Hey I was wondering if anyone knew anything about the Jazz ensemble exams. I am thinking of entering with a trumpet guitar duet- we are both working towards grade 8. could anyone suggest what level we should enter at?

No experience of them as yet, but they do look good. Will be interested to hear your expereinces.

I know someone who might be interested

That's definately something to think about.

Count he rin if you are organising anything and it's at the weekend.

Will do, and will def go for a weekend.

I've enquired about these exams previously and read through the relevant info and demo stuff the AB sent me. Even bought some of the AB Jazz ensemble music.The major downside to these exams which are offered at foundation, intermediate and advanced level is that they carry no accreditation at all. Frankly in my opinion you would be better just doing a solo jazz subject with either a small backing group or with the designated CD's. The AB Jazz Ensemble material which i did actually try with some of my students was ok, some of the songs were a bit strange not the sort of stuff i'd want in my bands standard repertoire. Hope this is helpful to you.

thx for the info, do you mean doing a grade 5 jazz trumpet exam instead of jazz ensemble? I heard you have to travel to london to take the exam which is a downside

That would depend on your present ability, if you have a reasonable grasp of jazz it would be worth your while to do the AB solo subject Jazz grade 5 however if you where looking for a higher qualification that carried UCAS points or even points towards a degree you may want to consider the LCM Jazz syllabus which goes up to grade 8 and also has a post grade 8 jazz diploma. Their has been some debate in the past whether the LCM grades are as difficult as the AB's, to be honest i've taken grade 8's and entered students for grades using both exam boards, i don't think theirs that much in it really. Maybe the LCM Diplomas are a little more accessible than the equivalent AB diplomas and thats not actually a bad thing, diplomas are expensive and you don't want to fail after shelling out hard cash IMHO.