hello (me again)

can will all share what grades we are on or doing?? i'm studying for my grade 8. but it will be the first ABRSM exam i have done having passed my previous grades with guildhall. is there any difference??

anywayz, what pieces y'all doin for your exams??

see youz soon

jaime

Well i've completed grades on several instruments as well as theory but recently i started grades on the double bass for a laugh, presently preparing for grade 2. I'd love to get a few lessons but as you may know double bass players are scarce, teachers even harder to find, and if you can get hold of one you have to travel half way across the country for a lesson. Who is likely to do that with a double bas???

hi jaime

why aren't you doing your grade 8 with gulidhall?

Nat - why would Jaime want to go and do a thing like that?!!

How do Guildhall exams differ from ABRSM? I've not looked at them for a while...

well........

this is gonna sound sooo bad on an anrsm website.

the guildhall exam board is slightly harder to pass than ABRSM, the guildhall examiners are people that play the specific instrument that is being examined and the music is a little harder.

im such a cop out
lol

c y'all

jaime

fair enough!!

my head of music's house is a guilhall exam centre and he likes the fact that their examiners are specialist one's. he wa asked the other day to be a guildhall drum examiner.

So how do the boards rank in terms of "hardness"?

I always heard it said that TCL was easier than ABRSM, so would it be

1) Guildhall (hard)
2) ABRSM (standard)
3) TCL (easy)

??????????????????????????

Or are these just rumours and they're all the same?

Grade 5 trombone - awaiting results

About grade 6 standard though

If you are about G6 standard why have you just taken G5?

Because I wanted to do an exam and I wouldn't have had time to prepare for the grade 6 pieces properly. So I did grade 5 so that I have an official exam in it, it was the highest grade I could tackle in the shortest amount of time

right, that makes sense then. I'm assuming you haven't taken your G5 theory if it was the highest grade you could take?

What pieces did you play? My daughter took her G5 trombone last term and played Rondo, Let's Call the Whole Thing Off and Hillbilly.

I did grade 5 theory last year and am now working through grade 6, but it was a quick decision of "I want to do a grade and the entries need be sent off in a week". I didn't want to do grade 6 because it would have required more practice time, and time that I didn't have. Grade 5 was the easy option.

I played

Sonata in F by Teleman from Second Book of Trombone Solos
Blues for Bone by Gout from Going Solo
Hillbilly

What mark did your daughter get?

She got 117 which she (and I) was very pleased with because she has only been playing 15 months and is just 9.

She got 28, 29 and 28 for her pieces and then failed her scales as she hadn't spent enough time learning them - she learnt a valuable lesson really as I had warned her that at G5 you can't coast with your scales and learn them all in the last week (which is precisely what she tried to do!)

She also took her G3 baritone exam on the same day and she got a good merit for that.

Was your exam a special visit if you are are now waiting for the results?

Wow! That is really good since she has only been playing for 15 months and is only 9!

I also tried to learn my scales in the last week, well the day before, so I know I have failed that section. Yes my exam was a special visit at the local music centre, all the exams I do are special visit

Your daughter must be quite talented to get that far that quick. I have been playing for 7 years! Does your daughter have private lessons or lessons in school?

Did grade 8 last term, and got 127. I've also done exams on other instruments, but that's the only brass one. I started euphonium about a month ago and my teacher's already suggesting that I do grade 8 after a while!

Hi Ben

My daughter is largely self taught. She is supposed to have lessons with me (I am a brass teacher) but by my reckoning I have only ever given her about 6 lessons in the time she has been playing. I am of course available to help her with her practice but she has to ask me (and rarely does to be honest as it tends to work best if I give her a few ideas to think about before she starts and then leave her to it.)
She has had a few (3 or 4) lessons on a sort of "consultancy basis" from a very good friend of mine Brett Baker who is Principal Trombone of Black Dyke Mills Band and he gives her lots of good tips and stuff to work on. He emails her once in a while with some suggestions of what pieces to be working on which helps too as it isn't Mum always suggesting stuff!

I'm not sure if Rhiannon is "talented" but at the moment she very much enjoys her playing and seems to have a real thirst for it. She plays in North Monmouthshire Senior Wind Band (and is about 5 years younger than everyone else but they are great with her!), the National Children's Brass Band of Great Britain, Greater Gwent Intermediate Brass Band, Newport Music Centre Brass Band, Forest of Dean Area Wind Band and Lydbrook Training Band. Thankfully, only North Mon Senior Winds, Forest of Dean Area Winds and lydbrook training band meet weekly - the rest are once a month or once a year! If she gets fed up of it all and gives it all up at least she had a go.

Scales in a week (or even a day) really don't work too well do they???

All the best

K

She's very busy then

Luckily I did ok in my scales

These are my results

Telemann - 27
Blues for Bone - 28
Hillbilly - 28
Scales - 17
Sight Reading - 18
Aurals - 16

134 altogether






How are you finding the euphonium?

I just borrowed one from school today and having never played a valved instrument before it took be about an hour to learn all the notes. I can now read music without hesistating about which valves to press. I then got out some of my trombone grade 5 pieces and managed to play them with ease Luckily 2 of the pieces I played are on the grade 5 euph list so grade 5 euph soon? Maybe

yes - so am I as taxi!
Well done on your exam results Ben. Rhiannon plays the baritone too (euph is a bit big for her physically) and doesn't really practise it but seems to convert slide to valves relatively comfortably - she took her G3 on baritone last term (same day as the trom exam) and did very well. One of the pieces she played for her G4 trom the term before was also one of her G3 baritone pieces and she hated it on baritone because it didn't sound right! I was trying to persuade her to do G5 baritone as she could play "let's call the whole thing off" and "hillbily" but so far she has steadfastly refused saying they are more trombone pieces!

I might do grade 5 euph soon

I have 2 pieces in the bag and will probably try 'lets call the whole thing off'

I am still quite shocked how quickly I picked up the valves. I am using my trombone mouthpiece on the euph aswell so that makes things a whole lot easier

I didn't find the conversion to euphonium too difficult, no. Sadly, I've now decided to give it up so I can concentrate on other instruments.

I've got my grade 8 soprano cornet on 3rd April! So scared though... the pieces are all fine individually, but I really don't think I have the stamina to get through the exam (and I won't mention the aural!). It was now or never though as I'll have left school by the summer. This is actually my first exam on soprano, as all my others were on Bb. Sometimes I think I should have stuck to that for my grade 8 - it would have been so much easier. But then I would only have been playing it to get a grade 8, so it would be pointless. I suppose it will feel more of an achievement if I pass on soprano cornet, although I have doubts about passing at the moment!

Does anyone know if it is possible to find statistics on ABRSM exams showing how many people take which grades on which instruments? I'd be quite interested to see how many people take soprano cornet exams, as the syllabus is really biased towards the Bb instruments, and trying to play pieces for Bb cornet on soprano is a bit of a joke!

Hi Jamie

Got 141 for my Grade 8 Trumpet this term. Don't think I've ever been that pleased lol. Got 80 for grade 6 theory as well.

I did....

Ballet Suite - Tchaikovsky
Fanfare for the Common Man - Copland
Polka - Vizzutti

I have heard that the Guildhall exams are about 2 Grades below the ABRSM exams. Not sure if that is just a roumer though! What pieces are you doing and when are you taking the exam?

I wouldn't worry about there being a difference, because as long as you can play your pieces well
(+ scales/sight reading etc) then you should have nothing to worry about

There are differences in various bits of the exams between the exam boards, but I whoever told you "two grades" was almost certainly (I ain't a trumpeter but...) talking total rubbish. T'ain't the case for other instruments so no reason why it should be for trumpet.

Well yeah that did seem a lot to me too! But I would say, because all/most the music colleges ask for grade whatever on ABRSM, thats probably the better standard. Possibly not by a huge difference, but why would they all ask for the same board? and why would they go for possibly a lower standard in Guildhall (not too sure if guildhall is lower though lol)

Any thoughts?