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Hi, I haven't posted here for a while. Just an update on my progress. I did grade 8 last year, which I felt went poorly (I had a memory lapse in the first movement of a Beethoven Sonata and had to restart), but I still managed to get a B+..

So just a few hours ago I did my performance certificate exam (which is a grade between 8 and associate diploma), I felt I did much better than my previous exams, I didn't have memory lapse for once, and I felt I was able to deliver the pieces musically like I intended. Of course I got VERY nervous before the exam, also, as I seated myself on the piano I noticed the keys were all wet! (I was the first student that morning, and it must be condensation) so I asked the examiner if she has some tissues to wipe the keyboard lol.

Feel free to ask me any question about the exam. Overall, it was a great experience, though there were times when I wanted to turn around and just cancel the whole exam thing, but I'm glad I persevered. x

Congratulations albynism........sounds like you got the monkey off your back from last year

Congratulations! That is an accomplishment.

Congrats Albynism!

What's it like during the actual exam?
Do you get a chance to warm up on the piano?

Once you've played your pieces, is there a verbal or conversational aspect to the exam about the pieces you've played?

That is so great! Gives the rest of us some hope! Persevering through adversity is something to be *exceedingly* proud of.

Thank you everyone.

Carlos88:
The examiner give you some time to get used to the piano while they prepare the paperwork. so it was about 3-5 minutes.

After I finished playing, there is a conversational aspect (general knowledge test) where they ask you questions about the pieces, the composers etc. They never discuss how you went during the exam though. I think all she said was, "that's all, you're free for the rest of the day now!"

They post the result to you about a week after the exam.

Got my result. It's a B... Not too happy because I thought I did better then the previous exam which I got a B+ for..

It did say that I am under the required minimum duration of 25 minutes so my teacher reckon I could have gotten a A but lost a grade because of that. Bummer!

It did say I'm overtly dramatic in the Chopin polonaise. Muhahaha

Thanks for your answers Albynism. It's nice that they get the exam results back so quickly.

I was wondering if you purposefully changed anything in your preparation between your exam last year and this year?


Was there anything in the exam feedback that surprised you or your teacher (besides the overly dramatic Chopin :-) ? Or feedback that you found to be particularly insightful or useful?

It seems unfair to dock you a whole grade for being short of the 25 minutes. Next time, you'll have to tell them that you've thrown in part of John Cage's 4'33" :-)

Carlos88: Yes, my number one priority in this exam was memorization because I had a bad memory lapse last exam. So I practiced everything by looking at my hands, learned where the checkpoints are (so I can restart from that point in case I have a memory lapse), played the program in front of my friends a couple of times - overall, a very mindful practice.

The exam feedback were very helpful actually. It say I need to work on rhythm and technicality, something that my teacher have been telling me about, and I agree that rhythm and fast finger-work is not my forte.

Unfortunately 4'33" is not in the syllabus. I actually thought of that haha!

Would have been nice for your teacher to have told you that before ... presumably you both knew how long everything was?

Oh well, B at an advanced level like that is still pretty good.

I wonder if you could have been over dramatic with 4'33 too?

No, my teacher never told me about the 25 minutes requirement.. sigh.
...
I should have played everthing at LENTO.

I love the comment about the excessive drama, she also wrote "I sense a personal involvement..." what the? hahahaha. A Lang Lang in the making perhaps?

B is not bad, remember the C is there for a reason. 5 day wait for result? I've been waiting 55 days (and counting) for my most recent piano exam result.