ABRSM piano exam

[Hopeforb]

My DC is going to do Piano grade 6 exam and teacher is feeling that they might not clear. Next year syllabus will change. Upto grade 4 they achieved mixtures of distinction and merit. Grade 5 was pass. DC is prepared to take risk. I am not sure what to do.Any suggestions are welcome.

Don’t you just have to record your DC playing the pieces and send it off? In which case if you/they/the teacher think the first attempt isn’t good enough they can re record it? I’d go for it - I bet at the very least they’ll scrape a pass

Record? Ummm I’ve never heard of that- surely it’s an exam with playing on the day. Tbh if they fail they fail- what is the issue according to the piano teacher ?

@MidnightScroller Recordings are for Performance exam which gained popularity during Covid and includes only songs whereas DC is doing face to face which includes songs + other aspects like scales, aural test and site reading, it's a traditional method of exam. @fourelementary teacher says DC needs more time and it's still not up to the mark especially for songs. DC has no time because next year syllabus is changing which means spending more time on 3 new songs for the same grade!
Deep down I feel the same, DC will scrape pass and even if they don't it's not an end of the world! DC can still continue improving after exams for the same grade whilst preparing for higher grade at their pace. Thank you both for reassurance and giving confidence. It helped.

How long till the exam? If it's this week, not loads you can do butt still put the work in. If you have a couple of weeks, there's loads you can do to pull up the marks. Watch a mock exam to remind of format. Scales- easy marks.Do the pot method of all scale names on scraps of paper into a pot, pull out 3or 4 each day. If good, put in another pot, if ropey, check fingering etc, put in original pot so available again. Keep pulling from original pot till everything should move into the good one by end of week. Reset for next week.
Aural- get the app. Practice each day. Look at criteria, a confident response gets higher marks. Trying something gets more marks even if wrong . Pieces. Don't just play through, really focus on tricky bars, then play tricky bar with one before, then add more. Make sure ending is confident.
Exams aren't everything, a lovely of music is a better indicator of progress. Make sure you leave enough time before attempting next exam, better to come to it from a place of confidence. ( Although some like the pressure!)

Surely he could pick up the new pieces and do the new syllabus next term (or in the summer) - DD is about to do grade 5, and only started playing the pieces in September. If he started the pieces now, but wouldn't be ready by next term, that suggests that he might not be really at grade 6 standard anyway, so perhaps good to wait.

Book the exam as late as you can so he can maximise his prep time and then may as well have a go. The worst that happens is he fails which is just one of those life lessons really.

Isn’t there usually a period of overlap when they change the syllabus?
And surely the new syllabus isn’t going to be 100% new material? It’s likely many of the pieces on the current list will remain.
I’d say do your best to encourage practice as @HushTheNoise describes (though I find applying this to my own kids really hard!), and just take a view a week before if you think it is worth taking the exam or not. Only you know your child, and whether a fail would be a good kick up the bum or a crushing blow to their self-esteem (Ive probably got one of either).

There is a one year overlap when the old syllabus is still acceptable and most of the old songs stay on the extended syllabus in the back of the new book, its evolution not revolution. So they can delay until next year with no problem and could probably do 2/3 the year after. I don’t think performance exams are the gold standard and I don’t think they give UCAS points which G6-8 practical does. But there you do 3 from the syllabus and one own choice (no scales, arpeggios, aural etc)so if one falls off the syllabus you can do as own choice and maybe just learn one, but I’d not bother.

Also during COVID they relaxed cancellations and never changed back. You may not even need to cancel to get a refund, but can certainly do it late, but if you do early someone else can book the spot.

@HushTheNoise Great tips! DC has still got little more than 2 weeks for the exam. We went for Performance grade during Covid but prefer the traditional method as its more insightful. @TeaandHobnobs hopefully, it will kick up the bum. I will reiterate about how they would feel in case exam is not cleared as DC wants to give a try!

Hello all, since there were great suggestions and tips from you all for DCs grade 6 piano exam, I thought of sharing DCs success - DC achieved secure Pass grade! Glad, we took risk. It has boosted confidence for grade 7!

Take time with grade 7. It's a huge jump from 6. I failed it twice as a teenager then passed it aged 55!

@MidnightScroller no proper exams are in person with an examiner!

Well done! That's great news! Hope they continue to enjoy playing.

Thanks. Hope so! 🤞

Thanks. I will let DC know.

Actually I think if I had my teenage time and my daughter's time again I would take a good couple of years out after grade 6 and just play lots and lots of stuff and keep sight-reading as much as you can. You could even go straight to grade 8 this way and miss out 7. I went back to piano lessons in my late 40s having just played on and off whilst my daughter grew up and did lessons. At 53 I sat my grade 7 and 55 my grade 8 I appreciated the music much more and my practising skills were so much better as a mature adult. I realised then it's the breadth of music that is important. My daughter did grade 8 at 15 and really wasn't mature enough to appreciate it. Trying to get her to practice slowly was so hard and yet that's the way to success. She's 32 now and just got a piano at home, unfortunately work is too busy to practice much like it was for me but already I see the growth in the maturity of her performance.
Good luck to your son. It's a great skill to have and although orchestral instruments give a lot of cameraderie I still love sitting down and just playing for myself.

Great post. Very informative and inspiring. Thanks.