desertedskies

ABRSM Piano Grade 8 Standard

bridohk:

So my sister just did her piano grade 4 exams last month and I have no idea what she really got for her results as they’re not out. From what I heard, she thinks she didn’t do that well on sight reading or the aural part. Despite, my sister was talking about herself, I couldn’t help but remember an article about ABRSM grade 8 exam published last year.

The article was about how the ABRSM grade 8 exam was a bit too easy to pass. All of you who have had experience doing the ABRSM exam for any instrument, you would know the pass mark is 100, the merit mark is 120 - 130 and the distinction mark is between 131- 150. At the time when the article was first published, I was doing my grade 8 piano exam and of course as I found it hard, I totally disagreed with it. However, when you think about it, there are certainly parts the ABRSM can make to ensure that the person with a grade 8 certificate has a reached a standard. The hardest part for the exam as my sister rightly said, is sight reading and aural test, yet each individual section is only distributed with 20 marks, while the easier parts are given 110 marks. By easier parts I mean the 3 chosen pieces in sections A, B and C, and the scales.

These parts are easy, because they are almost give away marks. The longer you practice, the better you are at it. Even a 6 year old can do that, well… maybe not unless he/she is a prodigy, but you get what I mean. How can aural and sight reading count so little, if sight reading tests your technique with score reading ability and if aural tests your feel towards music? The only explanation I have is to accommodate children doing the exams.

What happens? Well, people just practice the pieces by memory and pass the exam. Some will not know how to count, appreciate tonality changes, appreciate changes in tempo, or generally how to appreciate any music. So if they don’t know how to appreciate music for an instrument or play it well they are suppose to be “close to” mastering, what standard of skill and knowledge does a ABRSM grade 8 certificate confer?

I suppose it’s not “too” easy to pass but that also is based on how much one practices. It IS on the easy side, however, if you were to consider the jump in requirements and expected performance level from Grade 8 to Diploma. The diploma requirements are much stricter. It’s also much harder to pass.

Diploma Exams: DipABRSM is even harder than the Trinity ATCL has to offer. The ABRSM requires scales at played with crescendo and decrescendo, also at octaves (what if people, like me, had small hands and keeping octaves with one hand throughout isn’t as easy as it would be for other people?). On the other hand ATCL doesn’t really require anything but pieces to fill up a certain duration and also a repertoire thing - to describe/ introduce/ talk about the pieces you chose to play.

Diploma exams are much much longer, taxing on concentration and dexterity as you play for longer - fingers tire easily on top of being pressured by an examiner who doesn’t seem to give a damn. (damn it. i’m playing for you! at least LOOK interested!) 30-35 minutes of pretty much constant playing? That’s LONG in compared to playing just 3 pieces in grade exams.

I remember playing for Grade 8 and I suppose the pieces were quite fun, albeit on the easy side. Really, Debussy’s First Arabesque at Grade 8? My cousin who’s doing Grade 6 is learning that piece too. Lol.

The ABRSM is making up for it now. I’ve seen Grade 7 repertoire for year 2009-2010 (Not too sure about this year thing anymore. Might have been 2008-2009) and something in it looks WAY harder than what I’ve played for Grade 8. (HAHA). BUT at the same time, the more contemporary pieces are easier in terms of skills. The harder aspects of the C pieces? Weird time signatures, constantly changing time signatures… Does that really test the skills of the pianist?

I think in the end, it also depends on different circumstances and overall, how “nice” the examiner is. Thinking back on my grade 4 exam. (YES grade 4. like. 9-10 years ago…. -o-) I saw the list of people who had exams in that particular center that day. There was only one room, one examiner. I was squished in the schedule, between other pianists (yes, all pianists) who were ALL play grade 7 repertoire. I got a merit in the end. I don’t suppose I played particularly well that day. I remember she was nice (yes it was a SHE. after all my cousins scared me and said FEMALE EXAMINERS are much meaner and stricter….) and I suppose she was sick and tired of hearing the same songs over and over and over again, it must have been refreshing to hear something different. Seriously, how many people will actually pick different pieces to play? Usually people go with pieces that are easier. Or pieces that play to their strengths. And in the 9 (or 12 in higher levels) pieces that are in the book - not including the possible alternate list, how many of those are actually appealing? (That is also changing now. More appealing pieces are appearing! yay!)

But I have something to criticise about ABRSM repertoires. If A and B sections are basically pieces from Baroque to Romantic periods, while C section is supposed to be more contemporary, why do pieces by Chopin, Schumann (or was it Schubert. Meh they’re both from Romantic period) and Beethoven or even Haydn fall into section C? This really confuses little kids who are still trying to feel out the sounds of different periods (which will then make the aural part of the exam much easier.)