Support group for parents of children taking music exams!

[Wafflenose]

Hello, I'm feeling excited, nervous and wobbly because my daughter is taking her first music exam in three weeks. I'm a music teacher and am very used to getting children through the exams, keeping the parents informed, helping to focus practice, etc, but this is my first experience with my own child doing an exam and for some reason it's more scary than putting other people's children in! I think she will be OK (and the other thirteen I have entered this term) but I'm not!! Any tips for the 'other side' (parents rather than music teachers) for how to keep us both calm on the day would be gratefully received! Does it get easier as they become more experienced? Am thinking not...

She is taking part in the local music festival tomorrow, to gain performance experience. She's wildly excited, and I've got the jitters!!

[ByTheWay1]

WTG - deputy head at my kids school passed grade 1 piano with 101 - never did him any harm!

Wafflenose - how did it all go????

[Wafflenose]

I am back! Have gone down with a bad cold so feeling pretty crappy, but we all managed to get through today!

First was my Grade 6 clarinettist, very nervous and doesn't really enjoy performing (wanted the ucas points though!) and she did fab!

Grade 7 clarinet boy, doesn't practise enough, but has a wonderful sense of performance, and said he played his best ever, which is encouraging!

DD1! She didn't play as well as in the festival, and although she's confident it was a new experience and a bit overwhelming for a 6 year old, which is why I ummed and ahhed over entering her. Her pieces were reasonable, sight reading "easy", aural OK she thinks, study OK and her exercise went wrong. So hopefully she will have passed!

Other four Grade 1 recorders were a mixed bag. They all kept going OK but all had a few wobbles. Generally I think it wasn't their best playing, but have stressed to them that success begins at the pass mark! It's a bit of a competitive private junior school, and some of the parents are pressuring them to achieve distinctions :( It's wonderful when somebody gets one, but I'd NEVER set it as a target!! Sad for those one or two kids really.

My four Initial Grades went pretty smoothly, and I was delighted with them. They were all Trinity exams, so hope to hear the results tin the next few days. I have entered some for ABRSM next week - two Grade 5 clarinets and a piano Prep Test. Also have a variety of plays and carol services to attend/ play for, so it's on with the next lot!

And yes, it was a pretty terrifying morning! The hardest bit was accompanying the Grade 6, but the piano part went fine :o

[RaspberryLemonPavlova]

That sounds great Wafflenose. Trinity is usually usually great at turning results around fast.

Have always admired accompanists for exams, would hate that pressure.

[pugsandseals]

Can I join please?

DD took her Grade 2 recorder today (she's 9 and her first exam) and I am also a teacher. DD did AB where as I mainly use TG so I'm not quite sure what to expect! But her teacher says she did very well and her pieces were almost perfect. She forgot her E minor arpeggio & was unsure about the 2nd aural test (not sure which one that is as they've changed it recently and I don't have the new book yet).
It's really hard being a parent isn't it? I find it so much easier when it's my pupils taking exams as it's an instrument/exam system I know well. Just having to stay back out of the way then - lucky school are an exam centre so I don't have to be there for the exam, I'd be a nervous wreck!

[Wafflenose]

Welcome pugs! Another recorder pupil! I suppose all you can do regarding the different exam board is wait and see, but it sounds like she was really well prepared!

My results are just in (super quick!!) Final total is one distinction, four merits and six good passes! DD1 got 84, which is a high merit, although she made mistakes in one piece, her exercise and the aural tests. I'm so pleased for her - and relieved!

[ImNotaCelebrity]

Great set of results. Special well done to your DD. Massive achievement at her age.

[pugsandseals]

Well done Wafflenose and also to miniWafflenose - I just love how quickly you get the TG results. I've even had pupils being told before they leave on the day before! School are saying DD will have a 2 week wait for her AB results this time, I hope they are being overly cautious as that's a very long time to a 9 year old!

[pugsandseals]

P.S - have you tried the Sarah Watts books? DD loves them, they are really different & all come with piano part and CD!

www.razzamajazz.blogspot.com/

She might really enjoy 'Fresh Air' if she's just done Grade 1 as it bridges between Grades 1 & 3

PPS - Does she get the "So when are you going to take up a proper instrument yet?" rubbish comments yet? DD is getting REALLY fed up with it!

[RaspberryLemonPavlova]

Wafflenose thats great. Well done miniwaffle.

[FiveHoursSleep]

Well done Wafflenoses daughter. Those of you whose children did exams for instruments they learned at school, do they usually need to go somewhere else to sit the exam, or does the examiner come to the school.

[Wafflenose]

We have had three of the Sarah Watts books pug and yes, she likes them. Not sure how much there is post-grade 1, but she can always revisit her old favourites. Yes, we also have 'Fresh Air'. For now, we are going to do some of that, some of the Bonsor Book 'The Really Easy Recorder Book' and she's also halfway through 'Recorder From The Beginning Book 3' so we can finish that, and play lots of carols too!

We haven't had all the 'proper instrument' stuff yet, but then she's quite young to be learning, and not big enough for many other things yet. Only one of her peers is also learning an instrument - she's just started classical guitar (they are in Year 1). DD also does a bit of piano, and is adamant she wants to be a serious recorder player rather than moving on to something else. Fine with me - although she might change her mind when she gets to secondary and wants to join the orchestra! Her primary school has been kind enough to let her join theirs on the recorder, and she plays the flute part on that.

I teach the recorder at a local private school (not DD's school) and we start them young and do it well. However, most of the really good ones drop it in Year 3-4 to learn something else and it drives me mad! The senior school won't accept recorder for a scholarship instrument, and anyone still having lessons with me when they get to Year 7 is encouraged to drop it. Makes my blood boil!!

[Wafflenose]

Just remembered Fresh Air IS by Sarah Watts, duh!!

Thanks for the congratulations everyone!

[Colleger]

I watched an 11 year old girl play the recorder beautifully at Purcell a few weeks ago and I also know a boy who got a music scholarship to Winchester on the recorder so it is still well thought of by musicians who know their stuff!

[lljkk]

Hi all -- checking in, I've just sealed up envelope for DD to take Grade 1 violin in February. She's been taking violin for 4 years, btw, so we kind of thought the day would never arrive... I will report back when we get a confirmed date and I have some real nerves going. Any sort of pass will delight me.

[kitkat1967]

Wafflenose - my DD (just 11) is doing grade 5 recorder and I must say when she moved to a wooden recorder (after grade 3) it made a huge difference to the sound and I was finally convinced it was a 'proper' insturment.
Having said that she also plays the Oboe now (grade 4) and that is a really good combination with the recorder - easy transition and recognised combination I believe.
However, she does not want to play treble so will try the Sopranino next - and recorder will be just for run and ensembles [smiles]
I'm relieved really as she also plays the piano and 3 sets of lessons (and practise) is too much.

[pugsandseals]

It's very annoying isn't it Wafflenose !!! DD has the school oboe at the moment, but last picked it up in August so I would say not too interested . Might try her on the violin again, but we fight like idiots if I try to teach her I worry about her doing 'my' instrument!

FiveHoursSleep - it is quite rare for schools to be exam centres as it only happens in very musical schools where they can fill a day of the examiners time. Otherwise, you take them to your local exam centre (you should find a list of centres on the exam boards website.

Also, if it is more convenient to you you can apply for your child to take an exam directly (& choose your centre) with the board rather than going through your teacher. It has just become common for the teacher to do it as they need to be happy that a child is ready! The problem for some with entering yourself is finding an accompanist rather than the usual use the teacher/teachers recommendation etc.

[RaspberryLemonPavlova]

FiveHoursSleep DCs secondary school has its own exam week once a year.

[tammygirl]

aw congratulations to wafflenose's little girl and to your other students, too. must be v. nerve wracking for you worrying about all those pupils! sounds like they did wonderfully.

[Wafflenose]

Thanks, Tammy. It is nerve wracking. I try to get them all as close to a merit level as possible, to allow for disasters on the day, but don't breathe easily until they're all safely through. There were a few rocky moments last week, although not with DD - doing the festival, showcase concert and KS2 Assembly (despite being Y1) were really big, scary things compared to the actual exam!

Three more to go tomorrow - ABRSM this time, and fortunately none of my own offspring!!

How's everyone else getting on? Any more results for this term?

[CURIOUSMIND]

Results in:
My fearless boy scored 128 for his Grade 5 piano. Not as good as last time, but not bad at all.So very proud of my boy!
Also he performed in front of nearly 300 people today , so proud!

[MorningPurples]

Mine was this week. I was a little disappointed in some of the slips, but I know I did reasonably well, just not as high as I wanted on the pieces and scales. I also had slips in sightreading, and aural. I just don't have a good enough memory for the aural, and it only gets worse!

[FiveHoursSleep]

Well done Curiousminds son. That's excellent for grade 5!
Morning purples, I HATE aural tests. I just don't seem to be able to remember notes, I never have been able to. My teacher thinks I could do it if I was positive and tried hard but I don't have that kind of brain.

[CURIOUSMIND]

My son found Grade 5 aural is hard.That's where he lost marks the m ost.The problem is I know he understands ,but he is not able to generalize the Articulation, charactor in a few words or clear sensence.Maybe his speech is not as good as playing piano.

[titchy]

Dd is nowhere near as good as lots on here! Just done G3 on orchestra instrument and G2 piano (the latter after one year of lessons though!). Merits for both - she's year 8.

I'd quite like to get her started on theory though, with a view to maybe doing G3 theory next summer and G5 the following summer, basically to avoid having another exam while she's doing GCSEs. I've got the ABRSM book of the basic stuff for G1-5 theory - is this enough? I can probably manage to teach her as long as there isn't anything else - is there? And what's the format?

[Wafflenose]

Brilliant result, Curious Junior! I think that is the same mark as I got for Grade 5 piano. About 20 years ago though!!

My ABRSM exams were a bit of a rollercoaster. My Prep Test candidate got a bit over excited and forgot to play one of her pieces (insisted to the examiner that she had only prepared one!) so I marched her back in there to play it to him! One of my Grade 5s made a huge mess of the first piece :( but recovered for the rest of the exam, so I'm hoping for the best. The other one played her pieces beautifully but said she messed up the scales, so it seems like very few of them this term (out of the 14 I entered) have escaped without major errors!! Will post again when I get the results.