Hi, can anyone help? Have I made a mistake? I have entered a pupil for the next session playing the 2009 grade 1 pieces. Is this ok or can you only use the pieces from Jan next year.

Are you in England? Here you cannot use the 2009 pieces until the spring 2009 session. It differs in other countries though

Yes I am in England

If by the next session you mean Session C (Nov/Dec this year) then no, you can't use the 2009 pieces, as Carol says. I would ring the Board and ask their advice.

That is correct and I would do the same. It might mean pulling your student out - but if this is necessary, the sooner it's done the better. The later you leave it the more of the fee you will lose.

oh No! I've already got the exam date, and the student is playing her pieces beautifully. I'm in BIG trouble..

What a worry for you, but do ring the Board asap - they can be very helpful! Let us know how you get on - good luck!

Which technical syllabus are you working from? Arpeggios have been dropped from the Grade 1 syllabus for 2009 - but all of them will be expected for this session's exams.

Not all of the examiners have yet been 'trained' for the new grade syllabus pieces, and they certainly won't have copies with them - so unless you get in touch soonish your student may well have a less than warm reception, which would be a shame. Maybe you should be prepared for being told that you might have to postpone till next session. Good luck.

Rang the board this morning, they told me to go ahead with the exam as it's too late to pull out...results will be delayed and I'll get a warning letter, but I can still go ahead! So relieved

It might be worth furnishing your student with a second copy of the pieces for the examiner as he won't have necessarily familiarised himself with them and apologise to him/her on the day.

I agree this is a good idea, although I shouldn't think the examiner will have any difficulty assessing pieces with which they are unfamiliar at this level.

However, I would be very careful not to add to your candidate's nerves by causing him or her to worry that there may be a problem with having chosen pieces from the wrong syllabus. You might be better to give the extra copy to the examiner (or steward) yourself before your candidate arrives.

The examiner shouldn't say anything to the candidate. I've known people who have presented wrong pieces & the examiner just goes ahead & marks the exam & refers it to the Board. Later on the Board assesses the situation & writes to you with the outcome.

Yes, I realise that; I just thought that if the candidate was aware there was a potential problem with the pieces it could increase their nerves and have a detrimental effect on their performance - it would certainly have made me more anxious if I'd been in that position when I took my grade one - so it's possibly best if they don't know.

I did this, without realising, when I took my grade 5 piano exam. We hadn't noticed that we were using the wrong book and when my results came out my teacher ot a letter saying that I had played the wrong pieces but that I wouldn't be penalised for it.

The board seem to be really good about these things.

Hope your student does ok.

Ant

Which goes to show you're not the first person to do this, and you certainly won't be the last. It must actually be pretty common, so much so that AB have a standard way of dealing with it (i.e. warning letter). I'm guessing if you do it again they might not be so understanding

THis happenned to me once as an accompanist where the trumpet teacher hadn't spotted a couple of pieces that hadn't made it through a syllabus revision, so had done the list B piece from the previous list. A genuine mistake and the board acknowledged that. The examiner didn't make a big deal about it, he just noted the piece and sent a letter on afterwards.

However, many years ago when I did my grade 4 organ, I had been learning a Prelude by William Harris, which my teacher discovered was the wrong one, abouyt 4 days before the exam. In those days, when the AB was a little less user friendly, I had to learn the new piece in double quick time.

Just an innocent question: Is there another reason why instrumental pieces are changed every few years, other than to improve on the standard of the exams? I have always wondered.

I am clueless, but I am imagining that in the case of piano exam pieces remaining unchanged for e.g. 10 long years, a beginner student could simply learn nothing but 3 pieces for many years, and eventually pass a high grade e.g. Grade 6 without learning other grade-equivalent techniques or exploring essential repertoire. All through pure rote-learning. Not easy, but I have seen children who are quite capable of such a feat.

If that is a reason for syllabus updates, then I would conclude that entering an exam with pieces from the newer syllabus before it takes effect is less of a fault than entering with pieces from an obsolete syllabus.

What do you think? I am just wondering aloud, so no offense to ABRSM, or anybody, or any teaching methods.

Maybe it's some of what you are thinking but also it saves both teachers and examiners from constantly hearing the same pieces. It also allows the use of a wider repertoire over the years.