Experience with ABRSM Performance Grade Exam

This article is about the ABRSM Performance Grade Exam and my experience with booking, recording and submitting for it.  (Please note: this is about my experience with this exam, not meant to be a guidance, so if you decide to take it please refer to the ABRSM website where there is a ton of details! )

Since my article about the remotely-assessed MTB exams, I know now that there are  more offerings of digitally recorded exams.  ABRSM Performance Grade Exam is one of them.  My 2 daughters who both play the cello decided to go for it this term, so thanks to them  I was able to experience the whole process before entering my students.  Honestly, they are usually not too keen on music exams but as soon as they heard what is involved, they changed their mind.

 

This is a recorded exam provided by ABRSM that assess the candidate’s performance of 4 pieces recorded in a single take.   Can be done at home, candidates don’t travel an exam centre to play for an examiner in person.  It doesn’t replace the existing practical grade but just offers another option.  It carries exactly the same qualification level as the existing ABRSM practical grade, and if you’re going for UCAS points for grade 6 – 8, they can get you the same points.  More on this on the FAQ page

 

These are not directly assessed as part of the performance grades.  When my daughters heard this, they went “Hooray! Just pieces!” However, as their teachers wisely put, these are supposed to have been learned for the grade level anyway and will be assessed as part of the performance of the pieces….   yes, very true!  So if you have that G diminished 7th scale coming up in a piece, better to play it in tune and musically!

Photo by Lucas Alexander on Unsplash

 

I went on the ABRSM UK website to make a booking.  It is not as simple as I’d imagined, and you may have to click around a bit, but it’s manageable.  Though it is a digital exam, I had to still select an Exam Date by which we have to submit the recording.  Slots do seem to run out and the website tells you how many minutes are available on a given date.  You need to have enough minutes left on your selected date for the grade.   Once the exam date is confirmed & paid for, then you can submit the recording earlier than this date.

 

ABRSM has 3 categories usually following a different musical period (A, B, C) of pieces to choose one from, therefore the 3 pieces have to come from the current ABRSM syllabus.  The 4th piece can come from the ABRSM’s current syllabus also, or can be an “Own Choice” piece, at the right level for the grade.   This could come from another examination board’s syllabus, or from a previous syllabus by ABRSM.  My older daughter chose one from MTB Grade 8, and my younger daughter chose from the previous ABRSM grade 7 syllabus.  Piano accompaniment isn’t a requirement now during this Covid lockdown period, so we decided that I would accompany where I can, and the rest would be played without the accompaniment.  Using backing tracks would have been another option.  

 

This was the point that my daughters, their teachers and myself pondered about quite a bit.  There is a lot of information on the Qualification Specification Document, but unlike the existing exam with all the other components and a clear marking break-down, we were just not sure how the assessment would be done.   The pieces each is marked out of 30, then additionally there are 30 marks more for the “performance as a whole”, making the total mark of 150. Hmm….

Photo by Jakob Owens on Unsplash

 

It is already a lot of work preparing 4 individual pieces to performance standard, but that doesn’t sound enough to do well on this exam.  Examiners will be looking for “performance, communication, interpretation and delivery.”  So, we decided to pretend that we sold tickets for people to watch this video concert.  From the verbal introduction, ordering of the piece, how to start and end the pieces, we pretended that it is a one-person show on screen.   The verbal announcement is not part of the assessment according to the ABRSM guidance; nevertheless, we practised it to make it a part of the performance.  My daughters are not very keen on public-speaking so it actually ended up being a good training.  We also looked at what to do in between the pieces; we practised NOT rushing to turn the pages to get to the next piece, not fixing the gaze on the sheet music, and to finish the piece and start the next piece in the character of the respective pieces.   No edits are allowed to the video & audio, so everything has to be done in a single take, with no pause.   You can re-record as many times as you want, but both my daughters did 3 takes each on different days, and that was enough.

Photo by Thomas Russell on Unsplash

 

Super fancy equipment is not necessary.  A recording done on a phone is sufficient, but the video file size has to be under 2 GB so the picture quality may have to be slightly reduced for this reason.   We used a digital camera perched on a tripod to record both video and audio.   ABRSM provides a very detailed guidance video on their website.   We needed to show the program order (downloadable from ABRSM), a photo ID because my daughters were going for Grade 8 and 7, and the sheet music for the own choice piece.

Photo by Amy Shamblen on Unsplash

 

They make it very easy and obvious with the “Submit Recording” button next to the candidate’s name.  On a side note, I made an exam entry for a student, and this automatically created a separate log-in for my student.   This meant that either myself or the student could submit the recording,  which was very handy.   Result for both my daughters showed up on the ABRSM website within in one week, and on this particular occasion both did very well with a distinction mark!

Comments on the feedback sheet were thorough, positive, and to the point.  There were points to improve but they were formulated in a constructive way, just as you’d expect from an ABRSM examiner.  Each piece had substantial feedback as well the overall “performance as a whole” section.  Fee-wise, performance grades cost the same as practical exams.   ABRSM and Trinity prices are pretty much on a par, while MTB fees are a bit lower.

 

I must say the performance exam was rather fun to do, a little bit like making an own music video.   For my teenage daughters, when mum is the one recording and accompanying, things could get a bit sour, but we had a few good laughs recording it.  Perhaps the video feature is enabling this fun part?  MTB have also recently released a video-based performance grade, so I will watching that space.   I would also be interested in Trinity’s Digital Exam which also includes Scales and Arpeggios.

 

ABRSM Performance Grades https://gb.abrsm.org/en/our-exams/performancegrades/

Trinity Digital Exams https://www.trinitycollege.com/qualifications/music/digital-music-grades

MTB https://www.mtbexams.com/