Hi everyone, I'll be getting my grade 6 violin result tomorrow...
I don't want to know it because I might not pass..I think I'll just rip it if it's a fail...

How do you know it's tomorrow?

Liz

That is really quick, did you really do it 2 weeks ago?

Yes, I'm quite impressed by the progress in NZ, it's really quick, you can get you result even 5 days after your exam.

Because they send the result to my violin teacher and my violin lesson is today (which is 'tomorrow' at yesterday)

Hey People, I 've got my result for violin now, I got simply a Pass (116).
Don't know if I should be Happy or Sad.....

Happy..definitely happy!!

Life's doesn't revolve around getting the highest score, you should be happy with the satisfaction of knowing you've passed another milestone and achieved a positive personal result.

Happy, absolutely. Well done.

Liz

Well done!!!!!!!!!! I would love to be were you are right now - I would be jumping for joy.

Paul, Complete beginner!!!!!!!!

Be happy that you enjoy the spectacle of Natatie eating her hat: I hope you bought that chocolate hat Natalie .

Seriously though, with all that worrying about the exam you should definitely be happy: you got the mark that you expected to get and the mark you seemed to think that you deserved when you came out of the exam: so well done for going in and doing as well as you knew that you could.

Yes, HAPPY . Even a high pass would be difficult for Grade 6. That means you were spot on in most things. I think I have difficulty with doing the expression well also for the violin. Definitely scored much better on the piano.

Not really into chocolate at the moment!

Definitely happy - I got 112 for grade 6 violin (ten years ago now, eek!) and was over the moon! Especially since I wasn't convinced I'd passed, AND my shoulder rest slipped halfway through my most difficult piece

Seems almost impossble to get a distinction for violin exams, even with perfect pitch. The positioning of the fingers are so important and it's so easy to mess up there.

I did, once. I'd already done grade 8 viola and made a few diploma attempts on viola though. There was a reason for doing grade 5 violin: I was working for the Trinity College certificate in Music Education and had done all the courses but you had to do a grade 5 or higher exam specially for the certificate (if memory serves) and I wanted an easy pass - and I'd never taken a violin exam.

liz

Ok guys...I should be happy with what I've got...
be happy.....

Not impossible to get distinction, but certainly not easy, and if I recall correctly you haven't been playing all that long and violin is your second study, so I think you should be pretty pleased.

Not going to do anyother violin exam forever!!

AWw why not? Scared of only getting just a pass and being ashamed of it?

Exactly!! Natalie you know my heart

Lol...well what if I even fail it next time?? that's better than a pass because you'll have to find more hats for eatting?? Lol...

I dread to think what you'll do if you fail....I can't believe you are ashamed of 116..You need to get a life quite frankly

Well, at least he's turned over a new leaf and not thinking of re-sitting the exam. Let's celebrate on that!

Exactly!! I'll scared of violin exams now

Could someone explain to me the scoring system of ABRSM? (I don't do this syllabus... )

Good on you, you should be proud of what you can achieve.

An ABRSM exam is out of 150.
100 = Pass
120 = Merit
130 = Distinction

Probably scared that he won't get distinctions easily

Not easy to even get a merit! I had to practice two hours a day just to get that for Grade 2! Dread to think what I'll get for Grade 4 and I'm only doing one hour a day now. My friend got 118 and I think she plays better than me from what I could hear of her playing during classes.

My friend (Yr 7 secondary school girl) practised for half an hour and still got distinctions for grades 1 and 2. She thinks she has a great teacher. He writes in a notebook what she is to practise - so it's never too much or too hard work.

By the way, does anyone know how long the wait is for the ABRSM results in the UK???

Thanks.

It's not the amount of pratice you do so much as the quality of practice... ie someone who practices efficiently for half an hour will do better than someone who just scrabbles around for two.

The wait for exam results is usually approximately two weeks, it can be quicker or slower than that though, and I think I read it's often longer in the summer term as so many people take exams in the summer.

Well I should hope not about my scrabbling about! Being a teacher and all! I normally manage to do ALL the scales on the syllabus, and the three pieces in about an hour. For the pieces, I play through them once, then I work on the tricky bits in them, then play them through again one more time. Well I don't always get everything right but I don't know how you could improve on this way of practicing.
Any suggestions?

You have to admit natural ability is a great factor. If you have talent you only need to practice for 1/2 hour then you get it already! Me, I labour at everything and not everyday I get the same scale right. Especially the intonation part of it. Some days my pitch is a little off. Sometimes it's perfect. And when it's off, it's like no matter how many times I practice, some notes still go out of tune. Then maybe on those days, it's not much point practicing, huh?

Ann, no reflection on your way of practising, just a simple fact - if someone just sits and plays about for 2 hours they are not going to learn a lot, if they sit down and concentrate for half an hour they will get more out of it. As I've never heard you practice, I have no way of knowing how effective your practice time is!! Though I do think that most if not all of us waste time possibly without even realising, by practising in the less than most efficient way possible on our instrument.

Yes, natural talent helps a good deal, however, even those with natural talent won't get far without practice, and those without that much talent can get a long way if they are really willing to commit to practice, and are taught well, and also taught to practice effectively.

Personally, for the violin, if I had limited time or wanted to really get down to brass tacks, I would:

1) concentrate on only a few scales/arpeggios each day, isolate problem areas, try playing the scales double stopped with open strings to help with intonation, trying different bowings etc, any problem areas give some real practice to, even if it's only a few notes

2) if I knew the particular problem areas in any one piece, I would actually work on that before playing it through, and possibly concentrate especially on one piece each day (doing some work on the others but making a real effort to get some progress in a particular piece or even a particular section of a piece)

3) find out from my teacher any particular areas where he/she felt I was weak, and find out some exercises and ways of improving this area, concentrating on one thing in any given week and aiming to see some improvement or consistency in that area.

4) reward myself for all my hard work by playing through something else that i know already and enjoy playing, and just aim to play it with the best tone etc possible - preferably something easier than your grade 4 pieces, so you don't have to think about notes etc but can just enjoy playing and see how nice a sound you can create.

This is just how I would work, especially if time was short - not that I think your way of doing it is bad at all. Though especially with the scales, (on any instrument) I would have some sort of rota or random system or pick out those that were giving me problems and really do my best to sort them out (isn't always easy I know, I am no natural violinist myself!) rather than going through the whole list each day... I have found it is more effective over the long run to really concentrate on a scale and get it in my head and my fingers, than to try and go through all of them at the same time, which doesn't (I think) give it enough time to really sink into your brain.

Can't agree more than that!! You're absolutely correct!! I think I already discovered why I can't get a good mark on the violin even though I practised for so long and so hard out on it. It's the speed's problem!! I kept doing it so fast that I don't even have the time to think about it...as a result, I screw up in the exam because I wasn't thinking about my playing. I think practising wisely certainly do help with your progress!

[quote=sarah-flute,Jul 5 2005, 09:52 PM]

2) if I knew the particular problem areas in any one piece, I would actually work on that before playing it through, and possibly concentrate especially on one piece each day (doing some work on the others but making a real effort to get some progress in a particular piece or even a particular section of a piece)

3) find out from my teacher any particular areas where he/she felt I was weak, and find out some exercises and ways of improving this area, concentrating on one thing in any given week and aiming to see some improvement or consistency in that area.

YES, THAT'S JUST HOW OUR GIRL PRACTISES. SHE ALWAYS PLAY ALL THE TROUBLED PARTS FIRST AND MASTER THEM ALL ONE AT A TIME BEFORE ATTEMPTING TO PLAY THE WHOLE PIECE THROUGH. IN ADDITION, BEFORE PLAYING THE WHOLE PIECE THROUGH, SHE CHECKS THAT ONE/TWO BARS ARE FINE BEFORE ATTEMPTING THE NEXT PHRASE. ONCE ALL CHECKED, THEN AND THEN ONLY SHE ATTEMPTS THE WHOLE. THIS IS PRESUMABLY WHAT HER TEACHER TAUGHT HER. THOUGH I DON'T SEE HER, I CAN HEAR HER SO I KNOW.

[quote=pianist_1210,Jul 6 2005, 12:13 PM]
[quote=sarah-flute,Jul 3 2005, 09:32 PM]It's not the amount of pratice you do so much as the quality of practice...
[/quote]
Can't agree more than that!! You're absolutely correct!! I think I already discovered why I can't get a good mark on the violin even though I practised for so long and so hard out on it. It's the speed's problem!! I kept doing it so fast that I don't even have the time to think about it...as a result, I screw up in the exam because I wasn't thinking about my playing. I think practising wisely certainly do help with your progress!

[/quote]

THE TEACHER ONCE SAID - DO NOT ATTEMPT TO START YOUR SCALES UNTIL AFTER YOU HAVE THOUGHT THINGS THROUGH - THINK OF THE RIGHT FINGERING FIRST AND THEN SING IT, HEARING IT IN YOUR HEAD FIRST - THEN ATTEMPT THE SCALE AND EVALUATE IT. YOU WILL HAVE TO MAKE IT A HABIT EVERY TIME, TO THINK FIRST DURING PRACTICES. THEN WHEN THE EXAM COMES, THINKING BEFORE PLAYING THE SCALE WILL BE 2ND NATURE.

THANKS, SARAH. Didn't realise it's that quick! Great, as we are on holiday spot on that date, then, we won't have a spoilt holiday...

Practising wisely is essential on any instrument - those who are very talented or who practise a LOT will get by without to a certain extent, but sooner or later the "bad-practiser" will find that their practice isn't helping them like it should be.

Rushing through pieces/scales, for example... well it isn't really practising, it's just playing (and possibly not playing that well?) - speaking as someone who "practised" like that for years, I can assure anyone that unless you are super-dooper talented, it won't get you too far at all.

There's something to be said for playing pieces straight through, and it's part of practice, but on its own it will not improve things very much.

Tess: I hope the results won't spoil your holidays anyway!!

Thanks Tess and Sarah, those are really good tips for intonation (which I didn't really have to worry about on the piano ) I will try it and see. Well the problem was I DID only practice the scales I was bad at before. Like a few each day in rotation. Then I discovered I began getting those I WAS good at all wrong again, so I began playing every scale on the syllabus. "Sigh.. it's like trying to stop a hole in a bucket only to find another hole elsewhere.

I tried the exercises meant for those problem areas of mine and they were even harder than my exam pieces, so I gave up. I think I'll NOT sit for another violin exam for a long time. I miss having fun on the violin!

Wprl yourself out a rota that includes all the scales, but those you really struggle with come up say twice a week, those you find easier come up once.

String instruments really are hard - in a totally different way than piano (your musical ear will be improving all the time!)


Awww. Always make sure you have *something* that is *FUN* to play - so if nothing else you know there are a few tunes (even if they're ones that you did some time ago) that you can play well.

Don't try and work on all your problem areas at once - you'll go nutso trying! And if a whole exercise is just too hard, try and do a little of it and get the hang of that bar, or that section, or whatever, before you move on.

Ok will try. I did that just a few days ago (playing a section of an exercise), because I could not get beyond a certain section, hence only did a few bars of the exercise!

But as for scales, I think I need to go through all at least once, or funny things happen, like I KNOW the fingering but somehow something will go wrong, Maybe I'm just slow. Or have a bad memory.
Same with my pieces, the easy-as-pie parts went wrong after I left them for a day or two.

As for fun, I think I could do about four pieces which I really enjoy. But now I think I have run out of pieces! Hee hee! The rest need some working on.

Will see how things go today at practice. My teacher almost had a fit on Monday already.

I have a suggestion that might help, Ann. If you want to do most of the exercises, why don't you do what Sarah Chang did - short but many sessions? Instead of trying to attempt ALL in one hour just in case you forget some, try to sort out your time in such a way that you have 3 sessions of 40 mins each, covering most of the stuff you want to BUT ONLY ONE AT A TIME???

Just to reiterate what Tess said, I find it much easier to be more productive with lots of 1/2 an hour sessions than long ones.

Tess and Nicki make a good suggestion - doing your practice all in one huge lump may mean you're just getting tired and so then things are bound to go wrong.


It's better than not doing any of it! When you are confident of the first bit, try moving on to the next and just working on a bar or even half a bar at a time. You can put it together again later!


If you can get the scales really in your head through concentrated practice, they're less likely to disappear again! Even if you do half the scales each day, and then spend the saved time on one or two scales being really practised, then you will start to get them into your head better. Going through the whol syllabus every day, especially if there are still ones that you don't know properly, is going to drive you crazy!

time is quite limited as you get the the senior levels..so i guess you'll just have to spend your time wisely !!

Good suggestion guys. Only thing on some days I don't have time to spare many sessions of short practices. Just taking the violin out, tuning it and cleaning it after practice takes 10 minutes!
Anyway, I have not done any practice yet, so we'll see. But if I have a day off, I normally play something, then take a short break then play another scale. Do some stuff, and come back to pieces, hence it's an hour or more, But on some good days, I'll just get everything done in an hour straight.