Hi all,
I am planning to sit for DipABRSM (teaching) next year.
For viva voce, I understand that there will be discussion on teaching approaches, from beginner level to Gd 6 levels.
1. Do I have to bring AB exam pieces books from Gd 1to Gd 6? (I will definitely bring Gd 6 and other teaching materials that I have)
2. In the preparation guide (page 8) "The examiners may also touch upon other ABRSM syllabus items for your instrument up to and including the specified level".
What do you mean by other ABRSM syllabus items? Is it referring to Aural, Scales and sight reading?
Thanks in advance,
PDelight
Full Version: Dabrsm Teaching
QUOTE(dcmbarton @ Sep 18 2009, 10:29 AM) 
QUOTE(cambiata @ Sep 18 2009, 09:59 AM)
I didn't take all the Grade books in to my exam. Only the Grade 6 requirement and all the non-exam stuff I use for teaching from scratch to Grade 6.
I took them all on the basis that I think the syllabus says you shoudl be familiar with the repertoire up to and including Grade 6 - I don't know whether I'd bother next time though!
Thanks all for useful infomation, I will probably bring them all too.
QUOTE(dcmbarton @ Sep 18 2009, 09:56 AM)
You may find this thread I wrote a couple of months ago useful http://www.abrsm.org/forum/index.php?showt...amp;hl=teaching but in answer to your specific questions.
1. I took them all as that's what I read into the syllabus, but I didn't use anything except Grade 6.
2. I took this to mean sight-reading, aural, scales etc. but also theory / practical musicianship etc.
David
Hi David,
Appreciate all your valuable input.
Understand that candidates should be familiar with the list from AB Grade 1 to 6 repertoire, I have no problem getting those which are printed in AB exam pieces books. What about those not included in the AB books? I mean A4, 5, 6 B4, 5, 6 and so on? Some of them are tough to find even I'm willing to buy. Shall I happen to buy score for every single piece since photocopy is not allowed?
And how well did you prepare for the rest of pieces apart from 3 pieces of what you chose from Grade 6 and other pieces from lower grades?
Same question as above. Did you cover those A4-6, B4-6, C4-6 for grade 1 to 5 too?
Many thanks
Delight
I've been finding this confusing too. I have a lot of old AB exam repertoire but not as much from the current syllabus. I have a lot of Trinity exam stuff too, so I know the grades it goes with. A lot is for violin, and I am taking my exam on viola but I am sure they will understand the crossover for small learners. It's dear enough to get each exam book when there is a published edition, but if you are on a minority instrument where each and every grade requires a minimum of 3 purchases to make up the 3 lists it gets very expensive very quickly. When someone is learning some of these books will be long-term investments anyway, but for a teacher to need to own each one is a bit excessive, I think. I can look at those lists and know how many of the pieces go, I don't really need them in my hand. I've taken a lot of the violin volumes out of my city library, they buy a complete set of AB stuff for one instrument each year, and it happens that they bought the violin syllabus this time around so I lucked out there.
I reckon so long as the examiner can see you've got a good broad selection of stuff they aren't going to be that fussy whether it is actually the current examined syllabus, but the trouble is you may get someone who takes it more literally and you have then failed to meet that requirement, so I feel like I have to take the stuff just to be sure.
Have a careful read, though, it does say that among the total of what you bring from beginner to grade 5 should be some current graded repertoire, so it doesn't mean you need to own something from each list for each grade, it means that you need to understand what sort of level you would put someone in for each grade prep-6 and what technical skills they need, e.g. for strings at what level does martele bowing appear, when do they first do spiccato techniques, harmonics and particularly position shifts. You can't put someone in for certain pieces in grade 3 violin till they can shift to 3rd position though it's much earlier for cello, so you need to know that around that sort of time in their general development that is the technical skill that will be the obstacle to the next part of progress. Then you need to know at what point that might appear in their sight reading, any new clefs which might appear in sight reading as the candidate progresses, e.g. treble for viola, tenor for cello.
PS. Obviously I haven't done mine yet!
I reckon so long as the examiner can see you've got a good broad selection of stuff they aren't going to be that fussy whether it is actually the current examined syllabus, but the trouble is you may get someone who takes it more literally and you have then failed to meet that requirement, so I feel like I have to take the stuff just to be sure.
Have a careful read, though, it does say that among the total of what you bring from beginner to grade 5 should be some current graded repertoire, so it doesn't mean you need to own something from each list for each grade, it means that you need to understand what sort of level you would put someone in for each grade prep-6 and what technical skills they need, e.g. for strings at what level does martele bowing appear, when do they first do spiccato techniques, harmonics and particularly position shifts. You can't put someone in for certain pieces in grade 3 violin till they can shift to 3rd position though it's much earlier for cello, so you need to know that around that sort of time in their general development that is the technical skill that will be the obstacle to the next part of progress. Then you need to know at what point that might appear in their sight reading, any new clefs which might appear in sight reading as the candidate progresses, e.g. treble for viola, tenor for cello.
PS. Obviously I haven't done mine yet!
QUOTE(dcmbarton @ Oct 23 2009, 11:05 AM)
QUOTE(PDelight @ Oct 23 2009, 10:59 AM)
Understand that candidates should be familiar with the list from AB Grade 1 to 6 repertoire, I have no problem getting those which are printed in AB exam pieces books. What about those not included in the AB books? I mean A4, 5, 6 B4, 5, 6 and so on? Some of them are tough to find even I'm willing to buy. Shall I happen to buy score for every single piece since photocopy is not allowed?
I took a few just in case I needed to show some alternatives (and to demonstrate that I do look beyond the exam books) but I didn't use them. It's certainly not a requirement as far as I'm aware.
QUOTE(PDelight @ Oct 23 2009, 10:59 AM)
And how well did you prepare for the rest of pieces apart from 3 pieces of what you chose from Grade 6 and other pieces from lower grades?
I guess that I had a good idea of what was there as I'd been teaching them anyway but honestly we didn't touch on any grades except 6.
QUOTE(PDelight @ Oct 23 2009, 10:59 AM)
Did you cover those A4-6, B4-6, C4-6 for grade 1 to 5 too?
No.
Thanks so much for quick and precise info!
QUOTE(RoseRodent @ Oct 23 2009, 12:17 PM)
I've been finding this confusing too. I have a lot of old AB exam repertoire but not as much from the current syllabus. I have a lot of Trinity exam stuff too, so I know the grades it goes with. A lot is for violin, and I am taking my exam on viola but I am sure they will understand the crossover for small learners. It's dear enough to get each exam book when there is a published edition, but if you are on a minority instrument where each and every grade requires a minimum of 3 purchases to make up the 3 lists it gets very expensive very quickly. When someone is learning some of these books will be long-term investments anyway, but for a teacher to need to own each one is a bit excessive, I think. I can look at those lists and know how many of the pieces go, I don't really need them in my hand. I've taken a lot of the violin volumes out of my city library, they buy a complete set of AB stuff for one instrument each year, and it happens that they bought the violin syllabus this time around so I lucked out there.
I reckon so long as the examiner can see you've got a good broad selection of stuff they aren't going to be that fussy whether it is actually the current examined syllabus, but the trouble is you may get someone who takes it more literally and you have then failed to meet that requirement, so I feel like I have to take the stuff just to be sure.
Have a careful read, though, it does say that among the total of what you bring from beginner to grade 5 should be some current graded repertoire, so it doesn't mean you need to own something from each list for each grade, it means that you need to understand what sort of level you would put someone in for each grade prep-6 and what technical skills they need, e.g. for strings at what level does martele bowing appear, when do they first do spiccato techniques, harmonics and particularly position shifts. You can't put someone in for certain pieces in grade 3 violin till they can shift to 3rd position though it's much earlier for cello, so you need to know that around that sort of time in their general development that is the technical skill that will be the obstacle to the next part of progress. Then you need to know at what point that might appear in their sight reading, any new clefs which might appear in sight reading as the candidate progresses, e.g. treble for viola, tenor for cello.
PS. Obviously I haven't done mine yet!
Thank you for your extensive discussion. I think I can borrow some from
local library too!. It's not possible to know all materials but we should be
able to adapt our knowledge to teach any of them. And that knowledge will
come from experience and learning as wider scope.
Have an enjoyable teaching career ahead!
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