I've just got home from taking my grade 5 violin and wonder if anyone else will be playing the waiting game for reults with me.

I think I've done OK. The practice beforehand was AWFUL but overall I enjoyed the experience.

What went well ..... or not so well for you? Examiner didn't play a note for my sight singing but my scales were wobbly and don't even ask about the sight reading with 3 flats and lots of position work And to think ...... I thought about withdrawing my entry a fortnight ago!

Congratulations to have stand it and all the best for your results.

Well done for going through with it and good luck with your results.

Well done, Fizzynoodlepot - it sound like you will be receiving a positive result before long. My students' results came back very quickly this time (about 12 days) so perhaps you won't have long to wait.

Well done for going through with it

Good luck...hope you have your results soon.

My son took his grade 5 violin on Thursday (1st July) so we're now waiting too. What pieces did you play? He played Bagatelle by Mozart, Cavatina by Ireland and Dance of the Snowmen by Blake. The pieces went well and so did the scales, although he said he took forever to work out what note the dominant 7th started on!. The sightreading was horrendous, however - 6 lines long and in 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th positions! He was virtually in tears because he had so wanted to do well. And as for the aural, well... I was sitting outside with 3 experienced musicians (his accompanist, the next candidate and her accompanist) and none of us could even identify the time signature! The singing-back was ridiculously long, too.

If they're going to make the sight-reading and aural this long and hard, why isn't the practice material like it? Incidentally, the examiner said he would be asking him about tonality, style and period but actually asked him about dynamics, style and period - he hadn't been listening out for the dynamics so he had to wing it!

Good luck with your results - let us know how you got on and we'll do likewise.

I took my piano exam G3 "2nd July.

Pieces went fairly well, plenty of expression. 1 notable bar that I made a mistake in "study in F"
I recovered and continued with plenty of expression.

Top cat one line was a bit rushed. Thats about it for the pieces.

Scales mostly ok, but Gm Melodic, made mistake and one other. %80 played ok.

sight reading was ok, but didnt like all the Cres and Decres :/ on ever bar in and out -.-

Aural tests went fairly well I think. I will revisit here when I get my results, im a little unsure about the answers I gave to their questions, and have forgotten.

~ People keep us updated with your exams, fascinating subject

I played Tambourin, Sicilienne and Snowman Dance. I thought my peices went well but now have had time to dwell There was a lot of position work in my sight reading too I know where your son is coming from with the tears .... if I pass I plan to reward myself with a new violin. Have always said need to pass grade 5 before going shopping. My aural was fine, but doubt that will make up for sight reading.

I agree with you that teachers don't really prepare you for sight reading and aural tests. I found myself a nice piano teacher to accompany me this time and she helped me with the aural for a few weeks before the exam but I still needed more prep really.

I've convinced myself that my result will come on Thursday ..... but they could easily be sitting in my teacher's inbox now ..... she has a week old baby so has other things on her mind!





Things sound like they have gone OK for you. I found the scales hard work for grade 3, but probably because this was the first music exam I had ever sat. Fingers crossed ...... Keep us posted

BTW am I the only one who can't be bothered to practise at the moment ????????

There are teachers who try to make sure that their students have been prepared for all parts of the exams for which they enter them.

I can't imagine my teacher ever leaving anything left uncovered/unprepared.

Grade 5 piano this morning having already failed it once at Christmas. Scales and first piece were a disaster, second piece had a few minor slips, third piece was about the best I've ever played it, sight reading and aural were pretty good. Based on that I know the result could go either way (pass/fail) but I'm terrified my scales/first piece will end up being enough to fail me again - for various reasons I'm not going to get a third attempt for a while so I'm desperate to pass and worried I might not have done enough.

It all went so well in yesterday's lesson too.....

Hi all - this is my first post. I sat Gd 8 piano on 3rd so am also waiting for results. It's only taken me 33 years to get this far! If I fail it will no doubt take me another 33 years to pluck up courage to try again! I felt good when I finished, but that may just have been the acheivement of taking the exam in the first place. My daughter is also waiting for the results of her cello exam. Fingers crossed for everyone waiting.

to the forums, fingers crossed for you, too, and everyone else waiting.

Don't be silly ;-) despite having a lesson the day after his exam and being given two new pieces and two new scales we got specific instructions to let Tim mess about this week ;-) He is, however, working very hard at learning the accompaniments in his trumpet book. Go figure.

I passed I passed I passed Now I can go shopping for a new violin ..... I feel a new post coming up ..... what shall I buy.
Perhaps you guys won't have to wait much longer. Fingers crossed

So you HAVE to come to our concert on Saturday to suss out everyone else's violins :-)

We will bring the Pimms!

Do you know ..... I thought ....... great name, but no I think it's just a coincidence! Violin currently in boot of car. Can't be doing it any good!
Have told girls about concert. I have been instructed to bring lots off food and make sure ipods are charged

LOL - well Jamesy brought his DS to evensong the other week... he did have the volume turned off though!

I sat Grade 4 clarinet yesterday. The exmainer was an old dragon. I don't think I passed. I really messed one of my pieces up. I was so upset

I think (been doing a lot of reassuring lately!) that you have to tell yourself that you KNOW that you are capable of passing otherwise you wouldn't have been entered, and that the exam result is a snapshot of one day's performance. Easy to say and harder to take on board, I know.

I passed! I got 130 which is my best mark ever. Still reeling - I had to log in twice to make sure.

My daughter was asked about tonality last session and answered the question but the comment read that she had wrongly identified the period which she insists she wasn't asked about. I think it's par for the course with aural. Hope your son does well.

That's great news, issy! Onwards and upwards.

That reminds me of when we had our house surveyed before buying it and the surveyor said the floor in the hall was made of concrete when it was floorboards, exposed, uncovered floorboards. A case of them writing in afterwards and not remembering properly?

My daughter took her grade 5 violin on Thursday (8th July) so we're now waiting too. She played the Vivaldi Allemanda, Reiding Andante Sostenuto and the Richard Rodney Bennett Buskin. I always accompany her so heard the pieces and they went really well. She had one slip on an arpeggio, the awful G# minor but all the others were OK. So far so good! Her sightreading is usually really good but she said she found it tricky, 3bs and lots of extra accidentals, and really long!
She has really practised for the aural, a lesson every week for the last term at music academy and at home with me, and all has been fine. As with accounts of the other G5s on here, the singing-back was ridiculously long, too, and she came out almosts in tears and will be so upset if the aural drops her marks! Why does the aural have to be so difficult, it seems an unnecessary evil to me!!!
Good luck with your results everyone!

Grade 7 sax was ok, I hope!! The pieces were alright I think, certainly no major issues but a few glitches. I wonder how harshly they will mark? Scales were a bit messy really - could have played them better, but I guess nerves set in, and the aural and sight-reading were slightly dire. Overall I was pleased-ish: I tend to be hard on myself, so I really hope I've done enough not to fail, but if anyone saw my thread a while back about my teacher (or lack of) then I guess I wasn't as prepared as I could have been. Ho hum

Congratulations!!

Oh this is an interesting thread. I am taking grade 5 violin on Thursday this week, Bagatelle, Sicilienne and Song of the Ghetto. Great pieces, I've been working on them quite a while, and recognise now that they are as good as they're going to get! I struggle with the vibrato, I struggle with the bowing, and the intonation in the middle part of sicilienne with all the position changes - I know what I would like to do but can't (yet?) do it. Encourage me please! I'm feeling OK actually and quite looking forward to just going for it - my tone is good, I love the feeling of the pieces. Got a lovely accompanist. Deep breath.

Interesting to read that the sightreading has generally been tougher than expected. I have the Paul Harris book so will work on it each day - realistically tho I am only comfortable reading in 1st or 3rd pos, and I doubt I can improve 4th and 5th and moving between sensibly now. I also find the singing back very hard to get right - the first half fine, the 2nd half I seem to improvise nicely but wrongly! And don't mention the aural test C - I love music, have sung and hummed along for decades, but ask me to put a work to something and it may be very random....

And good luck to anyone else about to do an exam.

Fantastic! I can't believe you've already heard! I'm sure it's going to be at least another week before we do.

Go on, spill the beans, what marks and comments did you get for your pieces?

I hope you find a wonderful new violin - I really feel grade 5 is a landmark that deserves a big treat (and I'm only the mum, not the candidate!)


It sounds like your daughter should sail through. The aural might cost her a couple of marks but I'm sure it won't affect her overall level. I totally agree with you about the singing-back, etc - as soon as anyone on these forums complains about the aural (or sightreading, but particularly the aural) component, others assume that the person's teacher has not prepared them adequately and blames them for it, but it's not (or not just) that - I really believe these elements are disproportionately hard for a younger candidate - my son is just 8 and doesn't have lots of orchestral experience yet.

Really good luck with your daughter's result - do let us know how she gets on.


Good luck!!! Fingers crossed for you!
I totally agree the pieces are fab. I'm glad you've enjoyed playing them, now let that shine through! My son said he played Bagatelle the best so I'm sure you'll play it beautifully too.
As for sightreading and aural, well, you just have to do what you can and not get upset. The pieces are the most important bit by far.
Will be thinking of you on Thursday x

Well done! And to the forums!

I had my grade 7 sax today. It was really bad!

Hopefully it will be better than you think

I bet there were good sections kingsley13. All the best for a good result

Thanks I'm happy with the scales and the examiner even said 'If only everyone played them so promptly', but my pieces weren't brilliant. It could have been a lot worse though!

You've done well to get to Grade 7 be proud of that. Hope things turn out well with the result.

I had my grade 8 singing on Monday... and it was truly terrible!
I will give you a detailed recount- I'm sure you'd love to relive the experience
So I'm the last candidate of the day and naturally I'm feeling nervous anyway. I walked in the room and approached the examiners desk and hovered to shake her hand and she just kind of ignored me :/ so straight away i felt a bit tense. Then I started singing...
Actually the four songs went pretty well I think, although probably not the best I've ever done them, but acceptable for the exam although there was no encouraging smiles in between pieces Thankfully though I had my trusty accompanist (and A Level Music Teacher) to give me the right looks and make me feel a bit better bless him.
Then he had to leave me alone to do the unaccompanied song and sight reading and aural tests... Anyway, the unaccompanied song was dreaful, which is stupid because its probably the easiest part of the exam, tuning is never a problem with me! Except that I happend to sing an out of tune note in my grade 8 exam when it really mattered, then the examiner dived on that mark sheet like it was chocolate cake and i felt sick and nervouss and my breathing went down the pan
Thennn it was sight reading... which suprisingly went okay- I think
But aural testss oh dear! I think i probably got every question wrong because I dont have perfect pitch and unless you give me the sheet music and let me analyse it I'm afraid I can't identify modualtions :/ atm anyway. Then the D questions with the piece of music I don't know why but I was expecting her to ask me some kind of questions or things to look for, but she just played the music then stopped and looked at me... so i just rambled utter nonsense for several minutes.
So I think its safe to say I have failed!! Oh and I would just like to point out that I'm not blaming the examiner because obviously it is my performance she is just part of the story.
I will let you know the official results...

Doesn't sound like a fail to me. You said the pieces went well, you hit a duff note in the solo piece, but presumably most of the others were fine, you've probably scored some marks on the rest, even if you failed a couple of sections the good pieces should carry you over the finish line. Wait couple of weeks before you start to panic! Even getting to grade 8 is a huge achievement, and obviously you want a distinction (doesn't everyone!) but sometimes it just isn't meant to be.

Good luck for when the result comes out.

I think aural always feels as though it has gone badly. in 'These Music Exams' I noticed it said that people often do bettter than they think they have in the aural tests. Hope your result is better than you think.

My grade 8 piano exam on 22nd June felt like a disaster. I really panicked and my eyes went blurry so I couldnt see the music properly. I made dozens of small mistakes and 3 or 4 really big ones like stopping for 15 secs after I lost my place in the music, and my playing just broke down in the middle of my mozart piece- which I failed. At the end the examiner said 'I'll TRY to be positive in my comments' leaving me sure I'd failed. I couldnt do the sightsinging at all, needed a 2nd attempt as singing back. The nice examiner asked some easy aural questions,, allowing me to pass with 107!

I'd say if you play all your pieces, most scales and give some answers for aural, don't consider it failed until the mark comes through.

I hadn't done enough...I failed again, only 4 marks under but I don't know when or even if I'll get to do it again as life is going to get in the way for the next year or so. Shocked that I passed the aural and failed the SR though, it's normally the other way round for me!

Remember my son took his grade 5 violin on 1st July? Well, he got a distinction! Just... he failed his sightreading but got really high marks for pieces and scales so that made up for it - 130 on the nose! I'm absolutely thrilled for him because he worked so hard, and he was so exicted he couldn't sleep last night (he's only 8)! So I'll carry on crossing my fingers for the rest of you out there - he thought he's blown it so you never know.

Fantastic news - many congratulations!! We are still waiting for my daughter's results - keep your fingers crossed for her!

Results finally in - and happy to report that she got a distinction! So happy! Really high marks for the pieces and average / OK marks for the aural and sightreading (and unusually scales - which are usually almost full marks) gave her an overall mark of 130. Thanks for the finger crossing! Now just have to wait for the piano results!

Well done both!

I hope you'll feel better about it once the shock of the result dims. It sounds like you've hit a plateau, but as has been said before on the forums, now is the time to "stand back and enjoy the view". You've come such a long way, and at your level, there will be many pieces that you can play just for the pleasure of it. Take heart from the many others on here who have failed a grade and then gone on to do well at later grades

I am so sorry to hear that, but remember that was just the exam, it doesn't mean that your playing isn't of that standard. I scraped through my grade 4 and decided then that exams just weren't for me due to nerves, this may be the same for you.

If you are feeling demotivated now, start something new that you can really get your teeth into, Mozart K545 first movement is really good and since I started to play this I have improved on so many technical things.

Just enjoy the piano and maybe leave the exams alone for a while, you can always go back to them at a later date.

ET

Grade Eight Singing= 127 Merit
Really happy because my singing teacher pretty much told me before the exam it would be luck whether I pass or not

Well done to everyone who also passed and for those who didn't this time round- don't let it get you down!
x

Many congratulations!

Thanks to all who replied - we're going to have to leave exams for now as I'm going to be to and from home too much this year (I'm a postgraduate student for a year!) then after that who knows where I'll be or what I'll be doing! We've decided it's worth keeping scales/sightreading ticking over but I won't be looking to do the exam again until I'm properly settled somewhere and know what my future looks like. What with being away at uni the last few years of lessons have been almost nothing but exams (at my choice and I have enjoyed this) but it's nice to be able to be a bit more relaxed for a while!