Hi everyone

I had my grade 5 clarinet exam today and i know i have failed. Before I went into the exam 2 of pieces were brilliant and the other one was ok. When I started playing I kept squeaking and getting everything wrong. The aural tests were a nightmare. I am soooooo annoyed with myself for letting nerves getting the better of me( i was nearly sick before I went in!)Oh well i suppose i will be doing it all over again in June


Nat

Oh no, sorry it didn't go as well as you had hoped... Exactly a week ago today I came out of my exam feeling the same - it's a horrible feeling, after all that hard work.

Hopefully you didn't do as badly as you think you have, and you will still pass.

Hi Natalie,

Sounds v v familiar. Nerves!

Try not to worry too much. Yoy probably haven't done as bad as u think.

I sat my GII piano last November. I went in feeling quite confident about my pieces but obviously still nrevous at the same time.
My best piece which I played first was a complete mess. I was stopping and starting and my rght hand had a mind of it's own.
My second wasn't quite as bad and third better. I even did silly things in the aural test cause I was soooo nervous after the botched exam piece!

I came home and just cried, convinced that I had failed miserably!

When I got my report, I got a better mark for my worst piece than I did for the best ! (??)

Work that one out! And I did pass with a merit.

It is annoying that your nerves get the better of you, but you are not on your own.
I'm sure you did fine. It just feels like you didn't.

Good luck and keep us posted

Fiona

I agree - it probably wasn't as bad as you think.

I reckon we remember the bits that went wrong and not the bits that went ok.

One of my students took gr3 a few terms ago. She hadn't done an exam before, and I twisted her arm a tiny bit because I thought she could do it.
After she did it, I spoke to her on the phone late in the evening.
"I xxxxxxx it up " she said ( if I told you what she really said, I'd get pushed off the board)!!
"I know I failed - I did so badly."

When the marks came through she had got 111.

Another student took gr4 last term. He emailed me to say he thought he had done really badly and maybe hadn't passed even. He was really furious with himself.
He scored 124 that time.

So you never can tell.

hope yours is good news!

Maggie

I came home and cried too!!!! I was really upset because i just love playing music and i was soooo angry at messing up the exam. today when my teacher asked me how it went, i just said that I even messed up the easiest piece I have ever played and I think she got the picture!! Everyone keeps trying to reassure me but I really don't think I will have passed.

The aural tests were an absolute nightmare. I did them last and it is my weakest part of an exam. So by the time i had got to them I was a complete wreck knowing that had messed up so badly!

It is strange because ive sat 4 exams on violin and 3 on piano, I also perform lots of pieces on different instruments every term for school, and I play in front of people all the time so im very confused as to why all of a sudden I completely lost it!!!!

Oh well ill let you know how many marks i have failed by!!!

Nat

Hi Natalie,

Don't worry/regret too much about the past and concentrate on the future. I also think that it is not as worse as you have thought.

When I attempt my g 7 exams, I ran up stairs to the exams centre - as I'm a bit late. Then, the person told me the examiner was sick that day. There is another examiner who can do the exams for me NOW, or I need to wait for another "free" examiner. I chose to do it NOW, as I have another meeting afterwards.

Then I run into the exams room... breathing, sweating... and right after I sit down, the examiner said "x Major, both hand in unison....". He's obviously rushing to finish me, and I was just adjusting the chair to the piano.

The exam began, then I stumbled... I tried very hard to concentrate and finish the rest of the exams. Basically I can hear the examiner doing calculations on a calculator... and I can clearly hear the 'click' sounds he presses on the calculator buttons.

Less than 20 minutes later, I was standing on the street convinced I have failed the exams... regreting not waited for the next examiner...

But when I got the result a month later, I actually passed - but marginally.

I am quite convinced now, there is not a single mistake/blunder that will fail you in your exams...

Therefore, don't worry too much!

Best wishes,
Tannie

QUOTE (tannie @ Mar 10 2004, 10:25 AM)

and I can clearly hear the 'click' sounds he presses on the calculator buttons.

I hate it when examiners do that in exams, it just causes more anxiety!


Natalie - if you think you failed, you almost certainly passed (murphy's law!) - the only people who I know who have ever failed, walked out of exams knowing they had merits or distinctions (and hence I always got a little bit of enjoyment seeing some of my friends fail when they had that attitude).

As the song i'm curently listening to (beauty school dropout from grease) says, "Baby, Don't sweat it". It's good advice.


P.S. No comments about the music please

I even managed merit on my gr. 6!
And I don't think I played anything through without stopping!

The one thing we must all remember as students of music is that we do it for the love of it. Exams are a useful bonus but we really cannot and should not see them as the bee all and end all, some of the worlds best muscians have never taken an exam in their life, they do it for the love of it.

Also more than anything examiners don't worry about the amount of mistakes you make but how you cope when you do make those mistakes. It's really all about testing your strengths and not exploiting the weaknesses.

In a way I'm lucky, being 26 and unable to read music I don't have to worry about exams, I play clarinet and gutiar for the love of it, but I have been though many acting auditions and school exams in my time to know what examiners look out for.

Good luck to anyone who takes any music exams, you've got one over on me already for being brave enough to do it, but just remember YOU CAN RETAKE them if you have to, you have plenty of time.

As said by a teacher in the Simpsons, after a class test:

"The test is over, you may now go outside and undermine each other's confidence."

Just remember the examiners know about how nerves effect you. They try to mark your ability in general not just on that day where nerves are a big crusher. I remeber thinking i had completely mucked up the aural, my voice had gone, i had twisted my ankle that morning and i was a wreck about it. Turns out in the end i got full marks in aural and have kept getting full marks for the past 4 exams!

Exactly!!

It doesnot sound very nice, but there is no point in worrying. Everythign always seems 10 times as worse once you come out of an exam. I often find that i remember the worse parts, but gradually as the time progresses, I remember the good parts to! So dont worry and let us all know how you get on!

QUOTE (DavidMusic @ Mar 10 2004, 11:35 AM)

Natalie - if you think you failed, you almost certainly passed (murphy's law!) - the only people who I know who have ever failed, walked out of exams knowing they had merits or distinctions (and hence I always got a little bit of enjoyment seeing some of my friends fail when they had that attitude).

I would agree here. When I sat grade 8 I came out of the exam so sure I had failed - I even went and bought more music so I could take it again but play different pieces. But I passed with merit. I felt like a cat with two tails! You never know until the results come through - so try not to feel too bad and just wait and see.

The examiners do try their best to see through problems caused by 'nerves on the day'; If these were your problem I'm sure that, although your mark may not be as high as it would have been, they will not take off too many marks for it and try to mark how good you would have been: that is their challenge and their job So try not to worry too much

Thanx for all the reassurance!

If by some kind of miracle ive just scraped a pass(i.e 105 ish!) can i still retake the exam or do i have to fail it to be able to take it again in june?


Nat

You can take an exam again even if you pass it; it doesn't matter.

In some ways it is better to just go on rather than retake .