I took a look at some of the materials for Practical Musicianship Grade 5, and thought they looked well balanced (as far as *I* am able to tell, which is not saying much).

Son isn't in an English-speaking education system, so there are no educational advantages for him in choosing one qualification over the other, but he is such an ears-person that he really needs to formalize what he knows. Stuff like the fact that notes are not only memorizable pitches, but that they have actual *names*, which a dedicated person might actually be able to remember for more than 24 hours at a stretch...

Any recommendations? I'm leaning towards practical musicianship, since he already thinks with his voice and his ears rather than in words. I heard his teacher telling him the order of items for the end of year orchestral concert program the other day...she didn't say "Albinoni, then Vivaldi, then Britten, then Bach, then...", she said "First we do "tra la la", then we do "la-di-da-de", then we do...". I held my head in my hands to think that after all these years, music for him is STILL 200% about the sounds, and only the sounds...all the rest is just so much fluff, and totally unworthy of his consideration, obviously!

I have found with my own pupils that those who have reasonably solid academic skills and approach to exams do best in the formal Theory testing. Those who are "ears" people fair much better at Practical Musicianship.

At the end of the day, both are (or should be) about understanding better how music is constructed.

If your son is an "ears" sort of person, he'll probably do better at PM but do ensure he also understands the basics of writing music.

I do both with all my students - just choosing an examination option as appropriate when they are ready/need to think about same.

Can someone tell me what practical musicianship is please?

The syllabus will be on the site somewhere under exams.

Oboist, thank you for your comments. I take your point on ensuring that son gains written music skills. Any advice on how to approach that ?

While PM sounds as if it would be the best approach for son, written music skills are a major goal (and the only reason why I would bother encouraging him to take an expensive foreign exam in his weaker language!). He has always loved to improvise/arrange harmonies for/compose his own music, but he is so slow in writing his music down that it is holding him back. His violin teacher last year allowed him to play his own composition for the end of year concert, but in the end he simply couldn't get it all on paper, and had to resort to a kind of improvisation on the frame that he had worked out - writing out every note for a 5-6 minute three-part piece by hand was just beyond him. His writing is not great in his schoolwork either, so he and kids like him sound like good candidates for the PM approach.

freda bloogs, the PM study guide "Musicianship in Practice" for Grade gives the exam topics as: 5A, Singing and Playing from Memory - first sing, then play a 4 bar melody, using your instrument of choice. 5B1 Transposing a 4 bar diatonic melody up or down a tone or semitone, instrument of your choice. Alternatively 5B2, Singing a Lower Part - candidate sightsing the lower part of a 4 bar melody as the examiner plays the upper part. 5C Interpreting at sight. Basically sightsinging or playing of an 8 bar melody, but with attention to dynamics and articulation as well as the nuts and bolts. 5D1 Improvising a Melody over Chord Patterns - improvise an extension to a melody with voice or instrument, over an accompaniment played by the examiner. Alternatively, 5D2 Improvising a keyboard accompaniment using the melody and chord symbols provided. You can play both melody and accompaniment, or examiner will play melody if you prefer. 5E Improvising Freely. Motif or interval provided by examiner, candidate to improvise with voice or instrument.

What is Practical Musicianship anyway??
Never tried it....

ABRSM Practical Musicianship web page

Thank you for your overview, although I did get up of my ar$e and try to find something out for myself before I'd read your post!