Ujian ABRSM (The Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music) Grade 3

Three days ago I was so excited, because as you know, I took the piano exam for Grade 3! The night before the exam I couldn’t sleep at all. And for me it’s normal when I cannot sleep the night before doing something super exciting. I don’t know why.

Paginya (setelah aku akhirnya bisa tidur), aku langsung berlatih untuk ujian. Setelah dirasa cukup berlatihnya, aku segera bersiap-siap untuk ujian royal itu. Baju yang kukenakan gambarnya ada di bawah ini (yang kanan).

And when mamski compared it with the dress I wore on the grade 1 exams, I just realize that the color is almost the same! The thing that’s different besides the design of the gown is the shoes that I wore. In grade 1 exam, I remember that I wore brown shoes. But yesterday, I actually wore a gold colored shoes.

Sekitar jam setengah sembilan, aku dan mamski dijemput oleh supir taksi online langganan mamski. Di perjalanan aku sudah mulai deg-degan. Tapi aku berusaha mengontrol deg-degan-ku itu karena takutnya aku malah terlalu khawatir dan terlalu memikirkan bagaimana aku bermain piano saat ujian nanti. Kalau itu terjadi bisa gawat. Bisa-bisa aku malah nggak konsen.

Sesampainya di YASMI (tempat ujiannya), aku harus menunggu sekitar satu jam dulu. Karena aku memang datang 1 jam sebelumnya. Dan sambil menunggu, mamski sempat mengobrol dengan beberapa orangtua yang putra/putrinya juga ikut ujian ABRSM (The Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music). Ini sangat berbeda dari yang dulu. Kalau dulu di ujian Grade 1, kami menunggu hanya dengan diam saja. Mungkin waktu itu karena kami belum pengalaman, jadi agak tegang. Selain memang para pengantar yang lain juga buka tipe yang suka mengobrol, hehehe…

Setelah menunggu 1 jam, barulah namaku dipanggil. Aku berada di ruangan yang sama dengan saat aku ujian grade 1. Namun penataan barang-barangnya saja yang berbeda. Oya, aku lupa belum menyebutkan kalau aku memang tidak mengambil Ujian Royal untuk Grade 2. Itu karena tahun lalu aku lebih memilih fokus untuk mengikuti Quatro Music Competition.

Inside the exam room, honestly I’m so nervous. But thanks to God, I can still control it. First as usual the examiner tested my skill in musical scale. Alhamdulillah, I did it really well. Then, he ask me to play all of 3 songs that prepared. I did good at this as well, although I didn’t play the dynamic of the song correctly because the piano keys is heavier than my piano at home.

After completing the exam, I went back to the waiting room. And there was my piano teacher, Miss Mita, who had just arrived. She asked me how was the exam. Then I just said that it was fine.

Kami bertiga (aku, mamski dan Miss Mita) langsung ke luar gedung setelah mengobrolkan proses ujian sebentar. Kami menemui Miss Andhin, sahabat Miss Mita yang menunggu di mobil bersama putranya yang masih tidur. Tak lama kemudian, taksi langganan mamski ternyata sudah sampai kembali, jadi kami langsung pamit pulang.

And then, two days ago (a day after the royal exam day), Mamski said that the exam result has been out. I was nervous because her face was so flat and (almost) like she’s sad. She ask me how I feel if my result are bad. I said it’s ok if my result is bad. At least I can get the feedback and I can improve my piano skill. Because, whatever the result, I will always love to play piano.

Mamski terus memberikan pertanyaan yang membuatku mengira kalau nilaiku tidak sesuai harapan. Sampai akhirnya aku bertanya dengan penasaran, “Jadi sebenarnya gimana mams hasilnya?”. Dan mamski bilang: “Hasilnya Distinction!!!” dengan wajah meringis.

Aku nggak tahu mau bilang apa waktu itu. Kaget dan speechless, sampai sendok yang kupegang sempat jatuh. Ternyata mamski cuma acting dengan muka sedih itu. Memang dasar mamski ini 😀

Tapi aku senang sekali karena hasilku yang bagus. Karena memang distinction adalah kategori nilai yang tertinggi. Kini aku tinggal menunggu kiriman sertifikat dan kertas feedback yang memuat catatan penguji dengan rinci. Itu yang paling kubutuhkan untuk lebih memperbaiki kemampuanku berpiano.

Anyway, before I close this post, I want to tell you my tips so The ABRSM Exam went well. Here is it!

1. Sleep well. I actually feel guilty about this, because as I say at the beginning, I couldn’t sleep at all. And because of that, I was really sleepy and feel tired in the morning. So you really have to sleep well if you want to wake up really early in the morning and prepare your exam better.
2. Practice more! This tips is still related to the previous tips. Because if you wake up really early in the morning, you have so much time to practice your piano skills so you can do your best at the exam.
3. Arrive at least 1 hour before the actual time that your exam started. Because there might be a chance that the kids before you didn’t arrive yet. And if they didn’t arrive yet, you will be called first.
4. Keep calm and stay focus. Don’t be too nervous. But you also can not be too excited. Because if you are too nervous there’s a chance that you will not be confident. And if you too excited you can become careless in playing your instrument. And of course it’s not gonna be well.
5. You have to be ready with your score / result, even if it’s not good. Because it’s true that it’s not easy to take an international exam with the examiner from other country. So, it’s ok if your result is different from your hope. For me, I take the exam in order to get feedback about how good I play the piano. And with the feedback, I can correct what is still wrong and hopefully it’s gonna make me a better pianist in the future.

So that’s it for today’s post. Hope you like it! Byee…..