I wonder if anyone of you ever have played in an ABRSM exam from memory.

I find myself in a situation were I very much like to go for a distinction in my exams. However, they are also the best testing ground for nerves and daring. Lately, I find that an exam piece of mine is almost completely in my memory, especially since my need for getting the 3rd 8va clear needed a visual on the voice tuner which let to me looking at the voice tuner instead of the music sheet.

Now, I very much wonder, if I should try to play it from memory it in the exam. It would be a stressful situation. Just like a public performance is. I would have the music sheet with me in case I have a change in mind in the last second. But if I succeed, it would boost my confidence playing from memory in public considerately.

Has one of you ever done this? How did it go? Has someone had a change of heart in the end and played from the music sheet instead?

Oh, by the way, it would be my solo piece.

I did one piano piece from memory at grade 5. It was highly syncopated and just easier to watch my hands than the music. I had the music with me though. And all my singing exams were from memory.

As Alicia Ocean mentions, all AB singing exams require you to perform from memory.

In addition to this I have played from memory in the majority of my instrumental exams, with two notable exceptions - my grade 5 flute exam (for which I got 136) and grade 7 recorder ( for which I got 140).

It hasn't always been a deliberate decision to play without the music, though. A collapsing music stand prompted me to manage without the dots for my grade 8 recorder (I got 135), and exam nerves meant I couldn't get the music book open for my grade 5 piano (130).

I'm not sure that there's enough of a margin of difference in the results to say I definitely find it better to play with music than without.

In my experience, by the time it comes to the actual exam I can usually do the pieces from memory, certainly to a large extent and most likely the whole piece.
However, I always have the music there and don't try to play from memory. I don't need to look at the music necessarily, but it's nice to have it there as "back-up" and I would probably find it incredibly stressful to have to memorise.
But of course it is a help if you can carry on regardless in the event of a collapsing music stand

What you could do is put the piece of music on the stand, and put it slightly to one side. That way, you can play from memory but you can take a step or two over to the stand if your memory fails part way through. It's a potential good compromise between practising performing from memory, and not having the stress of performing from memory when you don't have to.

I always play from the score for festivals/exams due to to beings scared of forgetting the notes in front of the examiner/judge. However if I am playing in a concert then I try to memorise the music, as there are nobody to make my nervous by scoring my performance.

Personally, I try to play from memory when I can...I feel that it frees up your mind that little more so that you can concentrate on the sound rather than the notes in front of you. I know Svatislav Richter used to dislike playing from memory wishing to be 'true to the score' as much as possible and as much as I subscribed to that a few years ago, it doesn't work for me.

In terms of actually feeling confident to play from memory, the big thing is to make sure that you're not playing it from memory for the first time in your exam. Play for friends, try it once everytime you pick up the flute...luckily I go to uni so there's hundreds of opportunities to perform in front of people and enough people to give you credible feedback.

But the person below is correct however I disagree: the performance is more than just dots on a page and if not playing with the music makes you realise it better then play it without but if you play it better with the safety of having it with you then do that. Everyone's different

Long ago, back in prehistoric times I played the pieces for all my grade exams, from grade 5 to grade 8, from memory. Nowadays I am much more nervous and less trustful of memory, and have often put the scores on the music stand when I play for anyone. But that can be a mistake. Recent experience has taught me that when I can play a piece from memory, and habitually do so, then to play from the score actually makes me more likely to go wrong. What happens is that you forget to follow the score, charge ahead from memory, make a small mistake, then stumble when you can't find your place.

So what I would say is that if you have a piece you normally play from memory, and if you want to use a score for "Security" make sure to spend plenty of extra time in preparation, establishing the habit of actually following the score as you play.

Alternatively, find the confidence to play from memory.

But don't try some random mix of the two. It can be a disaster.

Interesting Mad Tom. The teacher I had a Chets said I should memorise several passages in one of my pieces. When I mentioned this to my teacher she wasn't so sure this would work as you have pointed out, sometimes it can be difficult to find out where you are in the score.

Thanks, madtom. That really is sound advise. I already discovered that I indeed stumble finding the passage I was playing in my music sheet after having made a mistake. My mind didn't make the connection yet. But after you wrote this, I tried to memorize my very likely to err passages and where to find them.

I braved it and played all three pieces from memory in my grade 4 piano exam this year (& passed!).

I had collywobbles over it, but figured that I had a better chance getting it right if I was free to use my eyes to check my hand positions and use my brain to play the music rather than read the sheet. My B piece especially (a Kabalevsky Waltz) had some big (for me) jumps in it and I felt more confident if I could use more brainpower to getting these right.

On the morning of the exam, predictably, I suddenly found my memory failing and tried reading - which was like sightreading from scratch (!) so I just had to trust the "bad rehearsal, good performance" theory, which was proved correct in the end :-).

I took my book in for "support", but left it closed on the piano top. I wish that could have earned me extra marks ..........