My teacher wants me to put in for the exam, now very very scared I've never taken a music exam before, so this is going to be a real experience. I hope they are kind to adults

Fairly certain that i will play : Lord Cutts March, Grande Valse Brillante and Rumba

I'm pretty ok with the fingering, now i have to work on the dynamics and expression - and speed so i can keep up with the cd

Anyone else going to be entering for the next session. Would love to hear from you.

kate

Awesome, good luck i'm sure you'll do great! And i like those pieces

I'm doing my grade 6 next session i'm doing A3 - Vivace (i think thats what it's called i dunno ), B3 - Tempo di minuetto and C1 - Tico tico

Grade 6 - i can dream

Good luck, how's it going? I'm just about to knuckle down to the arpeggios and dominant sevenths. The scales aren't too bad as i practised 2 octaves for my grade 2 'mock' exam with my teacher.

Dunno why but I find 2 octave scales easier in 2nd position than 1st. Anything above b can be done in 2nd. The pattern is the same just start on a different note.

Remeber to study for aural, many people spend little time on it.

Also remember to pass. Failure feels awful, I never wnated to do an exam again after I failed grade 4 at first attempt.

Do you mean any two octave scale can be done in second or any two octave scale can be done with the first finger as the starting note - because, once you get past C / C sharp then two octave scales in second aren't possible without an extra shift.

The highest note in second position being usually a C / C sharp on the e string - some people getting a D at a push, how would you, for example, play your two octave E flat scale in second position?

Oh best of luck!

I haven't done an exam since I was a teen.

I'll probably be doing my first violin exam at some point next year. It is scarey but the examiners know you're nervous.

Try and play your pieces in front of people then it won't seem like a big deal when you're in the exam room.

Also do learn your scales, they can be easy marks!

Let us know how you get on

I sat my Grade 3 back in March.

I played 'Lady Hunsdon's Puffe', 'Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair' and 'Sweet Lorraine'.

I really enjoyed the exam although my chromatic scale was a bit skewed and I had a few flat notes in 'Jeanie'... but I had just started to learn position changes and found it quite scary!

I'm supposed to be doing Grade 4 in November but I haven't been playing scales at all recently

Start in 2nd and finish in 3rd. Did not make it clear. sorry. This is beyond the level required by grade 3 candidates. Most people your level do them in 1st.

Ah I see where you're coming from. I thought you mean do them all in second. Even if you finish in third, though, you can't go any higher than D / D# so E, F, F# two octaves still doesn't work like that.

I usually play starting on the key note, then shifting to third, then fifth, then seventh if necessary - but that might just be me!