I'm so scared! I have my grade 8 piano exam next wednesday, which leaves me with one week more to practise. But the problem is, i'm feeling very underprepared. My pieces don't feel as if they are up to scratch and whilst i still have time to do some serious scales practise my aural is terrible and i find it really difficult. What makes matters worse is that i'm currently in my GCSE year and i have so much coursework to do that i find it almost impossible to get some decent piano practise done. By the time i get home after staying late in school to do work, then do some more work at home, i'm too tired and too unmotivated to sit down at the piano and practise. I'm trying to do at least an hour a night but because i'm so busy worrying about the coursework i need to be doing, i find i can't concentrate on my playing and therefore it just seems like a waste of time. I don't know what to do!! I really need to pass this exam! Does anyone have any advice on how i can practise effectively and also, how i can improve on my aural skills in a weeks time? Or am i doomed to fail this exam?

Please calm down, Maxine Of course you are not doomed to fail your exam.

An hour a night is a good amount of practice for your exam. Do not feel guilty or that you should be doing coursework during that time - set it aside as piano time, there is the whole rest of the day to do coursework. You might be better doing your piano practice as soon as you get in from school and your coursework later. Be firm with yourself, set aside your coursework, look at the time and give yourself an hour (or whatever) of time on the piano before you even think about coursework again that day. That way you will be less tired when you do your piano practice, and you will not be doing the same thing (coursework) for so many hours in a row, so you will feel fresher when you go back to it after your hour's piano.

Aural - I'd recommend the ABRSM's aural book. There is a book of practice tests for grade 6-8 and an accompanying ... tape in my day, probably CD now. You will be able to get these from any music shop or you may know someone who will be able to lend you a copy. You can work through them on your own with the tape/CD or you could also ask your piano teacher, GCSE music teacher or anyone else knowledgable to go through some of the examples with you and give you pointers. There is plenty of time for this until Wednesday. Even a few minutes can make you feel more prepared and boost your confidence.

Are your coursework deadlines school deadlines or exam board deadlines? If they are shcool deadlines, I'd explain the situation to your head of year or subject teachers and see if they can give you a little more time. Teachers care about the well-being of their pupils and wouldn't want you to be stressed. They would also like to see you achieve grade eight, which is a high achievement for someone in their GCSE year! It may help to mention how much the grade eight exam has cost to enter (when I was at uni and trying to find out whether I had tutorials etc on days I wanted to go home, I got a much quicker answer if I said I'd already spent £40 on train tickets). If you can get your GCSE music teacher to back you up that might also be useful.

Best of luck

Dear Maxine,

I'm a former freelance orchestral percussionst and now I'm the Managaing Director at WebProjects, the team behind this website.

I also used to take AB exams when I was younger and while at sixth form college I needed Grade 5 violin in order to sit 'A' level Music. The 'A' level Board would not accept Percussion grades at the time. I very much needed to pass and like you I feared the worst.

Happily, I scraped it and went on to take up a place at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and work in some of the UK's leading symphony orchestras. But you'll never guess! I failed 'A' level music first time around and had to stay at 6th Form college for another year to re-sit. It was one of the most enjoyable years of my life and when I went up to college I was much better prepared. All that worry about Grade 5 violin was needless.

I know you must be nervous and worried but realise that there are all sorts of things that could affect your future education. Nobody will die if you fail and examinations are not the be-all and end-all of music.

While it is essential that music students should have a mechanism for comparing their progress with others and have goals to strive for, it's unhealthy to get too hung up on them. Whether you pass or fail this exam, in later life you will look back at your music-making with pleasure and fondness. You are more likely to recall those wonderful achievements oustide the exam structure and the times that you nailed that piece at a major performance.

I once heard someone say:

"You don't fatten a cow by weighing it all the time" in relation to education and testing.

There is much truth in that. You can become a wonderful musician and enjoy music-making for the rest of your life without taking graded exams. Believe me, as a percussionist we had no option for many years. It doesn't make you any less a musician.

Anyway, good luck with the exam. Try to enjoy it and communicate your pleasure in playing. As you walk in the door, tell yourself it doesn't matter and ask yourself what is the wporst thing that would heppen if I fail today?


Mark

Mark Walmsley
mark@webprojects.co.uk

hi maxine,

just do your best and dont worry so much......... you'll never know if you will get through. anyways, all the best to you and good luck! : )

Hi maxine
I know how you feel, but try not to be so worried, or it is likely to affect your performance(it did with mine!)
your probably feeling that your not up to scratch with parts of the exam because you are nervous!
I know you want to pass this exam but you can always do it again, if you are in your GCSE year, grade 8 is excellent!
Is there a specific reason why you need to pass this exam 1st time, because your not going into uni!! or are you going to a music college?!!!

Aural!!!- have you got a teacher because they should be helping a lot with this if your not that god at it. my exam was on a monday and n the wed, thur and fri, my teacher spent 30mins a day on just auraL,because im awful at it!!!!

Good luck and don't panic because it will affect your performance!

Hope ive helped in some way!!

Nat

Hi, don't panic- you will be fine!!

When I took my grade 8, I failed both my aural and scales and I still managed to pass (with distinction!)

What pieces are you doing?

From A: Bach's sarabande and Rondeaux is very nice
B: Beethoven's Allegro in F minor is lovely
C: Chopin's waltz in E minor is absolutely beautiful!!

Thank you for all your replies!! My exam is tomorrow and i was really panicking just now but having read what you have all said i now feel more relaxed. Indeed you're right, failing this exam is not the worst that could happen and i could retake it again in June (though hopefully i won't have to as that will clash with my gcse exams). I've tried to do as much practise as i can, making use of lunch times in school to practise on the school grand piano and as for aural, i've listened to the grade 8 aural cassette which has helped me though there are still parts that i find impossible so i can only cross my fingers and hope for the best.

Pianist64, i am doing Bach sarabande and rondeaux and chopin waltz in E minor too! The Bach i didn't enjoy at first but now i think it's a lovely piece. The Chopin waltz i've always loved but i actually find it the most difficult out of the three that i'm playing (i'm doing allegro moderato by schubert as well). The last section in particular takes a lot of stamina to perform and overall i feel this is quite a demanding piece....slightly worried about that.

Anyway, thank you all again for your support and i will bear in mind everything that you've said. Hopefully my exam will go well (i'm really really hoping to get a merit). I've already visited the centre once before to see what the atmosphere was like and it's quite a pleasant, peaceful environment, though i didn't get to try out the piano.

Well i'll post after my exam to tell you how it went, if anyone is interested. Now i'm off to do some practise!

p.s. have i said thank you yet??

Hi everyone*

I am a new member of this site......i am from HK.
This year, i will take my first exam on flute....for grade 4~~
actually although my teacher said that i must pass~~but i am still very scared~
hahaha~~actually i have chosen to take my exam in the coming OCT/NOV~
there still a long time to go~~
but i started to scare already~~

Can anyone tell me is the flute exam difficult or not?

Thx..............

this is my first time on here, and I have to say, it's wonderful to find people who feel almost the same way as I do about music exams. I had my grade 7 flute on Monday,and was fearing the worst, particuulalrly when it came to aurals. My flute teacher doesn't play the piano which made it all even harder- I can't help but think that aural teats shouldn't be part of the exam! I play the flute because I enjoy learning new music, not because I want to learn to sing!!

Still it went OK, I'm confident I passed, and that's all I hoped for (playing the flute whilst shaking and with sweaty hands that slide all over the keys is extremely difficult- wish I didn't get so nervous)

Good luck maxine, and littlecat, I'm sure you'll both be fine, it is quite hard to fail the exams, I've never yet despite some total disasters (Grade 3-streaming cold, grade 4 dire piece of Mozart I couldn't stand and got 16/30 for, Grade 6 kept playing harmonic forms of minor scales instead of melodics etc etc)

Perhaps we need to petition ABRSM to drop aurals??

I think lots of people hate aurals.... but they are there to develop all round musical awareness. You can learn pieces by just copyimg someone... the other parts of the exam help to show that you know what you are doing

The thing is, I don't!! I just like playing the music.

Hey everyone!
Well it's over...thank god! I completely messed up the scales because i was so nervous and kept on making mistakes. He tested me on so many of them! The aural was not great either, i answered some questions wrong or not very fully. But the pieces i felt were ok and the sight reading wasn't too hard (E major if i remember correctly), though i did ignore some performance directions because i was concentrating on playing the right notes. I chose to start with the scales which i felt was a good thing and i'd advise other people to do so as well because it gives you a chance to warm up and get over the initial nerves a little before you play your pieces. It's better to be nervous and mess up the scales than to play the pieces badly because your hands are shaking (as mine were). I think i passed but am not all too confident about having achieved a merit....unless the examiner pitied me and i am really lucky.
Anyway, welcome all new people to the board. I'm quite new myself. I really like posting and talking to other musicians and of course receiving everyone's advice.
Littlecat, i'm from hk too...well my parents are. I was born in England. Good luck with your exam!
Good luck to anyone who has their music exam soon! Try to enjoy performing the pieces even if you hate everything else.

QUOTE (maxine @ Apr 1 2004, 08:45 PM)

Hey everyone! Well it's over...thank god! I completely messed up the scales because i was so nervous and kept on making mistakes. He tested me on so many of them! The aural was not great either, i answered some questions wrong or not very fully. But the pieces i felt were ok and the sight reading wasn't too hard (E major if i remember correctly), though i did ignore some performance directions because i was concentrating on playing the right notes. I chose to start with the scales which i felt was a good thing and i'd advise other people to do so as well because it gives you a chance to warm up and get over the initial nerves a little before you play your pieces. It's better to be nervous and mess up the scales than to play the pieces badly because your hands are shaking (as mine were). I think i passed but am not all too confident about having achieved a merit....unless the examiner pitied me and i am really lucky. Anyway, welcome all new people to the board. I'm quite new myself. I really like posting and talking to other musicians and of course receiving everyone's advice. Littlecat, i'm from hk too...well my parents are. I was born in England. Good luck with your exam! Good luck to anyone who has their music exam soon! Try to enjoy performing the pieces even if you hate everything else.

Bet you're glad it's over!

It's interesting that you started with the scales, because I've never done that. Mind you, I've never done a piano exam, so I've always got my accompanist with me and she always comes in with me at the start of the exam to play my pieces first.

man.. that sounded cool. how were ur pieces?

im having mini problem with chopin esp the C-G-C-C-G-C den all the way back down JUMPY part and the last part too!.

Other wise, im doin bach and schubert whc is just fine too.

Exam's in July. starting to panic.

I thought I typed some stuff out.

O no, then it all disappered. So how was it? Should at least a pass wouldnt it! My .. Im doin my gd8 in July. Taking exactly the same pieces as you!

Bach. Schubert and Chopin right?

Am having the most problems with Chopin. Especially the JUMPY part from C-G-C-C-G-C then all the way down followed by Bflat bla bla bla... and the last part too. Takes lotsa finger strength to hit the notes well and bring out the melody!.

Do keep us informed about the grades! O yea!

And if any special notes from the examiner too! would be great to all of us takin our's later in the year.

Hey guys,

Still waiting for my results. They should be arriving in the next few days...ahh fingers crossed.

I know exactly what you mean mrlim, the jumpy CGC part in the chopin was definitely the most challenging and most difficult to master in the whole piece. Up until the day of the exam i still was not confident that i could play it right (you know sometimes when you think you can play a part correctly and then the next time you sit down to practise you make a mistake again), but in the exam i played it ok, though a bit too quietly. But the trick to mastering that part is to practise just the right hand on its own and when you're practising, play the notes really slowly and change the rhythm...so practise it in a dotted rhythm for example. Then if you're feeling brave, close your eyes and see it you can play the notes slowly and correctly, just by feeling the keys and the distance between them. Then once you think you can play it well enough, practise with both hands...slowly at first. Good luck with it!