Board History

The examiners

ABRSM’s panel of examiners was originally drawn primarily from the teaching staff of the Royal Schools and from prominent members of public musical posts. The noted composers Sir George Dyson, Sir Arthur Somervell, Sir Frederick Bridge and Ralph Vaughan Williams all served as ABRSM examiners in the early twentieth century.

At a General Meeting of ABRSM in 1937, Sir Hugh Allen memorably described the somewhat demanding range of abilities needed to be a successful ABRSM examiner: “the technique, as far as I can see, of an Examiner of the Board would be compounded of a talent for simple arithmetic, an elastic vocabulary, a synthetic memory, a decent handwriting, an unwearied patience, a ready power of description, a gentle demeanour, a sense of justice, solicitude for the weak, a taste for logic, a golden voice and a bedside manner.”

The marking criteria that the examiners have needed to follow for graded examinations have remained remarkably consistent over the course of ABRSM’s history, as this quote from ABRSM’s 1948 history demonstrates:

“Candidates whose performances are found by the examiners to be up to standard receive certificates from the Board; above the level of a satisfactory “pass”, certificates of merit may be granted; and for really exceptional candidates, certificates of distinction. The Board does not, however, court popularity by multiplying awards and easy honours, and has consistently set its face against any award which might obscure the fact that a pupil in passing an examination has merely left behind one more milestone on the journey of musical progress.”