Piano Exams

[.:Glass Miracle:.]

Firstly, I'm taking the ABRSM syllabus. Exam is day after tomorrow, and seriously, I'm going to fail. 100 marks seems so hard to get.

Grade 6 is harder than I thought.

I'm only barely doing average in my second and third piece, and the last quarter of my first piece is so...so...well, let's just say I'd better improve if I don't wanna get 10/30 for that piece.

My Aural is horrid. I can't sing anything close to the original pitch. I cross my fingers for luck during the question and answers section [where examiner plays a melody, asks questions about it]. I'm freaking out by the moment, as I find it just too hard to correctly identify if a piece is from Baroque, Classical, 19th Century or 20th Century! And what about naming a possible composer for the played piece?!

Sight-reading is bad. I'll forget about it.

Scales are ok. Maybe I could hope to score marks for that.

---------------------------------------------------------

My sister. She's taking Grade 4. When I think of her condition, I get even more worried. She's doing not too well for her first and third pieces, but her second piece...she only knows the first line!!! At this moment I'm going to and fro the comp and piano, teaching her. I HAVE to teach her, as my teacher simply gave up on her. Thank god my sister can play average scales, as she couldn't possibly rely on her sight-reading and aural.

I need...advise. Exams only two days away! *freaks out*

[Shoyru_Lover]

Awww. Just relax and go in there and play confident. They are after all, for you. As long as you love the music, piano exams are really fun.

[Lillie]

Odd, it's early!

My teacher usually helps me prepare about a year before the exam - or more. I began doing Grade 7 stuff a year and a half before. I got used to the pieces, dropped them to experience other kinds of music and returned to them a few months before the actual exam.

I hope your sister passes because it sounds like she needs a lot of luck. Perhaps next time make sure the teacher is positive she can do it before applying for an exam? If she still can't do more than the first line, don't apply. There's always plenty of time to learn.

Good luck on your exams! If you touch up your pieces, failing Aural is not a problem. That is if you get high marks for your pieces. (I failed Grade 7 Aural and expect the same for this year.) I blindly memorised the different periods for Aural and the composers.

Baroque is more simple sounding, no pedals, usually very clear and thin texture.

Classical is thick texture, pedal is used (I think) and very 'grand'.

Romantic is like Classical only thinner texture and smoother. Very hard to diffrentiate.

20th Century - anything strange, weird or unworldy. *nod*

Practice scales a lot. When too tired to play pieces, play scales. Scales are your worst enemy and your best friend. Remember that. Befriend the enemy and it will aid you.

Take sight-reading SLOW. When it's over, practice sight-reading by playing random pieces. One hand at a time - it takes a lot of practice and some capability to do it.

GOOD LUCK!

[zorg]

Oh I really hate exams, I did my 3rd one (I skipped 1 & 2), and I haven't gone to another one since (I passed with distinction, but the feeling of worry was just terrible).

Especially as I was so small, its really unnerving.

But anyway, thats just me. I'm sure you'll do great, its all in the head too... even if you think you stuffed up i'm sure you did great Goodluck with the exam!!!

[jellyoflight]

I'm only doing my grade 2...>.<

[Sakura]

I used to play piano because of the Asian family thing. To tell the truth, I really, really don't like the piano.

For your sister, I dunno, you can borrow some sheet music from your friends and try to teach your sister to sight read that. She might enjoy it more than analyzing classical music.

A good way to develop sight reading is to sing out the notes or hum it and then master it there, it's easier then to apply to the piano.

[Lillie]

I used to play piano because of the Asian family thing.

What part of the Asian family thing are you referring to?

[.:Glass Miracle:.]

*sigh*

How...could...I.

Piano exam was bleurgh. Let's just say I'll probably have to resit Grade 6 next year. T_T

I PRACTISED hard, real hard, for my pieces and scales, but did I play them well? NOOooOO!

My hands were shaking so badly it was impossible to play even a single perfect scale. I didn't do too well for pieces, because my shaking fingers fumbled up. Sight reading was bad, even though I played a portion of it right. Aural was terrible. I KNEW I got every single question wrong for Aural.

Examiner: *finishes playing piece* So tell me, what period is this piece in.
Me: Uh...romantic?
Examiner: Romantic? O_o And how is it?
Me: Uh...It has...richer harmonies?
Examiner: *asks next question*

-_-

Maybe I should have either said Baroque, or Classical. Romantic pieces don't come up often.

I failed it. I know I did.

[Lillie]

Aww, poor dear. *hugs*

Can't you just prepare for next next year's Grade 7? It won't be much fun to do Grade 6 again - and two years to do Grade 7 is plenty of time. I got those spiffy Aural books and CDs to train myself in Aural by September, because I don't want to completely fail the thing. If you can, try and do the same. I even began singing lessons because I'm so dreadful at the whole lot. Come to think of it though, just about everyone I know fails higher grades' Aural most of the time. I think the philosophy is to expect to fail it and make up for the rest. But I got a Romantic piece for my Aural as did a friend, so p'raps it's not entirely rare. Maybe some research into these time periods and listening to examples will help you. (I failed Aural. )

Well, big day nerves - we all have them. It's completely normal to have them, although definitely not nice. I suggest you forget about the exam until the results come out though because it's no point worrying about something you can't change. Take a break from your pieces, play a nice new range of different things and enjoy yourself for a while before going back. It's also good practice for sight-reading and it helps you musically as well to do different kinds of pieces.

Anyhow, I'm really sorry it didn't go well. Hopefully your sister will fare better. What's your piano teacher like?

[.:Glass Miracle:.]

Well, my sister didn't do too well either. She played only one page out of two in her second piece, because that's all I could teach her in two days. She forgot to repeat a part of the song in her first piece. She did badly in everything else. *sigh* I guess we'll both be failing.

My piano teacher gave up on my sister, leaving me to teach the second piece to my sis, and leaving me to teach my sis broken chords in her scales syllabus.

But, you're right, Lillie. I guess I should forget about it for now. I'll enjoy myself as much as I can. ^_^

[[angel]]

Aww, GC...don't worry about it. Do what Lillie says -- forget about it, there's no need to spend six weeks worrying before the results come out. And if you've failed? So what, no big deal. Really, don't worry about it. I thought I'd failed my Grade 5 violin because when I was asked to play the Dominant Sevenths, I didn't start on the dominant, I started on the tonic. *kills self* My scales and arpeggios worked out completely terrible [the examiner just put 'scales and arpeggios were...dubious' in my report], and I really did think that I wouldn't pass. But in the end, I did. My pieces weren't too bad, my sight-reading was rubbish, my singing was horrible...but he passed me. So remember, there is still hope. Never give up. *huggles*

[Igg]

1) Examiners like to look like you've got something wrong.
I got full makrs on one of my sections for sax, and he made me feel like I'd failed.
2) They do take into account nerves.

[Squinchy]

More often than not, examiners/judges will be quite lenient. They know you're shaking and very nervous, so they grade according to that. I played Mozart K.283 in a festival last year and made mistakes in all the critical places, yet still received the highest ranking.

About sight reading: Practice in your spare time (when you're too tired to do pieces AND scales ) and be as confident as you can. If you don't think you can be confident, fake the confidence. Always look at the score (especially the key and time signature!) before you touch the keys, and imagine what the first line or so should sound like. Identify chords/other-fun-music-theory-jargon if you can, and fake it according to those-i.e. If you see a C arpeggio in the bass that keeps going but changes in the order of the notes, try to play C/E/G in places that sound right rather than not playing the bass. Most importantly, take a reasonable, cautious tempo and stick to it.

About the music history part: It sounds like fun! (This is coming from a music history freak.)

Baroque: In my mind, baroque has lots of little trills/mordents/ornaments that frequently occur where it goes 'ti-do' or '7-1'. 2/3/4 voices are frequently used, but composers (Bach, in particular) have a way of making it sound very simple and clear, like Lillie said.

Classical: Whatever isn't baroque, romantic, or modern. I think it's very hard to define-but if you hear Mozart (broken thirds and childish simplicity are his trademarks, I think), it's classical.

Romantic: In my mind, romantic is full of large chords, distinctly-un-baroque trills and ornaments, black keys, and emotion. If you see the examiner's hands spread to ridiculously large intervals/chords, it might be Rachmaninoff or Liszt. Chopin's etudes sometimes go all over the keyboard, though that's not definite.

Modern/20th Century: Ughh...anything ragtime is obviously 20th century, but other than that, I don't know. Say Shostakovich or Bartok (is he considered modern?) or Prokofiev or someone like that..

I've never taken the ABRSM exams, but I heard that only grades 5 and 8 were worth taking. I would try grade 7-Wouldn't doing grade 6 again be awfully boring? Besides-you probably passed. Don't worry about it, and have fun with piano!

[.:Glass Miracle:.]

A million thanks for all the assurance, and tips. You probably won't feel/recognise it, but your kind words have done wonders for me. Thank you once again. ^_^