How to get a Distinction at ABRSM Pieces

EBook "How to get a Distinction at ABRSM" https://www.musiconline.org.uk/2019/...

In order to get a good mark on your pieces in ABRSM exam, it is not just a question of playing the right notes with the correct rhythm. It is probably good enough to pass at lower grades, but to get a distinction, your performance needs to stand out.

The dictionary definition of “distinction” is excellence that sets someone or something apart from others. There must also be a sense of involvement when playing, communicating the mood and style to the listener.

With this in mind, getting a good mark in an ABRSM exam starts right back with choosing your pieces. You should listen to the all the options and then choose the one that inspires you. You will play a piece you enjoy the most, better. When my students pick their pieces, I start by playing them the three options in the list. I then ask, “Which one did you like the best?”

Sometimes they will respond something like, “The first one looked the easiest”, to which I will point out that they are all as difficult as each other, only sometimes, to the less trained eye, the hidden difficulties may not be so apparent.

The next step, is not to start learning the notes, but to listen to other good performances of the piece. Makes notes on how others interpreted the piece, the shaping, phrasing, dynamics etc. You are a musician, an artist, NOT a technician.

YouTube has become a very popular resource for students to learn their exam pieces. However, there are a lot of very poor quality performances on the platform, particularly for pianists.
What compounds the problem, is that if you search on YouTube for a particular piece, invariably what comes up first in search, is a certain channel that has been around the longest and so has the most subscribers and hence, views. Being first in search, doesn’t make it the best.

You will NOT get a distinction by copying the performances of this popular channel.

... Indeed many of his performances, particularly at the higher grades, would barely scrape a pass, let alone get a distinction. If you do use YouTube, try to find performances that you find musically engaging.

To get a distinction in your pieces, a good place to look, would be at the official ABRSM marking criteria. The assessment is divided in 5 parts:
1.Pitch
2.Time
3.Tone
4.Shape
5.Performance

And I go into detailed analysis of each of these five elements in my ebook “How to get a distinction at ABRSM” https://www.musiconline.org.uk/2019/...

For example, if we take a look at the marking criteria for a distinction, phrases used in the official ABRSM mark scheme include, Expressive, musical Shaping; Vivid communication of character and style; Assured; Fully committed.

So, you have chosen your pieces, listened to other good quality performances. Now it comes to learning the notes and at this point, you should start slowly, observing all the musical details from day 1. Don’t ever play a piece faster than you can comfortably manage to observe all the musical elements, such as dynamics and articulation. Some may say, I’ll add the dynamics later. However, “later” is often a time when you have started to memorise and rarely look up at the music. You are running on autopilot and so if I suggested, “Oh make bar 8 forte”, it will disorientate your muscle memory so much that you might not even be able to play the notes.

Once you have learned your piece both musically and technically, you should be confident when going into the exam. Remember one of the marking criteria for a distinction was “Assured”. Go into the exam, believing in yourself, and when playing, you should have done enough preparation that you can even forget about the notes and ENJOY the performance. Yes that’s right I said “ENJOY” in the context of an exam. If you enjoy performing, the examiner will enjoy listening.

Now I have a little homework for you:

First of all write down the five elements of the marking criteria, that is, Pitch Time Tone Shape and Performance (and remember that I go into each of these elements in detail in my Ebook “How to get a distinction at ABRSM”).

Then listen to two performances of the same piece

   • ABRSM Piano 20192020 Grade 8 B:2 B2 ...  
   • Presto alla Tesdesca  Grade 8 ABRSM ...  
and finally come back to this video and leave a comment what you learned about the difference is between a pass and a distinction. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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