ABRSM's Chief Examiner Group: (re)setting the tone

I grew up reluctantly taking piano and flute exams in an echoey church hall. I remember feeling sick with nerves as I waited my turn on cushioned wooden chairs with other equally terrified children. A shy, sincere child, I was not well suited to instrumental exams – I hated being the centre of attention, but I cared deeply about doing well and progressing as I thought I should. While another child might have happily accepted that exams were not for them (after scraping a pass thanks to any hint of musicality being entirely overrun by fear), I earnestly pushed through, enduring grade after grade until I hit the classic Grade 5 Theory roadblock. Despite the modest number of exams I must have sat to reach this point, my overriding memory of The Examiner is not specific. In my mind, they were the same severe-looking person each time, sitting at the same absurdly small desk in the same absurdly large church hall.