Completed it!
On the hottest day of the year so far, I made it through the exam! As usual, pieces were the strong suit and I got most of the aural tests wrong, but I scraped my way through to a distinction. Certificate Next up... ARSM?
Max Woolf
I'm a software engineer, rubyist, mentor, community builder, remote-work loudmouth and pianist.
Latest posts
May 18th Piano Practice
We're getting close now. I thought I'd record some performances on a real, acoustic piano this time. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NFtrWaPKDgA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i55RDsUcxy8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RADJk5bDj3g
April 20th Piano Practice
The exam has a date. June 23rd, which feels like a reasonable deadline to get this polished, and to learn everything I need to learn to pass the aural tests too. Enjoy! Sunny Side Scherzino Cheveux de Lin
April 9th Piano Practice
Part of the reason why I record some practice sessions is that the anxiety of performing seems to strike me just as hard regardless of the performance type. A USB stick in a keyboard, or a person examining me, the anxiety is the same. Which is handy, because I can expose to myself to it before the exam! I made so many mistakes in these practice runs because, for some reason, I start overthinking…
March 27th Piano Practice
My other thing is getting good at the piano again. I'm always quite proud of myself when I tell folks in tech that I did " half a music degree " but for a long time (2013-2025) I stopped being good at playing the piano. For a long part of that period, I didn't even have access to a piano. In 2005, I passed Grade 7 Performance (13 years after my Grade 6 Practical) and realised that I still had a…
What's your other thing?
In software engineering, especially as an IC, 35 means you're no longer considered young among many of your peers. That's a weird sentence to type. 35 isn't old. I don't feel old, and most people would laugh at the idea. But in this industry, it's enough tenure to start asking different questions. I'm lucky. Fifteen years into a career I love, I get to show up every day and build cool stuff on the…