Star Piano Studio

Are You Ready for Your Piano Exam? Some Tips to Help You to Reach Your Personal Best!

Congratulations! You are going to take your piano exam! This illustrates a great openness to new perspectives, engagement with the community, and responsibility. Do you feel prepared and confident? As an examiner myself, I am often asked by both teachers and their students how to best prepare for music exams. Here are some ways to help you get the most out of your examination experience.

Your teacher is largely responsible for providing you with a well-rounded musical curriculum (repertoire, technique, and aural skills); setting out appropriate learning objectives with both long- and short-term goals. As part of your musical development, your teacher will provide reasonable measures of the effectiveness of this methodology, notably with participation in third-party assessments like examinations. 

For you the student, there are two main responsibilities: devote sufficient time and concentration to practicing; and, do your best!

Each student’s progress is individual – there is no “one-size-fits-all” quick scheme to learning the piano. This is why it is important to work with a master teacher, who can best assess your unique learning skills, and provide you with insightful and specific strategies for success, growth, and enjoyment. Your teacher is your best resource! Listen to your teacher’s advice, and always pay attention at your lessons, especially if things are to go well. Take notes, record your lessons, and read your teacher’s comments.  The rest is up to you!

More specifically, here are some general tips for individual preparation:

#1. Do your own practicing! 

• Be responsible. Schedules may vary, but you must find ways to accommodate enough time --as a daily routine, and planned over a successive amount of time leading up to your exam. To play well requires the same commitment and investment in time as training for a triathlon – you cannot cram!
• Daily: set practice goals for each session. Whether it may be memorizing a particular passage, or working out tempos, setting a goal will allow you to focus, and to add variety to your practice sessions. Some students find it helpful to keep a daily practice log.”
• Practicing is the art of making the conscious into the unconscious. Many studies show that “more” is not necessarily better when it comes to practice. Instead, the most effective results from practicing result from thoughtfulness and concentration. The process of polishing is highly varied, and ultimately individualized. Find ways that work best for you.
• Learning takes time. Just as it takes time to fully know another person, so too it takes time to process a new composition. Performing music is a complex intellectual, emotional, and physical task, which can only successfully be accomplished by mastering many levels of a diverse range of musical skills.  As you fine-tune your motor skills, learn as much as you can about the composition. An aesthetical understanding of the music will inspire your attention to focus your technical skills as a tool to communicate the expressive elements of the music. A fine performance “says” something -- engage in communicating the composer’s “poetic idea” – what is the composer saying?
• Daily: go with the flow! Set goals, but also be flexible for those moments of “inspiration.” Have you ever set out a daily practice goal, only to end up tackling an entirely different goal? Perhaps you had planned to work on memorizing sections from various pieces, only to end up focusing on increasing tempos, as a fluid progression caught up in the fine-tuning and musicality of the work? Great! In the end, you did accomplish a particular goal “on the list,” but also followed your artistic nature to explore the joy of creating music. These are glorious moments in our practice, when we recognize the results of our hard work.
• Daily: reliable routines. On the other hand, being human we are not always inspired. So, have some tried and true methods to deal with days when focus or energy may seem low. Again like sports, “thoughtfully” playing through your music builds “performer’s muscles” – all time at the piano pays off, largely in building motor and aural memory, and confidence at the keyboard. To avoid that destructive feeling of guilt from not practicing, some practice is better than none at all. Remember Liszt's motto: "noblesse oblige." 
• Monthly: set a timeline. Mark your expected exam date on a calendar. Work backwards from the exam date to estimate how long it will take you to learn the material.  Importantly, give yourself as much time as possible before the exam for “rehearsals.” As a general rule in my studio, I have my students able to “pass” their exam at the time of registration, and we do monthly “mock exams” to keep track of progress. This ensures that the student can rest easy knowing they will pass, and then focus on preparing their best work. This timeline also allows students to prepare without last-minute stress, especially should unexpected obstacles happen that might otherwise interfere with practicing shortly before the exam.
• Practicing is a path to self-knowledge! Yes I am going to be metaphysical here – you learn about yourself by approaching and working through formidable projects. Learn how you learn! Know what works best for you, what allows you to best focus on a task, how do you remain calm when encountering great difficulty, and how do you feel when you notice great strides in your playing? Also discover how piano practicing will also transfer to good academic concentration and success. Achieving through practice, no matter how small, will enrich self-confidence. Participating in an exam allows you to reach an important milestone in your development. Preparing for this goal offers you a route to self-actualization.

#2 Deliver your best possible performance at every time and place!

• Rehearsals! Once you feel confident about playing your music, shift from “practise” into “rehearsals” for the exam.  This includes playing your material in a particular sequence, without stopping for corrections.
• Role play. Pretend that you are a famous musician, playing with confidence, style, and enthusiasm.
• All pianos, all venues! Rehearse on every possible piano – from noisy rooms with bad pianos to recitals and festivals. Play for anyone who will listen everywhere you can! A different piano action, or slight differences adjusting to a new bench or music stand can throw off even the best prepared student who has never rehearsed outside of their teacher’s studio or home piano. The more you rehearse, the more resilient you are against the unexpected.
• Nerves can be good for you! Experience your awareness of nerves as a sense of happy excitement that will add energy to your performance. Remember nerves mean that you care. Generally, if you are well prepared, the ‘bad’ nerves disappear once you begin to play.
• Evaluate. How did you feel about your performance? How would you improve things next time? What went very well? Use all performance opportunities as learning experiences for future growth.
• Enjoy! Ultimately, enjoy your exam performance and engage in presenting your best efforts. Remember that even professional musicians have “off” days, so even if you are ill or meet with obstacles during your exam, the fact that you but forth your best efforts is all that matters.
• Still don’t feel ready? Sometimes students take piano exams not feeling fully prepared. Whatever the reasons, plan to do your absolute best with what you do know. The exam is an excellent way to receive some encouraging feedback for skills that you have accomplished –be proud of what you have learned! How is this possible if I’m not playing my best?  Examiners can tell when students are nervous and unprepared, but we are very empathetic. Importantly, we also hear great potential, musicality, and can offer expert diagnostics that will help your overall growth and musicianship.? As long as you are doing your best at that time, you will benefit from the assessment process, not only by receiving expert commentary, but also as a goal that you have successfully achieved. You did it!

Comments

• Amanda Watson wrote:
  amandaumanetz@yahoo.com
  Thank you Dr. Star! This article was very helpful. I am an adult student - full-time high school teacher with two babies - hoping to accomplish my grade 9 piano exam this spring. Your words are very logical, encouraging and inspiring. Thanks again!
  reply

  • Allison Star wrote:
    a.star@telus.net
    Thanks Amanda! Wishing you great success and happiness!
  • Allison Star wrote:
    a.star@telus.net
    Thanks Amanda! Wishing you happiness and success!