December is upon us and the music exam period is now in full swing. Many may have already taken their practical exams, but for those who have yet to endure these worthwhile tests, here are a few ideas which might just help your preparation. I tend to focus on piano playing on my blog but this advice could be applied to any instrument.

Irrespective of the grade or level of music exam for which you are studying, hopefully you will have been practising consistently throughout the term. It isn’t a good idea to leave all the preparation to the week before the exam because little can be achieved. Here are a few tips:

1.

Establish a practising schedule; it’s far better to practise little and often especially when working towards an exam.

2.

Scales are probably the best way to start your daily practice; they will get your fingers moving and are a good way to warm-up. If you don’t have time to practice them all in one session then establish a rota. You could assign two or three keys per day and practice all the elements in those keys; for example, if you are working at the key of C, you would play the similar motion scales in C major and C minor, thirds apart, contrary motions, arpeggios, and so forth. Every key will then receive the necessary attention during the week. Some exam boards require other technical work as well as scales and you can incorporate these elements into your scale practice, too.

3.

It’s also a good idea to practice scales in a completely different order to that which they appear in your scale book. The examiner will generally ask scales at random, and it can be a shock to recall keys in a different sequence from the one you have been used to.

4.

You will normally need to prepare three or four contrasting pieces for most exams. It’s a worthwhile exercise playing through each one everyday without stopping or correcting yourself; this will get you ready to perform under pressure in your exam. Once you have done this many times, and feel happy and confident with each piece, you can start playing them through to friends and relatives. Or better still, enter yourself for a local music festival where your performance can be appraised or judged by an experienced adjudicator.

5.

Don’t neglect your sight-reading. This is an important part of the exam but numerous students seem to leave it to the last week to start their preparation. The sight-reading element should really be incorporated into your practice schedule months before your exam. When practising, focus on two or three exercises a day playing at a very slow speed so that you are able to observe all the details in each exercise. The most crucial part of this test is to keep going right until the end. Once you stop and correct yourself you will probably fail this element of the exam.

6.

Rather like sight-reading, aural tests (or ear tests) can be overlooked or forgotten. It’s not easy to practice aural tests without the help of a teacher but there are ways to help yourself. Most tests require some singing; try playing single notes on the piano and then sing them. Listen to whether you are actually pitching the correct notes. This isn’t really about producing beautiful singing sounds, it’s about attuning your ear and sharpening your sense of pitch.  Similarly, you can also train your ears to hear intervals and chord progressions by just playing them everyday to yourself on the piano.