As the title says, I have a week until Grade 5 piano and I now can't play a single piece without making a mistake...and the scales seem to have taken a turn for the worse too! Is this normal before an exam? Please tell me that it's only temporary.........

Don't panic, it will be temporary

i guess its normal before an exam or recital or concert.
because everybody gets nervous beforehand.

Try taking a little break from the pieces and / or playing them through v-e-r-y s-l-o-w-l-y as that can help to remove the panic.

When this happened to me (different instrument but I don't think that matters), I took a break of a few days and it did make a difference. Taking a break is a scary thing to do the week before an exam, but if you were well prepared before it started going wrong, it's possible that you've over-practised and a break will do you good.

Yes, absolutely, scary though it is. I'm sure you'll find it'll help. Good luck!

Not quite the same but . . .

Chris Brasher (one of the pacemakers in Roger Bannisters famous 4 minute mile on the old cinder track at IffleyRoad in Oxford) in the run up to the 1956 Olympics was running huge distances in training, quite ridiculous even for todays standards but in 1956 quite unprecedented. He found that in the few weeks before the main event (the 3000 m steeplechase) he was losing to people he could normally beat easily. He was disheartened and a week before the event gave up training completely. On the day of the race (straight final, no heats) he found that he was so full of pent up running from the week off that he ran away from the field with ease, won the Gold by over half a lap and shattered the world record. He had just discovered over-training!

I'm not suggesting that grade 5 music is in the same league as olympic middle distance running, but the principle of over-training still applies because of the phenomenon of PPI - post practice improvement (not proton pump inhibitor, or at least not in this context!). However, at this level I would take it up again a day or so before the actual exam!

I wouldn't worry about it too much. I have my grade 7 recorder exam in 11 days and I'm feeling a similar way about it. It's easy to feel as if you're getting nowhere, when, if you ask someone else, they'll say you've improved loads. To play a piece the whole way through with nothing at all go wrong is asking a lot of yourself. Also, bare in mind that tiny mistakes that you notice, someone else listening to you is likely not to notice. If you have some way of recording yourself play, I would really reccomend it, as it always sounds really different listening to it back when you're not actually playing it and it will tell you what you really could improve rather than what, in your mind's eye, needs improving, which, in my experience, tend to be two completely different things.

Here I am, under a different name this time: Juan Carlos (not Juan any more).
A lot of breathing and mental preparation before putting your hands on the piano.
Then take a piece, play section by section very slowly a few times, then leave it there, then do the same, then leave it there and then, after you've done some more good and relaxing breathing, try the piece at a slightly slower tempo than it is meant to be.
When I took my Grade 4, the Kabalevsky Dance (List C) was a very stubborn one and I kept it at half tempo for a week, and purposefully avoided playing it at the right tempo (for as many as 7 days, playing it at least twice every day !). Then, this was the piece that got me most marks: 28/30.
Please let us know and ... the best of luck in your exam! Best wishes from Padua! We'll pray to Sant'Antonio ...

Hi Tortellini

Hope that you are feeling better today.

I can only imagine that it is normal before an exam as I haven't taken a practical exam yet, I have that to come in Spring. But I see that you got a distinction in your Grade 4 and I am told by some people that there isn't that much difference so I am sure that you will do just fine.

Do you have any relaxation classes near you, yoga, pilates or body balance, that may help. If not perhaps a DVD of yoga so that you can practise relaxation.

Good Luck I am sure that you will do well.

ET

Completely normal. Before any performance - exams included.

I'd think you were odd if you didn't feel that way.

Have faith. It usually comes right when the big moment arrives.

Yes yes, I felt the same 3 days before my Grade 5 piano exam! So we must both be perfectly normal!

I got all the parts that I often had problems with hopelessly wrong, then there were new points in the music where I developed slips... all of these occurred in one practice session! I was so frustrated, and the more I practised, the more persistent the slips became!

So I decided to take the "slow" approach, as so many forumites have suggested. I played very slowly, and once I got a piece/passage correct twice, I stopped playing it and proceeded on. I ended the practice session very soon. I read somewhere about the belief that the final trial sticks in your mind, so if you got it right, you are likely to remember it going into your next practice session. If you had many errors in the final trial, the mistakes will mentally haunt you throughout the next session.

In the end, I did fine for my Grade 5 piano exam, despite still having slips at points I didn't expect. Apparently, the examiner commented that I kept up with the overall tempo, so the slips did not affect my marks. We tend to bash ourselves up for every single slip, and forget that the examiners are looking forward to award marks, instead of deducting marks for each "mistake".

So it will turn out fine, Tortellini. You still have time to take a short break of 1 to 2 days.

Thanks for all the advice guys - excellent as usual! Today I had my last lesson and it went a little better - apart from a comedy moment when I started Jackson Street Blues with my hands on the wrong notes My teacher thinks I will be fine UNLESS the examiner asks me for C# minor contrary motion - here's hoping he won't....but I made him promise he'd have me back even if I fail! I'll let you know how it goes!

Good luck for tomorrow

In bocca al lupo, Tortellini!
All the best, from Padova!

i have an experience about this

a week before my grade 6 exam, i had a 5-day trip to another province, i was really nervous because it was the same with you, i made mistakes in my pieces and scales

i just scared if i would be too exhausted after the trip, but after 5 days didnt practising piano, i felt better and could really enjoy the pieces and scales

maybe you just need some time to relax and go back practising

good luck ^^

m_b_r

You are so normal. Good luck.
Bev.

This happened to me last night and this morning.

But when i actually did my exam today, my piano playing just fixed itself. =)

Don't worry. Practice!

Thanks for all the replies - I am back from the exam and it still went all wrong! I am really annoyed with myself because yesterday I had a run through and it was fine. Today I arrived at the exam venue with 40 minutes to spare - I knew they had a piano that I could use for a last minute run through - but they asked if I minded going first as one of the children wasn't ready. I suppose I felt a bit guilty saying no as I was the only adult! So, I went straight in which, on reflection, probably wasn't a good idea - I made a mistake in all my pieces....I attacked the sight reading at such a pace that my left hand couldn't keep up....I had no idea whether the piece the examiner played in the aural section was Romantic or Classical Only consolation - she didn't ask me for C# minor contrary motion

This seems very unfair It's just as important to be mentally prepared as well as prepared on your pieces, and being taken off-guard like that must have really thrown you, especially so far ahead of the allotted time-slot. Really hope it doesn't affect the result - good luck

Thanks Skylark! To be fair, I could have said "no" but I felt a bit mean!

I know just what you mean, Tortellini. My daughter was asked to go in early on a couple of occasions and agreed because she would have felt mean otherwise; it can act against you though, if you're really not mentally prepared. I wish the stewards wouldn't do it - or at least, that they'd say to 3 or 4 waiting candidates "Is anyone ready?", rather than asking one person specifically, which puts you under pressure.

Hope it's gone OK for you anyway.

I've had this happen to me at least twice. On both occasions I refused to move from the piano until it was my time!

Hi Tortellini, I am sorry to hear of your experience. If it is any consolation, of late I have heard a lot of people who said that they think that they had done really awful and it turns out that they have either had a merit or distinction. I am sure that you will have passed. How long before you will know?

ET

They just shouldn't do it at all. However you respond it is pressure you don't need

Me too. It is very hard to tell how well you've done till you get the result.

Hi Tortellini!
My daughter came out of her Grade 4 exam last June feeling very disappointed and low. She said she'd done disastroulsy and I believed her as she's usually very objective ... but deep down I suspected it was an impression. Indeed, that's what it was. She got Distinction.
I hope this is the case with you. too ... or just about. Let's hope.
Best

Juan Carlos is right. I came out of my own Grade 5 exam counting the numerous slips such as RH falling off the keyboard, foot sliding off the pedal, playing several scales twice, singing with a croak, hesitating during aural qns etc... And I was awarded distinction. The examiner seemed to be smart enough to look beyond my slips and award points on what I did well in. What an angel! So don't worry, have lots of fun in the meantime!

Don't worry, the examiners can usually see past the unusual slip-ups we make only in exams and judge what you are like as a musician.

Good luck with the result

Well if it's any consolation, I also sat grade 5 last week and it went wrong practically everywhere! I think I was making up a lot of the sightreading, and I had absolutely no idea whether the aural was romantic or classical (fingers crossed it was classical...) My pieces fell apart too, even the Jackson Street Blues which I loved playing. I'm tempted to blame it on the dodgy piano... Hopefully the examiners will see beyond our mistakes!

Hello! Good luck on ur examination!

In case of time emergencies, I like to practice slowly without a single mistake.

As long as you make no mistake, your brain will not create a hole.

I'm not terribly articulate today, but do u see what I mean?

That would seem a better way of doing it! Sorry to hear you were rushed in. The exams can have a feeling of a cattle market sometimes. Best of luck with your result!

Yes, we do! Great advice, though the technique you suggest is extremly time-consuming, requires looooooooads of patience and puts your nerves to the test!
Great, anyway ... perhaps it's the only way out.

I passed!

118 - does that count as a "comfortable pass"? Actually, I think the examiner was very generous considering what a mess I made of it but I know that I can play a lot better than I did so I am very pleased. Thanks guys for all the encouragement, you're fantastic.

Well done Tortellini, and the result came quite quickly too!

Congratulations. 118 is an excellent score, certainly a comfortable pass - almost a Merit.

I got 118 in my last exam - a creditable score, as everyone tells me, but sooo close to 120 you can't help feeling "if only . . . ". You have to remember - it really is a good result: IN my case it was the highest mark I'd ever had for a practical music exam. Well done you, and don't forget it!

Congratulations!

Congratulations - 118 is excellent.

WELL DONE TORTELLINI
keep up the work!

m_b_r

I would say that's a fantastic result!
Congratulations.

I'd settle for that without a doubt!


A

Congratulations Tortellini Very comfortable indeed, I'd say

Well done Tortellini!

That sounds like a very sensible - and fair - idea.


Yes, I would say it does. And you're above the average (which is 117). Well done!

Well done Tortellini

I am so pleased for you.

ET

Don't forget it's Grade 5 piano! A very good result! Congratulations!
You can now start preparing Grade 6 (I've already looked at some of the pieces and I think I'll choose Scarlatti in List A, probably Glière (List B) and most probably Satie's Gnosienne ©. As for scales, what requires practice (among so many other things, for that matter!) is the staccato scales requirement as I know the stacc must be very neat and sort of "bouncy", I guess.

I'm so glad you got a good result in the end. Well done!!