I stopped in the middle of the exam because anxiety but I thought I pulled off the rest of it well but still failed.. demoralizing and how my teachers told me to take the teaching and not performance exam due to lower standard required, and that they knew my technique was already shaky after they knew I failed was adding salt to the wound and really patronizing, it doesn't mean I'm a bad pianist maybe just that I had to improve certain selection of songs/learn how to cope with the anxiety by performing more etc etc. The fact that people labelled me and put a damper on my potential felt worse than failing the exam itself.. I chose 3 Chopin songs (2 etudes and 1 scherzo) which might have limited the genre and repertoire required to pass
I understand your feeling and would like to encourage you by sharing my experience, I took a Trinity LTCL exam last year and failed as well. While the performance of the recital can always be improved (even for those famous concert pianists), I found that the Trinity examiners are generally marking in more old-style in manner that they tend to look for 100% precision of your performance against the music sheets. They tend to neglect the essences of the pieces in your performances. For instance, when I took my grade 8 ABRSM exam, I also had a break in the flow for a Bach piece in the beginning due to anxiety. But I still got 2 4/30 overall as I played the contrapuntal styles and the voicings were done well. The ABRSM examiners know the essences of the Baroque pieces are contrapuntal sryle and voicings. The stop and break in flow was just some minor part in the performance. Yet in LTCL, I playyed Ballade no. 1 and was given comment that "the minim played by the pinky finger was not always held for 2 beats". This was a rather inappropriate and despicable way to comment for the ballade. The ballade are story-telling in nature where the shaping, essences, technical portraying, and contrasts of the sections (etude, nocturne, triumph like thick chords+octaves, waltz, and coda) should be actually looked for. Yet the examiner left comments"the octave scales was not always played correctly which results in untidy impression of the MOST part", neglecting other parts, e.g. the etude like "mini coda" in the first, the nocturne like musical lines, the waltz section, and the coda. I felt like the Trinity examiners just look for robots that recite the notes 100% correctly and will exaggerate for any inconsistencies and breaks in flow, neglecting the essences of the pieces. Yet if we want to pass, we need to learn from the robot and give out 100% accurate and neaty performance. Sometimes it's not majorly out fault when we fail, but we can improve in preparation to be the "good boys" and "good girls" in front of the examiners 🥺
Actually in diploma, you need to show some interpretation of specific piece under certain level of music understanding, that's is something like performance pianist things, so you are actually holding a recital but with only one audience
I stopped in the middle of the exam because anxiety but I thought I pulled off the rest of it well but still failed.. demoralizing and how my teachers told me to take the teaching and not performance exam due to lower standard required, and that they knew my technique was already shaky after they knew I failed was adding salt to the wound and really patronizing, it doesn't mean I'm a bad pianist maybe just that I had to improve certain selection of songs/learn how to cope with the anxiety by performing more etc etc. The fact that people labelled me and put a damper on my potential felt worse than failing the exam itself.. I chose 3 Chopin songs (2 etudes and 1 scherzo) which might have limited the genre and repertoire required to pass
I hope you gain confidence and improve to the best of your ability !
I understand your feeling and would like to encourage you by sharing my experience, I took a Trinity LTCL exam last year and failed as well. While the performance of the recital can always be improved (even for those famous concert pianists), I found that the Trinity examiners are generally marking in more old-style in manner that they tend to look for 100% precision of your performance against the music sheets. They tend to neglect the essences of the pieces in your performances. For instance, when I took my grade 8 ABRSM exam, I also had a break in the flow for a Bach piece in the beginning due to anxiety. But I still got 2
4/30 overall as I played the contrapuntal styles and the voicings were done well. The ABRSM examiners know the essences of the Baroque pieces are contrapuntal sryle and voicings. The stop and break in flow was just some minor part in the performance. Yet in LTCL, I playyed Ballade no. 1 and was given comment that "the minim played by the pinky finger was not always held for 2 beats". This was a rather inappropriate and despicable way to comment for the ballade. The ballade are story-telling in nature where the shaping, essences, technical portraying, and contrasts of the sections (etude, nocturne, triumph like thick chords+octaves, waltz, and coda) should be actually looked for. Yet the examiner left comments"the octave scales was not always played correctly which results in untidy impression of the MOST part", neglecting other parts, e.g. the etude like "mini coda" in the first, the nocturne like musical lines, the waltz section, and the coda. I felt like the Trinity examiners just look for robots that recite the notes 100% correctly and will exaggerate for any inconsistencies and breaks in flow, neglecting the essences of the pieces. Yet if we want to pass, we need to learn from the robot and give out 100% accurate and neaty performance. Sometimes it's not majorly out fault when we fail, but we can improve in preparation to be the "good boys" and "good girls" in front of the examiners 🥺
Actually in diploma, you need to show some interpretation of specific piece under certain level of music understanding, that's is something like performance pianist things, so you are actually holding a recital but with only one audience
Thanks for sharing your experience..
Has anyone told you that you have big hands?
Very good info