79 replies to this topic

[The Land]

So I was thinking about taking the LRSM (violin) and still want to someday, but I have too many other projects this year to be able to contemplate taking a music exam!  I have many options for rep for an LRSM programme studied, and in many cases performed ... so I'm working on developing technique and musicality, so that when I eventually come to take LRSM I'll be in a good position to get a decent mark, rather than scraping through the recital with exactly the pass mark as I managed with DipABRSM! 

[Dreamaurora]

Kit Leung, yes, there are cases of piano LTCL Distinction holders failing or borderline passing the Recital component of LRSM. An examiner mentioned to me ABRSM the recording of the recital is reviewed again by a panel to ensure consistency in marking. This is because it is not possible to always get a specialist examiner for the instrument. Whereas I believe for Trinity there is no this additional layer of assessment.

I have decided on my FRSM program. I am only going to play two pieces. Beethoven’s Eroica Variations and Moussorgsky’s Pictures. I have deliberated very long but eventually settled on Pictures because it is much easier to play compared to Eroica. Sure there are some brief difficult moments like in Gnomus and Baba Yaga, but at least majority of the pieces are actually quite easy. Whereas for Eroica there is no easy parts at all.

[mel2]

There seems to be clan loyalty with adherents of various boards sticking with the assessment pathway they have used throughout their learning career.
For others, the overriding factor is choice of repertoire or location of exam centre.
In my own case it was gaining experience of different boards to be in a better position to guide my pupils, should the situation arise.
Thankfully in my neck of the woods, fewer people are as keen to join the exam treadmill as used to be the case.

[Dreamaurora]

In the part of the world I’m teaching, ABRSM’s Diplomas are more highly regarded as professional qualifications than Trinity’s. A pass in LRSM is more valued than a pass in FTCL; this is a sentiment that many high level teachers I know share. I guess it makes sense though. A pianist with LRSM is more likely to be a complete and well rounded one. The recent dumbing down of the new Trinity Diplomas certainly do not help the image. Nevertheless the Trinity Diplomas are still very popular over here because simply many teachers do not feel that they have sufficient expertise to prepare for ABRSM Dips.

[sheephops]

Ok, so here's a question. Is anyone out there that has done the FRSM diploma willing to share their written submission with me. I am deep into writing mine, but am concerned that I'm waffling and putting too much back ground info in, rather than the actual music!!

 

Anyone?

[jessy]

In the part of the world I’m teaching, ABRSM’s Diplomas are more highly regarded as professional qualifications than Trinity’s. A pass in LRSM is more valued than a pass in FTCL; this is a sentiment that many high level teachers I know share. I guess it makes sense though. A pianist with LRSM is more likely to be a complete and well rounded one. The recent dumbing down of the new Trinity Diplomas certainly do not help the image. Nevertheless the Trinity Diplomas are still very popular over here because simply many teachers do not feel that they have sufficient expertise to prepare for ABRSM Dips.

In what way do you think Trinity diplomas have been dumbed down? As has been said on these forums in the past, Trinity and AB are quite different exams. Several pieces on the FRSM repertoire list for violin are on the LTCL, and movements from whole sonatas on ATCL appear on the LRSM list.

The actual performance level on the Trinity exam (at least for violin) is more demanding than for AB.

[KiwiMusicMum]

My daughter is taking DIPABRSM this year. As she is 12, I bought her the reading list books and am keeping an eye on whether she fulfills the criteria. She has used lots of books, as she started preparing for the programme notes and viva voce last year. I’ve read somewhere not to include a bibliography, but have you been asked about your sources in the viva voce?

She took her ATCL last year (and got a distinction) and is enjoying the preparation for the ABRSM one far more, as she found it soul destroying to research so thoroughly for her programme notes and then not be able to use most of what she knew.

I am from the UK, and ABRSM diplomas are considered much higher than Trinity. Now Trinity have done away with programme notes at A and L levels, there is an even greater gap.

[Lotless Organist]

Congratulations Fazioligirl! And thank you everyone for the good luck wishes..

Because I am crazy, I actually started preparing for my LTCL originally more than 5 years ago, and was going to skip ATCL- but I got bored with practising those pieces, so decided to prepare an ATCL programme.

My proposed LTCL programme (which I had to get approved as 2/5 are off-piste) is

Bach - Prelude & Fugue in C# BWV 848 from WTC book 1
Mozart - Sonata in A minor K310
Chopin - Nocturne in F Op 15 No 1
Chopin - Polonaise in A flat Op 53
Menotti - Ricercare and Toccata

I came up with this programme some years ago when I was extremely annoyed with my job (I am a computer programmer in real life) and thought I might want to become an accompanist. I couldn't play most of it, and I was prepared for my teacher to tell me to shove off. She did frown and tell me that if I wanted to play that programme I would have to play a certain number of Chopin Etudes in a certain order. I said OK, and we worked on them for a couple of years, and I was able to start learning the notes of the Polonaise a few years ago. I can play through it, but it needs a lot of polishing- everything else, I've performed multiple times and I know I can play.

If all goes well I'll take it some time next year.

I’d be interested to hear which Chopin Etudes your teacher suggested you need to learn and in what order.

[corenfa]

I don't remember the order she said initially, but I assume the order I worked through them is a sensible one.

 

Op 10 no 3 

Op 10 no 9

Op 25 no 7

Op 25 no 9

Op 10 no 12

 

At some point I started but never finished Op 10 no 4 and Op 25 no 2. 

 

I didn't do them serially but sort of concurrently. We'd work on one for a few months, put it aside, start another one and come back. 

 

By far the one that took the most time was Op 25 no 9. We spent three months on just the right hand motif (2 semiquavers followed by 2 semiquaver octaves). I spent a couple of weeks playing them in the precise strange way that she said- play the first 2 notes, shake my hand out, then the octaves. It was so odd that I just suspended disbelief and did it. I felt a bit like in those kung fu movies where the hero gets told to sweep floors for a year before starting to learn kung fu. 

 

It worked in the end, but it took years. 

[Lotless Organist]

Thanks. Plenty of food for thought there!

[The Land]

My daughter is taking DIPABRSM this year. As she is 12, I bought her the reading list books and am keeping an eye on whether she fulfills the criteria. She has used lots of books, as she started preparing for the programme notes and viva voce last year. I’ve read somewhere not to include a bibliography, but have you been asked about your sources in the viva voce?
 

 

They definitely will not ask at DipABRSM level - they're interested in your knowledge, not how you acquired it. If you've done lots of research then that will be apparent from your programme notes and the way you answer the questions. For instance, I mentioned in my programme notes that Beethoven's Romance in F is often thought to be a 2nd movement from a missing violin concerto, which is something that I have only seen mentioned in one particular book that goes into a lot of depth about Beethoven's violin writing. I'm sure that got me marks, even though they didn't ask anything about that subject in the viva (even though I had a really well-prepped answer), let alone ask me where I'd got that idea from.

[KiwiMusicMum]

Thanks for that. I am doing my best to make sure she is following the brief, but it’s not easy! She did her ATCL before Christmas and was very disappointed that all the research didn’t fit into her programme notes. She is loving that this time, she gets to talk about it all in her viva voce. Some of the stories of vivas scare me - especially one where the examiner asked the sax player about bassoon music. I think that would throw my daughter as everything she is researching is related to sax and the composers she has chosen.

Also it’s a nightmare trying to find her something suitable to wear! Any tips? She wore a dark red, 3/4 dress for her ATCL but she has had a growth spurt, and it no longer fits. I read that black is a safer choice. But what are everyone’s thoughts?

[Clovis]

If your daughter is playing transcriptions of music originally written for other instruments then she may well be asked about this - it’s a standard dipABRSM question. I played a Bach prelude and fugue and a Mozart sonata and the examiners wanted to know what kind of keyboard both composers were writing for, how they differed from the modern piano, and what adjustments in approach I had to make. I dropped a mark in that viva because I wasn’t fully convincing on the subject of clavichords.

For clothes, I went for the lunchtime concert look. Smart black trousers and nice top - I took both my exams in December, so wanted to keep warm (the exam centre was freezing). Evening gowns are not required. Don’t worry too much about it - a nice dress is fine.

[KiwiMusicMum]

Thanks. She is playing something originally for clarinet, but she feels she has that down. She’s playing a concerto. So she has thought hard about how playing it with piano is different from playing with orchestra or wind band. She has tied herself in knots knowing how to word it in the programme notes and I’m at a loss to know how to help her. The piano reduction is obviously the orchestra but she doesn’t know how to refer to their part! It seems wrong to refer to the accompaniment, when they often have the tune!

[Invidia]

Personally in this case I would just write something like 'the piano reduction enters with the main (wind, string, whatever) melody'. The programme notes will not need a detailed analysis of how the orchestra part has been transcribed for piano. 

 

Definitely avoid referring to the piano part as 'the accompaniment' in places where the music uses different textures. Incorrect naming of musical textures will most likely cost marks.