Exam tips, guidelines

Playing A Practical Music Exam

Tips from Jeremy Ward, Executive Director: Rockschool, Trinity College London By Steve Hurlin, May 2011

Playing a practical music exam can be a harrowing experience. Knowing what to expect during your exam can help alleviate some of the fear and be a contributing factor in whether you merely pass or pass with merit or distinction.

Mr Jeremy Ward, executive director of Rockschool in London, and one of the world's leading music exam board members, gave a workshop for teachers and students at the Pretoria branch of Trinity College London (TCL). Here is what he says about aiming for distinction level marks in a practical music exam:

Technique vs. Music
Playing a prepared piece of music in an exam requires both technical excellence and musical interpretation. A candidate who is aiming for a distinction will need to display excellent technical ability as well as musical understanding and presentation.

Technical ability:
Rhythmic accuracy, correct notes, technical excellence, posture, flexibility, articulation, fingering, written dynamics, instrumental skill.

Musical understanding:
Personal interpretation, natural dynamics, confidence, attitude, flair, musical theatre, understanding the piece of music as a whole, making a musical point, thinking of your exam as a performance or concert.

What to play first in an exam
Should you play your technical exercises and scales first for an exam, or your prepared pieces of music? Most candidates choose to play their pieces first because these have been practiced and rehearsed the most. However, it is better to play scales and technical studies first during an exam because doing so will give you time to adjust to the exam-room environment, get your fingers warmed up and calm your nerves.

Play technical studies and scales first during an exam.

Backing tracks and accompanists
If you are playing pieces from the Rockschool exam books, the examiner will provide the backing tracks for you, and play them on a sound system in the exam room.

• Before the exam starts you will be given the opportunity to do a sound check. Make sure the examiner sets the volume level of the backing track to a level where you are comfortable. Do not be too shy to ask for an increase or decrease in volume before you begin the exam.
• Focus on the track as it plays i.e. listen intensely to the musicians and try to match their rhythm and musical expression.
• Listen especially to the drums in the backing track in order to feel and interpret the correct rhythm of the music. Listening to the drums will also assist you in achieving rhythmic accuracy of individual notes and phrases.
• During your personal practice sessions, try listening to the backing track on its own without playing along in order to get a "feel" for the music.
• When performing an exam piece with a backing track, try to blend in with the track as if you are part of the band. The track and your instrument should form a pleasing, well balanced ensemble with each other.

The same rules apply to playing an exam with an accompanist. Make sure you both perform as a unit and are "in tune" with each other technically and musically.

Making mistakes
If you make a mistake during your exam:

• Do not pull a face.
• Do not stop playing and ask to start again.
• Find your place and carry on playing. Making a mistake is not too serious as long as you do not allow it to affect your musical performance.
• Do not be afraid of making mistakes during an exam because this may affect the way you perform. It is better to make a confident mistake than to play an entire piece of music with a fearful or timid attitude.

• Examiners listen especially to rhythmic accuracy.
• Make sure your eighth notes (quavers) are accurate and that half and quarter notes (minims and crotchets) are the correct length.
• Look for rhythmic patterns and phrases and make sure they are performed accurately and with the correct "feel" for the music.
• If you are struggling with the rhythm of a particular phrase during practice sessions, try clapping the rhythm until it is firmly entrenched in your mind. Once the rhythm is established in your mind, sing the "problem phrase" without playing, and then sing it again while playing your instrument. Singing your pieces while playing during practice sessions will not only improve your rhythmic accuracy, but will also help you play more musically and with the correct "feel" for the music.
• Music consists of rhythm. Music is rhythm. Feel the rhythm inside you.
• The importance of the correct performance of rhythmic patterns cannot be stressed enough. It is of paramount importance that each rhythmic pattern in your exam music is performed clearly, concisely and with absolute attention to detail and perfection. This is one of the key elements in earning a distinction for your exam.

• Remember the musical point you are trying to make in your exam pieces. Think of what you are trying to say with your performance. Music is a form of communication, so make a statement.
• GO FOR IT. Look confident in the way you stand or sit, and sound confident in the way you play
• Think about your performance. Plan your performance. Think of your exam as theatre - you are the actor/actress and the examiners are the audience.
• Wherever possible, stand up to perform your exam pieces. This applies to doing an exam in rock guitar/bass and also in solo instruments like saxophone, trumpet, trombone, flute and violin. If you play an instrument that requires you to sit (like piano, cello, drums) make sure you sit up straight and look focussed and energetic.
• Rock guitar and bass guitar candidates should bring their own amplifier to the exam. You are familiar with the settings you have used while practicing at home. If you use the amp provided by TCL, and struggle too much with the settings, you will be penalised.
• If the exam requires you to play an improvised solo, try not to get too technical, or attempt to prove to the examiners "how good" you are. It is better to play fewer notes musically than to try playing too many notes in order to be flashy and technical at the expense of the music. Make a musical statement with your solo - not a technical one.
• Music is usually performed in phrases. Identify the individual phrases in the music and make sure each one is performed correctly, and joins to the next one in a musically pleasing way.
• When performing a prepared exam piece, remember to see the piece of music as a whole picture, not just as a collection of unrelated notes and phrases. Be aware of the structure of the piece, its introduction and conclusion, climax-points and quieter moments, and how they all fit together into the complete picture.
• Don't get so caught up in absolute technical precision that you forget the musical statement you are trying to make.
• Your beginning and ending of each piece are of vital importance. People always remember your introduction and finale.

Do not play just the notes - play the music.

GUITARISTS

Your sound is expected to carry across the room, or at least as far as the Examiner’s ears! Avoid simply stroking or gently tickling the strings. If you want to hear real guitar tone listen to a CD of John Williams, for example. You cannot play with musical shape or expression unless you produce worthwhile tone.

Choose a speed at which you can play all of your scales fluently and comfortably, as stick to that speed. Especially, do not rush the chromatic scale.

SINGERS and ELECTRONIC KEYBOARDISTS

Technical Work is done FROM MEMORY. (Electronic Keyboard’ists may use the book for the Fingered Chord Scale.) Vaccai vocal exercises are to be sung in Italian. All this information is in the syllabus.

Electronic Keyboard’ists - Remember that you are expected to do something creative with the Group C piece.

SIGHT READING

Keep going, whatever happens.
Notice the key signature.
Try hard to get the main rhythm right, or at least recognisable.
SINGERS (especially) : do not leave Sight Reading to chance. PRACTISE IT! Then, when you sing it, do not disregard the rhythm or simply feel your way from note to note.

AURAL TESTS

Where language or translation difficulties exist the Examiner will make every possible effort to understand what you are saying, so say it AUDIBLY. This is especially important when, for example, you might be using your second language. Examiners have to cope with numerous different accents in the many countries in which TG works, and we try very hard to avoid misunderstanding anyone.

In particular, prepare yourself with exactly the right words for cadences.

V – I PERFECT CADENCE (or full close)
I – V IMPERFECT CADENCE (or half close)
IV – I PLAGAL CADENCE (or Amen cadence)
V – VI INTERRUPTED CADENCE (or surprise cadence)

NOTE: V – VI is not an Imperfect Cadence.

MUSICAL KNOWLEDGE

Be ready to explain CLEFS properly. The clef indicates exact pitches, not merely that you use one hand or the other. If you are a clarinetist, violinist, or singer, for example, calling the treble clef the “right hand clef” does not make much sense!

Understand INTERVALS.

Be certain you know which KEY the piece is in, and be ready to relate this to the key signature.

For a TIME SIGNATURE answer give the full information. We find that it can often take four or five questions to get one full answer from a candidate. For example, ¾ means three crotchet beats or counts per bar (or three quarter note beats). 6/8 means TWO beats (or counts) per bar, each having three quavers (or eighth notes).

IMPROVISATION

If you choose the option (as quite a few people are now doing) you are expected to make an effort to do it properly, and it is no good leaving it to chance or to last-minute inspiration.

MELODIC Using the short group of pitches, make up something with both melodic and rhythmic interest. It is no good simply reproducing the short melody once or twice as a rhythm-less string of notes.

RHYTHMIC Get the rhythm right, for a start. You have it printed in front of you and the Examiner demonstrates it to you. Add melodic interest and do not simply stop after merely one version of the printed rhythm. You are expected to do something with it.

CHORDAL (or HARMONIC) Make up something of melodic and rhythmic interest. Simply singing or playing the top note of each of the Examiner’s chords but with no rhythm or other invention will not earn you much credit.

PIANISTS Make sure you know about the two ways of doing the CHORDAL type of test and be ready to tell the Examiner which you prefer. Also remember that if you use both hands, particularly in the solo option, you will get more credit than by merely using one. You are encouraged to use the full capabilities of the instrument.

These well intentioned hints are intended to be helpful, and I hope that they are.

What are examiners looking for?

Harold Jones, MA (Oxon) LTCL HonFTCL, looks for the following when examining candidates:

• Control of tempo. Unless the music has a steady basic pulse it will lack coherence. This doesn't mean you have to avoid rallentandos, accelerandos or the occasional use of rubato - just that there has to be an established pulse from which these are minor temporary deviations. The music needs to flow easily.
• Phrasing. Each phrase needs to have shape, perhaps towards its climax and then away from it. Or it may be less defined than that. On the other hand a one-bar slur doesn't imply chopping up a four-bar phrase into bits.
• Balance. In pieces with melody-and-accompaniment texture the melody must be prominent and sustained, keeping the accompaniment well in the background. In contrapuntal music (eg Bach Inventions or Fugues) aim at playing which gives equal weight to each strand of the texture.
• Pedalling. An elementary rule is to avoid any use of the pedal which blurs different harmonies together, unless this is a special effect intended by composers like Debussy.
• Dynamics. Expression marks are not an optional extra - they are part of the composition put there by the composer to indicate how he wants his piece played. BUT in Baroque and earlier pieces they will have been added by someone else (the editor). However, the playing should always have some sense of shape - this point is related to phrasing (see above.) Avoid exaggerated contrasts - a change to forte after mf does not mean a sudden violent accent! Also be aware that Baroque composers wrote for harpsichord or recorder (not piano or flute) and the range of dynamics should be more restricted than in a 19th century piece. You should not use in a Mozart sonata a dynamic range that would be appropriate in Liszt or Rachmaninov.
• Scales. These should be like a string of pearls, each the same size! The notes, that is, should be of equal weight and equal length, without any overlapping of the notes. In other words, lift each finger immediately you play the next note, but without leaving a gap.
• Sight Reading. Here the golden rule is to count a steady tempo and keep to it.
  For pianists in the bottom grades it is helpful to remember that the tests seldom go out of the five-finger position, so that if hands are correctly placed there will be a finger over each note of the test. Thus the candidate does not need to look at the keyboard to find the notes. Candidates often look away from the music to find notes on the keyboard (this of course applies mainly to pianists!) which means that they lose their place. They must learn to play without looking for the notes, or they will never become fluent. I used to make my students feel their way round the keyboard using the black notes as a guide, perhaps in the dark or with eyes shut.

• Musical Knowledge No answers written in the copy please! Check that key- and time-signatures are understood; ditto Italian terms. Any Baroque piece with a double bar somewhere in the middle will almost certainly be in Binary form (not Ternary, even if the opening recurs towards the end.)
• Aural Tests. Keep going even if you have to make it up! If asked for a chord, check the inversion. Work out the time-signature as you clap the rhythm. Ditto the tonality while singing.

COMMON WEAKNESSES IN EXAMS

as supplied by Stuart Gill MEd LTCL LRAM

(Applicable to all instruments)

Common Weaknesses in Electronic Keyboard Exams

Pieces

• Faulty set-up with false start(s)
• Slow set up (SHOULD BE SILENT)
• Volume set too low for the room
• Balance between melody and auto accomp set incorrectly
• Metronome lead-in unnecessary
• No counting out loud while playing
• Incorrect tempo (minim = 60 means crotchet = 120)
• Pitch errors caused by not carrying accidental throughout the bar
• Dynamics changed too suddenly (or not at all)

Scales

• LH scale 8ve too low
• Scales played too slowly
• Scales should be without auto rhythm

Sight Reading

• Sight reading should be played without auto rhythm (Initial)
• Candidate unaware of the choice of playing sight reading with or without auto rhythm

Posture

Height of stool or stand often incorrect – rarely adjusted.

Important

The Group C piece MUST be modified (even at Initial) in some way. (See inside cover of book)

Some suggestions as to how this might be achieved are as follows:-

• Changing the voice
• Adding or removing a voice
• Playing melody 8ve higher or lower
• Change the rhythm (eg swing)
• Decorate the melody
• Include some drum fills
• Use Accompaniment B
• Use fade
• Add a MANUAL introduction and/or Coda (not auto)
• Prepare a diskette with pre-sequenced parts (especially important for Grade 6 – 8 Digital Keyboard players)

Programme

We are looking for something that resembles the programme you would get in a concert. I suggest A4 folded like a greetings card. The front cover should have the date, time, venue and the performer and, if applicable, the accompanist. If you don’t feel like wearing full evening dress, call it a lunchtime concert then the ‘dress’ can be less formal. Make up the venue if necessary – it does not have to be terribly accurate. It is essential that the accompanist wear something appropriate too.

Inside, the programme should be the works in order of performance, with their programme notes if necessary, and timings. On the back can be acknowledgements or blank, or short CV’s of the performers.

The music provided for the examiner should be completely separate.

Presentation

It says that the programme notes can be used instead of the spoken word, and they can. However, it leaves very little for the examiner to say when the performer walks onto the platform, plays a few pieces and walks off.

Just to announce them and say “I am going to play ‘Thing, by Whatsit” and “I hope you enjoy it”, is a connection with the audience and creates a contact, and some sort of rapport.

Once they begin to play I start the timer. Any verbal announcements must be inside the time allowed, otherwise marks are lost. The performer often asks me whether I am ready and should they start – they would not do this with a live audience, don’t do it in the ‘concert exam’.

Sometimes they can lose most of the 5 marks for dress, with unsuitable attire. Jeans and trainers are not good; shorts and T-shirt are equally inappropriate. Another mark can be lost if there are things missing from the programme, e.g. time, venue, performers, etc. More marks can be lost for bad time keeping, going over or under the time stated in the syllabus. The programme notes must be about the work, and not the life of the composer. The style and tidiness of the programme is important. The charisma of the performer, and their ‘relationship’ with the audience is also a key factor.

If there is a group doing a FC or PC then they should walk on tidily and be professional from the start, announcing their items and going off at the end tidily.

Lindsay Butterfield, MA B.A(Hons) ARCM PGCE.

The main thing to bear in mind in preparing your programme notes is that they are very short, and they only form part of the presentation skills section.

It is important to provide information which would be useful to a concert audience and will help them to listen to the piece they are about to hear. Avoid providing too much biographical information on the composer, and instead focus on the actual music. The syllabus says 'context, content and significance' of the chosen works

Every set of programme notes is different, and every piece is different, but here are a few examples of information you might want to include. This is not comprehensive and should not be taken as compulsory since every programme has different requirements.

• Character of the work
• Style and genre
• Musical features and how this piece is typical or not of its genre or style
• Technical demands
• Anything which makes this an interesting piece to perform

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