That Time I Took A Music School Theory Entrance Exam at 5am
Feb 27, 2024
Eleanor
When applying to the Royal Irish Academy of Music, I had never imagined that I would end up taking the theory entrance exam at 5am. But once I realised, I went all in. In this episode, I take you on a little story through this whole experience, and how I felt through it. So grab a cute drink (mine is tea), and let's have a cozy story time!
When applying to the Royal Irish Academy of Music, I had never imagined that I would end up taking the theory entrance exam at 5am. But once I realised, I went all in. In this episode, I take you on a little story through this whole experience, and how I felt through it. So grab a cute drink (mine is tea), and let's have a cozy story time!
Have a crazy audition/exam story? Let me know! Email: eleanor@confidentmusicianing.com DM me on Instagram: @eleanor.oboe
Your host, Eleanor:
Okay, imagine this you are applying to the Royal Irish Academy of Music and you know that your theory entrance exam is coming up soon, but you're not exactly sure when. So you email the school and they say they're going to come out with the dates and times soon. So you're like okay, and you just move on with your life. You're not really thinking of it, you're not really stressed about it, you got things to do. You're just moving on with your life until you get the email that has the dates and times of the exam. And in big, bold letters it says Saturday, the 21st of January, at 10am. And you're like, okay, that's doable. Until you realize that that 10am is Dublin time and you are on Pittsburgh time, which for you that means 5 in the morning. Oh, and also the exam is supposed to last about 4 hours. And oh, you're supposed to be in the Zoom meeting at least half an hour before the exam starts. So for you that is 4.30 in the morning. The hair stands up on the back of your neck because you're like, what the heck I have to do a theory exam at 5 in the morning. But then also this excitement kind of curls in, right, this excitement of like I have to do a theory exam at 5 in the morning. This is completely like something that I have not realized that I would have to do. I never thought that I would have to do this, but challenge accepted.
Your host, Eleanor:
Hello and welcome to the Confident Musicianing Podcast. I am your host, eleanor, and after countless practice sessions, a ton of broken reads and seven different music school acceptances in three different countries, I have learned a thing or two about savoring your practicing, becoming your best practice companion and actively working towards your musical goals, and I want to share this with you because I want you to become your best musical self. Are you with me on this? Let's get started. So you can probably guess I was maybe, at least maybe a little more than at least a little stressed when I saw that email because for me, 10 am Dublin time is 5 am Pittsburgh time and, just a little bit of context, this was an online exam, so it was actually 5 in the morning for me. It was actually really cool how they set it up. You had to have specific, you had to set your space up for the exam and it was online. It was just really cool. I found it really cool, but I remember feeling really nervous about this. So of course I emailed them and I was like, okay, are there any other exam times? Maybe they've scheduled me in for the 5 am, but maybe there's one that's later that maybe I could be moved to.
Your host, Eleanor:
But slowly but surely it became apparent that I would have to do this theory exam at 5 in the morning and my mind was like, okay, you know, I was nervous, I was scared, I'm gonna be honest. But I was also like challenge accepted, let's do this, here we go. So I went all in the week before I woke up earlier and earlier. I was waking up earlier and earlier and I started going for walks at like 5 or 6 in the morning just to get my body used to waking up earlier and moving around earlier. At one point I even went roller skating before school at like a nearby park at like 6 am, which sounds like something that I would never do, but I did it. I started to really like waking up earlier and earlier, although I really didn't like the dark. ut this week I really felt like I was being more and more of a morning person, because I was waking up at 5 am, 4, 30 am, 4 am and just doing things in the morning. I was also cramming for the exam. So I was studying theory every day and the school gave us like a list of topics that would be covered. So we knew what to revise for Until about four days before I was supposed to take this theory exam at 5 am and I realized that the terms for things like technical terms in Ireland are different than in the states and I had been revising with the stuff that I had learned in the states and I had no idea that they were different in Ireland.
Your host, Eleanor:
So for those four days before the exam I was like relearning things with different terms. It really felt like, even though it was still English, it felt like I was learning like another language, which for me. I took that as a challenge. But I remember like kind of losing my breath when I realized, oh no, all of these theory terms are completely different and I have an exam at 5 in the morning. All about this in four days. It was a big challenge.
Your host, Eleanor:
The day before the exam we had a practice Zoom meeting. They outlined everything that was going to happen. We checked our connections. It was basically just all the nitty-gritty stuff. And I had been studying for a while now and I had also been studying all the new terms that I didn't know were different in Ireland compared to the states and I was a little nervous because one theory, two, doing theory at 5 am in the morning and being assessed on it. So the night before I was nervous. I was nervous about two things right, theory, also 5 am in the morning. And before I went to bed I did kind of a breathing exercise because I really needed to. I knew that I wouldn't be able to sleep unless I calmed down. So I did some breathing exercises. I kind of took my mind off of it. I really focused on being present in the moment, realizing what was happening in that moment, so that I didn't let my brain go. But tomorrow we have to do a theory exam at 5 am. That actually really helped staying present in the moment.
Your host, Eleanor:
I went to bed at about 9 am and then I woke up at 3.45 am in the morning. I woke up it was so dark, it was so quiet, but inside of me I had this feeling of excitement and confidence and feeling ready, like in my bones. I was like, yes, this is our mission for the day and we will achieve it. And it just made me feel so excited. It's so strange. No one wants to take a theory exam at 5 in the morning, but that time, at 3.45 in the morning, when it was completely dark, I felt so excited, like this is it. Here we go. So I got my coffee for the morning, I had my breakfast at about 4.20 in the morning, I got onto the Zoom meeting and I started my exam at 5 in the morning. Now, this exam was supposed to last, or expected to last, about 4 hours and I got it done in about 3, which was really handy. The first section there were two sections. The first section I had a hard time finishing, but the second section I finished an hour early, which was quite nice.
Your host, Eleanor:
I can remember the absolute feeling of relief after I finished the exam, like, yes, I just did a music school theory entrance exam at 5 in the morning and I was nervous for it, I was stressed for it. I was super, super stressed for it, except for the fact that right now, in this moment, I just finished it. I did it and at that point I was like to be honest. I mean, I do care about the results, but I'm just so proud of myself. Like I did it. I didn't think I could, but I did, and it was just such the relief of accomplishment and relief and it was just absolutely amazing. At that point I could finally relax. And relaxed I did. I rested the whole rest of the day. I just slept, I prioritized myself, because it's not every day that you put yourself through a theory exam at 5 in the morning. I think you deserve to rest a little bit afterwards.
Your host, Eleanor:
Looking back on this experience, I learned a few things. The first thing that I can remember is I can do more than I realized, and so can you. I think that this experience is a learning tool for both of us. We can do more than we realized. I had no idea that I could do a theory exam at 5 in the morning, but I did it. I put my mind to it and I did it, and that is such a good lesson. We can do more than we realize. I think our brain tends to want to give up before we actually need to. So we can do more than we realize 100%. And the second one is just because I was nervous, it did not mean that I couldn't do it. I could do it, I did it. And that's also true with auditioning, with absolutely anything we do. Just because we're nervous about it doesn't mean that we can't do it. It means that we care about it and that's a good thing. Now I got into the Royal Irish Academy of Music, which is an amazing thing. Like I was so proud of myself because the theory exam was at five in the morning and I didn't know if I actually did well, but I must have because I got into the Royal Irish Academy of Music.
Your host, Eleanor:
So I hope that this episode this episode was a little more of like a story time episode. I hope that it can help inspire you to do things that you want to do, even if you're scared. Do musical things, whatever those musical things are. If you have any exam stories or music theory stories or anything like that, any wins, anything that you learn from anything like that, please do let me know. I would be so grateful to learn about that. You can email me eleanor@confidentmusicianing. com or or DM me on Instagram at e. All of those links and all of those things are going to be in the show notes or description below. If you have any theory exams or entrance exams or auditions coming up, I truly, truly, truly wish you the best. I hope you have fun in them and I hope you do your absolute best. I am so grateful that you listened to the podcast. I am so grateful that you listened to this episode and you hung out with me. It was so lovely and I hope that you have an amazing rest of your day. Bye.