I am terribly nervous as a47 year old student has anyone got any advice

Performance assessment can be a useful step before you go for exams.
It is more relaxed and gives you a chance to get feedback without worrying about marks.

Apart from that.... have you tried rescue remedy

I'm an adult student too (also Grade 3), so I sympathise... All I can say really is that it's normal to feel very nervous beforehand. Once I go into the exam room though and start playing, it seems to ease a bit.

I have found that the examiners are friendly and encouraging to me as an adult learner.

Have you done a piano exam before?

QUOTE

I am terribly nervous as a47 year old student has anyone got any advice

If it is any help, most, if not all my adult students feel much the same.

Performance assessment is good advice.

Students who have done exams tell me that the examiners are indeed very encouraging.

Are you already entered for gr 3? If so good luck. Try to do a few relaxation exercises beforehand.

Maggie

I am an adult as well who gets nervous in the lesson or playing in front of friends, let alone in an exam! Much of it due to the fact I want to do it perfect, or at least the best I could do it in practice. I noticed a HUGE difference in my approach to exams (and the nerves that come with it) from when I was a kid doing Grade 1 (not a care in the world), to a 15yr old doing Grade 7 (very stressed), and now after a 9-10 yr break, a 25 yr old doing Grade 8 (worried about every possible problem!).

I think examiners would take into account adults can be quite a bit more nervous than kids. But that aside, for you yourself, you could try:

In the exams, do the scales first. It helps you warm up, you don't have to worry about the timing and expression as much (which goes out the window if you are nervous) and even if your fingers freeze up, it isn't as disconcerting as if it was in a piece (for me anyway). All in all, what I mean is it is easier to get into the feel of the playing and to recover from stutters than if you were in a piece.

Take your time. If you need a few deep breaths to calm yourself down and clear the mind, then by all means do it. It is better if you took the time before you start than if you rushed in and tensed up.

If envisioning and all that helps, then try to just imagine as if you were in your daily practice room and it isn't an exam or anything. It's basically just you and the piano.

Remember *why* you are playing the piano. You love it (I am assuming?!), it is a hobby, it gives you great joy. Focus on that and think of settling into the music rather than thinking you have to get everything right because it is an exam.

If you think it might help, see if you can get a chance to play on different pianos, and/or in front of friends and family etc if being with an unfamiliar instrument and playing in front of people is what gets you nervous.

I know all of the above is much much easier said than done. I am repeatedly telling myself the above too, but can find it hard to put into practice!

If worse comes to the worst, then you can do what I did for my Grade 7. I asked the examiner if I could re-start the piece. I was a wreck that day (esp since I had two end of the year school exams the same day as the piano one) and was very wound up, getting quite nervous and made mistakes which I rarely made. I got so concerned over that it threw me so I asked to start again, which the examiner let me. I didn't lose as many marks over that as I feared (though it was far from the best I could have gotten). Now, that was under a different board (Irish), so I'd check to see if ABRSM allows you to do that.

I can't remember where I read it but the official line from the ABRSM is that one cannot re-start a piece (they do it to ensure that the exams don't over-run) so I wouldn't rely on that.

In my experience the nerves before the exam have been worse than those in the exam: the examiners are always friendly and smile when you go into the exam; this helps a lot.

There are a few tips in 'these music exams' too which you can get from the exams section of the website.

I am also a mature student.

IMHO the best way to prepare yourself (nerves wise) is to play your pieces in front of as many people as you can.

The way you feel when under stress is very different to the way you feel without someone watching you. Something else that helps is to record your pieces. I do find that some of the same feelings apply when you have pressed the record button.

Try it, you play the piece thru fine, then press record, play it again and you make mistakes. The main thing to practise is playing the pieces when under stress so that your body (mind) is used to playing in this condition.

If you have a digital piano, you just press a button to record your performance. A cheap ghetto blaster will do the job just as well tho.

Why do we get nervous.

It is a function inside us that put's us into a heightened mental state (adrenalin) when we are in danger. This is called the fight or flight response.

We are in danger when we cross the road, boil water etc. We are not in danger when we practise the piano in privacy. But! We are in danger when we play the piano in front of someone. The danger is a different danger to crossing the road, but the effects that happen to the body (mind) are the same.

You can't change this condition. You can try to convince yourself that there's nothing to worry about, but that's on the outside. Inside, the same chemical reactions will still occur.

Prepare yourself by playing your pieces in front of as many people as poss. Neighbours, friends etc. You will become used to playing in this distressed condition. The day of the exam will then seem a lot less stressfull.

Hey
I wrote an answer to this post and it didn't appear. So I had to write it again. If it does turn up, you'll know why I answered twice.

QUOTE

I can't remember where I read it but the official line from the ABRSM is that one cannot re-start a piece (they do it to ensure that the exams don't over-run) so I wouldn't rely on that.

They might say that, but I don't think they would stop you if you did restart. You have to use your commonsense I suppose. Going back to the beginning of a phrase, if you really have to would be better than completely losing it. If you've only just started playing the piece and its all going terribly wrong, then starting from the beginning might be the best choice. I know it might cause the exam to over-run, but we're only talking seconds here.

Not ideal, but then sometimes you just have to

It's a good idea to practise from different places so that you can 'pick up' easily. If I really had to start from the beginning, I wouldn't ask, that would just delay matters even more....just do it IMHO

I've got two Grade 8's coming up in the next couple of weeks and I'm so nervous! I've yet to nail the pieces as perfect, and don't even talk about aural tests and sight reading! It's all kind of crept up on me this year, what with academic exams to think about too! Is anyone else in a similar boat, and for the more experienced hands, is there any advice you can offer me?! I'd love to hear from you, I need all the help and empathy I can get!

Hello everybody!!

I'm going to an audition very soon and I'm scared!! When I've had previous concerts/auditions I've had sweaty, slippy fingers and always made silly mistakes in the pieces. I'm pretty sure loads of you must have been in the same situations as me. Has anybody got any tips on calming down nerves?

Ping-lee!

hey tripthestation!

i'm in the same boat as you. lol. i'll be having my grade 8 ABRSM theory exam this week on saturday and in the next 2 weeks i'm going to have Dipl exam for LCM and i'm going to have another grade 8 practical piano exam this coming july.

Apart from that, i've got tons of projects to do and the deadline is in less than a month as i'm currently studying in a university in Singapore. My friends even told me that i won't be able to finish my projects if i'm not working on them right now. i've got a very tight schedule.

But I want to tell you that we have no choice but to settle everything and make the most out of what we have as it's only us who can help ourselves. lol. i'm working hard on my coming exams and have been ignoring my schwork, and will only catch up soon after this week.

so you're not alone after all. cheer up! which country are u from, btw?

cheers,
bopbopbaby

I played 2 solos in a music competition the other day... i was sooooo nervous when i started and i knew it was coming across in my playing. In the end i just went for it. I didn't win but i did my absolute best! Try putting a small amount of talcum powder in the centre of your palm just before you play oh and it helps to know the piece inside out then hopefully no silly mistakes will be made. Oh and slow heavy breathing also helps!

I used to get terribly nervous before performances and auditions, and people used to tell me that deep breating would help. I didn't ever really try it until my recitals at music college - and it really does help calm nerves. When you are sitting or standing waiting to go in for the audition try and relax your knees, as a lot of stress can build up there. I know that may sound strange, but it is worth trying. Then, breathe slowly in through your nose and out through your mouth...it should give you a better sense of calm.

About the sweaty hands, as a violinist I know all about that! What instrument do you play? - I don't think you said. A short term solution is to run your wrists under cold water a few minutes before you are due to play, this cools the blood to the hands, without actually making your fingers too cold to play! I wouldn't recommend putting your hands in cold water, as this will make your fingers stiff - believe me, i've made that mistake before now! Anyway, that should make your hands less sweaty...it's always worked for me. If you do play a stringed instrument, don't put talc on your hands before you play or you won't get a proper grip on the fingerboard, and it'll make a nasty mess!

Don't worry if you still feel a little nervous after all that, just remember, you need a few nerves to make you perform your best!

Good luck

I have Grade 7 viola a weeks away too and am totally not ready. aural and sight reading im especially worried about since ive only been playing 2 1/2 years!
at the same time i have a piano competition, 2 english assignments, psychology coursework and science module exams. oh, and im playing viola in two quartets for someone's GCSE practicals this week!

Wow bopbopbaby and Hannah, that's impressive! I'm only doing piano & organ this year, and I've just got schoolwork to cope with. Good to know that I'm not the only one feeling under pressure! Anyway, I'm practising hard, and I'm doing my best and aiming high, which I suppose is all that anyone can do. I'm from the UK by the way.

Hi

Yes ive heard that slow and heavy breathing helps although it didnt help me today. I was nearly sick before i went into my clarinet exam and consequenty messed everything up and i know ive failed. Just try your best and try and pretend your playing on your own and that no-one else is in the room. Not that I can talk coz I messed everything and I mean everything up this afternoon.

Good luck let us know how you get on!!

Nat

I think that you're probably right about that:

If you ask if you can restart they'll say no; they have to that's the official line...

But if you just do it then they are unlikely to interrupt and demand that you start from where you were.

They are allowed to at any point stop you from playing any piece if they consider that they have heard enough to make a judgement but I'm sure that they'd only do that in extreme circumstances (i.e. if you restart five times or something ).

A good way to increase confidence if you're nervous about getting stuck is to practice playing your piece starting from the all the odd numbered bars, and then all the even numbered bars and keep doing it until you can pick up anywhere; that way you know if anything does happen you can pick it up.

All that said I'm sure that you'll be fine just do lots of practice and believe in yourself

Cool! Good luck for all of us..

At least we know there are people out there who are in the same boat as us. hehe. All the best.. I'm working very hard also. lol.

QUOTE (hannah @ Mar 8 2004, 04:54 PM)

at the same time i have a piano competition, 2 english assignments, psychology coursework and science module exams. oh, and im playing viola in two quartets for someone's GCSE practicals this week!

You shouldn't worry. You'll obviously do a grade 8 in a year or two, so that's far more important.

The piano competition might be fun, but GCSEs aren't important, whatever your teachers say (once you're in a sixth form college, noone ever cares what you got in GCSEs, including universities)

Can someone tell me how to overcome my fear ?

think of something else than the exam, pretend you are playing to a blank room, it makes it easier. Also try to be polite to the examiner, that helps a lot. I know what it is like, I am only 14 and yet I am doing grade 8 and the examiners are really harsh some times!

QUOTE (bentze @ Mar 10 2004, 02:37 PM)

Can someone tell me how to overcome my fear ?

This is what I do:

Sleep earlier and wake up earlier. Warm up fingers as usual, then play some scales/arpeggios.

Then, for the pieces, I will first warm up on the difficult passages. Once they are done, I will perform all three pieces in one go as I'm in the exams. I used to choose to do the exams in the afternoon such that I will have more time for this kind of "warm up".

I will keep practising (with some resting too) until about two hours before the exams, then I will stop completely and just keep myself in "silence". I will switch off my mobile phone, and slow down myself on doing everything.

On my way to the exams centre, I will concentrate my mind, and it let do what it needs to. If it wants to think about the pieces, I will let it think; if it wants to rest, I will let it rest; if it wants to panic, I will also let it panic. But I will keep my hands/fingers warm, relaxed and protected.

It's not something special, but it helps me to concentrate myself and "forget" about the fears. Hope it helps you too!

Good luck!
Tannie

QUOTE (DavidMusic @ Mar 9 2004, 07:18 PM)

GCSEs aren't important, whatever your teachers say (once you're in a sixth form college, noone ever cares what you got in GCSEs, including universities)

I'm sorry, but I find that incredibly patronising. It is so demoralising and insulting for students when people like you and in the media claim that GCSE's are "easy", "pointless", "dumbed-down", etc. I'm sure that when you were preparing to sit the exams, you didn't have quite the same devil-may-care attitude. Many people seem to forget that education is a gradual process. If you don't get good GCSE's, chances are you won't get good A-Levels. If you don't get good A-Levels, chances are you won't get into a good uni. If you don't get into a good uni, chances are you won't get the job you want. And if you don't get the job you want, chances you won't get the pay packet you want either!

I'm aiming high with my my music exams, but I'm also putting as much effort and hard work into my academic exams. It does get stressful, so you can imagine how comments like that really infuriate people struggling to juggle this commitment with that commitment and do well in both! People may not care about GCSE's in sixth-form college, but GCSE's did play a part in getting them there in the first place.

I never said they were pointless, dumbed-down or easy (in fact, i found mine incredibly tough) - BUT they are important for only one thing, and that is getting into sixth form colleges. Yes, maybe good GCSEs will help you get good A-levels, but I remember that out of the subjects I did for A-level, I had done only one of them at GCSE level...

DavidMusic, just out of curiosity (and nothing to do with the topic)..... what A-levels did you do that you didn't get GCSE's in?? just wondering ...

Psychology and Philosophy

I hear a lot of pressured people with exams who are also taking academic exams too. My advice to you is when doing big academic exams, try not to put music exams nearby as the stress level rises to an ultimate climax until you lay on the floor in a paniccing tantrum refusing to do anything...

My advice to our troubled adults:

Just keep thinking positive no matter what. Instead of: "I am going to fail!!! I Will slip up!" Think "I am going to try my best and enjoy it."

I also noticed about people worrying over sight reading-try practise sight reading a grade ahead of what you are doing (If you are doing 4 use grade 5 sight reading.) This will make the whole experience easier as you will arrive to your exam, playing grade 5 sight reading, and when your sight reading test is placed in front of you, you will think "this is easy!".

In my school you have to get a certain grade (I think A*- to be allowed to take it as an A or A2 subject. (my school is really Academic) Everyone that I know seems to veiw GCSE's as important exams. I don't think that they would be completely ignored once you get to a certain level...? Students studying for GCSE's can find it extremely stressful and hard to get the marks they want so I don't think that you should make they're hard work seem like no use by saying something like that....

xx L xx

QUOTE (leasalonga @ Mar 11 2004, 11:31 PM)

In my school you have to get a certain grade (I think A*- to be allowed to take it as an A or A2 subject. (my school is really Academic)

I must admit, that in my school it was the same - A minimum to do the A-level, unless it was a subject which didn't require a GCSE (bloody top ten schools!)


Hence I wasn't allowed to do music, because I hadn't done the GCSE. When I last got in touch with my old sixth form school, they were rather red faced


But it's still the case that after that point they're not very important. All you ever need to put on your CV is (8 As and A*s and 2Bs [in my case]) - you don't need to then say what they were (with the exception of Maths, if you don't do an A-level too, and French, if you don't do an a-level too).


After you're in sixth form, GCSEs aren't looked at. Contrary to popular belief, even Cambridge doesn't look at your GCSE results when processing application forms.

QUOTE

Contrary to popular belief, even Cambridge doesn't look at your GCSE results when processing application forms.

I thought that they do demand that you have at least a C in maths and a C in English (plus maybe three other Cs); either way they don't judge the quality of your application on that; I think it's a standard benchmark though that one must pass. It doesn't seem that anyone applying to Cambridge should really have a problem with this though...

May I be incredibly nosy and ask whereabouts your old school is? At my school a C is enough to let you study the grade at AS or A2!

ive got my grade 1 exams and you may think that they are really easy but im stuck on my broken chords can anyone give me any advice? the thing is i just cant get myself to practise them! on top of that ive got to practise my bass guitar for my school band and ive got to practise for my grade 3 electric guitar exams (not abrsm)

I am doing 4 exams in june: Grade 4 Theory, Grade 5 Voice, grade 2 piano and flute (i've only been playing flute 2 months!!!) Does anybody else find the exams totally terrifying? Any tips for getting over nervousness?
Naomi xxx

It wasn't enough at my school either but the government regulations are a blanket across all universities; hence they have to put this restriction on all universities including Cambridge but I suspect that it is mainly aimed at other institutions...

I don't know if this will help, but there are three points that come to mind.

1 Don't enter the exam until you are ready. I did Grade 5 and failed because I wasn't ready, which made me a bag of nerves. When I did it last summer, I knew I was ready and the nerves were not there. I sailed through.

2 Use the warm-up room for thepuropes it is intended. Anf like someone else said, do scales first, then you should be in good shape.

3 In most walks of life, it seems to be true that some nerves are good and give you a bit of edge.

Good luck

Hello,

I was wondering does anybody out there play the Double Bass? I hoped that maybe there is somebody elae out there who might have some tips for me, ive been plaing for a couple of months and *could* be taking my grade 5 in summer.

any help would be much appreciated, as i am finding the scales quite difficult (even though most of them are only one octave)

im also taking grade 6 clarinet in summer (with guildhall, i recently found that two of the pieces im playing are for grade 7 with ABRSM) as well as grade 5 violin.

thanks in advance for any help
Bassmaster (i know the name's a bit inappropriate)

Hello

ive been playing the double bass for two or three months and *could* be taking grade 5 in summer . could anyone out there offer any help with the scales in particular? i only know one other person my age who plays the bass and he has lessons with me. i have progressed quite far since i started (but obviously still have a very long way to go) and am currently in the Leeds Youth Training Orchestra, which is helping my playing a lot, but i'm still worrying.

i am also taking grade 5 violin this summer as well as grade 6 clarinet with guildhall (to my slight annoyance i found out recently that the pieces im playing are for grade 7 ABRSM)

thanks in advance for any help
Bassmaster (i know the name's a bit inaproppriate)

P.S. i may have posted this message 2 times, seeing as it didn't appear immediately.