There are loads of piano-related syllabus threads but not for woodwinds so I thought I'd open a new one.

I wondered if anyone knows how much the syllabus changes over time, especially for instruments - such as the oboe - for which the ABRSM doesn't produce special collections of exam pieces.

The current oboe syllabus is valid up to 2013 and I wondered how much it might be expected to change after that.

It's really unrealistic for me to think about doing regular ABRSM exams but I'd like to at some point, so may jump straight in at G8. However, that isn't really a possibility until 2014 for various reasons, one of which is that I'd have to take the exam back in the UK - and get G5 theory organised too - and it will require some planning.

By then the syllabus should, supposedly, have changed.

Idle curiosity really, as it's so far ahead. And lots to work on in the meantime, within and outside of the current syllabus.

I have a copy of the previous oboe syllabus as it was in force when I first started playing the oboe and I printed it out, out of interest.

Quite a few of the pieces are the same in both - I can scan the grade 8 one and/or some of the others and send it/them to you if you like - sometimes the piece hasn't changed but they have changed the movements which are required. For instance, in the previous syllabus you could play any movement of the Saint Saens but in the current syllabus you can only play the 1st or the 3rd.

Ah, that's interesting. That means that pieces I work on over this year and next may still be valid. Though I might actually be wanting something completely different by 2014. At the rate I'm going I may not be ready for G8 but I really ought to be.

Thanks for the offer - but I wouldn't want to cause you any work. It could be that the old syllabus pieces are included in the Edexcel difficulty-level booklet maybe?

The pieces are in the Edexcel difficulty-level booklet but you don't know which year they were on a syllabus or which exam board used them.

I'll tidy up my desk tonight and unearth the old syllabus and scan it for you. Do you just want grade 8 or some of the others as well?

Just G8. But really, really only if you have time on your hands!

I may never do an ABRSM exam but I need to set myself some goals at the moment as I'm a bit aimless. I'm just doing technical exercises for lessons and no pieces right now. That's actually a really good thing but I've lost a bit of the sense of what I'm working towards.

I would have thought that much of the current G8 repertoire will always be there. It's standard repertoire.

If you compare the two syllabuses, then just over half the pieces have changed in each list.

In List A three of the pieces on the old syllabus are no longer there at all, and two more are still there but you are required to study a different movement. (So that's five out of nine that have changed).
In List B, five out of nine have also changed and in List C, four out of seven.

The old syllabus would still be valid in session A of 2014 as there is a term's change over of syllabus time... That might help you?

I fear not. I don't think it will be possible any earlier that mid-2014. Almost certainly after then, as I will have to take G5 theory first.

Or even G6 theory. I presume that the requisite for Grade 6 and above practical is Grade 5 theory or above. I see that G6 theory is required for the DipABRSM teaching qualification. Not that I am seriously thinking about it but may as well keep options open. Why do two theory exams when I could just do one?

If you are contemplating taking the exam outside the UK there is usually a 12-month overlap rather than a one term overlap.

Grade 6 theory is acceptable in lieu of Grade 5, yes. I checked with the board before my Grade 7 piano as I would have needed to send in my prehistoric Grade 5 theory cert./marriage cert. otherwise.

Thanks for the tip, andante_in_c!

If I do take any ABRSM exams it will mostly likely be back in the UK. There is no rep in Costa Rica (in fact the ABRSM website correctly locates me here but if I click the link it takes me to... Croatia!!!). Or anywhere nearby, so the easiest thing if I want to take an exam is back in the UK.

I've got plenty of time. I'm a long way off G8 standard, even though I've started on some pieces. I will have to do a lot to catch up on aural, sightreading and the like as the approach is rather different here.

From what Roseau has told me, there was a fair overlap in syllabus at the last change. Sometimes different movements of the same concerto or sonata seem to be examined. That's fine - I think it's a good thing to work on whole pieces anyway.

What is this Edexcel difficulty book and how can I view it? Is it online in the same way the ABRSM syllabi are.

It just gives a list of pieces used in the music exams of various music exam boards (ABRSM included), with the respective Grade level, that Edexcel will accept for GCE music exams. Apparently it has recently been updated. You can download it here from the Teacher Support Materials section.

It lists by grade pieces which have been used in previous exams.

http://www.edexcel.com/quals/gce/gce08/mus...es/default.aspx (go to Teacher Support Materials and you'll see it listed).

Ha. Beaten to it.

Thank you!