Music Exam Entry Requirements

Although the last entry dates to the beginning of the examination period may seem like a long time, it isn’t in fact all that long.

For the Spring Season, the last entry date is the 15th January, but the exam period only starts on the 1 March! Which can seem like it’s months away! But, when you take into account that most people have just one lesson a week, and also take into account that you ‘may’ get a very early date – if not the earliest, there could be as few as 6 lessons between the two!

So, bearing this in mind there are a few rules I now adhere to to make this time as stress-free as possible. You may have enough nerves about taking an exam as it is, without the added pressure of trying to rush to learn/complete/polish your performance!

Requirements for Entry:

• All scales, broken chords, arpeggios and fingering patterns must be known -they do not have to be up to speed.
• Two of the performance pieces must be 90% complete – “very nearly there”.
• The third perfoamance piece must be 50% complete.
• The aural tests must be understood for the grade – with the majority of the practise happening after exam entry.
• Sight-Reading skills will be improved throughout the lessons, however some practise will have been done prior to exam entry.

Finally – practise must be consistent. Exactly how much practise will depend upon your skill and how much work is needed, but there does have to be the underlying committment to practise at least once a day.

For more information on exactly how much and what type of practise is needed, please see the post entitled “How much Music Practise is enough?”