Exam Books, Pieces all together in one book Options

[Judy]

Does anyone know why piano and violin have examination books with the exam pieces in them, but the other instruments don't?
It would be so useful for all the other instruments to be treated in the same way.

[Desmond]

I agree with you Judy. I would like to see the guitar exam pieces all in one book. Far less costly for parents of my pupils. As long as the pieces were appealing that is!!!! :D

Des

[kornflakes]

I had a look at the ABRSM pub and yes they don't offer a very good range of guitar material just the bare baics. Infact i e-mailed the company as to why this was the case, its not like the guitar is not a popular instrument. They said they were only able to cope with the present demands as they are only 14 members of staff to deal with publications. Hmmmm? <_<

[helena]

I've always wondered why there are no exam books for the flute since this is such a popular instrument. It would save a lot of hassle, and I think that it would be more important to have the pieces all together in one book for instruments which require an accompanist than those which do not, as a child taking grade one flute, for example, needs to bring five books to the exam (three flute books and the piano accompaniments for lists A and B ). The potential to lose or forget something is tremendous. Finding the music for higher grade pieces was also problematic for me, for example, the piano accompaniment for my list B Prokofiev was such that it had the violin part and not the flute part! All this could be be saved if the pieces came in one book.

I've also wondered why there aren't the tapes/CDs for instruments other than piano? It would save people a lot of money to have demonstrations of all the pieces on one CD instead of chasing them up individually, not to mention the benefit that could be gained from the commentaries.

[carys]

ABRSM do produce practice tapes/CDs for a few other instruments, including Flute, Clarinet, Vioin and Cello. They're really helpful for getting to know the pieces (and choosing the ones you like to begin with). Some of the accompaniments I find a bit too fast to keep up with though.

[jo.clarinet]

I wish there were exam books for the descant and treble recorder syllabuses, especially in the early grades - it would solve a lot of problems!
Trinity do have theirs collected together, but I'm not very keen on their syllabus so I don't use them - but when I'm in my music shop I always cast an envious eye at them - it's just so much more convenient for teacher, pupil and parents to have all the exam material together like that!
I think that the reason the AB don't do this is probably due to copyright costs payable to the publishers concerned, though I don't know for sure. Anyway, whatever the reason it's a shame for us! :(

[Jade]

There are some nice pieces in the violin exam books, but it can be annoying when you have to choose one you don't like (there's an A,B and C list and you have to choose one song from each). For my flute I end up having to spend sometimes a lot of money on loads of different books to get the pieces I need, which can be a pain if you're only buying a book for one certain piece and hate all the others in it!!!!

[manpreetpangli]

QUOTE (Desmond @ Feb 18 2004, 08:31 AM)

I agree with you Judy. I would like to see the guitar exam pieces all in one book. Far less costly for parents of my pupils. As long as the pieces were appealing that is!!!! :D Des

Hi,

I am a student playing both piano (grade 1) and violin (grade 4), and I think it is very useful that all the music is in one book........ But I don't know why they don't do it for the other instruments....

Manpreet
age:13 :D

[Judy]

I find an exam book for piano exams works very well. We can usually find pieces we like and if we can't there are alternatives we can turn to.

However for my flute and recorder pupils it is very difficult choosing pieces as you have to weigh up the usefulness of the book after the exam, its cost (one recorder book I like to use is £13 which I find very hard asking pupils to buy) and the fact that once the book is bought you feel you have to stay committed to that piece. I am sure that many people are tempted to photocopy music which the Board is obviously against. It is a shame when I can see how much easier the piano exam books are to use and I cannot see why the piano and violin are given 'special' treatment.

[Alison]

The recorder music seems very expensive, considering that it is often just folksongs or dance tunes which are obviously not in copyright. To take Grade one requires spending around £30 on music. So my solution was to produce my own booklet - I e-mailed the publishers to get the relevant permission (which they gave readily, even for some contemporary pieces) and then put them all together in one booklet. It took a lot of time, but looks good now - and only costs 75p to photocopy (includes 14 pieces and scales). But the Board is very protective about its syllabus and I don't have permission to sell it or let anyone other than my own pupils use it - sorry! But if enough of us asked to do it they might get the message...
Might be worth considering for other instruments... I was surprised at how easily I got copyright permission (aren't e-mails wonderful!) but you really have to be careful how you approach the Board!

[musicmatters]

im sure it is to do with printing costs and less popular instruments

[Louise_adams]

Do AB mind if you use photocopies of the music in the exam? Because I did an exam a couple of years ago with another exam board and they check that the music is not photocopied and sign the book to make sure nobody else can use it.
It would be much cheaper is you could just photocpy them.

[DavidMusic]

You can photocopy a page to make page turning easier. You can even photocopy a double page to make page turning easier. You can't use a photocopied piece of music though.

[Judy]

Thank you Alison - getting permission to put the pieces into your own book is a good idea.

[sbhoa]

Not allowing book sharing seems particulary mean!!
What about more than one member of the same family using the same book?
What about a teacher lending a book if only the one piece is needed?