Music Grade Examination Failure

[orangebear4]

I've just been reading this post with dread. My 13 year old dd is taking her Grade 6 singing and flute at Trinity on Sunday!

[islandofsodor]

Hopefully your dd will be fine orange.

However just point out to her that the just as a boy entering an exam runs the risk of his voice "breaking" at around this age it also applies to a girl too. What you describe is extremem;y typical.

Please reassure your dd that she is not doing anything wrong, she is not suddenly a bad singer - it is a physical process and it is temporary. Just as a boys voice breaks and he becomes a tenor/baritone etc so her voice will mature and she should develop a richer tone and her range extend again.

[orangebear4]

Thank you for your reply islandofsodor.

[islandofsodor]

I'm afraid its a case of how long is a piece of string. Its all linked in with puberty which is different in everyone. Some sail through with no prblems, others take a while.

This is a good book if a bit technical.

http://www.changingvoices.com/

[musicmummy]

I am so grateful for everyones advice on speaking to several friends I have decided to pull my youngest daughter out of her exam. She is in a panic now & I would rather her be confident next term than have her upset like Dd2. I have learnt there is no rush & the teacher agrees. It is so difficult to know everything

[orangebear4]

[Welsh Mum]

I would always err on the side of caution - there is no rush and it is far better for your DCs to have a positive experience of exams and feel they can do their best. Waiting seems an excellent idea.

[songbird34]

Hi have read this blog with interest. I am actually a singing teacher and I think that there is a huge difference in the requirements for grades 1-5 and 6-8 . It is also a very tricky age when most students reach this level and often the parents are eager for them to continue through the grades as quickly as possible in order to maintain interest through the difficult teenage years. However I think that it is much better to spend time exploring repertoire and the natural vocal developments at this time than push through grades. I have had a few students who have gone through the exams much quicker than I would have liked and this has ended in tears. My advice to studnets and their parents is 1) only enter an exam once you are 100% ready and know at least 2 songs in each list and 2) if you are in any doubt before an exam then it is better to pull out than to put your child through the stress of failing when if left they could get a really good mark in an exam the following term. I have had experience where an exam board has agreed as a "favour" to carry the exam forward to the following term but this is normally only allowed with 48 hours notice and isn't always possible. It depends on how persuasive the teacher is when they talk to the exam board.
At the end of the day exams are not the only way of measuring success but at the same time they are a definate way of putting off your child from future music making and this is especially the case when they are at the "tricky teenage" stage. An exam every year to 18 months is fine and I wouldn't do Grade 6 until at least 14+ at the earliest in a girl or once puberty is well underway. Good luck to all those of you who are taking exams.

[Fruitcake]

My DS has his Grade 8 Drum Kit exam this weekend, so this is a subject close to my heart at the moment!

There is no way his teacher would have entered him unless he felt he was completely capable of achieving a good grade. He has been giving him mock exams during his lessons for the last 3 or 4 weeks, for which he has been attaining increasingly higher marks. These have given DS a lot of confidence to see how he has progressed over the weeks.

I agree that when you get above Grade 5 it is a completely different ball game. DS can be asked anything about any style of music/drumming/drum-kit/drummer etc in his Grade 8 exam and will be expected to give an informed answer. This is actually the part that is worrying him the most, as it is something that you can only prepare so much for.

I certainly wouldn't let him put himself through the exam unless his teacher was confident that he could pass with a fairly good grade, and would have had no qualms in not putting him in for it this time round if it wasn't felt he was ready.

I also feel that there can sometimes be too much emphasis put on what pieces of paper young people have, as these only give a 'snap-shot' of their general ability at the specific time the exam took place. DS hates exams and gets very nervous, which makes him make silly mistakes he has never made before. This is frustrating, but totally understandable.........but very annoying when he would rise to the occasion and be brilliant if he were doing the same thing in front of a huge audience!!!!

Good luck to all those with music exams looming.

[kittykatty]

My dd did her first lamda exam recently (grade 3). Said it went well but completely forgot to introduce them. I don't know how she forgot as she had rehearsed them complete with introduction. She also did a musical theatre exam (grade 2) and came in too early on one song which she had never done before (but slowed down and got back into time). I guess that is what nerves can do so glad she didn't go for a higher grade!

[Welsh Mum]

I agree that sometimes pupils can be on an exam "treadmill" churning through the grades just to tick them off. Luckily when my Dd was doing grades her teacher was more interested in repertoire than exams, often she sang stuff in lessons from very different genres of music, and was constantly building up her personal file of songs - this made it easier when in came to putting together a portfolio of them for college auditions. It also focussed her more on style and technique rather than grades!! Another pitfall is "exam competition" - in other words, measuring what grade your DC is on compared to others of her age etc. Above all singing - or any other instrument - should be enjoyable and not a chore!! Few like exams so ploughing through them can be a bit soul destroying.

[Fruitcake]

I totally agree!

DS has done loads and loads of other stuff with his teacher in between his grade work - all helping to make him a much more rounded musician and much more prepared to enter the music business when the time comes. His teacher will quite often just throw a session score at him and make him read it!

DS is actually part of one the CAT Govt schemes for young musicians, and they don't care about Grades at all there - places are offered on passion, potential and natural musicality. It is a totally non-competitive environment and DS absolutely loves it! Just a shame there aren't more initiatives out there like this one.

Ooops....I digress slightly! Apologies!

[Nicola]

..and I had a piano teacher myself (many moons ago) that ploughed through grades at a rate of knots, with little in between - and although I got my Grade 5, I lost interest soon afterwards as I was fed up of preparing for exams and doing the same pieces over and over again....and now the only things I can play [well] are my grade pieces!!

[Fruitcake]

DS had a piano teacher exactly the same, Nicola! He gave up, too!

[paulears]

I suspect that this is why more and more 'popular' musicians moved away from the traditional boards and started doing Rock School grades, which initially were, I felt easier. They were however, very popular, and now Rock school are in with Trinity and they are now hard, and very popular! The good thing about them is that taking them is less stressful -and from what I've seen, a little more contemporary and relevant to the type of people who don't play orchestral instruments. The only bad thing I can see with Associated and Trinity is the stress levels they induce, and they don't really seem to find this a problem, that I can see.