Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Adult Beginners Forum Piano Exam Group

Thought I'd share this again. Lisa T. has videos for all RCM pieces through level 6, and 4 more to make with 7 and 8. Includes etudes!

https://youtube.com/c/LisaTahara

Well, not long after me writing I would be doing an in-person exam, things changed as the normal venue in my region backed out. AMEB withdrew the in-person exams, with the only workable option being the video repertoire exam which had some pros and cons. On the one hand I no longer had to perform scales, arpeggios, sight reading, ear exercises, etc, for the exam. But on the other hand, it required additional to the four I had been preparing, a fifth performance ready piece. Not a huge problem as I did have two additional pieces prepared, just not to performance standard. It also meant recording myself which, I know I should do more often, but just don’t enjoy.

The video repertoire exam requirements are probably the same all over. Record all pieces in one continuous recording (absolutely no editing), in my case five pieces over twenty minutes, submit online and await the result. I made the recording a couple of weeks ago, and I was quite shocked with how bad my final take was. Watching yourself play is so much different to how you hear and perceive the performance. Each time I started to record, if there was a bad enough mistake I restarted, just a little slower and with less confidence each time. The final recording looks ‘’slow and safe’’, so I can’t say what an examiner is going to think of it. I can’t even say ‘’I played this better at home” because that is exactly where I recorded myself. Nor can I blame my own piano either 😉 Of course, I could have tried again on another day, but to be honest I was sick of the pressure, and just needed this exam to be over.

I have been notified the exam will be marked today, Saturday 19th June at 10.18 am no less. Results may take up to three weeks they say, though in previous AMEB exams they have been much quicker in the turn around.

Good luck! I have been taking Abrsm performance exams and yes, the 1st time it was so frustrating in recording in one continuous take …and learning to be okay with the odd mistake; we just want it perfect and it’s unrealistic even in face to face exam. Empathize on your experiences. You may be surprised on how well you end up doing. The wait is challenging, but time for you to walk away and play for fun now. I always dig into non exam pieces after an exam.

Congrats, earlofmar! Recording all pieces in one continuous take is not easy!

very true. With the weight of the exam over I am actually enjoying playing just for me again.

Just got my exam result through, thank goodness they finally put my out of my misery. I was expecting the worst, so I am still a bit shell shocked with the B credit.

The examiner was kind in her comments, but pulled no punches. I wasn't going to post them here since without hearing the exam there is no context, but what the heck

Congratulations! 5 pieces in a continuous take..impressive! Thanks for sharing the comments, and they aren’t much different from Abrsm. Although the latter will mark each piece individually to come to total score. I like the constructive comments so you can focus on them in future pieces. Time to celebrate! Bonnie weekend!

Congratulations, earlofmar! Kudos to you for going down this path!

Congrats, earlofmar! What an accomplishment!

Congrats, earlofmar! Keep challenging yourself!

Afternoon all. Just got my results back for ABRSM Grade 3 that I took on Monday (quick response right!?) - over the moon to have been awarded a Distinction with 144.

Just having a look at the 21-22 Grade 4 syllabus and it has some incredible pieces, there is at least 15 or 16 that I am keen to play.

Any tips or advice going forward to Grade 4?

No tips for Grade 4, but a huge CONGRATS for Grade 3 scores 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

Congrats on grade 3!!!

fantastic Jeremy, and a distinction no less. You must be over the moon.

I can't share any tips unfortunately. Every new grade seems to have its own challenges that only you can get through.

Thank you guys, yes I am very pleased. Always nice to have something to show for hard work. I admit I am a bit sick of the exam pieces, but I think that’s probably normal…!

Hi there,

It's my first posting here - and really just a datapoint more than anything.

I registered for my ABRSM grade 1 (performance) around the 12th of June. The earliest exam date I could get was the 6th of July 8PM my time (I live in New Zealand) - not that that makes much difference, since it's not live and is based on submitting a recording.

I submitted my recordings around the 14th of June, I'd guess - I decided to satisfice rather than aim for perfection, so I think I did three or four recordings and sent in the one with the fewest mistakes (I hit a bum note on the very last song, but I recovered without issue, so I thought that was fine).
My recording languished on their servers for about 3 weeks - they don't look at the recording until the actual date/time of the exam, apparently (which makes sense).

I tracked the progress of the marking through the ABRSM portal.

It took just over three days from the date of my exam through to the results being released.


I was pleasantly surprised with a distinction. Watching the video back I know there were some issues with dynamics, and the aforementioned bad note.

Other details:

1 - started learning piano in January using Alfred's Adult All-In-One. I'm on the final piece of the book this week.
2 - Worked approximately (minimally) 30 minutes a day, sometimes more on specific pieces, but pretty much an even split on technical exercises/scales/reading, old songs, and new songs (this is usually where I run over my allotted time).
3 - I used a number of Julian Lambert's youTube videos, among others - anything, really, that spoke about the 4 pieces I chose, how to think about them, tips/tricks etc. There's a lot of junk piano videos online, but the videos that deal with specific pieces tend to be quite useful.
4 - I booked some time with a local teacher the last three weeks before I recorded the video - I just basically played him the pieces, and brought specific questions I had along with me. This was useful, but I think it will be more useful as the pieces become more complex and subtle.


I'll definitely go for grade 2 next. I'm hoping, though, that ABRSM opens up their Jazz Piano exams for the performance route, in which case I'll switch to that, but if not, I'll continue with the "standard" piano performance grades - the test medium really just works for me, I feel I have a lot of control over the entire process.

Best
B

Congrats bsalad! Welcome to the forums.

Congrats bsalad, an impressive start. I am still in two minds about the video exams but can understand the benefits.

Thanks bSharp and earlofmar.

I doubt I'd do the exams if it weren't for the video option, to be honest. It's a lot more convenient, but it still allows some measure of objective assessment and something to aim for.

I'm glad that it's an option - and I take it that's part of the point, allowing for different approaches to learning/testing.

Also in two minds about the Performance Exams.

Personally I think the original Practical Exams already test “performance” enough already (the highest percentage of the marks are for the 3 pieces!). All that seems to be happening is they are taking away the other 3 (out of 4) things to be tested on… making it much easier, at least on paper.

My other mind believes that they’re great for casual pianists who don’t want to delve into all those other extra things, which could be too much for them and affect the performance of their pieces.

I guess my only side note with that is - should the two exam types be valued the same by ABRSM? Which they are, strangely.