Hi all

Just got back my exam results for my first ever music exam (grade 2 organ) and really pleased.....BUT.....I was marked down in one of my set pieces. I foolishly put "feeling and expression" into it and that cost me a few points as it was seen as a problem with rhythm etc. So my question is should I stick ridgedly to the rather dry mechanical score or play with feeling for the atmosphere of the piece? I had thought a certain touch of rubato was to be encouraged but maybe not at this grade?

I was just asked the same question by the aunt of one of my G1 boys - she was nagging him to 'put some more soul' into it and asked if i agreed.

I said that I didn't really think it was a good idea. Firstly, at the lower end of the grades, the most important point is to play neatly and correctly, with confidence, and with some dynamic range and variation in articulation if possible.
The idea of personal interpretation and rubato and funky pedaling and so on is definitely open to misinterpretation (as per your organ exam) - I think therre's a slight feeling of you've got to learn to walk before you can run.

But I wouldn't worry about it - you know whether you can play it in strict time or not. If you can but you chose not to, there's a couple of marks going begging but at least you've enjoyed yourself experimenting. The actual mark is hardly vital in the big scheme of things.

I think you're probably right, at this grade they must be more concerned about the technical side being secure, but at my age (mid forties) its so hard not to be a bit expressive!

Yes you should but it has to be appropriate and in simpler music there isn't necessarily quite as much room for manoeuvre as in more complicated music.
There is room for playing stylishly but it has to be the right style.

You can put feeling and expression into a piece without playing rubato.

There's a great danger with playing rubato in that often the hard bits get slower and the easy bits get faster, which isn't really what it's about. In fact, I think, that strictly speaking for rubato if you slow down one part then another has to speed up so that overall you "land" in the same place after the rubato section as you would have done had you played it strictly at time. Jazz singers do this a lot, and it sounds great, but it's not easy.

you don't mention from which era this piece was?

Sometimes, but I can definitely think of examples (in repertoire and in tutor books) where 'rubato' is used as a synonym for 'ad lib.'.

Nonetheless, I generally agree with you, that the majority expressive fluctuations in tempo will be a gradual wave-like effect, up and down but always returning to the mean. Also, it's the pulse of the music which is changing, the rhythms need to remain correct within that gradually-shifting framework.

depends on the era though. Which was why I asked.

Oh no, I wasn't disagreeing with that!

WHOA
this is what I'm wondering about too!!!
I'm sitting grade 5 piano in March and my pieces are Fiocco's Andante (A2), Zilinskis's Elegy (B2), and Thiman's Flood Time (C1)
In the ABRSM CD of exam pieces, the interpretation of all pieces had some form of rubato with the most extensive being in the piece from list C
However, what bothered me was that the way it was interpreted sounded like the person had problem with tempo... (which is an impossibility)... speeding up at the beginning of every phrase and pausing briefly just before entering the next phrase (about every 2 bars)...
Is this was is called expressive playing?

celloml,

I think, come G5, more 'musicality' is expected than in G1 and 2 and the pieces are longer and more complex so there is more room for it.

Musicality dones't equate to rubato, of course, but a musical playing of a piece will very rarely be absolutely metronomic.

The Flood time is a perfect piece to speed up and slow down fractionally - it conveys the rather tempestuous nature of the rushing water. That said, it's better not to do it if you feel your are 'forcing' it so it comes out rather stilted and sounds simply out of time.

The Elegy is a classic romantic piece (from memory) so is bound to have a little rubato.

The Fiocco is more interesting. My pupil is playing it with a touch of rubato (particularly at that dotted quaver at the end of the first line, for instance). For me, it's a bit too much but it does sound quite musical and so it seems justifiable (even if I don;t do it when I play it).

However, the CD is not sent down from God himself - you don't have to follow it to the letter.

Absolutely! My impression of the violin CDs has often been that they're deliberately safe, middle-of-the-road performances, and at the higher grades (or the lower ones, with Corelli making an appearance at Grade 3) it's important to get pupils to listen to other recordings.

The grade 2 piece was early 20th century, Viernes Interlude no1. It has a distinct middle which I have hated learning so played "by the book" (which actually went down well with the examiner!) and the beginning and ending (not recieved quite so well) was where I was, in my eyes, trying to convey the mood of the piece, which is all slurs and swell pedal and very dreamlike.

Trouble was I was dreading my exam for about 4 months, sleepless nights, waking up in a panic etc and I don't really like playing in front of people! but on the day I really surprised myself and enjoyed it. Perhaps I need to curb my enthusiasm a bit for those occasions!

thanks for you input!
I do prefer to add some liberal dashes for phrasing using slight tempo variances... however my teachers says, "it does not say rit. here, why are you slowing down?" so I'm not sure if I'm "allowed" to add in expression that is not expressly written out... which was why I pointed out that the CD recordings do contain much personal flavor which I think maybe different examiners might find distasteful/artistic?

Yes you are as long as it's appropriate for the style of the music and that's something that your teacher could help you with. Sometimes what is on the page is almost a starting point.

I am bemused by the idea that you can learn the piece, then "add expression" (Whether it is by rubato, or dynamics, or balance of parts).

The expression is part of the music, inseparable from it, and the way it is produced is as much a part of each note that is played as getting the pitch and duration right.

well... I guess we're referring to "interpretation" and not "expression" per se...
otherwise two students playing the same piece might very say they are playing different music! (since "expression" is inseparable from the music)

Perhaps interpretation is a better word, I know from my lessons I have sometimes played a piece and my teacher has said that although there was nothing wrong with the way I played it.... it should sound like.....and his version is very different, same notes etc just different.

There are a lot of threads on the forum mainly from adult learners asking questions perhaps we are to "shy" to ask our teachers concerning exams. I'd like to start a thread where perhaps those who have gone through the process can offer little nuggets for those of us starting out.

But can I also add before I get any comments about the pros and cons of exams, I am learning for fun and my own satisfaction, taking exams was my teachers idea as a starting point to learn to read and play music properly as opposed to my self taught muddle along version but I still want to do my best at exam time for me (and my teacher who was probably more nervous/excited than us students!)