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congratulations on the triathlon and exam. You certainly aren't trying to make life easy for yourself (keep it up lol).

That sounds great Sara! Congratulations on your hard work, perseverance, and making beautiful music.

For those who did RCM exams - did they email you when the marks were posted, or did you just keep logging in to check?

Mine were online in less than two weeks. They didn't email...I just checked.
:-)

I got no email. I believe they notify the teacher you registered with. My teacher told me to check online. I got my score back in just under two weeks.

I got my mark back. I am over the moon! I got 90. The PDF comments haven't been loaded yet. Yay yay yay!!

Fantastic! Congratulations!!

hearty congratulations, you sounded confident afterwards and the mark back that up.

FANtastic! I'm so happy for you.

Congratulations Sara! That is a great score!

Fantastic Sara! Congratulations! Job well done!

I started looking at "When the Planets are Aligned" piece (very last selection in RCM 4) and next to it is the acknowledgment section, which I guess appears at the end of all the 2015 books. I had to do a double take because one of the persons mentioned there was the examiner for my exam. Perhaps that explains the detail of the comments.

Hi everyone. I'm going to be taking my first ABRSM exam (grade 3) in December. I want to ask those of you who have taken ABRSM exams before a question about interpretation. I've chosen a Handel sonatina as one of my pieces, and I came across a recording of it that has trills and I really like them. However the ABRSM sheet music does not have trills. I'd like to include them in my performance. Is there any kind of penalty for deviating from the written score?

There's a similar situation in another of my pieces, Dwarfs of the Mist by Carroll. It has pedal markings but I prefer it without the pedal.

It seems ABRSM is allowing some room for ornament differentiation or omission at lower grades, but didn't specifically say you can add. So it is up to you to decide keeping in mind that adding ornaments wouldn't upset the pulse.

See page 20 of this guide: A guide to ABRSM exams


Good luck!

I'm also about to take my first Piano exam (in less than 2 weeks), although it will be ABRSM Grade 3 Jazz. At least I don't have to worry about whether I'm allowed to embellish from the score.

I have always been a bit sceptical about doing exams but I'm quite pleased I went for the jazz exam. The syllabus seems fun.

Best of luck on your exam. I'm learning that the exam is not about the final score but about the learning journey that goes with the preparation and performance.

Best of luck with the exam sharkeyboard! I will be interested to hear about what a jazz exam is like.

Today was my big day, my first ever practical exam. At 4pm I sat AMEB grade 5 at my local music conservatory, and I can tell you it was one very long day from the wee hours when I first woke, to the time I sat down to take the exam. More than once throughout the day I asked myself why on earth I was doing this, but somehow managed to keep nerves under control and not allow negative thoughts to get in the way. I took a mock exam the weekend before last, and I did so badly at preparing, that from the outset of the mock exam I became overrun with nervousness and performed really badly. That bad experience gave me the impetus that I wasn't going to let nerves get in the way of today's exam.

A highlight of the day was a mini concert for my wife who has shown zero interest in hearing me play, (she would rather have me playing Billy Joel and not the great works of dead people). So it was she was hearing my exam pieces for the very first time, and I think was pleasantly surprised. I was quite surprised as well, I was still quite calm at this point.

I had a lesson with my teacher at 1 - 2pm, and played everything quite well. Still relatively calm at this point, and if I could only stay in this state for another 2 hours I would be ok. So for two hours I did nothing music related, I had lunch, drove round the town, bought pencils to pass time (like I need more pencils ), and then took my place in the queue of kids waiting for their turn with the various examiners. That was the most stressful part, dentist's waiting rooms have a merrier atmosphere, but when my name was called and I sat down at the piano remarkably I was still calm and I knew everything was going to be alright. But of course it wasn't (this ain't no fairy tale) but I think I came out of it ok. There were mistakes, several restarts and answers to questions I know I got wrong. But some of what I played wasn't complete crap so that's got to count for something. But let us never ever discuss the sight reading exercise, I don't know how the examiner kept a straight face when I did that exercise.

I think it's about a two week wait for results so I will update you all when the news comes in.

It sounds like you did well earlofmar! Congratulations for getting through your first exam. Grade 5 is a major milestone, and a big accomplishment. I know what you mean about the long day of anticipation. Now treat yourself to a celebratory dinner!

Great story and self reflection, Earlofmar. Good question...why do we do these exams? You prepared and you learned and I'll bet your scores will credit that admirably. Good for you. Now on to something new! And maybe some Billy Joel for your wife.