Preparing for your Saxophone Exam
If you have just decided to take a graded exam, congratulations! On this page I am going to give you some advice on how to prepare for your graded exam, what to expect on the day of the exam and how to move on to other material after the exam.
Practise makes perfect…
Before you enter yourself for a graded exam you should be practising! There isn’t a set time period that you should follow when preparing for an exam, it really does depend on your standard and how long it takes you to learn new things!
But perfect isn’t always the key to success…
One mistake that many people make when preparing for graded music exams is that they think that everything has to be perfect. This is not true. If you strive for absolute perfection then you are likely to get frustrated and want to give up.
The week before the exam
The week before the exam you should know everything you need to know and everything you will be expected to perform in the exam. If there are any sticky points in your pieces or scales, make sure you do some concentrated practise on the trouble areas.
Preparing your Saxophone
The fortnight before the exam it is a good idea to check your saxophone over to make sure there is nothing wrong with it. It is the worst thing ever to turn up on the day of your exam and find out that a part of your instrument is not working properly! Check over all the fixtures and fittings on your saxophone and if there is anything wrong with the instrument you will then have time to get it fixed before the exam. It is also wise to make sure you have some reeds worked in so that you have spares that will sound good!
On the day
On the day of the exam arrive at the exam venue at least 30 minutes before the exam time so that you have time to register and prepare your instrument. It is sometimes wise to bring a drink and snack with you just in case you are waiting for a long time.
Carry on playing…
If you make a mistake when you are playing during the exam, don’t worry about it, just carry on! A graded exam is there to examine your performance and no performance is perfect. Every performance, even if it is given by a professional, will have some slips. It is very very rare that a performer will play exactly what is written on the page. If the examiner sees that you are confident, they are more likely to believe that you are giving a convincing performance.
After the exam
Immediatley after the exam I would not advise that you start looking at new material straight away. It is best to wait until you get your results so that you can see where you went wrong and take the advice that the examiner gives you with regards to your technique and how you can improve on it.
When you have your results, don’t start learning the next graded exam specs straight away. Some people only learn 24 pieces in their life because they only learn the 3 pieces for each grade. In my opinion, this is really tragic as music is supposed to be enjoyable and not just something you do to get qualifications!
No related posts.