Just arrived home to find that my results were here. I got 132 (Distinction) which was exactly the same mark I got for my Grade 8 flute 31 years ago!

Breakdown was as follows:

Piece A (Telemann D minor Sonata) 28
Piece B (Rubbra) 27 comment 'a pity the ensemble lost its way but you recovered well'
Piece C (Bach Gavotte en Rondeau) 25 (I was surprised at this because I thought it went better than the other two!)
Scales 17 (better than I expected)
Sight reading 19
Aural 16 (one chord mis-identified and one modulation wrong)

I'm very pleased with my result, partly because I'm entirely self-taught on the recorder, and partly because I only started working towards the exam after I had put in the entry. I now have to decide whether to do any more recorder exams. I quite like the look of the ATCL syllabus (especially as I could play the Rubbra again).

My students did well too, more or less exactly as I had predicted. My one recorder player earned her second distinction at Grade 4 in two terms: this time 134 for treble recorder to add to her 136 for descant last time.

The flutes were two merits and two decent passes, both the passes struggling with braces at the moment.

I'm now going to have a great day celebrating.

My piano/theory teacher left a message on my answer phone to say that my grade 8 theory results have arrived, but she wanted to speak to me face to face, and she won't be available until after 5pm!!!!!

Nightmare!

WOW andante! well done - that is fantastic! sounds like all your pupils did really well too! *applause*

Congratulations andante in c, 132 is a fantastic mark! You must be so pleased!

Lisa xxx

Thanks, both. It's nice to get an objective assessment of my playing. I did consider doing a Performance Assessment, but I would still have had to do it all over again to get the Grade 8 certificate, so I bit the bullet.

Well done! I knew you'd get a distinction (no crystal ball involved, just common sense about related instruments)

Liz

Well done!! Let me know if you think about the ATCL, it's time I took a recorder exam again so maybe we can help each other

Congratulations Andante!

A lovely mark. Great news!

Congratulations, that's a great result! Seems your accompanist's playing didn't detract from your mark. Especially well done for getting 28 on one piece. And well done for your students, too they must be a credit to your teaching .

Enjoy your celebrations!

Best,

Fred xx
(who is still waiting...)

Thanks to all who have responded so far. These Forums are a fantastic support network and a real help to those of us taking exams and/or teaching.

I'm thinking of all the adult learners at Manchester at the moment, and am hoping all is going well there.

Great andante you definately deserve to celebrate and your students did very well too. Have a great evening!

Well done andante. That is an excellent result.

Yay, congratulations!!!

Congratulations andante- an excellent mark.
BTW what instrument(s) are you playing at the adult learners' concert in September?

Probably all three! A flute piece, piano accompaniment (which you know all about) and recorder in the ensemble.

Very well done. A great result.

I've been thinking of taking up the recorder again, after more years than I care to remember. But I'm a bit "over the hill" to start a new instrument - what do others think?

Definitely not. The recorder's a good one to take up: you can probably remember how to play it a bit; it's easy to get a sound out of it; there are lots of different sizes to buy if you get the bug and you can join in with ensemble playing easily. It's the nearest instrumental equivalent of joining a choir that I have found.

Well done Andante in C. Which recorder did you take the exam in? I played treble and bass recorders when I was at school, but I didn't know then that you could do exams in recorder.

Nannyjay - its never too late to learn an instrument. Go for it!!

I used treble throughout. Grades 6, 7 and 8 are treble exams with some descant and tenor options, but you can only play descant/tenor for one of the pieces. Scales and sight reading have to be done on the treble. ABRSM offers separate descant and treble exams up to Grade 5.

Grade exams weren't available for recorder when I was a teenager, otherwise I would have done at least some exams then. I used to enter myself for music festivals (with varying results) but stopped playing recorder very much when I started the flute. So this Grade 8's been a long time coming.

Yay, another nice thread to respond too! Well done Andante, you really did deserve it!!

Thanks, Nicki. Welcome back! How was Germany?

Well done!!

Anyone heard how Gae did? I'm trying to remember how long ago he said his exam was.

His was the same day as mine, but he hasn't been on the forums this weekend.

I thought so...


ahhh... I was wondering if I had just missed something - entirely possible, not that I'm a bit of a ditz or anything - so we just have to be patient to hear how he did. Thanks andante - you're always on the pulse!!! (unlike me... )

Congratulations Andante - marvellous result !

Jen

Only because we shared the original thread. I remember being slightly concerned that he didn't tell us how the exam had gone until the evening, but it was only because he had been teaching. I hope his result comes through soon - the waiting's by far the worst part.

Yes I think I remember the same - checking up to see how people's exams had gone! It's kind of silly to get worked up about other peoples' exams and results, but at the same time it's nice that we can all support each other and congratulate/commiserate as necessary.


definitely... I got stressed enough over grade 4 flute! much worse waiting for Postie every morning than doing the exam itself...

I was lucky in that the result came rather earlier than I had been expecting. I've known them to take over three weeks in the summer before.

My grade 4 at Christmas took 3 weeks and one day. Not that I was counting... at least it was worth waiting for, need to do lost of practice in the hope that grade 6 result will live up to it!