Honey's grade exam

This is Honey AFTER her grade 3 violin exam.

She looks pretty chuffed, as well she might, because she thinks she nailed it. Plus, she is wearing her best skirt and shoes, as chosen by her in the morning.
That morning however she was feeling very nervous. Didn’t want to take the exam. Sick, actually. I felt slightly responsible for putting her through it. But afterwards -she felt brilliant, explained how well she thought she had done, and was generally pretty pleased about the whole experience.

Is it good for children to go through a tough test such as a violin exam of a reasonably demanding level, where they are required to do mental gymnastics, concentrate like hell, remember entire sequences and answer oral questions correctly? If all goes well and they don’t blow up in the exam room, I think it is. But every child is different.

On the same day Honey’s brother Gabriel took his Grade 5, rushed his piece and (we think) disaster may well befall him when the results come out later this week.

At least both of them are getting at LEAST two weeks off practise…