Absent friends...

[gizzy]

I know Dave Brum is no longer here, but I'm sure those of you who encouraged him will be delighted to hear that he passed grade 3 with a merit that was so nearly the distinction he was craving. He got 128. Excellent marks for pieces, pretty good for aural, and a very good mark for - dare I say it? - s***t-r*****g.

I think we all have good reason to feel very proud of him, as I hope he is proud of himself.

[Gill the Piano]

YES YOU BEAUTY!!!!! Clever boy!!!

[Nutroast]

That's fantastic news! He's broken his sound barrier! Well done, Dave. Is he going to go for 4?

[gizzy]

That's fantastic news! He's broken his sound barrier! Well done, Dave. Is he going to go for 4?

I have no idea. He's still lying low (that came out sounding sifferent from what I meant )

Maybe if we all got our voices in chorus and yelled he'd hear us and come back and tell us.

So all together now:

"COME BACK HERE YOU SILLY BOGBRUSH AND TELL US HOW IT'S GOING!"

[Gill the Piano]

He ruddy well OUGHT to go for G4; he's shown he can pull the rabbit out of the hat under pressure AND has beaten his s****reading demon. NEXT!!!!!!!

[doreen dangle]

Where did he go then? that sounds good, what is it out of then if he got 128?
I managed a paltry 76% for my piano step one exam, i just started sightreading, my teacher gives me 5 little exercises for the week and i like doing it! i give myself one minute to have a look at it and then I go for it. she says I will be a better ready if I do it every practicse

[Gill the Piano]

Out of 140, I think.
Well done on your result - are you pleased? You should be; people don't realised what an achievement it is for adults to pass music exams. Well done!!

[Colin Nicholson]

If its the ABRSM exams, they are marked out of 150

so 128 marks = 85% pretty good mark!

[Gill the Piano]

Was it ever 140 marks, Colin? Or has that number popped up from elsewhere in my fevered imagination?

[Colin Nicholson]

Don't think so, unless before 1975 ish!
I remember in my grade 6 there being 4 pieces to learn - one of the lists had 2 short pieces, and the total marks for each piece varied - but I think they scrapped that idea years ago. Nowadays, for Grades 1-7 the total marking is:

Scales/ arpeggios/ broken chords 21 (pass mark 14)
Pieces A B C (30 each) 90 (20)
Sight Reading 21 (14)
Aural Tests 18 (12)

Total = 150 (pass 100/ 66%)

Merit = 120+ Distinction = 130+

Can be confusing, coz theory is out of 100!

I have heard that some colleges prefer anything on or over "140" for a distinction at grade 8 to be worth its salt. It has a better 'ring' to it than say 132 ! - but not sure if this tale still stands.
I have a pupil who got into the 140's for grades 1 & 2 piano.... and he was most upset when he ONLY got 136 for his grade 3 !! - even his Mum frowned. Kid is only 9 aswell!!!

[Gill the Piano]

Blimey, poor kid!
I have a poor brain for numbers. No idea where I got 140 from! Just as well I'm not a teacher - poor kids would be very confused!

[gizzy]

Going to the other extreme, when my #2 daughter was at university most of her exams were marked out of 16 (yes, sixteen) and apparently the pass mark was 4. She says the only reasons she got 4 for New Testament Greek were that her tutor didn't want to have to set a resit paper and that he wanted to persuade her to sing in Iolanthe which he was conducting

[Gill the Piano]

Cunning...reminds me of when the music mistress made me sign up for the opera, and as soon as I'd signed up, took the list down. Then she told me it was Benjamin Bl**dy Britten whose 'music' I have always loathed and detested.

[gizzy]

Awwww noooo
Do you know Peter Grimes? I studies it for A level in 1963 and I've been mightily impressed with it ever since.

Went to hear it at the proms on Friday, in a "slightly-staged" concert performance. Still wonderful after all this time.

My only gripe - well, I have no truck with those people who get on their high horse and fume and fret if anyone is naive enough to applaud in between movements of a symphony, but right near the end, when for the second time they're gearing up to a witch-hunt, and there's a long loud "PETER GRIMES!!!" from the chorus, followed by a deathly silence, and then a repeat (or two?) of the same shout and silence - and several people clapped after the first one. Did they really think this was the end?

[Gill the Piano]

My dear friend who tuned for Steinway was tuning for a certain local music festival and the soloist chased him off so he could practise. 'But I haven't really finished checking it,' said my friend.
'Doesn't matter with this lot,' snorted the soloist, 'One bar's rest and they all clap, two bar's rest and they all go and get another gin & tonic...'

[pianoladybirmingham]

128 is awesome!!!!! Never got close to that sort of mark, my nerves will not let me!!!
Jealous if he can do that on his own, thats tough but soul buidling!!!!
So his new teacher should work on the positives with him and ignore negativity and he will move forward to grade 4 love it

[dave brum]

(original post deleted)

[Gill the Piano]

Just play for fun. As one customer of mine who almost walked out of her grade 1 said 'I'm sorry, I'm learning for fun and this isn't bloody fun'! Or as the old tuner who took me under his wing used to say, 'I play for my own amazement...'

[dave brum]

That's EXACTLY what I intend to do. I never did a single exam or proficiency test in Welsh....and there was no Internet learning resources in those days (early 90s), only Radio Cymru.

[Gill the Piano]

Well I wish my Welsh was a tenth as good as yours...still, I'll keep on keeping on!

[dave brum]

Ditto, swapping the word Welsh for the two words piano playing

[dave brum]

'I'm sorry, I'm learning for fun and this isn't bloody fun'!

I never think of the right things to say at the right time. Like it!!!

[Gill the Piano]

She passed the exam though! The examiner let her go on to piece 2, then 3 then she restarted piece 1 (which she had cocked up six times, hence her remark and near walk-out) and this time it went like a dream.