Grade 1 exam March 26th OMG!!!!!!

[StuartAU]

Hi All,
I know i mentioned it in a previous thread but seeings as this is a different Matter, i thought id start a new one and hopefully carry on posting in this thread my exam pieces as i attempt my Gradings..
Anyway, I am not sure which "A" piece to use in my exam and pretty much liked all of them so i am learning to play them all..
I know there was a few mistakes, kids running around bla bla bla Dont forget i started lessons 3 months ago so please forgive me

Here are the pieces. (Performances moved to Performance Forum)
Gavot (A1)

Minuetto (A2)

L'autunno (A3)

Early one Morning (B3)

African Dance (C3)


Oh and this is something i have taught myself to play by ear, no score so doubt its even in the right key
Greensleeves (my version) (See Improvisation Forum)

[ETP's Mum]

Hi StuartAu

Good luck with your practising!

My 6 year old son is taking Grade 1 on March 28th but so far can only play 2 of his pieces. He's finding the chords in African Dance really difficult to master, he can play the notes but not all together!

Still there's almost 4 weeks left and he has some Uber confidence that it will all be fine!

[StuartAU]

Hi StuartAu
My 6 year old son is taking Grade 1 on March 28th but so far can only play 2 of his pieces. He's finding the chords in African Dance really difficult to master, he can play the notes but not all together!
Still there's almost 4 weeks left and he has some Uber confidence that it will all be fine!

6 Years old? thats superb, only wished my Mum or Dad got me lessons, i used to get into school at 7am and still be there at 5:30pm with the cleaners in the music room but still they wouldnt give me lessons
Anyway, I did infact find the 3rd chord change in African dance quite awkward at first but just practiced the difference between the them and just kept playing them 4 chords over & over & over again until it hurt
I uploaded a little Vid if it helps with the finger change here for you
http://www.onlinegc.co.uk/vids/adhelp.mov

I think memory just takes over and you do it automatically .. But for a 6 year thats superb and even though the tune will start annoying the heck out of everyone in the house, just take a break then carry on!
Good luck and thanks for the kind words!

[StuartAU]

My music teacher told me to get lessons ( i think he thought i needed them) lol no he could see i had love for Piano..
There was a girl in my class whom always seemed to do better than me at playing, i tried for weeks to learn the entertainer because she could play it, i couldnt and hated her SO MUCH lmao.. Ruth Ballinger her name was..

Its such a shame prices are so high.. Id have 2 lessons a week! I aint knocking teachers for what they do.. Maybe its a case of i should be earning more money!

I used to be able to borrow keyboards at half term and summer holidays.. My dad nearly bought a Piano for me for £60, but cant remember why but if fell through maybe because he was such a tight-wod!

If my son shows interest in Piano in another years time as he does now, ill sell my shoes for him to have lessons...
Well not my Nikes, LMAO

[ETP's Mum]

Hi

Thanks for the vid Stuart, anything that helps is great! I think the main problem is his hand size! Maybe he should have done a different piece but he really liked this one.

DaveBrum we use Youtube all the time as I said in the other forum the boys have really not had a teacher with any consistency since November last year. So they've had good old Mum & You Tube! Hopefully this will get a bit better from this week when we decide on the teacher.

We like mqbdp on You Tube, whoever he is.! The shots of his fingers are really good and have helped with fingering.

The boys are lucky to have lessons although obviously they don't appreciate it at all! I would love to be able to afford lessons for myself too! I gave up after failing Grade 5 in 1982! Didn't touch a piano then for 20 years!! I'm thinking of entering myself to retake it in the summer as I can sort of play the pieces and have been piggy backing the aurals etc in my eldest sons lessons (when we've actually had them) and he is taking Grade 5 in the Summer.

I figure if I don't keep up then I won't be able to help him!

[ETP's Mum]

PS

Just watched all your pieces on Youtube. they are really good!! In my very unqualified opinion out of your choice A pieces I liked Gavot best!

[StuartAU]

what has that got to do with this thread?
Go spam another forum, you've ruined my masterpiece of a thread, can some one delete it along with this one please..
Just reported it

[StuartAU]

well, give me his IP address.. ill give him a couple octaves in the head and kick him in the crotchet LMAO

[StuartAU]

Yes mate had a lesson last Thursday.. Though those clips were a bit old i have improved a bit since then and my teacher says my A,B & C pieces are flawless and showed a lot of emotion to them! i felt quite chuffed..

Just need to work on my scales. My teacher also said to start work on my Grade 2 book so she must think i will pass.
Im loving the A2_Biehl_Allegro_grazioso and even more so "Robert_Washburn_Valse_Triste" pieces..
I never really liked the grade 1 pieces but will enjoy these im sure
Hows urs going?

[StuartAU]

Well, im about 2½ hour drive away just north of London..
My brother is up in Brum working at Cruffs at the moment though!

Where you moving? south ?

p.s i think i cheesed off that spam poster, since this morning i have received about 50-60 crap spam emails to the email address i use here..

[StuartAU]

ahh Boyoo, you live in wales.. I used to work for a company in Pontllnfraith Cearphilly Blackwood Gwent somewhere round there anyway CT Distribution they are called,, Had to go there 2 or 3 times a year..

So, your fond of a curry heh! exactly the reason i married an Indian women
Love dinner at the inlaws and then fall asleep until hometime Make a mean curry with everything else! amabala, side dishes starters, afters, chutneys, salads, the works, starve myself 3 days before i go as i can just about drive home after!
I hope your move goes well! I have never been to Brum, I have drove through a couple times but never stopped..
I have a lot of friends from up narf! & play a lot of Online Gaming with them!
We have our own gaming servers and have a few members from Manc, Darlington, Newcastle, lake district etc etc.. If your into gaming Ie COD5, Arma, SNiper, Tigerwoods, or even this freebie one http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XNQBvtN6 ... re=related
That driving game can be quite addictive! Great graphics and Its 100% free, you CAN pay to upgrade but there is no need to, we haven't we spend hours on there playing against each other, Maps you can create urself and rediculously hard to work out sometimes..
We play using our Ventrilo voice server which is similar to skype and also free and just chat n have a laugh most nights.
Anyway, if ur into that sort of thing give me a shout ill pull a chair up for ya
www.onlinegc.co.uk
STu

[StuartAU]

St Albans? Shenley, Borehamwood (elstree) are all about 30 mins from here about 2 junctions down the M25..
Im in Hertfordshire, Goffs Oak / Cuffley to be precise near potters Bar

I Love Naan but its too fatning, i prefer and feel less guilty eating chapatis, not brown but white,
Love jamaican food, and have Oxtail at least once a fortnight with gunga peas and kidney beans!

I do like Neil diamond, love on the rocks, roberty lee etc but can't see any of it on my youtube page?
Yea, if u want any info on the gaming sides Pm me, i dont want to post it on this forum
But i will show u this video which gives you a little insight
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dLNF36DiPd8

[StuartAU]

uve baffled me mate, dont know what ur going on about lol...

But saying on the buses, i worked on them for 5 years Woodgreen North london

[StuartAU]

Well guys/Gals,
im home and glad i am!
I know i aint going to play the piano for a living but just wanted to see how far i could get compared to National gradings..
Now i have come to the conclusion that i had my first & last grading and will just continue to have lessons based on what the teacher thinks is "my level"..
because
I had 2 mock exams given by my tutor, scoring around 130-132 points which i was told is a distinction,, i was so chuffed as i made a few mistakes
I went for my grading today and felt okish, sitting in the waiting room, but walking and sitting down at the piano with Clement virgo, my crappy shocked nervous system totally annialated me, i forgot which hand is which, screwed my Fmajor, G major scales up, even my controry in motion which i have found extremely easy and done 10,000 times, all 3 of my pieces had extra notes or wrong or missing notes, with my mouth as dry as the sahara desert, my aural sounded like a cat dieing i couldnt sing a note! i could hear my heart pounding and my voice was pulsating with gaps inbetween when my heart beated, my hands could have mixed 2 colour paints into one in 10 secs because they shook so much..
Mr Virgo said nervousness gets worse with age, i replied well i must be about 290 then, then he said
keep up the good work, YEA RIGHT!

I am sooo *********, ***** off with myself, i know its rediculous but i vant help hating myself for being so stupid
Im supposed to enjoy it right? never again
and i paid for it as well...

[Gill the Piano]

Don't make me come up there and smack you!!!
Of COURSE you were nervous. But nobody died, Clem was nice to you (did you wear the shirt???), you didn't faint/cry/wet yourself (did you???) and you came out head held high. Your teacher graded you high because you played well...but you knew her/him, you knew the piano, you were comfortable. Today some bugger ripped the stabilisers off your bike - AND YOU STILL PLAYED THE PIECES.
Now pull yerself together and have a drink. Well done!!!!

[StuartAU]

HI Gill and thanks.. i know your right but i can't get over the fact i know i could a darn lot better..
Its just my nervousness thats annoying me. i cant control it. My tutor said by the sounds of it i would have still passed, i can retake it in July if i wish and aim higher an din the mean time she can arrange with another organisation for me to go & play in front of people marking my playing and doing like a review with the hope it improves..
I suffer from anxiety panic attacks and thought i was over it.. i honestly thought i was going to have one today BUT i didnt but still suffered.. I just need to get over it and i know backing down wont help..

Thanks again
Stuart

[Gill the Piano]

What I don't think you realise is that we ALL - regardless of age or ability - have had exams in which we (nearly ) died of nerves and thought we could've done better. Doesn't matter whether it was an FRCM or a Prep test, we've all been there, so stop beating yourself up! You took it - which is more than a lot of people do - and lived....well done!!

[Gill the Piano]

CV IS famous...around here! He's the organist at our local parish church...so I told Stu to wear a t-shirt saying 'JSBach rules/organists are God' or somesuch!

[StuartAU]

Hi Dave, Gill,,,
Yea there is a very famous Clement Virgo but not this one.. The very famous one was a director of the anagram "Pron" business, not that i would know, just i googled his name "honest"..
Anyway CV, OMG just from playing 20 secs you cna see this guy can play,, he asked me about is this detached stagta legato etc and i forgot as i was too busy just listening to him and shaking lol.

Now, my question is, io was told the round round of exams is July 2009. whether i pass and am ready for grade 2 or not, can i take 2 exams as i relly want to retake grade 1 and then an hour later do grade 2.
My OCD is taking over and i MUST have this distinction now.

[Gill the Piano]

The local parish church is too posh to have the likes of me sully their manuals, Dave!

Stuart, pull yourself together orI may have to come and slap your face. You may already HAVE a distinction for all you know; and this is a PASTIME or HOBBY (go and look it up - I'm fairly sure the words 'must attain perfection or fingers fall off' don't feature in the definitions). Don't waste time retaking exams you've passed; use that time to work towards the next one. Foolish virgin....

[StuartAU]

aparently its around 3 weeks and the result is available online which my tutor checks and and then prints off for my next lesson..
I suppose i can check myself somehow but at the moment cant really be bothered to do ..
Gill id bet my back teeth i didnt get distinction.. it was a joke trust me lucky to get 115 points

[ETP's Mum]

Hi Stuart

Sorry to hear you had a horrid time, I'm sure that it will have gone better than you expected. On the optimistic side, even if you made mistakes you only need to get 66% overall to get a pass. Be positive and open a bottle of red! x

[StuartAU]

thankk guys/gals, yea i think i would have passed like a 75% but like every other exam i take i just go to pot..
i was surprised i passed my driving test as i pulled straight out the test centre without indicating and did the whole test thinking i had already failed but passed lol...

we will see, just wish i could do it again, i can do my scales, contrary?? in motion and 3 pieces with my eyes closed.. but if someones standing there i can't.. a bit like, when i video record myself i get it all wrong..

nerves is such a bad thing for me and i suffer from anxiety panic attacks which i never really have got over, doubt i will as it always comes back with avengence to haunt me,,

[StuartAU]

ok got results via email from my Tutor..
says
results Grade 1 breakdown was
pieces 27,28,29 / 30 scales 20/21 SR 16/21 aural 18/18 = 138 Well done !!!

what does it mean, i know a pass is 120+points

[markymark]

Yep, as Dave says!

[StuartAU]

Hi Guys/Gals, yea i replied to my Tutor and asked as well as in my mock she gave me 130something, now i think about it, im sure i posted it on here somewhere.. Anyway, i think Mr Virgo definitely had some sympathy for me as he see me shake my Gavot

So, onwards & upwards as my Tutoir said, Grade 2 in July i think but seriously need to work on my Reading, both hands at once!!

thanks all

[StuartAU]

sorry my typos lol...
Yea when i suggested grade 2 she looked a bit "umm errr..." but really to go for them for the experience of the exam whether i fail or pass.. But she said (my tutoir that is) that July is soon but the next slot will be too far away.
I have learned 4 pieces already not brilliantly but ok, reading n scales etc i need to work on A LOT !

Champagne? im still skint from paying the Tuition fees so a bootle of "White lightning" will do LMAO

I wanted to ask, i keep getting these emails from a Graham Howard about "rocket piano", does anyone have it, is it much cop?

[Gill the Piano]

YES, YOU BEAU-TAYYYYYYYY!!!!!
I'd just like to add, told you so and ner-ner-ner-ner-ner.
O yes, and congratulations!!!!

[StuartAU]

yes you did tell em so Gill lol..

Trust me, im more shocked than anyone but gives me confidence in knowing i can make a few mistakes and still pass even with Distinction

[ETP's Mum]

Well done Stuart! See, everyone said you had passed!