Grade 6!

This is about as live as the blog will ever get! I am currently in the waiting area having done the exam although have waited until after lunch to post my exam review. Everything went very smoothly, Cambridge traffic was not that unhelpful and both myself and my clarinet pupil Hannah, also taking her grade 6, got here on time. Anne and Rohan are also here as they are stewarding and have pupils of their own so between candidates we catch up on the gossip and share exam experiences.

Updating the blog

I had a little warm up first thing and as there were others before me I had to wait around. While I accompanied Hannah (she played really well) Rohan tuned my harp. Sadly I haven't used Rohan and her harping skills as much as I should have. She always gives good, clear advice in lessons and I go away with plenty to think about and work on. Still, she tunes a harp efficiently so I am grateful for that!

I don't think the examiner realised it was going to be me doing the exam but managed not to look too surprised as Anne introduced me "This is Stephanie and she is going to do her grade 6 harp". I sat myself down and played the Scarlatti from memory. This went pretty well, no major mistakes but a few finger catches made some extra buzzing noises and while I definitely got loud and soft dynamics they were still a bit bumpy, so not completely solid. The Haiku I think was ok, one or two tiny hesitations and I really went for the big sound in the middle section, perhaps a bit too much judging by a violent buzz. Manha da Carnaval went much better than I could have hoped for. It had one or two hesitations but the bits where I have to stay focussed, where I have memorised a few notes, all went without incident.

It was then onto technical exercises and I started with Showing Off. I did this one without music and after the first few chords had been played with as much panache as I could muster I skipped a chord in my head and ended up one ahead. I left it as it was, did the twiddly bit and then played the same chord at the right time. I can analyse exactly what I played and know what I should have done but that is just part of the exam pressure. Mistakes that have never happened before crop up just when you least expect it! Still it got me focussed for the rest of it. The examiner picked Two Into One, the piece I have spent the least amount of time on and was writing the final fingerings in this morning. I got through it and there was some substance to it.

Sight-reading was ploddy and with plenty of mis-hit notes but I like to think I got the character. I probably shouldn't give the style away but I recall the shape of the melody and the tonality. Hannah and I compared exams afterwards. She doesn't like sight-reading so busks the notes and rhythms and concentrates on the dynamics. When she told me this I realised I didn't remember whether there were any dynamics on mine, let alone actually having done them!

Improvising was, er, improvised! The trouble with the lever harp is that improvising chromatic changes requires quite a lot of practise as you either have to be really quick with the lever changes, or be prepared with octaves. I tried to be prepared with the octaves but still got a little muddled. I busked through it, not completely satisfied but as I finished I dampened my strings, looked up and said "or something like that". The examiner smiled and said "thank you very much" and I was free to go!

I told Rohan, Anne and Hannah how it had gone and had a biscuit which was today's reward. I actually enjoyed it and think Hannah was amused to see her teacher taking a similar level exam! I just hope my blasé attitude won't make her any less conscientious about her own playing! Results will hopefully be available in a few days so tune in soon to find out how we both got on!