Looking for reassurance - post-grade 1 piano wobbles haha

[SpursFan2]

I’m a piano adult learner and I took my grade 1 piano exam a few days ago, which I put a lot of effort and work into. I feel like I did my best - particularly on the sections I could prepare for, like the pieces and scales. I also think the aural tests went okay, partly because I have previous experience of them (played the flute up to and including grade 8 when I was a teenager). I put much more effort into this exam that I had into any of my flute exams (partly because the piano is so much more difficult for me - although I love it and I’m lucky to have an incredible teacher).

I really messed up on the sight reading in the exam though. My teacher and I had practised sight reading quite a lot in lessons and for homework. We had a whole strategy (if you can call it that haha - sounds quite grand) to help me feel secure and confident for sight reading before the exam.

In the exam though, my nerves took over, the 30-second prep period flew by and I panicked. I didn’t really play anything that resembled the piece - just had a very vague stab at it.

I can read the bass clef, but reading it quickly to prep for sight reading in an exam situation felt impossible. I guess practising reading bass clef notes - and practising sight reading in general - will be helpful.

Just looking for some reassurance please and some tips for improving my sight reading! Also any tips on feeling more confident with reading the bass clef would be welcome.

Thanks!

Sight-reading on the piano is tough, so kudos to you for doing it. I can sight-read almost anything on my main instrument (double bass), but I am useless trying to read 2 lines at once on piano.

I taught a lad the bass a couple of years ago who was about to take his grade 7 piano exam. He was really fed up because he could always play his pieces and scales and he was an excellent musician, but he had never passed the sight-reading in any previous exam. We looked at the mark scheme and worked out that you only need to get the rhythm right to get the pass mark (12 I think). So we did lots of bass sight-reading, forcing him to keep going rather than stopping and correcting. It worked because he got his first ever distinction and passed the sight-reading. I'm sure that having a strategy worked.

In short, look at the key, and try to end on the tonic (key note). Get the rhythm right and if you can get some dynamics in, great. Don't worry about the notes, make them up, but do it confidently and definitely don't stop.

As far as reading bass clef goes, I'm afraid it's just a question of practice. But you could make it more fun by getting music you enjoy of whatever genre for a bass clef instrument like cello or bassoon and play along with it. At first, it's a challenge, but learn where a couple of notes are and use them as "anchor" points and work up or down from them. Hope that helps a bit.

Thanks so much @Malbecfan - this is so helpful. Huge well done to you and your student for conquering sight reading together. All your points here are so useful - but the one that particularly resonated with me was forcing yourself to keep going through the piece and avoiding the temptation to either stop and/or correct previous sections. I can relate to that both for sight reading and my exam pieces!

Do you have any tips for how to improve the exam technique side of sight reading? As in, swinging into action with the sight reading strategy after the 30-second preparation period that’s given to exam candidates. Is it a case of practising these strategies and then applying them in timed conditions again and again ie in a time period of 30 seconds?

Yep, don't worry. My son got a distinction in one exam and failed the sight reading part. It's perfectly possible to make for one weakness by being strong in others. Sounds like you'll be fine.

The standard is lower on pieces than you might think. Remember there are kids of 7 taking gr 1 - most lack the maturity (both physically and mentally) to give it the fluidity and expression an adult can, not to mention more sensitive control of dynamics etc. You are likely to have scored well on those and as a pp said, you get sight reading marks for rhythm etc as well as just picking out the notes.

Ps how long did you spend prepping for the exam? Sight reading practice isn't just for lessons/2 or 3 weeks before an exam.

Thanks so much for your comments everyone. @Benibidibici I played a couple of wrong notes in the 3 pieces I’d prepared but they generally went reasonably okay - I did my best.

In terms of sight reading, I remember asking my teacher about it a couple of months before the exam and we started doing sight reading practise in each lesson, from then on, in the run-up to the exam. I’m not sure that was enough for me to feel confident though (particularly as sight reading in the exam has a much briefer prep period of 30 seconds, and there’s added nerves and stress).

I think I under-estimated the nerves I would feel for sight reading and how quickly the preparation time would go - so I definitely need to address that.

I'm an adult learner with no intention of doing any exams! So hats off to you.
Out of curiosity, what set pieces did you have to play?

I'd love to learn myself but never put the time in, just watch my kids' lessons. Good for you!

Things I've noticed helped my kids with sight reading were getting the book of practice tests and working through the whole lot, more than once (there are certain patterns that you can get used to) and using free apps on their phones that show notes and they have to quickly click on which note it is (to speed up the note ID).

Great suggestion about a bass clef note app @RiskyReels - thanks! I’ve just looked into downloading one and it looks really useful. Part of the challenge for me with piano sight reading is being able to quickly and confidently work out bass clef notes under pressure, so the app will be helpful I think 😊

If you still play the flute, try playing bass lines on that, so that you only have the identity of the notes to think about not the technique of playing them. You might not be able to, it depends whether you think “bottom space -A - these fingers” when you’re playing, rather than “bottom space - these fingers”. But if you can do it, it’s a way of feeling comfortable on the bass clef.

There is another form of assessment aimed at adults - you draw up a short programme of pieces and get a written critique without a grading. I’m nit sure what it’s called. Ah being renamed Open Music Assessment

OP, I am so excited you are learning as an adult, and a very big congratulations on your first exam!

I also play flute, but my preferred instrument was piano, and became
an excellent sight-reader, (studyied classical piano performance at a conservatorium), and I believe this was not a gift but a skill I learned. My older sister played very hard and interesting pieces that I really wanted to play. I would just have a go and of course it probably sounded hideous but I did it all the time and eventually, like any other skill, it became easier and easier. Find pieces that are a little too hard and just play a little every day.

For your left hand and bass clef reading, a few minutes spent at the beginning of your practice doing some simple exercises only for your left hand will work wonders. Think, Czerny or whoever your teacher recommends.

Last suggestion - a simple sonata and sonatina book of many composers was really good for my sight-reading and left hand accompaniment as a beginner. I could skip the boring pieces and hard bits at leisure and just enjoy new pieces without the stress of having to practice them to perfection😉. And all that chord structure repetition was great for predicting what came next in sight-reading, kind of like brain auto-fill.

Remember, these things are skills that cannot be learned all at once but rather gradually, and over time. So be kind to yourself.

All the very best and hope you continue enjoying yourself!

I took my piano exams many many years ago but I was always terrible at sight reading. I failed that section a few times in my ABRSM exams but passed the actual exam quite well.

I have never found it easy and you should not beat yourself up. If you had good scales, aural and pieces then you’ll be fine.

Not quite the same but i recently coached/taught my 10yo son through grade 2 piano- like you he found the sight reading by far the scariest aspect. For ages we did one a day, for the last few weeks we did 3/4 a day. On exam day he got quite an easy one and got not far off full marks for SR. Phew!

we did have a book we worked through which helped a lot. I will look it up.

to try and calm his nerves though I told him to look at and prioritise the first notes first, the last notes second, and then thirdly the ones in between. Basically get from a to b the very best you can, it’s not about getting it all right just doing your best. With grades 1 and 2 your hands don’t need to change position at all so if you get the fingering and notes right at the beginning, that’s the most important thing and will help you play the rest right.

Interesting thread with some useful tips.

Although thinking about it, sight-reading is quite a peculiar skill for an adult learner because if you’re playing for pleasure then surely you will always have time to look at and practise new music before playing it under pressure?

But I guess it all works towards musicianship.

Totally agree @BadSkiingMum - that same thought has also crossed my mind. I guess that the exams are also aiming to develop excellent music performers, and performance often involves having to play/sing at your best under significant pressure which isn’t always avoidable.

So I guess sight reading music under considerable time pressure before performing it in front of stranger - the examiner - is quite a useful way of practising the skill of performing under pressure.

But I agree that having 30 seconds to look at a piece for the first time, practise it briefly and then try your best at performing is very challenging!

Gosh I used to hate the sight reading part of exams OP. As an adult amateur orchestral player I now confidently sight read many different pieces very regularly so I don’t think there’s much to it other than practice, practice, practice. You’ll get more confident at reading the bass clef as you continue learning.

Hi all, just an update that I got my exam results this morning. They came so quickly - I took the exam at the end of last week and they’re already here. I passed with 115/150, so that’s a relief! There’s definitely room for improvement (as always), but I’m glad that I’ve got specific things mentioned in the wxaminer’s feedback that I can focus on improving.

@SpursFan2 Well done! That’s decently above the pass mark.

Oh congratulations!

Well done! My teacher always used to say start on the right note, end on the right note, put some dynamics in, aim roughly for the rhythm and you'll pick up quite a few marks. I think it's just a case of doing a lot of practice and not letting your nerves get in the way (easier said than done I know)

Thanks so much everyone! I’ve really appreciated your support on here 😊