Scraped a pass at my Grade 6 exam

drpbier

I sat my Grade 6 performance certificate on Saturday, face to face. In Grades 2-5 I got a distinction/merits and based on my practice, I was expecting the same again. However, unexpectedly I suffered horrible nerves this time round and played well below the standard I had been playing at for several weeks. Obviously really disappointing to have let myself down and I was fully expecting to have failed. However I got the result through this morning and I passed, just (66%). Still disappointed not to have represented myself very well, but not to the point of funding a retake.

I have learned that I'd rather do a video submission for Grade 7 as the nerves aren't really an issue, and it's marginally cheaper and a lot more convenient.

GoFish

Well done for keeping going when it all began to go wrong. Good to focus on Grade 7 - when you get that, 6 will be a distant thing. 

Whistler

Well done @drpbier and +1 to @GoFish 's comments. Feel rightly proud of yourself, your achievement and knowing that you could have scored better.

UnclePsychosis

Well done and good to keep going!

If I may - I'd suggest that dealing with performance nerves is part of being a musician. So depending on what your goals are (and all goals are equally valid when it comes to music) it may be better for you to face up to the nerves and find coping mechanisms rather than avoid the performance part. 

But honestly, well done - to be disappointed and still pass is a good sign! 

guitarjack66

I have no idea what these Grade things are (Classical Guitar perhaps) but well done for overcoming another stage and pushing on in your quest. Its always nice to have benchmarks and targets to aspire towards and pass through.

darthed1981

Well done mate - sometimes just focus on the "you passed" bit not the beating yourself up bit!

CaseOfAce

Congrats!
Just out of interest what were the pieces you had to perform and nail?

Keiko

Kind of what happened to me. If it's ABRSM classical then grade 6 is pretty difficult in fairness. I stopped learning classical after just scraping through with my grade 6. In my opinion, there comes a point when you really need to be "into" classical music to have the motivation to continue doing those grades or further qualifications. Grades 1 to 5 are fine for learning the fundamentals that can be applied to all styles of guitar. 

If your heart is not really in it, then consider swapping to the trinity rock school grades. They are definitely easier than ABRSM in my opinion, and likely more suited to your musical tastes. You don't need to be tested on sight reading with the trinity grades, you can do improvisation instead, but I still think sight reading is an important skill to learn and will put you into the top 1% of guitar players, as most can't do it. Not to a decent standard anyway. 

I'm supposed to be doing my grade 8 trinity. I know all the pieces but haven't brushed up enough on my sight reading, which is the main thing I want to get good at.     

axisus

Pretty sure that every exam I've done in my life I either scraped through by 1% or failed. I'll take any pass, I don't give a monkey's for anything above pass personally. 

Anyway, congratulations! You Sir are a better man than I. My highest music level was Piano grade 2.

guitars4you

Congrats - As a youngster, I got to grade 6 on the trumpet (just) but by the time I hit 14 the guitar became my instrument - Never did the grades on guitar 

drpbier

CaseOfAce said:

Congrats!
Just out of interest what were the pieces you had to perform and nail?

I chose:
Cramp Your Style (Breakestra)
Shook Me All Night Long (AC/DC)
No One Knows (Queens Of The Stone Age)
Just (Radiohead)
The Wind Cries Mary (Jimi Hendrix)

Thanks for all the messages chaps. I'm going to do an online Hendrix course before starting on my Grade 7 pieces. Bit of a bus man's holiday

Lestratcaster

What exam board was it with by the way? 

I am teaching someone Grade 7 Rock Guitar via the LCM (London College of Music) with a view to entering this year.

drpbier

It was RSL 3 of the pieces were from that board, and the last 2 were from Trinity Grade 6

Lestratcaster

I will say the LCM syllabus is very outdated with song choice (there's no songs there past 2000) whereas Rockschool are a bit more modern with their pieces and they get updated every few years. 

sev112

i've been playing 6 7 and 8 acoustic pieces, and also some 6 and 7 classical.
Quite surprised that Classical Gas is 7! As is Anji!

i don't think it is nerves per se, it is just ones mind gets in the way sometimes when we think too much.


I'd be up for  regional meet up and go through some pieces with others if anyone is interested.

guitarmangler

Trinity rock and pop only require you to play three songs for their exam. Just sayin. 

sev112

guitarmangler said:

Trinity rock and pop only require you to play three songs for their exam. Just sayin. 

what no harmonic minor scales ?  i had to do those at Grade V trumpet !

guitarmangler

sev112 said:

guitarmangler said:

Trinity rock and pop only require you to play three songs for their exam. Just sayin. 

what no harmonic minor scales ?  i had to do those at Grade V trumpet !

No scales full stop

Keiko

guitarmangler said:

sev112 said:

guitarmangler said:

Trinity rock and pop only require you to play three songs for their exam. Just sayin. 

what no harmonic minor scales ?  i had to do those at Grade V trumpet !

No scales full stop

That's not true. It's 3 songs AND session skills in either playback - which is basically sight-reading, or improvising - which means learning to play in various styles such as jazz, reggae, and blues. Good luck with those if you don't know your scales.

Alternatively you can just learn 4 songs and do the 'performance' exam. 

At least that's how it is for grade 8. I don't know about the lower grades because my teacher put me straight in at 8. I had done grade 6 previously at ABRSM classical.

 

Personally I don't see the point in not learning sight-reading if you want to do graded exams.      

Littlejonny

sev112 said:

i've been playing 6 7 and 8 acoustic pieces, and also some 6 and 7 classical.
Quite surprised that Classical Gas is 7! As is Anji!

i don't think it is nerves per se, it is just ones mind gets in the way sometimes when we think too much.


I'd be up for  regional meet up and go through some pieces with others if anyone is interested.

what region?

Evo

Keiko said:

guitarmangler said:

sev112 said:

guitarmangler said:

Trinity rock and pop only require you to play three songs for their exam. Just sayin. 

what no harmonic minor scales ?  i had to do those at Grade V trumpet !

No scales full stop

That's not true. It's 3 songs AND session skills in either playback - which is basically sight-reading, or improvising - which means learning to play in various styles such as jazz, reggae, and blues. Good luck with those if you don't know your scales.

This is a very important point so i'm highlighting it so that anyone reading this thread doesn't miss it.

When you do Trinity rock and pop exams, you aren't asked to play any scales but you are expected to improvise using tonalities appropriate for the grade you're taking. That doesn't mean crowbar in the harmonic minor where it doesn't fit, but it does mean that a minor pentatonic won't cut it when you should be using mixolydian and in the higher grades they'll be expecting you to demonstrate some lydian dominant if it's appropriate. 

That isn't to say you'll fail if you don't do these things, but you won't gain marks which are there for the taking. 

Remember, you don't have to be perfect, you just have to pass and as OP illustrates very conveniently, 66% is considered a pass. That gives you a window of at least 34% of the piece to completely cock up before you need to worry.

(Not exactly, they don't exactly mark you based purely on how many notes you got right but you get the idea).