I thought of combining this blog with my main blog (the same issues came up when I was about to create this small corner for my piano playing adventures :D)... & decided (again) to keep them separated. But, I moved to the same blogging platform.
From Vox (closed down) to Typepad (I keep forgetting my password!) & finally back to the first place where I started keeping a blog in 2005! Hopefully I'll update this more often because now it's more convenient :)
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I passed my ABRSM practical exam for G6 (that I took last year) with merit! It was only a few weeks after the exam that I got a call from Sabah's Ministry of Education to go retrieve my result. All the results for Sabahan candidates are there, enclosed in big fancy envelopes with individual & music school names. Funny thing though. There was only a piece of paper inside my envelope so if you put the envelope out under the sun, I can see what's inside! Basically it became semi-transparent... So haha... it felt a bit anti-climax to me but I saw what my result was before I even pull out the paper XD
Honestly, the first thing I did was let out a relieved sigh. I'm all "I passed!"... BUT I confess, the few marks I lost for my [silly] mistakes cost me a distinction. I got 125/150 - passed with merit - and just 5 marks short for a distinction. Well... it actually matched the efforts I put into practising though.. maybe even more than I deserve, I think.
Now I'm practicing Grade 7 pieces & I got into a bit shock in the beginning. More like in a form of hitting a wall? It's like what I do all this time doesn't matter anymore. Like I don't know how to play the piano anymore. I'm slowly trying to get over this feeling with the help of my piano teacher (although I didn't tell her about this).. it has something to do more with my confidence in playing.
She also warned me that I really, really need to practise more now that I'm in the higher grade. I understand this very much after seeing the level of G7 pieces. Logically, this should help me build my confidence... but I don't know why I struggle so much in dedicating practice time at home (considering how I spend most of my time at home). I also play non-exam pieces/songs & sometimes I play one to gauge how I'm "doing" that day.
One interesting thing I realised few weeks ago was I did some hours of sight-reading practice (more like randomly picking things to play & don't care if I got it right or not at the first play) & played my exam pieces quite well during the next class. I didn't even practise much my exam pieces! So I'm going to try doing more of that now~