Well I got my grade 1 piano! I wen't to my piano teacher's house and picked up the certificate this evening. I did pretty well - I scored 127/150 - a merit. I was only 3 marks away from a distinction.Here is a transcript of my marks and examiner's comments:
A3 - "This was in a suitably lively tempo. Dynamic contrasts were effective and vivid. The R.H. fingerwork was strong (a couple of semiquavers aside). Although balance between hands was sometimes uneven (L.H. tended to dominate), this was characterful". 26/30.
B2 - "You judged the tempo well. Dynamic variations were mostly convincing. There was a slight hesitation before the second half. You recovered promptly and projected something of the mood here". 25/30.
C1 - "Opening staccato patterns were crisp and even. Fingerwork was largely even and strong, aside from fleeting exceptions in stave three. The dynamic range was appropriate. Another well prepared account". 27/30.
Scales and arpeggios - "Your scales were prompt in response and mostly even. Arpeggios and broken chords fared similarly (depite some uneveness in L.H. patterns)". 17/21.
Sight reading - "You started accurately. There were subsequently stumbles and rhythmic errors. You kept going, giving a clear outline". 15/21.
Aural tests - "Small slip in "B", otherwise assured". 17/18.
Additional comments - "An impressive start to your piano playing - well done today!"
5 comments:
I am feeling fed up! Took grade 1 piano yesterday. My hands shook terribly and made playing very tricky. In my mock tests over the last couple of months my teacher said I was merit/disinction, so I didn't feel too bad about taking the exam. I now feel miserable as I feel I will be lucky to get a pass. I am 40 and wonder whether it's too late in life to put myself through this kind of anxiety. How did you feel you had done on the day?
Plinkyplonky!
Hi, Sorry to hear that you're not feeling too good about the exam. I felt like I did OK after mine, but I did feel nervous and did have extremely sweaty palms in the exam!
I'm doing grade 2 in two weeks time and I'm quite worried about that one. I find one of the pieces quite hard and there's lots of scope for cock-ups with hands-together scales, and some of the 2 octave arpeggios are tricky.
Anyway, please do pop back and let me know how you got on, and please keep going! I think it's an absolutely worthwhile thing to do - just imagine what it must be like to get to grade 8 - you'll be able to knock people's socks off with your piano playing!
My God! I can't believe you are doing grade 2 already. I have bought the exam 2009/2010 book and they look really hard. Are you one of those lucky natural talent types? I'm not, I have to plod away... oh well, will just have to wait and see what I get for grade 1, then worry about the next one. Will pop back on here when I find out. Are you going to put the little videos on here for grade 2 as well? Will be in touch.
Plinkyplonky!
Hi there! Well here we go, passed with merit, I am very relieved and a bit chuffed too. A1 25/30, B2 23/30, C1 24/30, scales 16/21, sight reading 18/21, aural 18/18...124/150 better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick :-)
plinkyplonky!
That's great! Well done! So any plans for Grade 2 yet? I have my Grade 2 exam on Saturday and am a bit nervous about it. I've decided to lay off grades for a full 6 monthhs after this one so that I can learn some other stuff which will be a nice change. Doing grade prep has dominated my lessons for months and is getting tedious to be honest.
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