Hi, I need advice from everyone here, especially who have had dipABRSM, but if u just will to take the exam, or if u dont take the exam.
I'd like to know how important to analyze our score in detail, how detail n depth we should analyze it, does the examiner ask about that?? What is commonly asked with viva voce?
Do they ask such as what is melody, form, harmony, etc??
Need your help please!!!
Thanks for your attention

Hi sania

I have not taken the exam, but I did see in the DVD for the diploma, the examiner said they are looking for an individual approach to performance of that piece, rather than too much biographical information. So clearly they want good detail on the piece itself. Do you have the guide for programme notes by Nigel Scaife. It should come with the syllabus, and shows what detail is acceptable and what is not. The other consideration is word count. 1100 I think for diploma, so you don't want to much on every piece.

Although you may not have to write too much in your programme notes be aware that they can ask you anything in the viva (well pretty much...) so you need to be prepared. They may ask things like where does the recapitulation start in this sonata or what is the exposition of a fugue etc. so you do need to know about form and so on, preferably with reference to your pieces (otherwise it looks like you've just parrot-fashion learnt it and not actually understood to find out in your pieces).

You cannot know your recital programme too thoroughly. Detailed analysis will be a huge benefit even if you go far beyond what is needed for the diploma.

The deeper your analysis goes, the greater will be your understanding of the music and the more informed your performance will be. 'Getting under the skin' of the music is the purpose of analysis for a performer.

I have taken the exam. I agree with Steve - but would add that once you have a good understanding of the pieces separately, spend a little time to compare your analyses for each piece. For example I played Scarlatti sonatas and a Chopin Nocturne - both had a range of modulations, but with Scarlatti it was pretty much kept to the dominant, whereas Chopin wandered all over the place. Likewise for piano you might consider what the approach to pedalling is for each. That's of course the basic stuff, but not the sort of thing you want to be figuring out on the fly. You should also have some opinion on the edition of the piece that you're using - is it considered a faithful copy - has there been a lot of editorial interference?
Make sure you have a good overview of what else each composer wrote (chiefly for the instrument you're using, but you should know whether they also wrote orchestral or other instrumental works) - that sometimes comes up.
The biographical information should really only make it into your programme notes if it's somehow relevant to the way that they wrote music else you'll find that you chew up the word allowance far too quickly!