Hello all,

Hope you don't mind me venting about my piano exam, as I think my husband had enough of me twittering about it before the event, never mind a post mortem now.

The examiner was extremely pleasant, which made the experience more enjoyable, but which has been noted on these boards as Not A Good Sign. He made a point of telling me not to worry about page turns and to take my time, and at the end he told me how he really admires adults who have the courage and determination to learn an instrument and go through the exam process.

The piano was a Kemble - very bright and loud. Although it was wonderfully responsive (and in tune!) compared to my one, it seemed impossible to get much distinction between p and f. I started my first scale (B major) too high up the keyboard, and had to re-start lower down . Then I hesitated over F minor melodic for the first octave before I got into the swing of things. Don't think I played any actual wrong notes in the scales.

Pieces - did the worst one first, which I knew would have slips - went into a blind panic and lost my place a few times but apart from that the playing was no worse than in my lessons. Second one, pedalling was a bit too smudgy but otherwise okay. Third one, two wrong notes but okay otherwise.

Sight reading was a lot easier than the specimen tests! Sight singing was really delightfully easy - phew! Aing-back, clap rhythm, cadence, etc. were not bad. Only bit that was a total disaster was the Aural D - "Tell me about the texture and tone of this piece" - my mind went blank and I certainly failed that component. I can't even answer that question in lessons, never mind in an exam. At least he didn't ask me to guess a composer, etc, as I couldn't tell you anything about the piece of music even now.

Wow, I feel better now. Thank you for allowing me to gibber!

Regards,
Fred xx

Ahh, well done! Nice to get an examiner who's so encouraging too. You can relax and enjoy your weekend now!

Hi Fred (Sorry have to confess I thought you were male)
From the sound of it, it sounds like your exam went well. OF course you are bound to notice the mistakes you made, but they really don't sound drastic, and a few slips will not be marked down that harshly. A kind examiner is not always bad, I had my kindest one for Grade 2 flute, and I got my highest mark for that. Also, I am always proud when an adult learner does an exam, not being an adult as yet, I find it amazing how you find the motivation and time between work. Hope you get a really good mark

Well done for getting through it, glad it went okay for you And of course we don't mind you writing about it afterwards: I for one quite enjoy to hear people's experiences of exams.

Glad it went well. It's always interesting to read how people did, and heartening when they feel it was OK. Do let us know the results!

Yay well done you!

So impressed by your recall of it. Sounds as though it's gone well & the examiner sounds wonderful - the last one I had was so young & trendy it was unnerving to say the least.

Yes, it is a horrible piano, isn't it? I've accompanied on it, and it's difficult not to drown out the flute. I'm sure I was playing forte for too much of the time on Monday because I was unconsciously trying to compete with my accompanist. He's been known to jam his foot on the middle pedal just to keep the volume down a bit. In the exam I accompanied the examiner for that session had decided to move the piano away from the wall, so it was even louder.

Well done Fred, and thanks for posting your experience and comments.
Nice to be reassured about page -turns!

Hope the wait is a short one - mine took 12 days this time.

Thank you all for your kind words!

Nicki- don't worry about thinking I was male, one of the things I like about this method of communication is we are forced to listen to what people have to say before we get to judge them on their gender, age, etc.

Andante_in_c, was it the same examiner? Yes, if I ever decide to get a new piano I will steer clear of that brand!

Andy-P-F, I didn't think they allowed young and trendy people to be examiners!

Thanks again, it's great to know there are so many helpful musical people out there!

No. not the same examiner. I think they only do three day sessions. Mine was nice, too. I'm not sure the theory always holds good - we had a very straight-faced examiner last summer who was a very low marker, so unfriendly can be bad both ways.

Hi Fred!!

SOrry for the latness of this reply. I am doing grade 6 piano tomorrow and just looking through this for inspiration!!

So nice to hear from others in the same boat. What exam did you do?

I am getting butterflies whenever i thing about it!! How did you feel , were you calm ? bet it was such a relief after!!
I havent done an exam for 12 years, but the fear is still there!!

Oh good luck for tomorrow..hope it goes really well.

For nerves the best advice so far from these boards is bananas and Bach (nothing to do with JS) rescue remedy.

Hi Mullers, thanks for the reply. It was grade 6 piano. I did Allegro same as you, and Einsamer Wanderer, and Feelin' Good. I hadn't done an exam since I was in my mid-teens (I'm 32 now). I never used to get bad nerves as a child - at least, they didn't affect my playing, only my singing voice. But in the adult learners' concert earlier this year I got a taste of real "adult" nerves - I froze up repeatedly and messed up bits that had never given me any trouble before. So I was prepared for a similarly nerve-rattling experience in the exam.

I did feel very nervous before the exam - mainly I was afraid I would freeze up. And I did. But once that had happened I started to relax - after all, what I feared would happen did, and I was still alive. So while I didn't play my best, I don't think I played my worst either, and whatever my result is it will be fair and representative of my playing. (Unfortunately... )

I was glad I did the Allegro first, as I'm pretty sure I would have messed it up regardless of what order I played the pieces in, and this way it was out of the way early.

After the exam I felt incredibly relieved and high and still can't stop twittering! Oh why oh why can't they just tell you the results on the day!

GOOD LUCK TOMORROW! I'm sure you'll be fine.

Hi Fred,

Sounds like we are in the same boat, I am 31 now and its the first exam since my teens, when i got grd 7( dont know how!!)

The Allegro is a struggle, not sure if its cos of the length, but i feel drained at the end! my 2nd peice is Grandados(if thats how you spell it!!) and thats a much more enjoyable peice. and then Feeling Good. Which is far from the speed it should be!!

It fees like the last 6months of preparing has flown past, and now i need another 6months!!

What are you gonna do now, grade 7?

My teacher said, "Shall we start working on grade 7 scales now?" (with a little smirk). I said, "Let's see if I pass grade 6 first." So now we're working on one piece that is horrendous and I'm sure must be at least grade 7 - and another that can't be more than grade 5. It's a shame I loved that Allegro when I started learning it, I can't bear to play it now!

Feelin' Good's fun though, isn't it? The recommended metronome speed is definitely a bit too fast for comfort - even the cd doesn't do it that fast. Cunning use of rubato helps on those big chords. I found the time before the exam really dragged - I was ready a month ago, and feel I just deteriorated since then, as I was really bored of playing the same pieces and scales but didn't quite dare start anything else.

I agree, the Allegro is quite draining. What is it the king says in 'Amadeus'? "Too many notes" - perhaps Dussek should have cut a few. But the Granados is a lovely, showy dance, I learned it once before. I'm sure you'll do well tomorrow, remember - bananas! (I didn't banana, should have taken my own advice!)

Good luck tomorrow !

Hi!!

Thanks for all your advise and kind wishes!! i'm gonna run through to pieces a few times tonight and then tomorrow and just look at it as having the opportunity to play a good piano for once instead of my old thing!!

this time tomorrow it will be all over, will let you know.

thanks!!

Congrats for having such a sensible reaction to freezing up!!! Tisn't always that easy to carry on when things have gone pear shaped.


I can just imagine people being asked just before exams, "Did you banana??"

Good luck mullers...

fred, I hope your results come soon.

Lol, yes, they should have a fruit bowl in the waiting room, and after ticking your name when you arrive ask, "Would you like to banana before you go in?"

I'd like to see Eddie Izzard do a skit on that, it'd be right up his street, sufficiently random!

Having bananaed (that looks wrong ) and Rescue Remedied at two different exams I would say, from my totally statistically insignificant sample of one, that bananaing wins hands down.

Maybe we should create a poll!

I really don't want to be nervous for my audition, but I think if I ate a banana, it really wouldn't be a nice experience....*ewww - thinks of bananas *

It could be on the next version of the exam regs!

Hi !!

Just wanted to let you know I completed my exam without anything too horrible happening!!

The scales he asked were one I had been working hard on (C sharp melodic minor was his 2nd choice!!)

The evil Allegro wasnt too rickety as the piona was really loud ! and the other peices had no mishaps, it all happened so quickly!!

I did panick a bit about the talking about the peice and naming a composer and era, but he never asked me the composer, is this a good thing???

Wish we could find out results now though!

Well done! It sounds like it went really well. I'm pleased for you. I know what you mean about the results, I keep thinking, hasn't it been two weeks yet!

Talking about the piece - at grade 6 you only have to answer direct questions, not waffle on your own as at the higher grades, so if he didn't ask you that's one less question you had to answer.

I've just collected my results sheet from my teacher. Here is the breakdown:

A3 (the dreaded Allegro) 21
B2 (Grieg) 30 ( !!! )
C1 (Feelin' Good) 26
Scales & Arpeggios: 17
Sight reading: 17
Aural Tests: 15
Total: 126

I'm pleased and relieved, and can finally sleep at night again. And I've learned my lesson: Next time, I'm choosing the pieces I find easy rather than the pieces I like the sound of! He put lots of lovely comments, and just enough negative ones to let me know where I need to improve, which is nice (mainly note accuracy on the fast pieces and sight reading, and confidence on the scales).

Here is a big thank you to everyone on these fora who has been so kind and supportive: Thank You All.

Love,

Fred xxx
(who is full of love and fluffy bunny-type feelings tonight)

Well done, Fred. What a great result - especially the Grieg, wow.

Well done Fred - a great result & especially 30 for the Grieg. When are we going to hear you play it?!

Erm, granados. I don't know how old he got to be. But I love the pieces you played , Mullers. I like playing them myself.

Wow Fred! Well done!

I know what you mean about choosing the pieces you can play, but on the other hand you do learn a heck of a lot if you choose ones that are tricky well done especially on the grieg mark - brilliant!

Many congratulations Fred !

I've only taken one exam so far, but I chose the pieces I liked best, and one of the harder pieces from list B as a consequence, which in the end turned out to be the piece with the lowest mark! (I don't think I could do otherwise though - imagine all those weeks of playing a piece you didn't much care for ...)

How fantastic to get 30 for a piece too!!

Fantastic result, Fred - well done indeed!

Hey Fred!!

Congratulations!! You must be so pleased and releived!! Hope you celebrated in style !!

Congratulations, I have my eye on that Grieg (for well over a year's time....) 30/30 is amazing !

I think that you did right to choose the pieces you like rather than the easy ones and that's something I always do too. You've shown you can pass whatever pieces are thrown at you rather than just by sneaking through the easiest way: that makes the process much more enjoyable and your achievement all the more special, well done !

Absolutely!