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New Classical Exams

Tony Skinner outlines the revisions in the 2008 LCM classical guitar grades repertoire list…

The new repertoire list for classical guitar grades is now available; it can be downloaded from the RGT website. The new list may be used for exams from 1 August 2008 onwards; the current list remains valid until the end of 2008. This means that in the winter 2008 exams there will be a 'cross-over period' in which candidates can choose to use either the old or the new repertoire list; please ask your students to make it clear to the examiner which repertoire list they are using. From 2009 onwards only the new repertoire list will be valid. Also now available is a new series of 10 handbooks, for Steps 1 and 2 and Grades 1 to 8. The handbooks contain everything required for the exams, including sample sight reading and aural tests in addition to performance repertoire and technical requirements. A wide range of pieces is included, ranging from 16th century composers to the present day. The provision of a full range of accompanying examination handbooks guarantees that all the required music is readily available in a reliable edition for the full duration of the syllabus, and also ensures that all the requirements of each section of the examinations are comprehensively and clearly explained.

NEW PIECES

RGT and LCM Examinations are grateful for all the feedback on the current syllabus provided by guitar teachers. As a result, we have been able to retain the most popular of the existing pieces, while introducing plenty of attractive new pieces that will expand the breadth of the syllabus and will give teachers fresh material to explore with their students. Some of the new highlights include pieces by popular contemporary UK composers such as Peter Nuttall, Vincent Lindsay Clark, Steve Marsh and Mark Houghton, as well as the solo arrangement of Stanley Myers' Cavatina by John Williams and Julian Bream’s edition of William Walton’s 2nd Bagatelle.

In addition, we introduce some new composers who are widely respected in other parts of the world but currently not well-known in the UK, such as Oleg Kiselev from Russia who has composed several attractive pieces especially for this syllabus.

The most obvious change to the Performance section of the syllabus is that, from Grade Three onwards, pieces are no longer grouped by historical period - instead just one (longer) list of pieces is provided and candidates are free to choose any three pieces to perform providing: "The programme is balanced, with some contrasting pieces to demonstrate the candidate's range". This new development will allow teachers to select those pieces that they feel best suit their students' educational needs and interests, without restriction. From Grade Six onwards a longer supplementary list is supplied in addition to the handbook pieces, providing candidates with even greater choice, and candidates are even free to substitute one of the pieces with a ‘free choice’ piece of their own choosing - providing it is of at least similar technical level to those in the handbook.

In the selection of pieces, the aim has been to choose a range of pieces for each grade that should enable the candidate at that level, with sufficient prior study, to achieve a really musical result. Care has been taken to avoid selecting inappropriate pieces that, whilst ‘technically’ playable at a certain grade of playing, present a level of difficulty such that the candidate is unlikely to be able to develop other (non-technical) aspects of the music. This in no sense implies that the standard of musical performance expected is lower than previous, or other, syllabuses. Rather it stresses that it is the overall quality of musical (rather than just technical) performance and interpretation that is considered foremost.

OTHER CHANGES

• The range and/or pitch of scales, arpeggios and chords set for each grade have been amended up to Grade Six level to reflect the keys and content of the new set pieces.
• The terminology that is used in the new repertoire list and handbooks has been harmonised with that used by LCM Exams for other instruments: for example, 'Fingerboard Knowledge' is now called 'Technical Work', and 'Musical Knowledge' has become 'Viva Voce'.
• In some grades the aural tests and viva voce tests have been substantially revised to match those currently used by LCM Exams for other instruments. The new handbooks explain all the requirements in great detail and provide examples.
• The parameters of the sight reading tests have not changed, although at some grades the handbooks provide extra examples.

PHILOSOPHY

The syllabus has been organised in such a way that technical demands are developed in a carefully structured, cumulative way. As with the existing syllabus, the core aim has been to establish a fully integrated syllabus – whereby each section of each examination directly relates to, and reinforces, all other sections of the examination. This approach can particularly be seen in the Technical Work section where all scales, arpeggios and chords that are required, at early and intermediate grades, are taken from the keys of the pieces required in the Performance section.

At higher grades this range is extended to encourage a broader range of study (and the requirements from the existing syllabus have been retained). In addition, 'Key Studies' (unique to this range of examinations) are used to ensure that candidates relate their learning of scales to practical music. Key Studies consist of a major scale and its relative minors, plus a choice of well-known melodies by one of the 'great composers' arranged in the same key - i.e. designed to be played using the notes from the set scale in the Key Study.

This method of study avoids scales being learnt 'just for the sake of an examination', without any notion of their practical application, and consequently being forgotten almost instantly after the examination! The integrated structure of this syllabus makes the learning of scales and other technical requirements an explicitly worthwhile musical exercise, with a readily identifiable practical result. The important technical and educational benefits of scale practice are then gained in a positive and rewarding way. A new Key Study melody has been introduced at each grade in this new syllabus.