How important is the written exam?

[djsandals]

I'm doing solo this year, and I'm pretty confident that I can get 100% or close to on the written exam, and I'm top ranked for SACs.

If I get, say, only an A for the recital, can I still get over 40?

(I am aware the recital is 50% of the study score but I'm wondering how good my written exam will count for.)

[Yendall]

Written exam is less important then the performance, however if you want to get above 40 you have to score an A+ in Coursework, Written Exam and Performance Exam. Music is very competitive, you need to reach top percentiles to obtain a high study score.

[djsandals]

Written exam is less important then the performance, however if you want to get above 40 you have to score an A+ in Coursework, Written Exam and Performance Exam. Music is very competitive, you need to reach top percentiles to obtain a high study score.

Thanks, I see you did it last year, care to share your experiences with it?

[Yendall]

Written exam is less important then the performance, however if you want to get above 40 you have to score an A+ in Coursework, Written Exam and Performance Exam. Music is very competitive, you need to reach top percentiles to obtain a high study score.

Thanks, I see you did it last year, care to share your experiences with it?

I highly underestimated how difficult it actually is. I'm ashamed to say these were my results:
B+, B+, B+.
The hardest part of my year was the theory. I lacked a teacher for the most part of this (instrumental teacher) and I had a lot of work to do in terms of performing. With my mind focused on perfecting my performance, I left my theory in the background. This was possibly the worst decision, because theory is crucial for the exam and coursework, and of course playing (I'm assuming you're a decent player anyway if you're studying Music at 3/4 level), but without a decent mark for theory, your performance mark won't boost your study score.
My advice would be to stay on top of everything and keep a balance. I studied Contemporary Guitar: Solo. Guitar is a very very difficult instrument to perfect in the examination room, you need to show as much versatility as possible.
I see that you're studying horn, and by horn i'm assuming trumpet? I would choose difficult pieces if I were you. Don't perfect easier pieces because the examiners will pick that up straight away and mark you down for simpilcity. You will still get a decent mark, but if you want full marks you need to nail difficult pieces, even if there are a few slip ups in your performance. Again, show as much versatility through your playing, choose different genres, experiment with tone and texture,let your music flow and remain confident.

[TrueTears]

Written is quite important for a high SS, that said however, you shouldn't have too much trouble with it from what you said.

What you need to nail is the performance, that determines pretty much everything.

[djsandals]

Written exam is less important then the performance, however if you want to get above 40 you have to score an A+ in Coursework, Written Exam and Performance Exam. Music is very competitive, you need to reach top percentiles to obtain a high study score.

Thanks, I see you did it last year, care to share your experiences with it?

I highly underestimated how difficult it actually is. I'm ashamed to say these were my results:
B+, B+, B+.
The hardest part of my year was the theory. I lacked a teacher for the most part of this (instrumental teacher) and I had a lot of work to do in terms of performing. With my mind focused on perfecting my performance, I left my theory in the background. This was possibly the worst decision, because theory is crucial for the exam and coursework, and of course playing (I'm assuming you're a decent player anyway if you're studying Music at 3/4 level), but without a decent mark for theory, your performance mark won't boost your study score.
My advice would be to stay on top of everything and keep a balance. I studied Contemporary Guitar: Solo. Guitar is a very very difficult instrument to perfect in the examination room, you need to show as much versatility as possible.
I see that you're studying horn, and by horn i'm assuming trumpet? I would choose difficult pieces if I were you. Don't perfect easier pieces because the examiners will pick that up straight away and mark you down for simpilcity. You will still get a decent mark, but if you want full marks you need to nail difficult pieces, even if there are a few slip ups in your performance. Again, show as much versatility through your playing, choose different genres, experiment with tone and texture,let your music flow and remain confident.

By horn I mean french horn , but yeah I get what you mean, thanks a lot

[Yendall]

Written exam is less important then the performance, however if you want to get above 40 you have to score an A+ in Coursework, Written Exam and Performance Exam. Music is very competitive, you need to reach top percentiles to obtain a high study score.

Thanks, I see you did it last year, care to share your experiences with it?

I highly underestimated how difficult it actually is. I'm ashamed to say these were my results:
B+, B+, B+.
The hardest part of my year was the theory. I lacked a teacher for the most part of this (instrumental teacher) and I had a lot of work to do in terms of performing. With my mind focused on perfecting my performance, I left my theory in the background. This was possibly the worst decision, because theory is crucial for the exam and coursework, and of course playing (I'm assuming you're a decent player anyway if you're studying Music at 3/4 level), but without a decent mark for theory, your performance mark won't boost your study score.
My advice would be to stay on top of everything and keep a balance. I studied Contemporary Guitar: Solo. Guitar is a very very difficult instrument to perfect in the examination room, you need to show as much versatility as possible.
I see that you're studying horn, and by horn i'm assuming trumpet? I would choose difficult pieces if I were you. Don't perfect easier pieces because the examiners will pick that up straight away and mark you down for simpilcity. You will still get a decent mark, but if you want full marks you need to nail difficult pieces, even if there are a few slip ups in your performance. Again, show as much versatility through your playing, choose different genres, experiment with tone and texture,let your music flow and remain confident.

By horn I mean french horn , but yeah I get what you mean, thanks a lot

Oh right, my bad! No worries, best of luck.

[djsandals]

Haha thanks

[ninwa]

I would choose difficult pieces if I were you. Don't perfect easier pieces because the examiners will pick that up straight away and mark you down for simpilcity. You will still get a decent mark, but if you want full marks you need to nail difficult pieces, even if there are a few slip ups in your performance. Again, show as much versatility through your playing, choose different genres, experiment with tone and texture,let your music flow and remain confident.

The versatility point is absolutely spot on.

I disagree with the "difficult pieces" bit. My piano teacher had me playing a couple of very easy pieces (around grade 5/6 standard IIRC), but work hard at them to get them perfect. To be fair though I did have a couple of harder ones to balance it out.

But what I'm saying is that you should NEVER sacrifice proficiency/musicality in favour of difficulty. Nobody is going to care that you played an LMus level piece if you played it badly.

[Yendall]

I would choose difficult pieces if I were you. Don't perfect easier pieces because the examiners will pick that up straight away and mark you down for simpilcity. You will still get a decent mark, but if you want full marks you need to nail difficult pieces, even if there are a few slip ups in your performance. Again, show as much versatility through your playing, choose different genres, experiment with tone and texture,let your music flow and remain confident.

The versatility point is absolutely spot on.

I disagree with the "difficult pieces" bit. My piano teacher had me playing a couple of very easy pieces (around grade 5/6 standard IIRC), but work hard at them to get them perfect. To be fair though I did have a couple of harder ones to balance it out.

But what I'm saying is that you should NEVER sacrifice proficiency/musicality in favour of difficulty. Nobody is going to care that you played an LMus level piece if you played it badly.

Grade 5 and 6 are fine, I was talking more about "easy easy" pieces like Grade 3 and 4. Each piece has to be to some degree 'difficult'; the level of difficulty is up to the player. I guess my main point was don't try and attempt the impossible because it won't help your mark, but choose a piece that will showcase your talent and technique.
I definitely agree, you should never attempt a more difficult piece and perform it badly, in comparison with playing an easier piece with fluency.

[djsandals]

In case anyone's interested I ended up with 41 even with only an A on the recital. (Y)