As a young singer, ABRSM was always the one and only syllabus for me. The 3 accompanied songs, one unaccompanied followed by the dreaded aural tests and sight singing (guys - I FAILED my grade 5 sight singing FYI) is ingrained so firmly in my memory that it feels like second nature to be teaching it. It surprised me how little it had changed over the past 20 years but I guess, 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it'.
In recent years, I'd say that ABRSM have definitely tried to make their exams a lot more fun and accessible to all students and I actually believe that grades 6-8 are now easier then they used to be. Grade 5 theory has also been rewritten meaning a higher success rate leading to students being free to continue on to the higher practical grades.
However, when a new student joined Sing Wimbledon, asking to take her singing exams with LCM, I was a little nervous and I felt like such a traitor to trusty old ABRSM. However after a fair amount of reading and research, I found the answer to what so many of my students were looking for; a syllabus designed for Musical theatre students combining song, dance and acting. Students are asked to prepare a varied repertoire of songs (3-4 grade depending) from late 20th-century to today's contemporary style. They are required to do their own research into the material in order to hold an in depth discussion with the examiner after their practical performance. Students are also encouraged to choreograph some of the songs and are asked to provide props and costume relative to the songs.
Ashley Kuehnne-Duffy took her grade 6 in July 2018 and got a whopping 82 out of 100 achieving a very high Merit. I thoroughly enjoyed working with Ashley on helping her choose the material, prepare the pieces and even offering a few dance moves to add to her own choreography.. needless to say, she kindly declined some of my rather 'vintage' moves!
Well done Ashley! Here's to a brilliant result for your grade 7 soon!