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What's Wrong With The AMEB? Answer: almost nothing...
The AMEB (The Australian Music Examinations Board) does a superb task of administering many thousands of exams across Australia each year, in everything from Contemporary Guitar, to Speech, and of course, Piano. For many students they offer an excellent syllabus, with exams run in good facilities, by highly qualified examiners. Our exams are NOT intended as a replacement for the AMEB. Students wishing to become professional musicians should continue to pursue studies with the AMEB (or perhaps Trinity or ABRSM, which have a broader syllabus scope, and far more international recognition). Our goal is to promote true musicianship, the highest standards of technical skill, and enjoyment in those that do not wish to pursue music as a primary career choice.
So why offer an alternative?. The AMEB themselves realized that there were difficulties with their exams nearly 20 years ago. The number of students continuing on to do Grades 5 and above was quite a bit less than started off at Preliminary Grade. Some of this was due to natural attrition (children who didn't want to practise...), and some was due to the pressures of school (the pressure of the School Certificate and the HSC cause some students to stop piano lessons and concentrate on Maths and English).
However, much of the problem was of their own making... Here is a table outlining the requirements for a Second Grade Pianoforte student in 1987, compared to Trinity exams (recognized world-wide):
Let's add it up:
Well, be honest: which exam would you do? And the disparity only grew larger at higher grades. As a result, many students switched to these other exams. To see an extensive comparison of exams, click HERE.
It is worth pointing out that many of the world's greatest pianists have done the Trinity method (and more than a few AMEB examiners - see their handbook, you'll be surprised - possibly as many as 40% of AMEB piano examiners are Trinity graduates). Look for the letters TCL or ATCL (Associate of Trinity College London)...
The Problem For Students Even those that WANTED to do the exams had difficulties. By the time students were doing Grade 8 piano, they were often also doing their HSC. So on top of all that study for Maths, English and Science, the AMEB expected them to do: C, D, E, G-flat, A-flat and B-flat scales, as follows: Arpeggios of all the above: major, minor, dominant 7ths (in root position and inversions), diminished 7ths (in root position and inversions) This equates to 139 distinct scales!!! And of course, that doesn't include the pieces... Meanwhile, Trinity students only had to do 16 technical elements and THREE pieces. The situation in 2007 has improved slightly, but not by much.
What's The "Extra List"? Beside having to learn four pieces that you WILL be examined on, the AMEB also requires that you learn some additional pieces, called Extra List pieces. You MIGHT be examined on these (but then again, you might not...) In other words, students must spend a substantial amount of time learning pieces that they might not be asked to play or even look at during the actual AMEB exam. This time could probably have been spent far more productively studying other, more musically important things (such as composition, chords, improvizing, music history etc). The AMEB are fairly unique in this respect - Trinity, AGMS, and ANZCA don't ask students to do this. During the late 90's, the AMEB did away with the extra list, instead having a List E. This encouraged students to do jazz pieces, and to look at chords (and chord substitutions), as well as improvization. It was a very good system - but it only lasted a few years...
The AMEB Solution The wonderful solution from the AMEB was to create the Piano For Leisure syllabus. In typical fashion, this excellent syllabus took years for all of the states to ratify (and to this day, some teachers still treat it as a lesser cousin to the 'real' exams). The Piano For Leisure syllabus STILL has technical requirements similar to most of the world's major exams. Fortunately, students only have to do THREE pieces. The scales are the same as the standard AMEB exams, at the same higher-than-world-standard speed (there's just fewer of them). There is NO disadvantage for students doing these exams (to the contrary, investing so much time in questionable technical work takes time away from learning to compose or improvise, both key elements of most learning systems). Parents are often under the impression that their child won't be as good a musician if they don't do the old AMEB syllabus. However, the facts prove otherwise: click HERE to see a chart comparing the major exam systems and their requirements.
The Bad Side-Effect In order to make the standard syllabus more attractive, the AMEB lowered the number of scales, as well as the required tempo. But they also removed all the triads, and changed the General Knowledge requirements. Furthermore, they didn't update the theory component significantly (you still had to memorize nursery rhymes; you didn't need to be able to play a leadsheet). They also removed the excellent List E, and returned to the dubious Extra List system. As a result of this and other reasons, Departments of Education around the country began to remove or limit recognition of the AMEB exams (for example, in NSW you could no longer use them for your HSC).
Trinity still has worldwide recognition, and is also recognized by many Australian schools and Universities. The ABRSM is also recognized world-wide. This is why you will find so many professional classical musicians have the letters ATCL rather than A.Mus.A Click HERE for details of International Recognition.
So, why the alternative? Well, the Piano For Leisure (PFL) syllabus gives students more flexibility, but it misses out on some key musical issues.
Genres The standard AMEB exams make students select pieces from Lists, each list representing a different period or skill (e.g. Studies, Baroque, Classical, Romantic, 20th Century). This is a good idea. The PFL simply allows students to choose two pieces from a list of about 30, and a 3rd piece from anywhere else. Students could therefore avoid technically demanding studies, or even the need to do any kind of classical piece. With AIM Exams, students must choose one study (and it can be a jazz study); and one 'classical' piece. The other two pieces can be their own choice from an extensive list.
The exam itself... AMEB Exams necessarily suffer from being short, testing the students ability to do an exam, rather than testing how well they have learned their music. These exams can often be daunting to younger students, and to adults. The AIME philosophy is to deduct marks for errors, but allow a student a chance to regroup and do the best they can.
The Report The AMEB report will comment briefly on each area, but not give a mark. Only an overall final grade (A,B,C etc) is given. Students often find it far more rewarding to learn how they went for each individual task. Teachers can also use the extra detail to enhance their students development.
Musicianship By developing skills such as chords, leadsheet reading, and improvization, students can more fully develop their potential.
Affordability By making the syllabus FREE, by making backings and support material FREE, by making many pieces of sheet music FREE, and by keeping the prices of the actual exams low, we can make music more affordable for everyone!
Encouragement All students like to be encouraged! By doing the exams in familiar surroundings, students feel more relaxed. The ability to make a mistake and not lose all your marks helps prevent panic! And the beautiful, framed certificates make students proud of their accomplishments. A little flexibility and praise can go a long way to build the confidence of, well, everyone!
You can read more about our services and philosophy here: ©2007 Australian Independent Music Examinations. The use of images, text, music scores, backings or acrobat files without permission is illegal. Material noted as 'free to download' cannot be used for commercial purposes. Equipment & courses offered may vary without notice. Views
expressed in this newsletter are opinions only.
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