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Hey guys I’m new to this forum and although this might not be the appropriate place to post this I need to rant out my frustration for this exam. Any advice for what to do next will be greatly appreciated.

Amount of practice: 2 hours a day

Pieces

A3: got way too nervous and missed many notes, nonexistent dynamics, overall a complete tragedy
B5: Same, but even worse as I messed up the end and rushed through it
C2: Same as B2, horrifying

Scales

Majors: Alright
Chromatic: good
Contrary motion: Ok
Minor scales: terrible, forgot F minor
Arpeggios: A utter disaster, played every single one wrong

Sight Reading

Overall poor, with many mistakes and terrible speed ( way to slowww )

Aural

Disastrous, literally completely guesswork

What should I do next?

What did your teacher say when you told him/her?

Wait for the results and work towards doing better next time.

Regards,

Next, come and commiserate with us over in the piano exam thread here.

If you had prepared enough and can do all these things at home or with your teacher then it sounds like exam anxiety or nerves. Just prepare again, you know what to expect so that is out of the way, deep breath, reschedule and you should be fine. But take your teachers advice on when.

If it's the result of the performance anxiety you need to learn to overcome it, that is you need to learn to play in front of other people. Use every single opportunity to play when other people hear you.

But it is also probable that you have taken this exam too soon. (Or your teacher has made you take it too soon). Your skills may be insufficient yet for that grade.

Hiya, I had a similar experience for my grade 2 exam (or that was my perception) however I passed with 130 marks. Whilst you’re aware of your mistakes, they may not be as bad as you think!

I told my piano teacher about it (before I got my results, rather upset about how the day went) - he asked me if I would be comfortable counting from 1-10 in front of an audience. I replied that I would be.

He then went on the allude that I would need to know everything for my next piano exam in the same way (ie as well as being able to count from 1-10) so that nerves didn’t affect me on the day.

I’ve taken that on board, and whilst I’m not quite as comfortable as that, I’m better prepared for a week’s time.

Hey, was it your first exam or did you pass already some of the others like grade 3 ? In general if you are playing/practicing pieces at grade 4 level, you should expect that playing them in front of an audience + the exam tension will make them even more difficult.

Difficult to give you a practical advice, without much background. But from a behavior perspective, have a good drink (or whatever works for you), cheer up and get back to work. You are not the first nor the last one that messed up an exam. So analyze what and why it went wrong, find corrective actions and get back to practice accordingly. It can be your resistance to tension, ability to play in front of people, maybe some lack of technical skills, ..... I would also suggest some kind of blank exam to prepare yourself (ie you get a group of people and you play as if you were in the exam).

Based on that, I have a feeling that this is the OP's first ABRSM exam, and that he hasn't got a teacher.......

Ugh. I am really *not* a fan of this exam approach.

Amen to that.
https://jessicamusic.blogspot.com/2012/06/heat-and-light.html?m=1

True story - I skipped 3 grades and went to college. I also didn't take a lot of exams - never took a math class between 7th grade and when I left for college. Does this mean everyone can and should do this? Should I propose this as a legitimate path? Maybe suggest that because a few people don't need high school we can do away with it altogether or reduce high school to one year? Thank goodness for my daughter's sake that high school was 4 years.

I don't have an axe to grind on exams, but justifications such as JDCMB's above, based on anecdotal evidence, especially that of select people who may be different in some manner just don't sit right with me. I find such arguments to be B.S. whether about anti-exam or anti-vaxx.

It's great that there are elite musicians who certainly needed few of the things other piano learners needed - maybe not even "time" - as Martha Argerich were able to self-teach herself both Ravel’s Gaspard and Schumann’s Abegg Variations in five days - but let's not try to derive best practices from such examples. Instead, convince me based on statistical analysis and real evidence founded on the scientific method that exams are harmful, and I'll climb onboard, no problem. But don't tell me about yourself or your buddies that didn't need them and expect that to close the issue.

Seriously?

Maybe you shouldn't do exams. Not everybody can benefit from taking exams. If you truly put in two hours of conscientious effort at the piano every single day, then you should not worry about taking tests.

Exams are not for everyone for sure, but I definitely need them. Without exams, I am uncomfortable and and lost; I have no focus. With them I see a clear road ahead of me, one step at a time. Clear goals to achieve. I know myself very well and exams just feel right.

Exams feel so right I’m pondering whether or not I should do sax exams too. That’s a much less common road so not so sure yet.

Not even remotely analogous situations. Non sequitur designed to appeal to emotions by bringing up a marginalized group (the "anti-vaxxers"). We're also not discussing exams to become airline pilots or neurosurgeons, in case that one comes up as well.

The burden of statistical analysis and empirical evidence would be on the exam and grading system advocates. Demonstrate that that system historically has produced "elite" musicians. The "best practices" from those "examples" is pretty much how "elite musicians" trained before regimented academia took over.

Egggggggzackly. And now this person, who may be quite talented for all we know, is feeling beaten down for coming up short according to some arbitrary standard set by the music education industry. B.s. (and not a degree).

Seems like the thread is deviating toward a different subject or even 2: is the grading (or whatever control exam based cursus) system usefull in general and 2.is it usefull for amateur piano learners which i think are in a different situation.

For amateur piano learners, especially adults who do this for as a hobby and for their pleasure, i think it really depends on the personality. It can be beneficial for some and rather non productive for others. Some might find it usefull to have a goal which structure their learning process and make them feel like they are making progress because they have passed a grade. Others will find it too rigid. Now one thing that one must keep in mind is that these intermediary grades are not designed as end goals. For example grade 4 or 5 has components like contrary motion or chromatic contrary motion that no piece of that level (to the best of my knowledge) is using. They are present only to prepare futur pieces of a much higher grade. In other word the aim of the system is to bring one to a diploma or certificate level, a level where one has a set of clearly established skills that are recognized and can be used also in a pro carreer.

For an amateur pianist, there is no doubt that the content of each grade is usefull as it gives a good sense of what the educational system considers as necessary to master. That does not mean that one has to actually prepare and pass the exam. If one knows how to play the scales and his teacher agrees, the exam wont bring anything more. The essential value of the exam for an amateur is to put one in position of stress and tension and see how he or she can play in front of a public. A certainly usefull test if anybody is planning to play in front of others.

I'm not quite that masochistic. The problem I have with the concept is that it seems to be designed to 1. encourage the production of by-rote automatons obsessed with being technicians rather than musicians and 2.keep music teachers employed. Because everyone wants to pass the exams, after all. And 3. the possibly unfounded feelings of failure inflicted on those who don't measure up or struggle in a one-size-should-fit-all scheme. I take more of an individualist sort of view, rather than any set syllabus. To each his/her own.

That writer - sorry to say - hasn't got a clue, and obviously regards herself as a 'elite' above and beyond the hot polloi (the typical 'hobby' amateurs.........like me, who plays recitals mainly for non-classical audiences in a proselytising role, not for money) and as journalist, been associating herself with elites and forgetting how so many young people of less than elevated musical talents are exactly the ones who, having gone through the grade exam systems, make up the amateur music-making scene (especially choirs) in the UK, as well as the audiences for classical concerts. (Incidentally, the El Sistema system was praised to the skies at the time of the article (2012) but underlying problems with it have surfaced since......)

She seems to have forgotten - or maybe never had a clue - that the kids in these august institutions that she praises (rightly) to the skies:



.......all came through the grade exam system, of which ABRSM is the biggest and most well-known. To get into the NYO of GB, for example, you have to have Grade 8 Distinction or 'equivalent'. In their workshops, the kids learn a lot, lot more than just rehearsing for the next project and concert series with a great conductor. They have lots of musical skills as well as instrumental skills, which those exam boards place such great emphasis on. (The ABRSM website emphasises that their exams are music exams, not instrumental exams. Go look.)

That's why they enjoy performing stuff like this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xo97ztKppIw

....as well as more mainstream virtuosic instrumental stuff like these:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UkwDPO4RRcg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=be7uEyyNIT4

Few people who've not been brought up on a music syllabus and exam system (which regards music learning as an education in its own right, rather than a means to a showbiz/performing career, or to help with college applications) understand the benefits of acquiring an all-round music education, as well as instrumental skills.

For example, I sing in various ad hoc choirs occasionally, and 2 years ago, sang Gurrelieder and Beethoven's 9th (in association with the BBC Proms). None of my fellow amateur choral singers have ever studied singing, but all have gone through the ABRSM/Trinity exam system in various instruments - piano, string, woodwind, brass, even percussion. All could sight-sing to a high standard, and for some, singing had become their preferred form of music-making, rather than playing the piano or violin.

If the analogy is lost on you, my point is that in Commonwealth countries, this is a case of a non-mainstream position arguing against a mainstream position. One should expect to be asked for more evidence when one hold the non-mainstream position. And this is frankly reasonable.


Things change all the time, whether is a system for training musicians, or standardized testing in the educational system. Just because a system hasn't existed for most of history doesn't automatically mean that the "weight of history" obviates any need for evidence. Because one can argue for the correctness of almost any historical position by just going back far enough in time. We'd simply construct an argument like, "We don't need to provide evidence why <mainstream position for last 50 years> is wrong since history weighs on the side of <mainstream position for prior 300 years>. So rather show us why <mainstream position for last 50 years> is right?"


You softened your position to be almost just a personal opinion. Well, I'd never have raised an objection to a personal opinion even if they run contrary to the mainstream. Personal opinions are the 'other' thing every person has. For 3 of her 12 years, I pulled my daughter out of the public schools and homeschooled her - obviously I wasn't onboard with the mainstream position that public schools are a good thing. Everyone probably holds a few personal opinions not in the mainstream.

It's when we take a personal opinion and post it in a blog or an article and advocate it as JDCMB has above, when it's reasonable to ask for a higher standard of evidence from the non-mainstream side.

Sorry, but that's an ad hominem argument. I don't get any "elitist" vibe from her post there, more of an "individualist" one. "Elitism" would most likely be reflected in praising those who absorbed all that curriculum and passed those exams. As far as the youth orchestras go, for one thing that's great. But I don't know that you would get any less quality in the absence of the exam/grading system. In fact, part of the author's point in that piece is that the whole exam system might actually restrict and discourage far more than it nourishes. There are plenty of fine youth orchestras and amateur ensembles made up of players that weren't steeped in the exam routine from toddlerhood.