and enter myself for the exam in the Summer session. I wasn't about to go out and take it in the next session. I think I've just shown its too much work to do on top of 7 subjects.

So thanks again.

Another IB student! I also take the International Baccaulreate! Does anyone take Music. Anyone taking it at higher level? What pieces will u be performing for your recital? Anyone going to be performing on two or more instruments? If so, are you at the same grade on all of them?

Sorry Tamsin! I meant to say I personal messaged u so check it out!!

Congratulations on your Geography GCSE being re-graded, Tamsin, and I think you are right to allow yourself a break for the time being... I hope you've cheered up a bit now

lucky you...i had my history GCSE appealled and the grade and marks stayed the same...it's only one mark off an A*....

Oo, nasty! But look how many grade 8's you've got! ~ sorry I'm not inclined to be sympathetic here!

Yes, I've cheered up, in another week I'll feel brave enough to pick up the examiner comment sheet, and then get all upset when I read it again, and then I'll get over it. And at least as/when/if I retake, I'll go in with the fatalistic attitude~ "It can't go any worse than last time!"

((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((Tamsin)))))))))))))))))))))))))))))

Well done with your Geography result, it is really good. Go for it with your recorder exam, show the examiner how good you really are! Exams aren't everything, even though it is disappointing. Try and make it make you more determined to do better next time. Good luck and best wishes

AWWWW!!!! So sorry to hear you didnt pass Tamsin! But at least you know you can only get better! I wouldnt fret about it I only just passed my grade 8 and Im now in my 1st year @ uni studying music! If its any constillation at all I have my 1st uni practical exam on the 24th or 25th of Jan and Im fairly convinced Im going to fail it! Ive had to totally change the way I play and ive only had 5 lessons and the majority of my classmates have had around 10! AARRRRGGGGHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Awww Tamsin, better luck next time!!! *hugs* You definitely deserve it!

I don't know what it is about flute Grade 8... I have three good friends who I thought would all get high distinctions in their Grade 8 flute exams, yet two got low merits and one got a scrapey pass... I know they still passed, but they were both slightly disappointed... is this exam jinxed or something?!?!

But then, I'm not a flautist, so I probably don't know what I'm talking about. So, Tamsin, rest assured that you are a MUCH better flautist than I am!!!

rrrrrrrr! wat exam was this???

Grade 8 flute.

im so sorry tamsin, cheer up

*gives tamsin big hug*

argh.... that's not nice tamsin.

I'm STILL waiting for my result. last time I take an exam this close to Christmas grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr! 3 weeks today and I am still waiting. it'd better come soon or I'm going to go potty!

Hope you've done better than I did then Sarah. I'm sure it'll be worth the wait when it comes through.

I got 136 (only grade 4 but I'm still very pleased)

I hope it goes better for you next time, tamsin. when are you going to take the recorder exam?

QUOTE (sarah-flute @ Dec 23 2004, 12:50 PM)

I got 136 (only grade 4 but I'm still very pleased)

You did better than when I did my grade 4, I got 98.

Outch, at least I failed in style! as my dad said, I'd have been hopping if I'd failed by, erm, say, 2 marks! lol

Congratulations Sarah, thats a fantastic result (I got 114 I think at grade 4, give or take a few marks). I'll see after christmas, I need to get a new recorder (hard work living down here) as my sister is stealing hers, (which I play too) and taking it back to uni with her, including the treble which she can't play anyway!

And then I've got to choose pieces... and I think it'll come down to sticking pins into the sylabus, seeing as there is no way I can get to see any of the music before I buy it!

GRRR! Why do I have to live in a rural area?!

wouldn't you just?

I'm sure you will do great in your recorder exam... I'd go for the books with the most pieces in, ie more than one piece for that grade, so that you still have a choice when you get the music... that's what I tried to do with my harp G1 pieces (which I am hoping to do sometime this year, maybe.....)... I do have some G3 treble & descant music downstairs, Trinity though (I think) that a friend at school gave to me about a hundred years ago... but if you like I could have a look and see *if* any of the pieces matched the current syllabus & tell you if any of them looked especially good! it's a big if, though!

planning on G5 flute in the summer but I need to try and find a good teacher, too. I had forgotten how stressful exams were, though, lol... it's been 7 or 8 years since I did the last (a violin exam) and I was so nervous.

Tamsin, random question, but which pieces did you play for your G8? there are some lovely pieces in there... so hard but wowee some of them! hope you enjoyed playing them even though the exam didn't go so great.

I'm waffling... I'll shut up!

Sorry to hear about your exam, Tamsin, hope you'll have better luck next time. Just enjoy playing the flute and recorder for a bit. Merry Christmas

Thanks for that. I actually had a look at the Trinity syllabus for Grade 8, just to see if the exam might suit me better (I though seeing as I'd be entering myself this time around, I'd make sure I did what I wanted!), but I decided in the end to stick with what I know.

All the pieces I did are listed in the message I posted after I got out of my exam. I think its under a thread labelled "Help!" if you're interested!

Good luck with the Grade 5, I'm trying to remember which pieces I did. I think it was the Hornpipe by C something or another from list B, the Mozart Adagio from A and one of the ole favourite red (or is it blue by Grade 5?) studies. I strongly recommend the Hornpipe if its still in the Sylabus, I loved it, but unless you love the Adagio to bits for some odd reason, don't go there. That was one piece I failed in style, probably even worse than I massacred the Handel this time round. I can't do slow! Well, I can, but not in exams when I liable to take off at double speed or other similar events that scare the living daylights out of my long suffering accompanist.

QUOTE

Hornpipe by C something

That isn't Hornpipe by Cecilia McDowall is it?

It's still red studies I think. Woopedeedoodah. lol.

I can't find a hornpipe... but I think I shall have a go at the Richard Rodney Bennett one, got it out of the library to have a look and it's rather nice. I do need to have some good lessons first though, before I attempt another exam. I am going to look out all the G5 stuff I can find, though, regardless of whether it's in the current syllabus. Don't have a need to rush through the exams, and I really want to get as good as I can. I have never made it past grade 6 on anything, (and that exam was the violin and is by far the best I'm ever going to get really, don't have the technique!) and I'm determined that on the flute I will.

I found the trinity recorder books by the way... so drop me a line if you think it's worth me looking - they're G3 standard and from 87/90, so they are way out of date, but pieces may have possibly come round again