Hi everyone,

I took my DipABRSM last Thursday, at the Royal Academy of Music. I had a fantastic piano to play on and two wonderful examiners. Here are the Viva Voce questions that I know everyone who hasn't yet taken their exam is dying to hear

How did you choose your program?
What is stretto? Point it out in the music.
How can a pianist play Bach on the piano?
Explain the melody of the Moonlight sonata's first movement.
Where is the chromatically descending bass line of the third movement?
What is sonata form?
Which movement uses sonata form?
In the Brahms, the melody is doubled in the alto and tenor. How does this affect the way you play it?
How do you play the melody of the Gershwin prelude 2?
Where is the walking bassline in the third prelude?
What were Gershwin's other 4 preludes? (I didn't know, and he didn't either!)
How did Ravel influence Gershwin?
Why do people like Gershwin's more popular music more than his piano music?

The last 2 questions were from the generalist and I think he was just trying to get a rise out of me, because I was able to answer all the other questions.

The quick study was REALLY EASY! It was in E major, modulated to e minor, and went back to E major. There was a faster part in the middle which I was able to practise at least 4 times (including playing the whole thing over once before the 5 minutes was over), so I was able to really play it properly.

The recital went well, but they kept shuffling about a lot and I made a tiny slip every time one of them got up. We were in very close proximity! I didn't play the Moonlight sonata 3rd movement well at ALL - it was the worst I have ever played it - but at least I didn't make very many slips on the notes and rhythms. I just started a tad bit slower than I had been practising, and the expression wasn't good at all because of my nerves.

Anyway, good luck to everyone else, and I hope my viva questions helped you some! I will try to answer questions if you have any but I won't be on the forums much because I am on holiday!

Well done Leia12!
Hope I can do well n the best too!
n Hope for other people that will taking this will do the best!

Let us know how you get ur result!

Sounds like it went well! Your experience was not too dissimilar to mine - I didn't play the finale of my sonata well either. You're very lucky you had a good piano though! Your viva questions seem a lot more in-depth than the ones I got, though my quick study was harder! Do you feel confident that you have passed? I am not really sure about my exam! Let us know how you did when you get the results.

Enjoy your well-deserved holiday!

thanks leia12, it always helps to see real-life viva-voce questions, can you remember any of your answers to them? enjoy your holiday, sounds like you've done very well - let us know when you get your result

I took my exam last Thursday, and thought I should note down some of my Viva questions for others - if it helps.

Interestingly, I was only asked questions on my first two pieces, Debussy and Schubert, and NOT on the others, i.e. Brahms and Gershwin.

Firstly, I was asked how I thought the recital went?
What considerations were there for planning my programme?
My programme was very stylistic. What other styles had I not included? (and why?) Actually this sounds obvious now, but I blanked out completely...

Then they looked at my programme notes:
my first line on Debussy referred to him as the most influential composer since Chopin. The question they asked was something like... Why? but I remember talking about the other composers after Chopin... so it might not have been...!

I had quoted a pianist in my notes, and there was a German word, Hausmusik, and they asked me what the word was... I hadn't the foggiest! But they then asked me what it meant... and I told them in detail, so I hope that was OK...

They then queried my statement that Schubert wrote over 200 songs. The point they were trying to make was he wrote more in the region of 600 songs. Regardless of the fact, i tried to explain I was working with a proper source..!

They asked me to map out the structure of the first movement of the Schubert. At the development they asked me what key we had moved to. Easy!

And then the generalist asked if there was anything else they had missed. Yeah, lots but how do you really answer that?!?!

So - basically - know your programme notes to the letter!

The sight reading was the same, I think, as most people had. A piece in 3/4 sections. 5 mins. really is plenty of time!

Hope it helps :-)

That's a nasty question! Do you say it didn't go well because you were nervous and hence get the possibility of them putting down certain things to the 'could do it but not today category' but of course risking telling them in a follow up question what went wrong; or say that it went brilliantly and thus giving them ammunition to say your performance skills weren't up to standard as you said you gave a fair account of yourself that day?

I know that in reality they can only mark what they hear on the day; but to me that seems like a very mean question!

I might be way off the mark here but to me that sounds like a typical "get yourself relaxed" kind of question. Almost small talk if you like just to calm things down after the adrenaline rush of the recital/quick study..

Well done, sounds like you did really well!! I hope you get a good result

It does indeed seem like that sort of a question, but I still wouldn't like to be asked that question: the answer has too many possible implications; or maybe I just read too much into things!

Well I guess it could be a get you relaxed question or it could be a "I wonder what they meant by that?" question. Either way you could dig yourself a big hole by your answer.

I think I would say something like "Very quickly," so as to not commit myself.

well done..... send me some tips when i'm about to do my exam....

VERY big - I know I would...


Nice one!

Jchurch1, what do you answer for this question, n what should we answer it guys?
should we say good, terrible, quite good, or what??

To be honest I'd go for Jane's answer (although admittedly I wouldn't have thought of it at the time); it seems a little dangerous to answer in any other way!

Thanks AP!
I just realize after your reply about Jane answer, before this i don't understand what did she say...lol

aaaarrrrrrrrghhhhhhhhh!
We can't say! Who knows? Everyone's diploma exam is their own and you have to make a judgement call at the time on what's appropriate! That's why it's a hard exam

sorry, sorry... hard day at work with no easy answers to problems forthcoming, guess I'm begrudging other people easy answers ...

Actually, I was very talkative and made out that I was very confident with what happened. I basically said it generally went well, it took me a while to get used to the limits and touch of the piano, and that by my Brahms piece I was beginning to relax more.

The next question was 'Which piece do you think I played best?' - I agree, all relaxing questions. I said The end two, Brahms and Gershwin. I talked enthusiastically when I said the word "Gershwin - two beautiful pieces". I hope it did the trick :-)

I hope you guys don't worry too much in the Viva Voce; just enjoy telling them about the pieces and what you know about it.