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11 March 2024

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NEW Digital certificates for ABRSM. "Charity" that charges for paper certificates!!!



 ABRSM have announced that during 2024 they are introducing secure digital certificates worldwide with the option to order a paper certificate for a fee of £3 or the equivalent in the currency for your country.

The rationale behind this change is:

  • Tto ensure that results and certificates are valid and secure. Digital certificates will help to further safeguard certificates against fraud.

  • Digital certificates will be available more quickly than paper certificates. They will be easy to download, print, store and share, and the unique QR code on each certificate will provide online verification of the candidate and exam details.  

  • By reducing transport and paper use, the introduction of digital certificates will help to achieve  sustainability goals. 

There are some however who put a different point of view. The gold embossed paper certificates have an air of quality about them, something you can frame and hang on a wall. It feels like ABRSM are just again trying to save money as they did with the dumbing down of the theory exams a few years ago and more recently the online video exams. By the way the cost of a video performance exam is only marginally cheaper (£116 instead of £130 for grade 8) despite the fact that there is no venue and support staff to pay for.

The claim to reduce the impact on the environment falls flat when one considers that UK examiners are sent all over the world rather than use local examiners.

The exams themselves are very expensive and even prohibitive when one adds on the cost of lesson and books, so to start charging for paper certificates is frankly insulting. Although a registered "charity" because it donates some funds to music education such as  scholarships to the four Royal Schools of Music, in reality it is run more like a profit making business. There is more information on exactly how this "charity" is run on the government website HERE


Some have felt so strongly about this that a petition has been started which you can support HERE

27 September 2023

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Vals Poetico - Grade 6 ABRSM Piano B2 - Teaching Notes

Vals Poetico: No.6 from Valses Poeticos

Enrique Granados



Teaching  Notes
Timing should not be too strict with this piece as the instruction at the beginning indicates "Quasi ad libitum". There are numerous places where an easing of the tempo is indicated and these opportunities should be explored fully (e.g. bars 7, 14, 23, 39, 45).

Pedalling also requires careful attention. In some cases it is just once per bar such as in the first 3 bars, but at other times the harmony changes every crotchet and so pedalling must reflect this (e.g. bar 4). Also be careful that the pedal does not linger over into LH rests, so for example, the last beat of bar 7 into bar 8, only the RH should be heard. Similar passages include bars 23, 24, 29 and the RH rests in bars 16 and 32. Also be careful that RH and LH finish at different times in bar 40.

Another aspect that the examiner will be looking out for is the voicing of the melody. Often this is simply a case of bringing out the top lines, but sometimes the melody is in a lower part such as bars 11 to 13. 

There are even occasions where the RH is split into parts that need to be voiced differently. For example in bars 5, 6, 21 and 22 the melody is the higher dotted minim, but there is a moving lower RH part on the second beat of each of these bars. These "second beats" should be at a lesser dynamic so as not to distract from the top melody note.

Finally notice the rather strange pause on the final rest which seems to be AFTER the music is finished. Why would you pause on a silence after the final note. I would argue that the composer is trying to suggest here that the music does NOT finish with the last note, but rather that the final two beats of rest are PART of the music. As such, you should stay involved with the performance during this silence, not taking your hands off the keys immediately but rather holding the silence without moving away from the piano, thus creating a "you could hear a pin drop" atmosphere that captures your audience's attention until the end of the bar which can be as long as you feel appropriate bearing in mind that these two beats rest are not only with a pause but also part of a "molto rit".

22 September 2023

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Indigo Moon - Grade 6 ABRSM Piano C2 - Teaching Notes

Indigo Moon - from "Pepperbox Jazz Book 2" 
Elissa Milne



Teaching Notes
This expressive piece will need to feel almost without a strict pulse, although at the same time you must be very careful to make the long tied notes in many of the bars the correct length. For example compare bars 22 and 23 where the former has a quaver at the end of the bar and the latter, a semiquaver. Whilst learning the piece, it might be useful to count 8 semiquavers for each bar to enable accurate rhythm.

Another aspect of rhythm that you need to be aware of is that fast notes at the ends of bars must always follow through across the bar line onto the next beat. For many of the students I have taught playing this piece, they will get to the demisemiquavers at the ends of bars 1, 3, 5 etc, play a very fast pair of notes and THEN think what comes next, invariably ending up with a hesitation on the bar line. You should however always be conscious of what follows the demisemiquavers before starting them.

To make an outstanding performance, dynamic shaping will be key. There is plenty of direction given in the score which doesn't need to be repeated here, but just to say don't be shy to let the passion out in the big crescendo section from  bar 20 to the "piu forte" in bar 2. Indeed the direction "piu forte" asks for something not lacking in emotion. Notice also the "molto rit" in the previous bar that allows for some idiomatic rubato.

The following bars are mainly a repeat of bar 9 to 15 albeit louder, but watch out for the extra notes that didn't appear the first time, that is the extra bass E at the end of bar 27 and the extra bass A at the end of bar 28.

Finally, make sure the ending is not hurried. Bar 38 instructs first a "rit" and then a "molto rit". Here is would be an idea to silently count the semiquavers, that are gradually slowing down, especially through the tied crotchet of bar 39. The final chord also, must not be cut short, continue to count another 8 of these ever slowing semiquavers with the bottom B and then some more for the pause. 

SHEET MUSIC