Hello. This may be a silly question but I was wondering, in a grade exam, (piano exams in my case) is the examiner likely to ask for scales and arpeggios which are not listed in the requirements for that grade (in other words, if a pupil is doing grade 3 will they be asked for scales which would have been learned for grades 1 and 2 e.g. C major) . I`m worried that as I have pupils who haven`t done a grade before, doing grade 3 and 4. Thanks v. much all

AFAIK, the examiner should only ask for scales which are specified for that grade.

Sarah is correct.

I don't mean to sound judgemental, but I would find it a little adventurous for someone to be doing grade 4 if they've never played a C major scale! I presume you're just asking for warning purposes rather than through lack of ability though...

thankyou for all your very prompt replies, yes it was to warn them to brush up on all scales really, although one pupil, a new one to me fairly recently is doing her grade 5 (having done the other grades before) and actually couldn`t play C major lol, so we soon sorted that out, so a good warning to all teachers I suppose. Thanks again

The advice is correct that you are only asked the scales set for your instrument and grade. However, I always tell my pupils to be very sure that they know what they should be playing. I have known a few circumstances, presumably through genuine human error, when an examiner has started to ask the wrong set (and always apologised if an error has been made). If your pupil isn't sure what they should be doing, or too shy to argue (!), they can try to oblige to please the examiner and get in a terrible mess.

Pianists can see the syllabus in the front of the piano pieces books if that's helpful to do so (cannot refer to scale book itself of course) but it's not that easy for wind players.

So, all your pupils need to prepare is what is set for the grade/instrument - but make sure they really know that list well both to gain good marks and also just in case of examiner error (and have the confidence to query anything they think is incorrect, should the need arise).

Good luck with the exams.

The examiner should only ask for scales in the syllabus.

However, they spend several days a week asking for a variety of scales from a variety of exams on a variety of instruments, so they do occasionally become confused.

I train my exam candidates to say, "I am sorry, but I do not think that scales is in the syllabus" by asking them for scales they are not supposed to know during the month leading up to the exam.

Come the event, they may not be able to articulate the sentence, but at least they look sufficiently panic-stricken to alert the examiner to a possible mistake.

My examiner back in November had the syllabus open which I thought was pretty sensible - much less chance of a mistake unless he was really having a bad day. More likely I guess to need the help in less common instruments, but even with those they are presumably examining day in day out, it would seem sensible to have the syllabus to double check and in case of a query from the candidate.

QUOTE

I have known a few circumstances, presumably through genuine human error, when an examiner has started to ask the wrong set

This actually happened to me once - in my ATCL diploma exam!!!!! The examiner simply gave me a written list of all the scales he wanted me to play and some of them were the wrong ones. I had to think quickly - do I argue with the examiner or just have a go? I was just too taken aback to query it at the time, so I did as he asked.

Luckily, I passed my diploma first time!!

Mrs M