How to prepare for your standard grade and higher practical music exams
A little often is the motto to adopt here! Your teacher will be able to tell you how much practise you should be doing on a daily basis.
Always start to learn a piece slowly. There is no point in playing really quickly with mistakes. Slowly with accuracy is a much better approach. If you keep making the same mistake in the same place then practise it in isolation until you are positive you are playing the correct notes. This may take you a few days to sort if you have learned notes in an incorrect pattern. You may even need to practise a passage of music form note to note to help with this.
· Learn each of your pieces in small sections making sure you work on the most difficult parts more frequently than easier
sections.
· Always remember to practise the joins between the sections of your pieces.
· Listen to recordings of your pieces or put them on a CD. It’s not enough to know how your part should sound you should be
able to imagine how the accompaniment goes in your head every time you pay the solo line. The more you know how the
solo line fits the more secure you will be in performance.
· Take the opportunity to play to classmates or others, it may help with controlling your nerves.
As well as solo practising playing in groups is really important to help you develop good listening skills and to build stamina for your practical performance.
The tenser you get the less likely you are to fix a mistake and try not to get frustrated if things go wrong.
