Some of the pieces in the clarinet exams are beautiful, but I don't have anyone who can accompany me when I play at home.

Are the CDs sold by the ABRSM useful for this? I read that each CD contains the full pieces and the same tracks with only the accompaniment. Anyone used them like this?

I have a few similar old cassettes and CDs used in this way, but I find that they vary considerably in quality.
How do the ABRSM CDs sound?

Steve

I've only used one in this way, for the grade 6 flute pieces. It isn't ideal as obviously a recorded accompanist isn't terribly flexible, but it is quite useful. It might be worth looking at SmartMusic which performs the same function but with "sensitive" listening, however I don't know how much of the clarinet sylabus is on it yet.

Steven, I'm in the same situation as you in that I don't have an accompanist available 24/7. I've got a couple of the CDs and they're good at what they do - the recorded quality and the performances are good. The exam pieces are performed with soloist and accompanist, and also just the accompaniment, so you can play along to them.

I've found them useful for ensuring that I play in time and count the correct number of bars' rest, and for filling in the harmonies beneath the solo line (there are some pieces which have caused me quite a shock when the accompaniment wasn't quite as I was expecting!!), but they do have their drawbacks - they're only at one tempo, which is especially infuriating if you want to introduce a rall and the CD doesn't!

Still doesn't beat a real accompanist though

I imagine an advantage is there is a volume control, you can switch it off, and don't have to buy it a drink afterwards!

I like the way Smartmusic works, but I'd like to keep it as simple as possible.



The few 'playalong' tapes/CDs I have always seem frighteningly fast to me!

I have an old cassette that I bought for trumpet accompaniment (in Bb, so great for clarinet too).
Also, I have the 'Guestspot Jazz clarinet' CD which is great!

The others I've heard of are the Minus one series but these are quite expensive.

Mind you, the ABRSM CDs aren't cheap either!

Steve

I've only had experience of one Music Minus One, but that was very good and I was impressed.

If CDs/tapes are too fast, it may be worth ripping a track to your pc so you can slow it down with audacity or similar, then you could tailor it to yourself. Not as easy with tapes but possible I think.

I've got a Music Minus One for a piano concerto, which is great except for the cadenzas where they just leave a big blank and the fun is trying to get the cadenza in the time allowed - sometimes I finish and have to wait ages for the conductor to 'wake up' and sometimes I try to time it differently only to have the orchestra come back in when I'm still 3 bars or so from the end of the cadenza! Incredibly frustrating, but still fun

It's great that they exist, but they're often played too fast (why???), and they're very expensive - at the higher grades from £17-£20 each, especially considering the syllabus only lasts 3 years. If you bought them for all the grades it would knock you back by well over a hundred quid every time a new syllabus came out.

On the subject of Smartmusic, has anybody used it? Does it have backing tracks for AB syllaubus pieces or is it luck of the draw? It's American after all, so is unlikely to go out of its way to feature pieces used in AB syllaubuses. Also, presumably the student has to buy it for ti to eb any use to them at home, and they will also need to practise in a room where there's a computer.

I'd be interested to know if anybody has any students who have used it at home.

Violinia

Smartmusic does seem to have a large proportion of the ABRSM syllabus on, as well as other repertoire, - certainly for flute- Haven't specifically looked up the violin list. I think there are several of the suzuki books on it.
I used the ABRSM cds a lot for perparing for flute grade 5 & 7. I think I only had a very short rehearsal with a "live" accompanist & it was invaluable to know what the accompaniment was like, cues for entries, counting bars of rests. The one disadvantage for me was that the cd accompaniments were accurate & live accompaniments aren't always - so there would be places where I would be thinking that doesn't sound quite right

I've been very dissatisfied with the current Grade 6-8 flute CDs. They took over a year to release them, meaning that I had to learn and demonstrate all the high grade material without an accompaniment for the students to choose their exam pieces from. To date I have found an error on each of the Grade 7 and 8 Cds (an extra beat in the Mozart D major second movement, and a beat missing in the Martinu). Some of the Grade 6 accompaniments are impossible to use, as there is no allowance made for the flute entering first.

The accompaniments adhere to published metronome marks; where these are too fast for the average (or superhuman in the case of Tico Tico ) candidate I use audacity to slow them down.

I also use SmartMusic. Where the same accompaniment appears on both I tend to use SmartMusic because it is more flexible, and gives bar numbers. There is a reasonable amount of syllbus material for flute on there, but only one of my students has asked for a code to buy her own copy so far.

That is a problem. Apart from the fixed tempo, there is a bit in the Mozart Clarinet Concert where everything drops out, then the clarinet comes in alone, 2 beats before the accompaniment restarts. It's a beautiful interweaving done live, but with the CD you just have to guess, not good.

i only find them good to listen to. not to play along with.

and it doesn't have the list c ones on it either, which sometimes are the best pieces.