This post is aimed directly at the ABRSM moderators. When are we going to see the higher grades for the jazz syllabus? Any ideas C Morris?

Also what about the suggestions i have made to clarify the following-

Use of mutes
Cornet/Flugel horn alternatives for trumpet
Including Guitar in syllabus.

Hope you get chance to respond to these questions Christine.

Regards Andrew.

Dear Andrew,

Thanks for your questions. Unfortunately I don't have all the answers - but I will bring this query to the attention of our Syllabus Principal upon his return to the office on Monday. He's currently abroad at an international conference where he's one of their keynote speakers.

With regard to including Guitar in the jazz syllabus, I know that it's definitely under consideration, however we've had a lot of requests for Jazz Flute and I believe that it will be the next instrument to be added to the jazz syllabus. I'll try to get a better idea of the timetable for adding more jazz instruments if I can.

Can I also take this opportunity to add that I have noted your previous questions about the addition of jazz violin, jazz bass and the extension of the jazz syllabus to cover Grades 6 - 8. I'll put these questions to our syllabus department too. Sorry not to be of more immediate help - but I've got my super sleuth hat on now.

Watch this space!

Best regards

Christine Morris
Forums Administration

Dear All,

Thank you for your queries regarding the Jazz syllabus and instruments available. Please see below for responses to your queries.

I'm delighted to be able to say that the next instrument to appear on the Jazz syllabus will be Jazz flute. It's target publication date is January 2006, so that Jazz flute syllabus will hopefully be available for UK Period A exams in 2006 and realistically thereafter internationally.

As I'm sure you all appreciate we get several requests from guitar, bowed strings and rhythm section players asking when these instruments will be added to the jazz syllabus. We also get requests to extend the syllabus for the jazz instruments we already cater for to Grades 6, 7 and 8. We are currently debating which of these should take priority and as yet haven't come to a firm conclusion - however, all feedback and requests that we receive have been noted and will help aid our decision.

Just to give you an insight into what's involved in creating a jazz sylllabus - all the pieces in the Jazz syllabus must be commissioned, composed and edited to strict criteria and guidelines. They must then be moderated to ensure fairness of level and then submitted for accreditation.

Production of the syllabus and accompanying publications all takes a minimum of 3 years - so realistically, there are unlikely to be any further additions to the jazz syllabus - in terms of Grades or instruments - for at least five years (with the exception of jazz flute of course in 2006). Sorry if that's a disappointment to you!

Andrew - in response to your queries - the use of mutes in jazz exams is completely optional. You'll find that where mutes are suggested in a tune it is always pointed out that this is at the candidate's discretion.

With regard to cornet/flugelhorn alternatives to trumpet - did you mean repertoire/material? If so, I'm happy to say that it's not needed as the trumpet material does very nicely for its cousins too.

I hope that this answers all your queries. If you have any further comments to make or unresolved questions, please contact our Examinations Department at the Associated Board. They will be happy to offer guidance.

Best regards

Christine Morris
Forums Administration

Odd to ask, I know, but has there been a press release on the Flute Syllabus' release in 2006?

QUOTE (CMORRIS @ Jul 15 2004, 12:04 PM)

With regard to cornet/flugelhorn alternatives to trumpet - did you mean repertoire/material? If so, I'm happy to say that it's not needed as the trumpet material does very nicely for its cousins too. Best regards Christine Morris Forums Administration

Looks like we are going to have a bit of a wait on our hands before we see the guitar on the jazz syllabus but its nice to hear the ABRSM are in the process of discussing it as well as other instruments.

Regarding my other query, some of the songs on the present trumpet syllabus whilst playable for trumpet lend themselves very well to the cornet i.e the Dixieland numbers, or smoother style pieces would work very well on flugel horn. I think it would be nice if trumpet players had the same option to play these peices on an alternative member of the trumpet family as do the saxophone players.

Thatnks for responding, Christine. One thing I can't quite understand, unless it's a problem of finances, is why aren't you developing the jazz syllabuses for different instruments simultaneously rather than consecutively?

Ie why not develop a flute and a violin syllabus at the same time? Surely you'd need different people to research and write both? It can only be money, so are the AB really that strapped for cash?

Five years away for a jazz violin syllabus isn't as bad as the ten years I was originally told (!) but it's still a bit disheartening. And personally speaking, I'm not getting any younger and none are any of my pupils, and a lot of them will be practically grown up by the time the thing comes out. Sigh.

Oh well.

Violinia

Hello again,

In response to your queries David and Tenorclef -

There has been no press release about the Jazz Flute syllabus yet. Rather than send out a general one at the moment, we're waiting until nearer the time - for 2 reasons really. Firstly - if we put out publicity in 2004 about a syllabus that's going to be ready for 2006, people will probably forget and we'd just have to repeat it again. Also, it's a bit of an anti-climax for those people who are excited about the prospect of Jazz Flute to have to hang around for a year to get their hands on the syllabus and the music.

Secondly, we can be much more precise about launch dates and dates when jazz publications for the flute will be available nearer the time - giving you more detailed information than we can at the moment.

But don't worry - we certainly will be publicising the Jazz Flute syllabus nearer the time!

TenorClef - just to clarify the point we made about cornet/flugelhorn for yourself and the other people who've been in touch about it. While it's true that the trumpet jazz repertoire works well for the cornet and flugelhorn - the jazz trumpet exams can only be taken on the trumpet.

There's many reasons behind this - some of them administrative (adding any new instruments always involves technical, database and software changes here at the Board). We'd also have to ensure that the pieces were of an appropriate range and level for cornet and flugelhorn so that the standards required of all candidates are fair and consistent - so some official cross-moderation would be needed.

Also - we're still looking at feedback from current jazz candidates on the jazz horns syllabus - which was only launched a year ago. When creating a new assessment such as jazz horns - there's always an evaluation process afterwards, just to make sure that the structure and repertoire are working out OK. It makes sense for us to be cautious and to make sure we identify and tackle any issues that arise with this relatively new syllabus before rushing headlong into expanding it to encompass any further instruments - so there's some 'bedding in' time needed.

I hope that this goes some way to helping you understand the issues behind syllabus development. However - to end on a more upbeat note - our Director of Examinations has been following this discussion topic with interest and has said he will give it serious consideration. Can't say better than that!

Best regards

Christine Morris
Forums Administration

Hi Violina,

Just seen your posting - it must have gone up while I was responding.

I do understand your frustrations - and thanks for letting us know your views. This is really encouraging for our syllabus and exams teams who are working very hard on future jazz syllabus development. It's great to see such enthusiasm for Jazz and knowing what our teachers and students want really helps us to focus our planning for the future.

I hope that some of the insight I gave you into syllabus development (see above) helps to answer your query.

I'd also like to mention the training of examiners - which is another major factor. The examiners for AB jazz exams are jazz specialists - not the same examiners as are used for Graded Exams. They're also instrumental specialists. So in addition to developing a syllabus - which is a task and a half in itself - our Examinations department have to make sure that the Examinations process (and the moderation process that goes on afterwards) is in place before we bring the exams to you. We've got to identify the examination criteria, find the experts, train them etc - there's quite a lot of detailed work involved.

Maintaining and seeking to improve the standards that we already have is of the utmost importance to us. Not only does this mean that you receive better products and service from us at the end of the day, it also means that you can be confident that any exams you do take are recognised and government accredited qualifications - something really worth working towards and having.

So - again, we're really sorry to disappoint you and others who are keen to have jazz exams available for your instruments - but please be assured that we are working on it. We will do our best to keep you all up to date on any new developments.

Best regards

Christine Morris
Forums Administration

Well i guess working on the basis of covering 1 jazz grade exam a year with my present students, this should hopefully mean the higher grades will be available then. I'll have to wait and see.

Don't know why i did think of this earlier, but i have two trombone students which don't do the normal thing. One plays valve trombone and the other reads treble clef (brass band league!) Both are keen to try the jazz grades, so here the thing....is valve trombone allowable, can the parts for trombone be re-written out for treble clef readers? Questions, questions, questions.

Oh please please please, can we have jazz singing?

Please?

singingsiren
xx

I am glad that this topic has been brought up. I am aware of several recent succesful Jazz Grade 5 pupils who do not know where to go now.

Jazz Grades 6 - 8 are needed in order to bring the expectations of pupils AND those who use the AB as a reasonable metric of ability. Pupils obtain the Grade 5 but have nowhere to go after that, unless they revert to the classical syllabus. There does not seem to have been a "final strategy" to the introduction of the Jazz syllabus. A pupil with a Grade 5 Jazz certificate will not be cnsidered alongside a Grade 8 pianist. Where can the Grade 5 Jazz pianist go ?. There must be Grades 6- 8 introduced soon, or else the reason for the introduction of the system will be lost. YEs, there are difficulties in the establishment of any course, but please MAKE the decision to go ahead, and then worry about how to introduce it.

Paul Anderson

It's all very well you going on about wanting higher grades for jazz pianists but please spare a thought for the violinists and other string players who don't have any jazz exams at all and nothing in the forseeable future either, or at least for the next several years or so. At least you've got some, and after that you can encourage your pupils to go on to university and do a jazz degree if they're really inetrested.

At my local university there are violin-playing music students who would love to do an upcoming jazz module but can't because they've had no previous experience of jazz. If there were jazz exams there'd be far more teachers teaching jazz violin; at the moment there are hardly any, and consequently there are very few violinists out there who can improvise at all. It's a sorry state of affairs, which I'm trying to rectify by teaching jazz violin as and where I can, and trying to keep my pupils inspired to carry on without exams to help motivate them.

Violinia

2006 for jazz flute, I'll have to look out for that...

But by then I'll be (hopefully) off to uni, and not taken any music exams for 2 years and without a teacher, and theres no way I could enter myself for a jazz exam~ I just don't know enough about jazz to manage it!

Still, I guess its worth bearing in mind.

Deleted repeated message.

Why does it do that sometimes...

QUOTE (panderson @ Aug 17 2004, 04:12 PM)

There does not seem to have been a "final strategy" to the introduction of the Jazz syllabus. A pupil with a Grade 5 Jazz certificate will not be cnsidered alongside a Grade 8 pianist. Where can the Grade 5 Jazz pianist go ?. There must be Grades 6- 8 introduced soon, or else the reason for the introduction of the system will be lost. Paul Anderson

Good point Paul, those who have gone to the trouble of developing the art and discipline of the jazz syllabus may find it hard to then revert to a classical approach and why should they? Other examing boards have already got themselves organised to cater for not only jazz grade 8 but popular music too. Some examining boards have even gone further and recognised the art and value of contemporary musical instruments such as the bass guitar, electric guitar, keyboards and modern singing.

Hey ABRSM catch up or you'll keep falling behind!

I agree with singingsiren:


I would love to see Jazz singing grades, are there any plans to introduce these in the future, or perhaps include more jazz options in the current singing syllabus?

xxFlame7

A jazz violin syllabus would be wonderful, Please ABRSM do take note.

It doesn't sound as if there'll be a jazz violin syllabus for years. However, I'm giving an increasing number of jazz violin lessons and workshops, so anybody living in the West Country and interested in giving it a go, let me know!

I took a small workshop yesterday (2 violins and a cello) for an hour and a half yesterday and by the end, they were all jamming away in the jazz language and playing really convincing jazz. Two of them had had some experience of improvisation, but none of them were jazzers. All 3 worked hard and really achieved something. I also give individual jazz violin/viola/cello lessons.

My jazz pupils all report how refreshing they find it to break away from the printed page and play from what's inside them (within the jazz context). Without the goal of exams they're all still motivated to practise, as they're all aiming to play in bands as soon as they feel ready enough.

Violinia

QUOTE (Violinia @ Apr 25 2005, 06:51 PM)

It doesn't sound as if there'll be a jazz violin syllabus for years. However, I'm giving an increasing number of jazz violin lessons and workshops, so anybody living in the West Country and interested in giving it a go, let me know!

One of these days when I have money and transport, I'll definitely think about taking you up on that... probably on the viola though, I just will never have the confidence on the violin I think!

Go for it, Sarah! I gave four jazz violin lessons on Monday alone - it seems to be talking off all of a sudden...

Do you find viola easier than the violin, by the way?

Violinia

I have more confidence on the viola, because it's lower... I'm not one for standing out I adore the sound of the violin but my technique could use some help... Viola bowing I find easier, you can really give it some welly without risking sounding horrible I find... I have always liked the lower richer sound as well. I find some keys are harder to play in on the viola, especially sharper keys (in my limited experience!) and I struggle a little when it changes clef - as a long time flautist and violinist, leger lines hold no fear, a new clef however is tough! (interestingly I know a lady who's a cellist with the ESO and CBSO who I had that conversation with, and she said new clefs are no problem to her, but she struggles with leger lines when she has to play the piano - more than a couple and she's like "woah!") But generally I think I am more confident that I'm going to sound OK, so I play better - I'd probably be a far better violinist if I had confidence in my ability on it! I know that when I first had viola lessons my confidence in my violin playing increased significantly... I've probably played more in exposed parts and chamber music on the viola, too, for various reasons, even though orchestrally I've far more experience on the violin, so I expect that is part of it - ended up playing with a bunch of diploma students in a quintet at one point, talk about incentive to improve FAST... Plus I just find the viola is interesting to play and makes a nice change different enough to be a challenge and be something very definitely different, similar enough that I didn't have to start absolutely from scratch.

.... I guess you caught me in a talkative frame of mind...

Anyways... don't hold your breath, I have to find transport, money, time, and a viola first! Hehe, maybe I'll somehow con my friend who was at your workshop at the university into learning jazz violin...