Hello everyone

I was just mulling over the concert, and over how much people enjoyed duetting/ensembles, and I remembered that the AB is now offering ensemble exams.

Has anyone taken one? Or put pupils in for one? What was it like?

Cheers

Katyjay

Hi Katyjay
My son, Daniel, took an advanced ensemble exam last year (post grade 8). He was in a string quartet group and they played Schubert and Borodin. For this ensemble the teacher gets permission for the programme I believe. The programme was about 25 minutes - quite challenging. As usual with the Associated Board the examiner was a generalist so they went in at the end of the day under the normal timetabling arrangements. The report was quite comprehensive. The marking (at least for their ensemble) is quite different.

A an outstanding performance with little reservation
B a very good performance but with some reservation
C a competent performance but with significant reservation
F failure to reach the standard required to pass.

They can add + and - to these grades.

The examiner marks with particular reference to 'technical competence (including ensemble, balance and intonation), texture,(including unanimity of outlook, detail, contrast and blend) and interpretation.

I am not a great believer in generalists - especially at the higher grades. I have even more concerns with ensemble exams. However in this case the examiner made some pertinent comments.

I think ensemble playing is fantastic and this sort of exam provides a great goal.
As a child I also entered duet exams with my identical twin sister. I loved them. It always seemed so much more fun than a usual exam. I would certainly recommend them. In fact I am hoping to enter a piano trio soonish.

It was great to meet you yesterday. Lovely voice and wonderful delivery!

One of my sons did one as part of a quartet at Junior RNCM and they all quite enjoyed it. Not sure it made them do anything differently to what they normally did though.......

I tend to use festivals instead for ensembles. Cheaper! And face-to-face feedback rather than an impersonal report weeks later.

I do find the lists of suggested repertoire useful.

Thank you both for the information. I must admit I hadn't thought of festivals (do they do ensemble classes for oldies, I wonder?) but had thought the ensemble exams might provide an incentive to get people playing together.

Margaret - it was great to meet you yesterday. Thank you for the superb accompaniments.

Cheers

Katyjay

I think Cheeble did an ensemble exam with Trinity.

Ensemble exams are actually really fun. I sat an advanced piano duet exam recently with my duet partner and we had the best time. I did it with LCM but as far as exams go, it wasn't nerveracking at all and we could share our excitement when we passed

Ensemble exams sound great! Would like to convince my piano teacher/accompanist/friend at some point to do one with me!

I don't really understand the reservation thing though... What does that actually mean?? Maybe I'm just being a bit dim...

Katyjay, Woking Festival has ensemble classes. There are open classes, so players of any age can enter. Some of the Guildford SRP members get together each year to do the Recorder Ensemble class. Woking is also very beginner-friendly, having age-related beginner (noy more than 4 terms' tuition) classes for piano, woodwind and strings, which each include an over 21 section. They have lots of opportunities for voice as well. They also have an over 50s piano class, which I'm going to enter this year.

The festival is held in November, but entries have to be in by 30 September. You can change your mind about the piece you are going to play if you are unsure at the moment.

The website address is here , but the site is out of date - last year's information, and an entry form for 2002. The contact names are still current, though. Must let them know!

Thanks for the informaton, Supea.

Cheers

Katyjay

Most festivals with instrumental classes have one for chamber music. I recall a very good specification (from Bedford, IIRC) for an open chamber music class:

"Any combination of 3 to 8 instruments; own choice of repertoire; time limit 15 minutes."

Popular ensembles that fall into this are piano or string trio, string quartet and quintet, wind octet (all with substantial repertoires with a good range of difficulty), mixed septets (e.g. Beethoven) and octets (e.g. Schubert).

Short time limits (e.g. Beckenham set 5 minutes) are a problem if you are tackling major repertoire, because many first and slow movements from Classical works are longer than this. Romantic repertoire is more variable, but movements are mostly even longer.

Bournemouth had a family class, that allowed professional players on less common instruments, e.g. viola in a string quartet, where the offspring played violins.

Adult ensembles have not to mind not winning open chamber music classes. They are often won by talented teenagers, not yet at music college.

I noticed something that I found really odd when looking at the suggested pieces on the syllabus for ensemble exams.

The intermediate class is described as being for players of approx. grade 6-7 standard... two of the suggested mordern pieces on the list for flute and piano are the Faure Sicilienne and the complete Godard Suite de Trois Morceaux.

I don't play the piano well enough to compare the piano parts, but for the flute, the Faure is a current grade 5 piece I think, whereas the Godard has movements at approx grade 6, grade 7, and one that (without actually having tried it, just seen it) looks really hard!

Seems a weird set of alternatives, the Godard is longer and seems, to me at least, way harder...

Yes, the Godard suite de trois moreceaux has the Allegretto which is about grade 6, the idylle which is about grade 7, and the waltz, which is about grade 8.

I thought the waltz looked hard!

She did a piano trio

I've noticed that about the Woking Festival website as well. I've been checking back every couple of weeks. Is the new syllabus out in printed form, do you know?

It's been out in printed form for some time - available from music shops local to Woking or from the organisers. The closing date is today, so I'm afraid you've missed it for this year.

Oh, bother. I wish they'd kept the website up-to-date. The music shops I go to are a bit out of the area for Woking.