ABRSM Grade 1 Piano Trial Exam for Scales

My girl was supposed to sit for her ABRSM Grade 1 Piano Scales Trial Exam just before CNY but I felt that she was far from prepared so I informed the school that we could not make it..... twice!

Finally, she sat for her trial on Sunday. We could not delay it any further. :P The examiner said that she was good, her fingers nicely curved and she played with confidence. There were only some small mistakes here and there to watch out for.

The teacher had informed us on Wednesday that she was to sit for her trial on Sunday. That gave us 3-4 days of "intensive" practise. "Intensive" means 30 minutes to 45 minutes each day. Thats all we can afford with school and homework being given priority. We had practised here and there after Chinese New Year but not very seriously because I wanted to give her more time to adjust to school.

I am afraid that I did not know enough of what was invoved in the examinations and should have found out more about it. During the end of last year when the teacher approached us to sign my girl up for the exams, we asked the teacher what was her recommendation and whether she felt that my girl was ready. The teacher said yes and we relied on her recommendation.

However, on hindsight, with my girl having to adjust to Chinese primary school, lots of homework etc, I would probably have waited longer before allowing her to sit for any examinations. She's not yet 7 and just started learning in July last year, so whats the hurry? Sigh.

Anyway we have already signed up and paid for it so we will make the most of it without too much pressure. She will have some more trial exams to sit for in April and June plus a concert in June for kids taking the exam. Then she will sit for the exam in July. That is a lot of work that needs to be managed well without pressuring her too much.

I do not want to pressure her when she is not ready, that is why I turned down the first two trial exams. The teacher said its ok, its only a trial, its ok even if she fails but to me, that is not ok. Even if it is only a trial, I would like her to go into the trial prepared so that she feels confident. The trial is to boost her confidence, not put a dent to it from failure. I think the teacher fails to understand that. She also gives us very short notice about the exams giving us very little time to prepare.

Fortunately, after delaying it twice and pushing it as far back as we could, we had enough time to be more prepared and it boosted my girl's confidence that she did well.

She has finished learning her scales and broken chords so she just needs to practise them. She has just started to learn the first piece from her exam pieces. Initially I was panicked when I saw 9 pieces in all. How was she going to complete all of that and sit for a trial in April, I thought. However, after checking the ABRSM website I realised she only needs to play 3 pieces. Phew! I did mention that I know very little of whats involved.

This week she will start Aural training. There are 4 parts to the exam, Scales, Aural, Sight Reading and Exam Pieces. I wonder what is the importance of each section for the examination ie how many marks will be given for each section. Does anyone know?

I am not very happy that the teacher makes recommendations without explaining to us what is involved and discussing with us how much work is required. She also gives us very short notice about the exams and I feel that she has not prepared my girl enough for it. She had just begun to teach my girl the scales for a couple of lessons when she asked my girl to sit for the Scales Trials. And she gave us a few days notice for it. I had to step in with my little knowledge to help my girl with her practise. And I was annoyed that they got my girl's name wrong for the exams despite me pointing it out to them specifically not to get it wrong because they had got it wrong in several occassions. Now they need the birth cert, need to apply to the Ministry of Education etc etc. Hmmm.... Sorry, I'm ranting.