Something to rejoice about

My double bass
which I affectionately refer to as "my husband".

I don't know whether I am considered a workaholic, but I had actually worked more than ten hours on a Saturday, today. The official working hours on Saturday at my office is from 8.45 a.m. to 12 noon. It can be interesting to work as a social worker and to serve othes. Possibly the one thing that may make me unsatisfied with the work is to have more workload that I can humanly manage, and having to compromise too much of quality for the sake of keeping up with the given quantity.

Anyway, after a tiring day at work, the best thing that happened today was to receive my music practical exams results.

I was a little nervous while opening the envelope. While I felt I could secure a pass, I wasn't sure what would really be written on the examination mark form.

Anyway, the result of my ABRSM (Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music) Double Bass Grade 8 practical exams is as follow: Distinction. I've passed!

Scoring a distinction has certainly brought a wide grin on my face. This is something worth to rejoice about this weekend.

A recapitulation of my afterthoughts after my Grade 8 exams can be found here: Reflections after the exams.

I took some time to read through the comments given by the examiner so that I could know where I needed to work on. It seems that the rendition of Ridout's Concerto for Double Bass and strings, Marcello's Sonata in g minor and the orchestral excerpts that I have played under List C of the syllabus have all helped me to score for the exams. Credits go to the tutor for his guidance, and my piano accompanist for listening out for me and giving me tips on my playing. Thanks folks. Alright, I shall take ownership of part of the credits, I did practise quite a fair bit afterall.

My playing of scales and arpeggios for this exams have improved compared to my playing of scales and arpeggios during my Grade 7 exams. Still, I could continue to work on this to play scales and arpeggios better.

Sight-reading certainly needs more work. I scored 16 out of 21 for this section. The passing mark was 14.

Putting time aside to study for the aural tests was worth the effort. I think scoring fairly well for this section has helped me gain enough points to score a distinction. I studied the aural section almost entirely on my own, so I am happy that I had scored 16 out of 18. Admittedly, I think I had some stroke of luck during my exams and that has helped.

To all who have encouraged and supported me along the way, thank you. I've made it.

Yeah, I'm so happy that I have passed the exams.