Unit 1 Parts A&B: Arts Challenge
Plan and introduction - 18th October
For the Silver Arts Award Challenge part 1A, I have chosen to take my Grade 6 piano exam on the 2nd December 2021 and to try to pass with merit. The exam includes sight reading pieces, longer practised pieces, scales, and aural tests. To begin I have made a list of all my current strengths and weaknesses at playing the piano.
Strengths:
- Playing the right notes in pieces
- Arpeggios and major scales
- Playing the right rhythms in pieces
- Aural sight-singing exercises
Weaknesses:
- Sight-reading
- Creating feeling and emotion in the piece
- Performing in front of others
- Playing staccato technique
I also developed an action plan in order to organise my practising and optimise my improvement through the next 5 weeks.
Action plan:
- Practice at least 3 times a week, an hour each practise
- Scales - 20 minutes
Focusing mainly on staccato scales but also playing through other scales. - Sight reading - 10 minutes
Playing small pieces I have never seen before, going slowly to ensure I am working through them properly. - Pieces - 30 minutes
Working on creating feeling and emotion on the piece, perhaps adding in notations to help. - Listen to the pieces on the way to school
- Arrange sessions for me to play in front of others, perhaps friends or family
Midpoint check - 13th November
It is now around halfway to my exam since I started the action plan and listed my strengths and weaknesses, and I think I am improving quite a bit in all the areas I identified as needing more work. I can now sight-read short pieces quite soon after seeing them, but am still playing them too slowly compared to how fast they are meant to be played. Having spent considerably more time on scales and arpeggios than I was previously, I can now play them much more fluently and find it much easier to play the staccato scales without it sounding too jumpy or out of time. However I still need to work on playing under stress and in front of other people, as I did play through the whole exam once in front of my family and found it quite difficult and would have done better if I was on my own. I plan to do this more often in the coming weeks before my exam, and perhaps ask my friends to do watch me play during lunch at some point.
The day before the exam - 1st December
Tomorrow is the exam, and whilst I'm quite nervous and stressed, I think I have a very good chance of passing it with quite a high mark. My playing has improved significantly over the last few months, and having played in front of my family a further three times, I think I will be able to play well under the stress of having an invigilator watching me as well. My pieces are sounding fluent and well-rehearsed, partly because I've listened to them on the way to school on repeat for the last few weeks, I rarely mess up my scales when practising now, and I can sight read the type of short pieces I am going to be given in the exam quite easily. Although I'm very nervous for tomorrow, I think that overall it will go well and hope to get a good mark.
Here is a video my dad took of me practising just before my exam in a practise room as I had about 10 minutes to practise before the exam. He was aiming to get just me playing the piece so the scale I played straight after Allegro by G.B Pescetti is unfortunately cut off midway through, but it still shows how I was playing the pieces just before the exam.
After the exam
After having taken the exam and passing with merit, I am very happy with my progress and the result I obtained. I think that my scales improved a lot due to the scheduled practices, and listening to the pieces really helped me ingrain the song into my memory and helped with the timing. I think that I could have perhaps focused slightly more on my sight-reading when practising as I got a lower mark for this than the other parts of the exam, but I also think that performing and doing mock exams in front of my parents really helped me overcome my nervousness. Overall, I am very pleased with how much I improved in the run-up to the exam and hope to do just as well, if not better, in future exams.
