Piano exam

J finally went back to school on Tuesday which was his piano exam day. So I took him in for PE and half of drama then picked him up for exam after which he was returned for English and after school Mandarin. Still he got his attendance marks.

 Tuesday morning was just one of those mornings - overslept, couldn't find tie, couldn't find homework diary, frantically scribbling letter to teacher, car windscreen iced up, roadworks, lots and lots of roadworks...Anyway we had thought J would have a good practice before school but he didn't (and as far as he was concerned it was all my fault). I picked up P then we got J and drove 37 miles to the exam centre. This long journey (I've just worked out altogether it was an 80 mile round trip, don't even think about cost of fuel) was because teacher had said this was much better centre than previous one and he was right. The last one had no piano in the waiting room but this one did and they had organised practice sessions for each entrant. The other parents/teachers were saying 'That's really good' to their children, I was saying 'You're still not holding that minim down long enough'. At the other centre he wasn't allowed to try the piano in the exam room first but here he was allowed to warm up and what's more it was a Steinway. 

I've noticed that's there's a distinct gender difference with music exams, girls tend to come out and say 'I played a couple of wrong notes I've failed,' and in some cases burst into tears. Boys on the other hand come out saying 'I did fine, apart from a couple of wrong notes.'

Anyway he said his pieces went fine (wish I felt so confident), his scales went a bit er wrong, the sight reading was really easy but his singing was off pitch. We shall just have to wait and see.


There was an advert at the exam centre for a book about helping visual learners to play music, wonder if it might be helpful.