I've posted in the other forums but I don't think I've posted in this one yet, which is a bit silly of me seeing as I am an adult learner! So, hi to you all
I'm 29. I've been playing the oboe since April and have totally fallen in love with it. I've wanted to play it since I was a teenager but could never have afforded one before now (why are oboes so expensive???!!). I have limited lung function (it's about 47% of what it should be) due to having had the top half of my spine fused when I was ten to help treat a spinal curvature and having had part of a lung removed, so I figured that playing the oboe could help me strengthen my lungs and help maintain my respiratory function. I'm currently off work with a lot of long term health problems and am hoping this will help with those too, in that it'll give me something to occupy my mind.
I can already read music as I play the violin a bit (mainly self-taught), and luckily some of the basic fingerings are a lot like the descant recorder's, so with a lot of practice I've been able to progress quite quickly. I've been very, very lucky to get the most amazing teacher who is also a professional oboist.
Anyway, I had my grade 2 exam on Friday! I've never done a music exam before so I was really, really nervous - so much so that my hands and arms were shaking! I managed to play my pieces without any major slips though (I think), although I was concentrating on getting the notes right so much that I didnt pay as much attention to dynamics and phrasing as I would have done at home. The pianist accompanying me went wrong at one point but that didn't throw me, so hopefully that will count in my favour? By the time I played my last piece - the unaccompanied study - my hands were shaking so much that it made it sound like I was trying to do a very poor vibrato!
My scales were OK....I played a wrong note as soon as I started to play the A minor scale but said "oops sorry" and then restarted it and played it fine, so I hope that won't count against me too much. Also, the bottom C of my 2 octave C arpeggio was wobbly due to there being a lot of water in my oboe by that point - I don't know if that will affect my mark or if they'll be kind and realise that I couldn't have prevented it.
Sightreading was OK too....I played one note wrong, and again I didnt pay enough attention to dynamics.
The aural tests were horrid, and I had been stressing over these for ages.....I think that the echo singing had gone better than it had in practice sessions with my teacher, but my mind went blank when he asked me if the phrase he had played had got faster or slower, so I am sure I got that wrong. I might have half marks here if I am super lucky
Oh well, it was a good learning experience. The results will be sent to my teacher, hopefully in the next couple of weeks!
Hope anyone else who has had exams this term has had great results!
Cheers,
T xxx