In 'These Music Exams' it says that "firm, even tone and a rhythmical flow at the minimum suggested speeds will gain a pass. Higher marks are awarded for greater fluency, provided that evenness of tone is maintained."

Can anyone give me an idea how fast you would need to play to gain a distinction (bearing in mind the requirement to maintain evenness of tone)? I mean, what if you played at the minimum for the next grade up, or would it be higher than that?

Thanks for advice,
Jen

I usually play at the minimum speed for the next grade up. I don't like to play at the minimum speed for the grade in question as it's a bit risky if you were to go slightly slower in the exam (not that the examiners are sat with a metrenome under the desk!) but in practice one usually plays scales (and everything) faster in an exam than one does when practising. I've got distinction marks in scales for doing them at this speed.

QUOTE (AnotherPianist @ Mar 2 2005, 05:37 PM)

I usually play at the minimum speed for the next grade up.

Excellent! That's what I've been doing - I was a bit worried when it suddenly occurred to me that it might not be enough!

i cant play them fast enough so im going to fail

'As fast as you can, not as fast as you can't!' was always my teachers advice,- better to play them at a speed you can manage than try to play them fast and make lots of mistakes. Accuracy at a slightly slower speed will lose fewer marks than playing them very fast and getting them all wrong, or even worse playing the easy scales fast and the difficult ones slowly! My students usually get 18 - 19 for scales playing them around the recommended speed in the scale book.