With so much choice on the singing exam lists, how do you choose which songs to pick for which student? Find out how I picked songs for three students, and why two worked, but one really didn’t!
There’s a distinct lack of female composers represented in the singing exam repertoire. Find out about two who are included and three who should be!
A long awaited update, but is the new ABRSM syllabus as good as anticipated? It’s a mixed bag.
I’ll be honest. I don’t like trying to find traditional songs! Ever since I read the ABRSM advice and heard about the poor examiner who had ten renditions of ‘Ten Green Bottles’ on one day, I am super keen to find something different or unusual for my students to sing. Read more…
NB: While reading this series, it can be helpful to keep a copy of the ABRSM Singing syllabus to hand. The syllabus can be downloaded here http://gb.abrsm.org/en/our-exams/singing/ In this series, we’ve talked about choosing repertoire, and we’ve looked at how to prepare the repertoire, and we’ve covered the supporting tests. Read more…
Grade 8 is the highest available graded instrumental exam. For parents and students alike, it can seem like a glowing light in the distance – a magical target that once achieved will bestow the mythical status of ‘musician’ on anyone who can reach it. Here are 8 myths about reaching Grade 8: Read more…
NB. The Information about the content of the aural tests is not in the singing syllabus, but instead can be found here: Aural tests are very easy to neglect. They are a small portion of the exam marks, and only take a few minutes at the end of the exam. Read more…
NB: While reading this series, it can be helpful to keep a copy of the ABRSM Singing syllabus to hand. The syllabus can be downloaded here Sight Singing. Two words that strike fear into the hearts of music students everywhere! I used to be really scared of this part of Read more…
NB: While reading this series, it can be helpful to keep a copy of the ABRSM Singing syllabus to hand. The syllabus can be downloaded here http://gb.abrsm.org/en/our-exams/singing/ The process of learning songs for performance is the subject of hundreds of books, blog posts, websites and conversations among singers. Obviously, this Read more…
NB: While reading this series, it can be helpful to keep a copy of the ABRSM Singing syllabus to hand. The syllabus can be downloaded here http://gb.abrsm.org/en/our-exams/singing/ Many years ago (I’m not sure how many) the ABRSM syllabus used to have scales and exercises for singers, just as they do Read more…