Music quals/certificates

Colin1

Mine's an espresso
Is there a series of music quals that can be taken?
Someone mentioned in a thread last night something called a G1, what is this?

Presumably this would have to be taken either as part of a class or one-on-one with a tutor, rather than online; how many certificates are there leading up to proficiency and what is the general cost to get to this point?

I suppose the first question should have been would an exam/ progressive certificate route be a wise option if you want to learn to play an instrument properly?
 
They're grade exams that a number of organisations offer. I think ABRSM have been doing them for longest. Trinity also do them.

The usual route is to be entered for them by a tutor but I believe you can do it yourself. The exams are done live, in front of an examiner.

I sometimes enter students but most don't seem to be interested. It's entirely up to you. I did grade 8 about 30 years ago without doing any of the others. I believe it did me some good in making me concentrate on some aspects of technique.

The idea of playing an instrument "properly" is somewhat flexible.
 
Take a look here

It's a personal choice, they won't necessarily make you a better player but will give you confidence that you can play a piece of music of a certain difficulty level.

I haven't gone down the exam route mainly because my nerves wouldn't stand the scrutiny.

To expand on my previous statement obviously it depends how you approach them I met someone recently who has passed grade 3 and had told his tutor his aim was to pass exams. Since joining our training orchestra he has changed his remit to "help me play with others". If you aim to just pass exams you may miss out on wider skills.

I applaud anyone doing them and my statement isn't meant to knock them just be aware that only trying to pass an exam probably isn't enough to become a fully rounded musician. 🙂

Jx
 
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It depends on how you learn, what you want to do with your learning and what's important to you.
When I returned to serious playing in my late 50's, and I was more serious than at any time in my life, I needed goals to measure my progress against. I've now got far enough through ABRSM exams to think l that I don't need that yardstick any more, although (of course) I've nowhere finished learning. But I was very pleased to have done what I did. So for me it's partly personal journey. You may find also that some bands like to set an entry requirement and it's easier to judge whether you are wasting your time if you haven't got the grade exams. You can probably get in without if you show a practical demonstrable equivalent, but you need to be confident.

For school students there may be an element of competition but if you are serious about a musical career the higher grades of ABRSM and Trinity get you UCAS points for Uni entry. There's no need to start at grade 1. That is more or less a confidence builder. And while they are a good indicator of technical ability, I agree with Jeanette and would go further - just passing exams is not enough to make you a rounded anything in life.
 
Take a look here

It's a personal choice, they won't necessarily make you a better player but will give you confidence that you can play a piece of music of a certain difficulty level.

I haven't gone down the exam route mainly because my nerves wouldn't stand the scrutiny.

To expand on my previous statement obviously it depends how you approach them I met someone recently who has passed grade 3 and had told his tutor his aim was to pass exams. Since joining our training orchestra he has changed his remit to "help me play with others". If you aim to just pass exams you may miss out on wider skills.

I applaud anyone doing them and my statement isn't meant to knock them just be aware that only trying to pass an exam probably isn't enough to become a fully rounded musician. 🙂

Jx
Fair, balanced answer J
My aim is to play the saxophone well by approaching the instrument on a broad front, exams being merely one aspect of that approach; Nick made a point of the examination process causing him to concentrate on aspects of his technique - that can't hurt.

Going live in front of an examiner is exactly where I want to be; if I can't do it in front of him/her...

Thanks for the link
 
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Fair, balanced answer J
My aim is to play the saxophone well by approaching the instrument on a broad front, exams being merely one aspect of that approach; Nick made a point of the examination process causing him to concentrate on aspects of his technique - that can't hurt.

Going live in front of an examiner is exactly where I want to be; if I can't do it in front of him/her...

Thanks for the link

You have my admiration, go for it and let us know how you get on. Plenty on here have passed exams and I admire them too. If I am honest deep down I would like to pass one just to show myself I can but now is not the time. Maybe one day. 🙂

Jx
 
Bite the bullet J!
What's the worst thing that can happen? You fail.

You will learn more about yourself from one failure than you will from ten victories.
 
Going live in front of an examiner is exactly where I want to be; if I can't do it in front of him/her...
It's harder than an audience of 2,000.

Totally with Nick.

When I was young I still bothered about marks. Then I realized that my examiners never stood on a real stage. They just had academic life.

A friend of mine (top UK player) gave up a marvellous job as an examiner because he didn't want to be responsible of the anti-musical disasters his colleagues were causing to promising young players.
 
Totally with Nick.

When I was young I still bothered about marks. Then I realized that my examiners never stood on a real stage. They just had academic life.

A friend of mine (top UK player) gave up a marvellous job as an examiner because he didn't want to be responsible of the anti-musical disasters his colleagues were causing to promising young players.
Good grief
do you mean they were failing promising young players simply on the basis of exam nerves?
Or something else?
 
Bite the bullet J!
What's the worst thing that can happen? You fail.

You will learn more about yourself from one failure than you will from ten victories.

I can still remember how I nervous I was taking my driving test. I've passed plenty of professional exams no problem, but it is having that one person listen to every note that terrifies me or in my driving test judging every move (perhaps I should have still) lol

Jx
 
Good grief
do you mean they were failing promising young players simply on the basis of exam nerves?
Or something else?

It is a more complex issue, and I try to discourage students to think in terms of grades.
In his specific case, he saw great players getting bad mark for not ticking the right boxes and non musical students getting the prize.
 
If you are interested in various aspects of music, you could consider doing a MOOC (Massive Open Online Course)
I have just started my 4th music related MOOC - this one is called developing your musicianship.
I have also done -Jazz Improvisation, Fundamentals of Music Theory, Leading an Ensemble.

All MOOCs are free, the ones I have done have all been offered by Coursera.

When I started learning sax, I told my teacher I did not want to take exams, and she was fine with that. But I found that I never really "Perfected" a piece, and I wanted a target, or objective. So I decided to take my Grade 4 practical exam, followed by 6, 7 and 8!
The performance diploma is to come this year (now, just how did that happen?!)

If you take Trinity performance exams, you do not need to take a theory exam, whereas, you can't take grade 6 ABRSM practical until you pass grade 5 theory.

If you do not wish to take grades, but want to improve your performance skills, I would suggest joining a band (community band) as then you have to count (rests especially!) and keep up with the band and play to blend into the band, rather than as some fog-horn (sadly I played alongside a Trombone fog-horn last week, who could neither count, nor keep to the beat)
 
I totally believe you
God forbid 2,000 people would ever want to listen to me 😱
I played in a concert about a year ago. I hadn't really paid much attention to the audience, until I looked up during a couple of bars rest in the first piece. 😱
I was more than slightly taken aback that the church was packed full - maybe only 200 people, but my thought was "where the f*** did all of those people come from" :rofl:
 
was more than slightly taken aback that the church was packed full - maybe only 200 people, but my thought was "where the f*** did all of those people come from" :rofl:

Mandy I'm shocked 😱

Actually playing to a room full of people as part of the orchestra never bothered me, I didn't get a buzz either which everyone promised me. Probably because I knew I hadn't done that well.

Jx
 
In the UK the various boards run separate schemes for music theory and for performance. Loosely speaking the theory is meant to complement the practical. The only rule (certainly for ABRSM) seems to be that to sit higher practical exams (grade 6 and above) you must have a minimum of grade 5 theory.

The grades go from 1 to 8 and then there are three levels of diploma: Associate, Licentiate, and Fellow.

They're not all classical, there are jazz, rock and music theatre syllabuses too (not all boards do all options).

I've never done a practical, but I've just sat my first theory exam - grade 6 and passed it before Christmas. I have a grade 7 theory book in front of me at the moment...
 

Similar threads... or are they? Maybe not but they could be worth reading anyway 😀

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