ABRSM

The ABRSM examinations service in Classical Music is the world standard in Classical Music School and College exams outside of the conservatoires themselves. They are British and have been going since the late 19th Century when the Royal College and Academy of Music started to rise to world prominence wrestling the initiative in Classical Music away from Germany (namely Leipzig and Berlin at the end of WWII).

RCM has been the most prominent Music Conservatoire in the world for eons now in the 1980s it was Juilliard in New York. RAM is close behind. The graded exam system is designed to build classical music knowledge enjoyment, skill and repertoire in Classical Music, and more recently musicals, pop and Jazz as well.

Whilst ABRSM exams do beat the drum for British music more than anything else they do have certain disadvantages as well. The standard is not in question if you get Grade 8 it's a real achievement or a diploma even more so what is in question to me is that it's not just that that made me a good musician. It's not an intellectual boot camp to me and pupils tend to think of pieces of music not as music but in terms of how AB would grade them as skill and prowess. I was once heavily criticised for playing it safe by a young student for playing a mere Grade 3 piece as he saw it in a final with some harder pieces. It was something I knew and liked as a piece of music. I think that leads to an ultra technical approach to playing and not a love of playing and singing at worst. I'm all for achieving the standards of Grade 8 and Diplomas but not with sacrificing the love of classical or any other form of music.

I strongly believe in being a prolific player and recorder of your own work reading from the score and learning pieces independently of tutors leads to more of a love of music and generation of idiosyncratic style. I feel playing 100 Grade 1 or 2 piece which are basically designed for our young ones first helps one tackle issues of style and interpretation much more readily and leads to a trule love of music beyond a mere technical capability. Just play 100 little pieces and THEN do Grades 1,2 and three as a conclusion and rubber stamping of your love and achievement in music. Don't ever just do the three or four pieces you need for the level and think you have achieved that standard of playing until you can sight read and record anything at that level of technical skill.

Big Tip and Rule of Thumb:

I made a mistake being like that when I was younger. My advice is just sing and play everything you can and that's what makes you love it. When I learned in Germany I learned pieces Bach wrote to teach his own kids and I never saw them in terms of what grade they were for the first time that helped me to love what I was doing. It's a wonderful system but no system is perfect.