Music Exams: What Do You Need for Your Practical Music Exams

Hi everyone,

I will be talking about what you need to help you to plan and prepare your practical music exams. This will vary depending on the exam board you are taking your music exams with.

Exam Pieces

This is usually from a graded exam pieces book that has been compiled together for all relevant grades, but another option is choosing your exam pieces from an 'extended repertoire' list which can usually be found on the exam boards website. You can choose three pieces for a face to face exam, or four pieces for a digital exam. These pieces can be either all from the core pieces of music from the graded exam book, all pieces from the 'extended repertoire' or a combination of pieces from both the core and extended repertoire. You have a quite a range of pieces to also choose from, and you can also tailor the exam pieces to your liking due to the fact that there's now a lot more variety for practical music exams.

 The four exam pieces form part of the 'Repertoire only' exam option for Trinity College. If you wanted to do the 'Technical' exam option with Trinity College, then its three pieces of music. 

Scales, Arpeggios and Exercises

You will need to learn all of your scales and arpeggios from memory for your exams, if you are doing as part of your exam. For the exercises; you can take the pieces into the exam with you.

Scales, Arpeggios and Exercises form part of the 'Technical' exam option for the Trinity College exams; and this option can be done either face to face, or digital.

Aural

Familiarising and developing your aural skills should be done with your music teacher, and this can take time for you to develop your ear. But, you can buy books to help you to improve on your aural skills. Aural forms part of the face to face exams from both ABRSM and Trinity College. Even if you don't do aural as part of your exam; it's still a very good skill within your musical journey for you to develop.

What You Need for Your Practical Music Exams

- Exam Pieces (either from your graded pieces book, from the 'extended repertoire' list; or combination from each

- Scales, Arpeggios & Exercises; or just Scales and Arpeggios for your relevant grade

- Developing your aural music skills with your teacher

Also, once you have got all of your pieces, scales and arpeggios up to standard before you take the practical exam; another thing you can do is get yourself into a routine for how you would like to play the pieces for the exam. By doing this before the exam, it will make it easier for you on the day of the exam as you will already have the routine practiced and you will be more familiar in what you are doing on the day.

Practical Exam Tips

Hi everyone,

In this post I'm going to give you some advice so then you can get the best experience from your Practical Music Exams whether you are working through your grades or performance diplomas.

Plan Ahead

Make sure that you buy all of the relevant exam materials a few months prior before you are due to start working on it. That way you can have a good look through the relevant and start choosing pieces that you would like to learn for your exam. It will also enable you to develop a 'back up' plan if you don't fancy learning a piece that you thought you might have liked to learn, but that piece isn't for you. 

Discuss What You Want to Learn with Your Teacher

This is all part of the planning process, and it's so your teacher knows what your plan is for your pieces for your chosen grade/ performance so then they can help to get the best out of you. You can discuss the pieces that you have chosen, listen to the pieces that you have chosen to see if you like them, and change the piece/s out if they aren't for you. You can also discuss any scales, arpeggios and exercises that you will also need to learn for the exam.

Scales & Arpeggios

Get these to sound and flow as secure as you can, and make sure that all of your scales and arpeggios are learnt and perfected in legato, slurred and staccato; and in any other formats that you exam grade requires. Work through these slowly, and this will enable you to make any necessary adjustments to your playing to get them in the best possible shape for the exam. You also need to know all of your required scales and arpeggios "off by heart".

Pieces

It's important that you choose pieces that you will enjoy learning and working towards, as this way you will get the best experience from the exam and all of the preparation that comes before it.

Take Your Time

With your pieces, exercises and scales and arpeggios it's important that you take your time working through them. You will also have a better idea of understanding your chosen pieces once you start breaking them down slowly.

Practice in Smaller Chunks

By practicing in smaller chunks, and breaking everything down into more manageable chunks your brain will be able to focus more. Also, by breaking your pieces down you are also able to spot any ares that will need some extra work to get it to sound and flow better. Take your time working through your pieces, and use slow practice while you are still getting used to the pieces.

Go Exploring

Once you start getting used to your chosen exam pieces, and you feel that they are nice and secure for the moment why don't go exploring with your chosen exam pieces. What I mean by this is experiment by using different tonal colours, dynamics and maybe try the pieces out with the techniques that you are familiar with to make the piece your own. There's nothing wrong with having a bit of creative fun with your exam pieces to see what happens. You may like or may not like what you have come up with, and that's okay; as your just exploring to see what you can do to get something different from the pieces.

Get Your Pieces Secure

Make sure that all of your chosen pieces sound nice and secure, and that flow to the best of your ability. You may need to do some work to get the pieces as refined as you can. But, also make sure that you are happy with how your pieces sound prior to going into the exam.

Hints & Tips

Ask your teacher for any advice that they can give you prior to you sitting the exam, so then you can get the best experience out of the exam experience.

Routine for the Exam

Make sure you are happy with the routine that you have chosen to play for the exam. I would recommend that you practice your exam routine about a month prior to taking the exam, as that way you will be really familiar with the routine and you should feel more comfortable. Also, I would recommend that you run your exam routine through with your teacher about two weeks before you sit the exam, as that way you are both familiar with what each other is doing. You can also ask your teacher any questions on the lead up to the exam to get the best experience.

Most importantly HAVE FUN!!

It's important to have fun along your own personal music journey, especially if you're sitting exams. Sitting exams can be stressful enough, but just as long as you go in prepped, prepared and have fun whilst you are taking the exam it should be an overall good experience. Just throw your all at the exam on the day, and know that you have done all that you can to the best of your ability. 

All the best for your exams