Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Piano Teachers Forum Piano Exams: RCM vs ABRSM vs CM

Chris H - you are right - you can pretty beat the ABRSM exam with some effort on the 3 pieces and scales and arpegios.

And i'm with you on this one - annzboyy - one could easily spend an entire lesson on the scales and arpegios of ABRSM.

With the other boards though, beating the pass mark requires NO effort at all!!!!

starsea - in your first post you said you didn't want to offend anyone. I will take you at your word, however, I was offended when you said that "with the other boards though, beating the pass mark requires NO effort at all!!!!" I would take issue with your other broad sweeping statements of our students in the USA and the structure here, but I will focus on your last statement due to my many time constraints.

Please explain your criteria and from what country you came from, i.e. the curriculum, structure, mode of discipline, etc. . It sounds like your home country may have had much stricter guidelines than the USA - for good or not.

I came from Singapore ..when i mentioned ""passing other boards requires no effort at all" - i meant after going through the rigorous training of ABRSM-most students can cake-walk pieces of other boards .... playing at ABRSM's sight-reading level would still guarantee a pass at other boards exams

Well, I'm only really familiar with RCM, so I'll touch on a few points that have been mentioned. Someone said that gr. 5 ABRSM is equivalent to gr. 2 RCM. This might be true, but let me clarify. RCM has 10 "practical" grades and then diploma level, but only 5 "theory" grades. Meaning, you don't do gr. 2 theory with RCM until you are doing about gr. 8 pieces. They hold off on the theory until about gr. 6. Then they hit you with it big time in grades 9, 10, and ARCT (diploma). Theory grades 1 - 2 is basic key signature, transpostion, intervals, ect. Grade 3 theory (paired up with grade 9 practical) introduces harmony and history. (Actually, there is an introduction to harmony paired with grade 8, but it's optional). Grade 10 practical is paired with grade 4 theory, which continues harmony and history. Then in ARCT all of a sudden, you need to finish harmony, and history, learn counterpoint, and analysis.

RCM grade 10 and up is considered "audition" level for colleges and universities.

Over the course of grades 1 - 8 you learn scales, chords, and arpeggios in almost every key, and grade 9 is the first grade that you have to be prepared to play any technical requirement in any key for them. Grade 10 adds scales in 3rds and 6ths. There is a minimum tempo required that increased with each grade.

They publish books that have a good selection of exam pieces in them, but you can use any piece out of the syllabus. The more advanced the grade, the more choices. There are hundreds of choices for ARCT. Most Beethoven Sonatas, most Chopin Nocturnes, ect.

You need to play your pieces memorized in the exam for full marks, and automatically fail in ARCT if you use the music. Grades 1 - 9 have marks alloted for memory. Grade 10 just takes marks off your pieces if they aren't memorized. And for a performer's ARCT, you simply fail if you don't memorize.

You need to usually do 3 pieces and 1 or 2 studies for each of the earlier grades. Grade 8 is four pieces and 2 studies - so is grade 9. Grade ten is 5 pieces, and 2 studies. Performer's ARCT is 5 pieces and one Etude. A piece from each era - Baroque, Classical, Romantic, Early 20th century, and Late 20th Century. A classical piece is usually a Sonatina or such for grades 1 - 7 ish. A movement from a sonata for grade 8 and 9. Two or possibly 3 movements for grade 10 (usually just 2, though). And a whole sonata for grade 9.

RCM differs from ABRSM in that the pieces in each grade do not overlap. Meaning, you will not find a ARCT piece in the grade 10 syllabus and visa versa. The standard of playing increases, and so does the difficulty of the repertoire. I am led to understand that there is some overlap in ABRSM with various pieces.

ARCT performers (as opposed to teachers) only has pieces and the etude. No technique, sight reading, sight clapping, or ear tests. Yipee! Teacher's ARCT sure does though!

Examples:

Fur Elise = gr. 7
Chopin nocturnes start in gr. 9
Debussy's Girl with Flaxen hair = gr. 9
Pathetique sonata (middle movement and either first or third) = gr. 10
Ranging in difficulty from say Moonlight Sonata (all movements) to Hammerklavier = ARCT. I know. It's insane. Nobody would pick the Hammerklavier anyway because you need to keep it under an hour. Why they even put that on there is beyond me. But as you can see, there is a large range. Another example would be Debussy's Sunken Cathedral to say Chopin's Ballades and Scherzos. So you can take your pick for where you are at musically and technically.

I was going to comment on the RCM Grade 2 Theory = ABRSM 5 statement, given lagin's post about the content of RCM G2 - my initial thought was "No way, AB G5 was much harder than that".

However, looking at the syllabus on the AB's website, the requirement to harmonize a given phrase (probably one of the harder tests) seems to have been removed/shuffled to grade 6.

Given that it's been about 15 years since I took that exam, am I simply making it up, or has the syllabus become easier? I wonder if someone that's been teaching a long time can respond.

Also, re an earlier post about the A,B and C selections in the Associated Board syllabus - as a child, it was always the contemporary piece that I struggled to "get" and as a result, scored lower on this piece - I was quite happy rattling out Mozart and Scarlatti.

Finally (and this experience is purely as a student of several instruments, not as a teacher (I guess I shouldn't even be in here)), I found Trinity College exams significantly easier than AB. Guildhall I found to be much on a par with AB, but their "Practical Musicianship" option was more suited to me than standard aural tests. Whether it was easier is another matter.

Ramble over.

LoFi, I think you are right, the standard of AB exams has dropped over the years. When I took my grade 8 many years ago I had to play an entire classical sonata. Now you only need to play one movement.

Regarding the G5 theory. I think this exam covers the rudiments of theory without testing much on their practical application. If you look at a G6 paper you will see a huge difference. The advanced grades focus on harmony, counterpoint and music history. You do have to suggest chords to harmonise a melody at G5 but it is very basic.

What you say about the pieces is interesting. The C list nowadays will always have a jazzy piece which most students choose. Perhaps your teacher made you do one of the more contemporary works to stretch you? I don't have a huge problem with the choice of pieces but they will certainly not suit everyone.

I don't remember there being any jazzy pieces on the syllabus (certainly never played any in exams), but my memory could be fading (sat Grade 8 about 10 years ago) - these days, a piece like that would be my first choice, since I spend about half my time playing jazz. It's very possible he was trying to stretch me, as at the time all I was really interested in was playing the flashy movts from various Beethoven sonatas.

Still am, actually

Bumping a thread because, though the OP has dropped off the board, the subject matter is still relevant, and more so because these programs have changed and evolved in the intervening years.

For instance, CM no longer offers Path B (I think that's the one, where the teacher does the evaluating?) and RCM is now available in California.

What other changes have occurred?