Benchmarking & Reliability

Why you can have confidence in the Board’s exams

LIBRETTO

New facesat the Board

USA websitenow on-line

Educational Support Programme

a report from SE Asia

LIBRETTO

The journal of the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music January 1999

UPDATE 3-5

New Year, New Faces 3

Travel Grant Awards Update 3

ESP Jubilee Special 3

USA: Conferences and Contacts 4

Jazz for Teachers 4

CT ABRSM UK 4

New Zealand Jubilee 5

Pianos for Uganda 5

CT ABRSM Singapore 5

UK Jazz Workshops 5

SMA is 60! 5

EXAMINATIONS 6-7

Benchmarking & Reliability 6

These Music Exams 7

Website update 7

Jazz Questions and Answers 7

FEATURE 8-9

Introducing Jazz into the classroom 8

TEACHERS’ FORUM 10

NOTICE BOARD 11

PUBLICATIONS 12

Setting the StandardsThe Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music

14 Bedford Square, London WC1B 3JG, England

Telephone 0171- 636 5400 New Fax 0171-637 0234

E-mail marketing@abrsm.ac.ukwww.abrsm.ac.uk

Registered as a Charity No. 292182

© 1999 by The Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music.

All rights reserved. Unauthorised reproduction inwhole or in part is prohibited without permission.

Libretto is published termly by the Marketing Department

Editor: Suzannah Power, Head of Marketing

Production Manager: Nicola Rattray, Marketing Executive

Photo credits: Cover and pages 6 and 7Robert Carpenter Turner. Pages 3, 8 and 11Dominic Dibbs.

LIBRETTOJANUARY 1999

Introduction

The page opposite makes announcements about someimportant comings and goings at the Associated Board.Amongst these is the news that the end of this month will

mark the retirement of Julian Hodgson, who has presided overABRSM Publishing for almost 12 years.

That period has been one of remarkable growth, with a doublingin the size of the list of publications, an expansion into new areassuch as jazz and contemporary composition, an increase ineditorial, production and marketing capacity, all leading to salesof publications which now exceed 2 million copies each year. Butgrowth for its own sake would never have satisfied Julian. Thehallmarks of ABRSM publications under his leadership have beeneditorial quality, elegance in design, keen pricing and professionalmarketing throughout the world. Julian will be much missed and itis very fitting that last November HRH The Prince of Walesadmitted him to Honorary Membership of the Royal College ofMusic in recognition of his achievements.

Looking ahead, our new Director of Publishing, Leslie East, plans tobuild on these achievements. Stability plus Innovation will be thewatch words. We know that teachers and candidates throughoutthe world depend upon the syllabus materials being to hand inthe right form and at the right time in order that they can preparefully for the examinations. So the provision of these examinationpublications will remain the core activity of ABRSM Publishing.We also know that students need access to a broader range ofmusic to enrich their learning, and we therefore plan regularly torefresh, renew and extend our editions of the traditionalrepertoire. Alongside this essential work, Leslie is already planninga number of innovatory publishing projects, three of which will bespecifically earmarked for the Millennium. Watch out for details ofthese in future editions of Libretto.

Richard MorrisChief Executive

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Tim’s appointment followed theretirement of Richard Humphrieswho was Director of Financefrom 1979 – 1998. The creation ofthis new post reflects the growthof the Associated Board’s activi-ties and the need to consolidateall aspects of administration.

A Fellow of the Institute ofChartered Accountants inEngland and Wales, Tim joins theBoard from SPCK where he wasFinance Director. Tim has longbeen acquainted with theAssociated Board: he took Grade7 Piano in 1966 and still plays thepiano, organ, clavichord andrecorder, and he’s been a tenorwith the Bach Choir since 1972.

“A friend who saw the ad said to me‘That job’s made for you,’” he told

us,“and now I am here I feel sure itis. Music has been a joy throughoutmy life and I feel privileged to be ableto exercise my professional skills inan environment committed to musiceducation.”

Richard Morris, Chief Executive,said:

“With the increasing scale of theBoard’s activities and its wideinvolvement in music education, it isessential that there is a correspondingstrengthening in all the underpin-ning financial, administrative and ITprocesses. Tim is ideally qualified todirect these aspects of our operations.”

With the retirement of JulianHodgson from his post asManaging Director of ABRSM(Publishing) Limited at the endof this month, the Board has

New Year, New FacesWe start the New Year with some changing faces atBedford Square. First, we welcome Tim Leates,appointed Director of Finance and Administrationin November 1998.

appointed Leslie East as Directorof Publishing.

Julian Hodgson said:

“My time with the Board has beenmarked by several major events. The peak was the launch of RichardJones’s new edition of J.S. Bach’sThe Well Tempered Clavier, Part I, in October 1994, marking 75years of publishing by the Board.This was followed in June 1996 bythe launch of Spectrum: 20contemporary works for solopiano and, in March 1998, the JazzPiano publications. There are stillexcitements awaiting revelation, andLeslie East will reveal more in thecoming year.”

The Board has taken the oppor-tunity to review the relationshipbetween the parent company andits ‘trading subsidiary’, thePublishing Company. As aresult, Richard Morris willbecome Chief Executive of thePublishing Company as well asthe parent body.

Leslie East will continue to takean active role in the editorial andproduct development concerns ofthe Company.

To the role of ‘managing editor’ABRSM (Publishing) Limited hasappointed Caroline Perkins asSenior Music Editor. Carolinejoins us from the GuildhallSchool where she was respon-sible for the management ofediting and production of theGuildhall’s examinationsyllabuses and publications.From 1 February, Rosie Welchwill be promoted from AssistantMusic Editor to Music Editor.

The ‘musical chairs’ within thePublishing Company is completedby the promotion of Sarah Brearto Copyright and RoyaltiesAdministrator.

The International Administrationteam has also expanded with thearrival of Alison Pickard, ServiceManager, and Claudia Richter,USA Co-ordinator ■

We completed our 50 YearJubilee events in Singapore andMalaysia with a specialEducational Support Programme.Chief Examiner Clara Taylorpresented six workshops, high-lighted by the excellentperformances of Loo Bang Heanand Morag Yong, both graduatesof the Royal College of Music.Nearly 1,000 teachers attended,and every venue was filled tocapacity.

On her return, Clara said:

“It seems that a worldwide challengeis the borderline pass candidate whocauses anxiety at exam times andmakes even the most imaginativeteacher run out of ideas. We gavesome help for these situations anddiscussed the average mark, which is

lower than teachers expected.Throughout the seminars MoragYong and Loo Bang Hean’s playingdemonstrated the exemplary levels ofmusicianship and technique whichcan be achieved by gifted studentswho have been guided and assessedby the Associated Board in conjunc-tion with the excellence of their ownteachers.”

The Malaysia workshops wereexpertly chaired by GeoffreySmith and presented in collabora-tion with the British Council,Malaysia, under their ‘Britain inMalaysia’ initiative.

Teachers in Singapore andMalaysia will receive a separateinsert with this copy of Librettocontaining specific news aboutlocal events and initiatives ■

ESP Jubilee Special

Last term we welcomed AliciaMaroto and Cristina Ferriz fromSpain as part of the Board’sCentenary Travel Grant Awardscheme.

Alicia and Cristina came to theUK to pursue their musicalstudies at the Royal College ofMusic with John Byrne as theirpiano teacher. John is also a CTABRSM mentor and works bothin the UK and in the Far East.Alicia and Cristina werementored by Eve Halsey.

During their stay they havevisited two other Royal Schools,the Royal Scottish Academy ofMusic and Drama and the RoyalNorthern College of Music. Theyalso visited Wells CathedralSchool where John teaches.

Cristina said:

“I have really enjoyed my stay here;it has been a fantastic opportunity tostudy at such a high level. I am verymuch looking forward to going backto Spain to try out the new ideas Ihave learnt with my pupils” ■

Centenary Travel GrantAwards Update

Tim Leates Leslie East

Eve Halsey with Alicia Maroto and Cristina Ferriz

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The 1998-99 CT ABRSM course isnow approaching the half-waypoint with 240 students at 13centres around the UK.

We are now making the finalarrangements for the Tastersessions that will be held inMarch. These sessions are aperfect opportunity for potentialCT ABRSM students for 1999-2000 and beyond to find out whatthe course is like, to visit theirlocal venue and to meet currentstudents.

This year new centres have beenestablished at Chichester andColchester and it has beenpossible to run smaller centres atBirmingham and Exeter thanks togenerous sponsorship from theBritish Reserve InsuranceCompany whose valuable supportwe very much appreciate.

Potential students unable toattend a Taster event may wishto see the CT ABRSM video. This

12 minute film provides an excel-lent introduction to the courseand an opportunity to see andhear Course Leaders, mentorsand students in action. This isavailable free of charge. For acopy of the video or a 1999-2000prospectus please contact theProfessional DevelopmentDepartment (telephone 0171-467 8257) ■

CT ABRSM UK 1998–99Music For Youth Jazz Festival 1999On 10 July 1999 the Music forYouth Jazz Festival will takeplace in the Queen Elizabeth Hall,London. Also on this day at theSouth Bank Centre there will be aone-day professional develop-ment course dedicated to jazz:Jazz-Notes. This course willallow teachers to explore a rangeof jazz piano and jazz ensemblerepertoire and work on their skillsin jazz musicianship, rhythm andimprovising. There will also besessions on:

• Jazz in the classroom

• South African Jazz

• Starting a Jazz Ensemble inyour school

• Criteria for assessment in theJazz Syllabus

• Jazz and Folk music.

Jazz for TeachersThe day will culminate with“Jazz Sounds” a huge jammingsession in the Queen ElizabethHall. The session will be led bytop jazz musicians and educatorsand promises to be a spectacularand exciting event. Two jazzensemble arrangements havebeen written especially for thisevent and these are availablenow so that teachers can preparethem with their class or ensemblebeforehand. For further detailsplease telephone the MarketingDepartment on 0171-467 8254.

Leeds International Jazz EducationConference The Leeds International JazzEducation Conference will takeplace at Leeds College of Music,16 - 17 April 1999. The event on16 April will be relevant to pianoand instrumental teachers whileon 17 April it will be gearedtowards classroom musicteachers and jazz ensembletutors. For further details pleasetelephone the MarketingDepartment on 0171-467 8254 ■

USA: Conferences and ContactsIn March 1999 we return to theMusic Teachers’ NationalAssociation (MTNA) conference,this year in Los Angeles.

The MTNA has existed since 1876when Theodore PresserCompany (the publishing compa-ny’s sole selling agent in theUSA) and sixty-two colleaguesdecided to set up the firstAmerican professional musicassociation. The MTNA today isa non-profit organisation of24,000 independent and colle-giate music teachers committedto furthering the art of musicthrough programmes thatencourage and support teaching,performance, composition andscholarly research.

The Board will exhibitalongside TheodorePresser and will present ashowcase, incor-porating a mockexam, during theconference.

For conference details telephoneRachel Kramer on (513) 421 1420or visit the MTNA website atwww.mtna.org

This month we are exhibiting atthe International Association ofJazz Educators (IAJE) Conferencein Anaheim, California. This isthe 26th annual conferencefeaturing over 50 major jazzartists, 30 school groups, morethan 100 clinics and seminars anda music industry exhibition.

ABRSM (Publishing) Ltd will bepromoting its acclaimed range of15 jazz piano publications andCDs, including Charles Beale’sJazz Piano from Scratch.

Publications will be availablefor sale from the Penders

Music stand, which willbe adjacent to the

publishing compa-ny’s stand.

The first JazzPiano and Jazz

Ensemble exams willtake place in the UK in

January 1999 and we are hopingto be able to offer these exams inkey international markets withinthe next 5 years.

For further information aboutIAJE, telephone: (785) 776 8744 orfax (785) 776 6190 (http://Unix.jazzcentralstation.com).

Site-specificSince the Board’s web site waslaunched a year ago, it’s beenclear that many visitors to the siteare from the United States. Inresponse to this we’ve expandedthe main site to include an areawith content specifically forteachers and students in the US.

You will find useful informationon all aspects of the Board’sexams in the US:

• a calendar of events

• details of the Board’s centres

• exam dates

• representatives and contacts

• how the Board’s examprogramme can benefit youand your students.

Now all the information youneed to know about the Board’soperations in the US is availableat the touch of a button. To find out more visit us atwww.abrsm.ac.uk/usa ■

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Following the success of thenational Jazz Workshops in 1998we are now accepting requestsfor regional group workshops.These will provide a truly in-depth look at the skills needed toprepare pupils for Jazz exams.

Regional jazz workshops aredesigned for groups of between15 - 25 teachers. We have foundthat some teachers have success-fully organised groups throughtheir local ISM or EPTA network.

The first step is to contact theBoard’s Teacher SupportConsultant, Lynne Butler (tele-phone 0171-467 8277), who willprovide you with a fact sheet

explaining the set-up andarrangements. You will need tobook and pay for your ownvenue - a hall with a piano andCD player - and the cost per headis £15.00

These workshops are available ona ‘by-request’ basis. Demand isexpected to be high, and requestswill be dealt with on a first comefirst served basis.

• Michael Garrick’s 8th annualPIANO PEOPLE jazz course is tobe held at the Royal NationalCollege, Hereford on 5-7 April1999. For further informationplease telephone 01222 340591 or01442 864989 ■

UK Jazz Workshops

Examiner Michael Johnson wrotethis report following his examining tour of Uganda;

“I spent eight days examining inUganda in June 1998. During thatshort time I heard someoutstanding young musicians andmet some delightful people asso-ciated with the Board’s workthere. My overriding impressionof my visit is how well musiciansmanage given the difficulties theyface with the lack of good instru-ments available, pianos especially.

During my stay in Kampala, Ispent two days examining at thehome of Fiona Carr, who wouldtell me extraordinary storiesabout her pupils. The followingwas typical:

“Ivan leaves home at 6am and walksto the Cathedral on his way to schoolto practise on an old ‘pianola’ whichhe and 12 other choir members haveaccess to. And yet after only 12months of formal lessons he gained142 in Grade 5. Samson is strug-gling with his pieces and scales on apiano where most of the notes do not

work. John dislikes the sound hispiano makes so much that he prefersto ‘think’ his pieces through at thekeyboard – but gained Distinction atGrade 7”.

No one interested in the develop-ment of the Board’s work overseascan fail to be moved by storiessuch as these. That is why those inthe forefront of music educationin Uganda would like people inBritain and in other more privi-leged countries to considerdonating a robust piano, in goodworking order and ‘touch sensi-tive’.

Can you help? An organisingcommittee has been formed inKampala to investigate ways inwhich donated pianos could becollected and brought in to thecountry. If you have an instru-ment that is no longer requiredand feel it could be put to gooduse in a city where pianos are invery short supply please write to:Pianos for Uganda, PO Box 7202,Kampala, Uganda.” ■

Pianos for Uganda

In February the first CT ABRSMstudents in Singapore will becompleting their studies. UKmentors John Byrne, LaurenGoldthorpe and Heather Jameshave now made two visits toSingapore to work alongsidementor colleagues there, Yew Jia-Lin, Yeong Yoon Ching andAkikio Iijima. Course Leaders,Professor John Howard(Singapore) and David Barnard(UK) have played an equallyimportant role. Richard Crozier,Director of ProfessionalDevelopment, was able to visitthe course at its last session inOctober and said:

“It is wonderful to see such hardworking students. When they came

CT ABRSM Singaporeto the UK last year we were excitedand stimulated by their enthusiasmfor learning and this has been in noway diminished during the inter-vening months, despite a great dealof hard work being undertaken.Students are now putting their port-folios together ready for the finalassessment.”

The Award Ceremony forsuccessful students will be heldin the Victoria Hall, Singapore on24 February 1999.

Applications for the 1999–2000course are now welcome.

For a copy of the prospectus,please contact Su-San Hay at theSingapore Symphonia Company.Telephone 339 2624 ■

The Schools Music Association(SMA) was founded in 1938 ‘topromote the musical education ofyoung people by encouragingand supporting those who workwith them’. In October 1998 SMAheld its 60th Anniversaryweekend conference. The confer-ence started with a hands-onintroduction to samba, the streetcarnival drumming of SouthAmerica, and continued with abroad range of discussions anddemonstrations.

Tony Knight, Professional Officerfor Music and the Arts, QCA,presented the keynote addressMusic Education: a Broader View.Delegates were asked to considerwhat the aims and outcomes of

music education, in its variety offorms, should be. They were alsoasked to consider emphases forwork in each key stage, and apossible eight levels for assessingpupils’ musical progression.

A full conference report will bepublished in this month’s SMABulletin.

For further information about thework of SMA, please contactMaxwell Pryce (telephone/fax0181-440 6919) ■

SMA is 60!

Around 600 teachers, parents,pupils and Local Representativesattended our Centenary events inNew Zealand in 1998. DavidGoodyear, ExaminationsAdministrator, organised afantastic series of events to cele-brate the Board’s Jubilee. Afurther series of seminars isplanned for April/May 1999 –teachers will find full details inLeading Notes, the New Zealandnewsletter mailed with this issueof Libretto ■

New Zealand Jubilee – an unforgettable event

Kampala choristers with examiner Michael Johnson

The Ngati Whatua O Orakei welcome ceremony

The Board’s examinations play asignificant part in the lives of somany musicians around theworld. This generates a huge

responsibility for us to make sure thatthe service being offered is of thehighest quality in every way. Ourtraining, moderating and professionaldevelopment programmes for exam-iners reflect the seriousness withwhich we take the duty to ensure thatthe Board’s benchmarking is trust-worthy and consistent.

The question

Despite these exacting routine safe-guards, I decided to put our exams tothe acid test of rigorous externalscrutiny. I wanted a totally objectiveanswer to the question, ‘AreAssociated Board exams reliable?’During the past year two leadingfigures in the field of the psychologyof music, Prof. David Hargreaves andDr Adrian North, were invited to takean in-depth look at our exams. Wemade available to them 1.2 million UKpractical exam results collated over aset period, and asked them to analysethem in detail. Their obvious enthu-siasm for the task was a result not onlyof their interest as eminent academicsin the opportunities this researchpresented, but also of the fact thatthey were dealing with a statistician’sdream – the entire examination popu-lation rather than a mere sample.

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Benchmarking & Reliability Why you can have confidence in theBoard’s examinations

Philip Mundey reports on a majorstudy recently carried out byProfessor David Hargreaves andDr Adrian North, Universities ofDurham and Leicester

The answer

Some of their findings will bepublished as academic papers overthe coming months. However, DavidHargreaves and Adrian North havereleased this statement for Libretto:

“The answer to the AssociatedBoard’s question is, ‘The distributionof marking over the entire candidatedata base provides firm evidence thatits examining procedures are highlyconsistent and reliable.’ This is shownby the low statistical variability overthe body of examiners as a whole.

We came to this conclusion havingtested the Board’s service by lookingat fundamental aspects of the exam-ining process. We used three primaryvariables:

• grade• instrument and instrumental family• geographical area

To these we added secondary variables:

• examiner specialism• length of examiner service• examiner gender• examiner age• candidate gender • candidate age• gender specificity of instrument• time of day.

We also considered the interaction ofthese variables.

Our findings indicate that there aresome interesting patterns of variationamongst these factors over the wholebody of more than a million examresults, and there are a number ofpossible explanations for these. As faras the implications for individual

Associated Board candidates areconcerned, the level of these variationsis typically one mark or less overall.

There were small variations betweenthe average marks given by exam-iners who did and did not specialiseon the instrument in question,although these were not statisticallysignificant, and this reaffirms theBoard’s philosophy of using ‘gener-alist’ examiners.

The details of the statistically signifi-cant patterns of variation will be ofgreat interest to the academiccommunity and to those developingunderstandings of the psychologicaland behavioural factors surroundingthe assessment of music, and, withthe full agreement of the AssociatedBoard, we look forward to publishingthese in due course.”

Examinations

Good news

It is extremely encouraging to havesuch a testimonial from these leadingresearchers. You can be certain, too,that we won’t be resting on any

L I B R E T T O J A N U A R Y 1 9 9 9 E X A M I N A T I O N S | 7

provide, because of our long-estab-lished and well-understoodinternational profile – you can feelconfident that you are benefiting froma service which is ‘highly consistentand reliable’. ■

Charles Beale, Jazz Syllabus Consultant

Are the jazz grades considered to beparallel to the ‘classical’ grades?The jazz grades are certainly intendedto be comparable to the classical onesbut they require very different skills -almost like learning a new instru-ment. A classical pianist who hasnever played jazz before might needto go back to the beginning and startwith Grade 1 Jazz Piano, in order tolearn these skills properly.

How freely does one use swungquavers as opposed to straight 8’s?Swung and straight quavers areentirely different feels. In the exams,you will be penalised if the feel indi-cations are ignored.The feel in jazz isas important as the time signature in‘classical’ music.

Make sure that you are absolutelyclear that swung quavers are playedin a triplet rhythm and never in adotted quaver, semiquaver rhythm.

In the exam, are all repeats to be played?The forms of the head and the solosare to be played exactly as written.Note at the end of the solo sectionhow many bars the solo is to go onfor in the exam.

laurels. The research has given us amass of valuable data which hasallowed us to make the Board’straining and monitoring processeseven more focussed. We may wellcommission further research to lookat some of the aspects of our servicewhich could not be covered this time.Although session by session, year byyear, decade by decade, we continueto build up evidence that our crite-rion-referenced assessments can betrusted, we shall still apply rigoroustests to ourselves and make sureevery possible check and balance is inplace and working in favour of ourcandidates, regardless of gender, age,instrument, cultural background ordisability.

The world-wide perspective

This research was conducted on thebasis of UK examination results, butall examiners working at the Board’sinternational centres are of coursemembers of the same examiningpanel. This means that a certificaterepresents the same quality ofachievement whether an exam wastaken on a sunny afternoon inSalisbury or on a cold morning inStockholm, with a male cello-playingexaminer in Singapore or a femaleoboe-playing examiner in Sri Lanka.

Whatever your reason for using theBoard’s exams – because the examsthemselves provide clear milestoneson the road to musical accomplish-ment, because of the motivation they

Will candidates be penalised forusing ‘classical’ sounding phrasing?If they don’t sound stylish then yes,they will earn less marks. But learningto phrase in jazz is not as hard as itseems. Listening to jazz will help -getting the feel right is one of the mostimportant things about jazz playing.

Should the improvisation be totallyunprepared, or can candidates use aversion they have experimentedwith at home?All jazz musicians must learn to impro-vise through careful study. But ofcourse jazz improvisation is meant tobe spontaneous and creative. A pre-learnt improvisation will soundcontrived and examiners will spotthis. Ideally well-prepared candidateshave lots of ideas in their head tochoose from, and let those ideas flownaturally in the exam ■

Jazz Questions and Answers

These Music Examsby Clara TaylorThe new edition of this essentialguide for teachers, pupils and parentsis now available free of charge, fromgood music retailers. These MusicExams contains information on allelements of preparing for and takingmusic exams ■

Website updatePssst! Don’t forget to visit our websiteat www.abrsm.ac.uk - all syllabuses,Regulations for 1999, Libretto and thenew These Music Exams can be down-loaded easily ■

Despite the media’s best effortsto keep jazz as a minority musicit now seems to have crept intothe fabric of society by the

backdoor. Every restaurant, bar andshop seems to have jazz playing. Jazzfestivals are everywhere in thesummer and jazz concerts regularlyfill prestigious venues all over thecountry. I even saw a jazz group onthe children’s television programme‘Teletubbies’ the other day.

Jazz has always had an entertainmentand an art aspect, and now it hasacquired an education aspect. Moreand more schools and educationauthorities are bringing jazz musi-cians into the classroom and manyPGCE and teacher-training coursesnow have a jazz input to somedegree. However, bringing jazz musi-cians into the classroom is anexpensive business and many schoolshave other priorities so jazz instruc-tion is often the responsibility of theclassroom or peripatetic teacher.

I feel that the Associated Board hasmade a great leap of faith by devel-oping the Jazz Piano and JazzEnsembles Examination Syllabuses.

What to do in the classroom then?Jazz is such a rich seam that it can beintroduced at any age. With the helpof history books and education packsteachers can start at Key Stage 1! Theunique aspect of jazz is of courseimprovisation, but before attemptingto teach it, it is essential to lay thefoundations of the music and that isrhythm!

The most immediate appeal of jazz isthe rhythm and teachers who havealready done lots of rhythm workwith classes will have created a goodfoundation for introducing jazz. Therhythm of jazz is somewhat sophisti-cated though, particularly swing,because of the initially puzzling ideaof reading notation in Common timewhile playing in Compound time.This is often best taught by ear*. Thisalso conveys the internal accents ofthe jazz phrase, which are unique tothe music.

Teachers who have had a strictly classical training may sometimes findthis difficult but it can be improvedby practising tapping rhythms, forexample on the steering wheel whilewaiting at the traffic lights.

rhythms to a class can be through thecreation of the ‘class Drumkit’ (1/3 ofthe class as bass drums, 1/3 as snaredrums, and 1/3 as ‘ride’ cymbals)and giving them the different basicrhythms of those instruments to tapor clap. This can be reinforced by theaddition of the real instrumentsplayed by individuals if available.Small groups can be formed later toplay instruments separately from theclass. Backing tapes may be used lateron but there is no substitute for‘hands-on’ rhythm in my view.

Especially effective is the use of Latinhand instruments such as shakers(chocalho, maracas), scrapers (guiro),bangers (clave and cowbells) and thetriangle. All these instruments havespecific techniques and rhythms for

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JAZZ IS SUCH A RICH SEAM THAT IT CAN BEINTRODUCED AT ANY STAGE

Syncopation can also present aproblem. Classical music training isoften delivered through the music ofthe Classical Period where therhythmic stress is on beats one andthree of the bar. Jazz syncopationnecessitates some ‘unlearning’ andfurther training to be able to placestresses on anticipated half beatsaccurately.

The rhythmic styles of jazz are knownas ‘grooves’ hence the term ‘groovy’.There are many of them, from rock toswing to Latin, and they are all a lot offun to clap and/or play in the class. Agood initial strategy for teaching these

JAZZJAZZJAZZIntroducing jazz into the classroom,by Eddie Harvey

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ONE OF THE BENEFITS OF USING JAZZ IN THECLASSROOM IS TO DEVELOP IMPROVISATION SKILLS

playing them and should be treatedas proper musical instruments ratherthan just ‘things to bang’. Someschools have sets of conga drums,timbales and bongoes but often havevery little information on the tech-niques of playing them and again theroles that they have to play in therhythm scheme. These details areimportant when playing thewonderful variety of music from theCaribbean and South America.

The beginnings of creative work canbe started quite early through thecreation of drum breaks of two orfour bars and eventually Questionand Answer solos between twoplayers and eventually on their own.This technique comes in handy lateron when applied to pitch controlledimprovisation.

What equipment do we need for jazzin the classroom?This varies from school to school; myown preference is for pitched percus-sion instruments (glockenspiels andxylophones) because of the necessityfor motor control. Keyboards can beused however, provided they are notat the back of the room with the player’s back to you! A piano orkeyboard is also essential for theteacher, to provide a backing of somekind for the arrangements and theimprovisations.

There is now plenty of musical mate-rial for classroom use. Some of it is‘jazzy’ in that it swings but has nosection for improvisation. There areplenty of examples of pieces whichhave no improvisation in the jazzrepertoire yet still maintain a jazzintegrity. However, one of the manybenefits of using jazz in the classroomis to develop improvisation skills. Inturn these skills can help to developmusicianship.

This may consist of:

• ‘Jelly Roll’ Morton’s Red HotPeppers

• The Louis Armstrong ‘Hot Fives’

• Sydney Bechet from the newOrleans period

• Chicago blues singers

• Boogie woogie pianists

• early Swing bands

• classic Count Basie and DukeEllington from the 1930’s

Jazz improvisation has to be pitchcontrolled in order to make musicalsense. One sometimes hears pupils(and adults!) ‘playing with notes’which makes no musical sense at all.One can tell the difference betweenpitch controlled and no pitchcontrolled improvisation, in that pitchcontrolled improvisation soundssingable and has a logical structure,because it is being controlledmentally.

The choice of the piece dictates thestyle of the improvisation i.e. impro-vising on a blues is different fromimprovisation on a reggae or asamba. Each of these styles is similarto a language; each having differentnuances and accents. Where does onego in order to learn a language? To itscountry of origin! Similarly oneshould go to the ‘country of origin’for the type of music, that is themusic itself, either live or moreconventionally to a recording, whichbrings us to involved listening. This isan important part of jazz education(as it is of any music) but it must bewell prepared with some backgroundand analysis so that pupils knowwhat to listen for!

A core collection of jazz CDs is essen-tial to developing the music in aschool. I would suggest somethingfrom each main period of jazz historysince every person has different pref-erences when starting out.

• Be-Bop (Charlie Parker and DizzyGillespie) from the 1940’s

• Miles Davis recordings from eachof his classic periods

• John Coltrane

• Chick Corea

• Herbie Hancock

• Weather Report.

(The last three being examples of thefusion of jazz with Rock music.)Other suggestions may be some LatinAmerican music from Cuba andBrazil as well as Salsa.

Jazz is both an entertainment musicand an art music, which gives it greatstrength. The entertainment aspectprevents it from becoming toopompous, while the art aspect preventsit from becoming too frivolous. Butthese two aspects are not mutuallyexclusive. Many examples can be givenof jazz which was originally played forentertainment purposes but laterperceived to be great art and vice versa.

Finally improvised music has quali-ties of its own and I have heardlovely examples played by childrenwho have only just begun to playjazz. If we continue to introduce it toyoung people, I am sure we will havea future generation of musicians whoare more musically literate andcreative than we have ever had beforeso...go for it!

* See ‘Jazz in the Classroom’ by Eddie Harvey,published by Boosey and Hawkes

All letters should be addressed to Clara Taylor,Chief Examiner, Teachers’Forum, c/o Libretto at theusual address.

Clara can be contacted bytelephone on 0171-4678267 (Monday, Wednesdayand Friday) or alternatively by e-mail on chiefexaminer@abrsm.ac.uk.

It was a privilege to meetnearly 1,000 teachers inSingapore and Malaysia lastNovember during the annual

ESP series. Each of the seminarvenues was full to capacity, withsome of the teachers travellinggreat distances - several by plane- to attend. Throughout the tour I experienced a tremendouswelcome and warmth of responsefrom teachers, parents and pupilsalike.

The educational side of theBoard’s work is increasing all thetime and is obviously appreciatedby Malaysian and Singaporeanteachers, themselves known tohave achieved high standardsand continuity of commitmentover as many years as the Boardhas been operating in SE Asia.

Together with my assistants, LooBang Hean and Morag Yong, wepresented workshops at 6 venues.At each of them the agendaincluded a Question and Answersession. I thought it would beuseful to use this page to sharethe answers to the mostfrequently occurring questions:

Parents of my students often putme under pressure, expectingbetter marks than their childrenwill get. What can I say to them?Give them a copy of the newThese Music Exams as there areseveral references for parents.Point out to the parents that theaverage mark is around 115 andbe honest about the level youexpect students to achieve. Alsobe realistic yourself about thefinal result of the exam. Very fewcandidates play their absolutebest in exam conditions, andparents need to be informedabout the whole situation.

When can we have jazz exams inMalaysia?It depends on the response to thestart of the UK jazz exams beforefurther plans are made, but we areoptimistic about extending jazzexams to other parts of the world.

Can my singing students singfolk songs in their ownlanguage for the traditionalsong, even if the examiner can’tunderstand the text?We are happy to hear traditionalsongs in their original language.We are looking for good mainte-nance of key and rhythm,without the piano accompani-ment, and in addition, a sense ofthe song’s character, with suit-able pacing and shaping. It isquite possible to convey theessence of a song without thelistener being able to translateevery word.

L I B R E T T O J A N U A R Y 1 9 9 91 0 | T E A C H E R S ’ F O R U M

Jubilee thanksThe ABRSM 100 year Jubilee inSri Lanka and my 50 years ofpiano teaching in Galle, SriLanka, inspires me to write thisletter to you, being a greatadmirer of the high standard ofyour examinations both as astudent and a teacher.

At the Jubilee celebrations inColombo, I was delighted to meetat least four qualified past pupilsof mine who are doing excellentwork in Colombo, Kandy andIndia.

Thank you immensely for thisopportunity.

Trixie Dias AbergunewardeneGalle, Sri Lanka

Exams in Le RoseyI am writing to say what a posi-tive experience Institut Le Roseyhas had from entering studentsfor the ABRSM Practical andTheory exams. At first somemembers of the MusicDepartment here were rathersceptical about this ‘British

system’ they knew nothingabout, however now that theyhave seen the thoroughness ofthe examiner’s reports I am confi-dent that they have all becomeAssociated Board converts! I wasvery impressed with our exam-iner Dennis Lee. He is a mostcharming man who tried his bestto put nervous students at ease,even offering a little French whenunderstanding was difficult forFrench-speaking students. Healso took great care to answer myquestions on behalf of my musicstaff concerning his own thor-ough training for the job ofexaminer for the Board.

Rachel BarryLe Rosey, Switzerland

Above right: Richard Morris at one of the celebrations in Sri LankaRight: A scene from the recent ESP special

I have very small hands so somepieces are impossible for me –what can I do?With the new expanded pianosyllabus it is more likely that youwill find choices that suit the sizeof your hands, however, theoccasional rearrangement ofnotes in a chord, e.g. putting oneof the notes in the right hand oromitting the inside octave,providing the harmony isretained, is acceptable.

My pupils worry aboutanswering the Aural Tests, astheir English is not very good.What can they do?Examiners are assessing the overall response, not the candidate’s vocabulary. Very simple answers will do just as well as more complicated replies. Teachers should equip their students with a range of words, such as faster, slower, longer, shorter, louder, quieter, beginning, middle, end and of course the Italian terms piano and forte. In the B test for higher grades, it is useful to be familiar with the terms Baroque, Classical, Romantic and Contemporary.

UK High Scorers’ ConcertsConcerts arranged for this term are as follows:Centre Date RepresentativePlymouth 4 February Carmela Furniss

Darlington and Bishop Auckland 6 March Mavis Robson

Bangor 13 February Carys Ivor Arwyn Evans

L I B R E T T O J A N U A R Y 1 9 9 9 N O T I C E B O A R D | 1 1

New HLRsThe following HLRs have beenappointed recently:

Blackburn (Practical)Paul GreenhalghTel: 01254 664973 (tel/fax)01254 262888 (work)mobile: 0385 998822

Brian McDonald continues asTheory HLR.

Brighton (Practical)Vivienne BottTel: 01273 681137

Valerie Robinson continues asTheory HLR.

HitchinSylvia NormanTel: 01462 459446

Leighton BuzzardBarbara SpringthorpeTel: 01525 373331

“All aboard and in at the deep end”must be the thoughts of manywho join the InternationalAdministration Department. So,what do we do? And where arewe heading?

The primary role of the departmentis to deliver Practical and Theoryexams in more than 80 countriesworking with our growing networkof over 200 Representatives,contacts, consultants, and theexaminers, who are very muchpart of the team. Additionally weare here to provide support forteachers, to promote our exams innew and existing countries, andto extend our representationacross the world.

In 1998 we made arrangements forover 200 examiners - includinggroups of between 20 and 50 forMalaysia and Hong Kong - whoexamined over 200,000 candidates.We also handled the InternationalScholarships, the appointment ofnew Representatives, conventions,exhibitions and Jubilee events.

We continue to streamline ouradministrative processes anddevelop communications withour colleagues worldwide, partic-ularly through the web, tosupport all teachers andRepresentatives.

Rita Rattray, Head of InternationalAdministration.

International Administration:plans and activities

UK Centre NewsBuryElizabeth Pass has an emailaddress:johnelizpass.masterclassedu@btinternet.com

Isle of ManAvril Pickard has joined herhusband, Alan, to become jointHLR.

PenzanceDominic Foster now has twocontact telephone numbers:Daytime: 01736 333500Evening: 01736 331177

PlymouthPeter Morgan Evans’ telephonenumber is also a fax number(01752 881680). He also has anemail address: Pagmevans@btinternet.com

Kuching High Scorers’ Concert

Geoffrey Smith presenting a gift to Mr Salleh Nyak Din on his retirement from the Penang Examinations Office

InternationalNewsCanary Islands (Tenerife)Ismael Perera now has acombined telephone and faxnumber: (922) 383581

India (Calcutta)Please note that JerooRustomjee’s fax number is now:(033) 282 7344

Japan Eriko Sugano’s email address is:sugano@piano.or.jp

Spain (Barcelona)Teresa Pont has a new emailaddress:Tpont@minorisa.es

The 3rd Kuching High Scorers’Concert was held in October1998, featuring candidates whohad scored high Distinctions intheir 1998 exams. A total of 34performers played in front of anaudience of 230 people in theKuching Hilton’s Grand Ballroom.

Badges and t-shirts werepresented to all performers by thePresident of the Kuching MusicSociety, Yeoh Jun Lin.

Organised by the Sarawak MusicSociety, the annual concert hasbecome one of the highlights ofthe year.

NuneatonJacqueline StrettonTel: 01203 348432

RichmondAveril KirkhamTel: 01748 824027Email: kirky@easynet.co.uk

Selly OakOlive PhippsTel: 0121 459 9745

WindsorRon FletcherTel: 01753 854598

WorcesterJosephine HuntTel: 01905 756329

Performers from the Kuching High Scorers’ Concert

The International Department (left to right); Claudia Richter, Rita Rattray, Alison Pickard, Kerry Milner, Adrienne Banks,Maureen Kuruppu, Anne Haffenden, Maureen Hagan, Sian Hayes, Jenny Parry, Katharine Masters and Heather Walker

Piano Music

EXAMINATION MUSIC

Presenting a vibrant diversity ofmusical language and thought,Spectrum 2 reflects the breadth ofcurrent compositional trends andwill serve as an invaluable intro-duction to contemporary music. Spectrum 2 contains pieces thatare both easier and shorter thanthose in the original Spectrum;they range in standard fromGrade 1 to Grade 6, and are aconcise and true representationof each composer’s style. Theyare suitable for amateur andprofessional pianists of all ages.

ContentsEleanor Alberga Only a wishaway; Avril Anderson A StoryUntold; Julian AndersonSomewhere near Cluj; DavidBedford Sunset over Stac Pollaidh;Richard Rodney Bennett Taking aline for a walk; Diana Burrell TheLittle Bear; Philip Cashian SlowMoon; Laurence Crane Chorale forHoward Skempton; Jeremy DaleRoberts Nyanyushka’s Song; BrianElias Plaint; Michael FinnissyTango; Graham Fitkin Tunch;Michael Zev Gordon HighGround; Jonathan Harvey Haiku;Alun Hoddinott Lizard; GabrielJackson October Monody; NeilKaczor In Memoriam; ColinMatthews Rosamund’s March;Edward McGuire Foglied’Autunno; Barry Mills Clouds;Stephen Montague Tsunami;Anthony Payne Micro-Sonata;Roger Redgate arc; EdwinRoxburgh Hallowe’en; TimothySalter Cat being bold at first; DavidSawer l’escalier; HowardSkempton Arpeggio; Dave SmithTuesday; John Tavener Zodiacs;Andrew Toovey Jenny Dances

Publication: 18 May 1999

Also available:

Spectrumcompiled by Thalia Myers £8.50

‘... rewarding to play’ MUSICAL TIMES

‘An unmissable investment’ MUSIC TEACHER

OBOE MUSIC

Time Pieces for Oboe:Music through the Ages

Ian Denley

Volumes 1 & 2 £4.50

Time Pieces is an exciting series ofrepertoire which explores thewealth of music written from thesixteenth century to the presentday. The pieces are presentedchronologically within eachvolume and all include the yearin which they were written too,so you can map your journeythrough time!Time Pieces for Oboe is a two-volume anthology providing agraded selection of well-craftedand idiomatic arrangements foroboe and piano, Grades 1 - 6. All of the pieces have beencarefully arranged by Ian Denleyto practise the note ranges andkeys of the early grades whileproviding straightforward pianoaccompaniments for the teacherto play. From Bach to Beizai andfrom Handel to Hindemith, TimePieces for Oboe allows the pupil toget a real feel for the differentstyles of music through time andwill prove an invaluable andvaried source of further studyand recital repertoire.

Publication: 4 February 1999

1998 Theory of Music Papers Grade 1 £1.25Grade 2 £1.25Grade 3 £1.25Grade 4 £1.25Grade 5 £1.50Grade 6 £1.75Grade 7 £1.75Grade 8 £1.95

Publication: 7 January 1999

Associated Board publications areavailable from your local music retailer. For a list of local stockists please contactthe publishing company’s marketingdepartment:

ABRSM (Publishing) Limited14 Bedford Square, London WC1B 3JG United Kingdom

Tel: +44 171 636 5400Fax: +44 171 637 0234e-mail: publishing@abrsm.ac.ukwww.abrsmpublishing.co.uk

L I B R E T T O J A N U A R Y 1 9 9 91 2 | P U B L I C A T I O N S

1998 L.R.S.M. PapersPart 1, Papers 1 & 2Part 2, Branch C £3.25

Publication: 7 January 1999

1998 L.R.S.M. Aural Awareness TestsCassette £7.50

Publication: 7 January 1999

Specimen Sight-Reading Testsfor Strings, Grades 6 - 8Violin £3.25Viola £3.25Cello £3.25Double Bass £3.25

Publication: 3 December 1998

Spectrum 2 compiled by Thalia Myers £5.95

Spectrum 2 builds on the enormous success enjoyed by Spectrum,first published by ABRSM (Publishing) Limited in 1996. This newvolume presents 30 specially-commissioned miniatures for pianists,written by leading composers born or now based in Great Britain.

Spectrum 2 will be launched at theWigmore Hall on Tuesday 18May 1999. A limited number oftickets will be available to readersof Libretto. For furtherinformation please contact CiaraO’Donoghue on 0171 467 8272 e-mail: codonoghue@abrsm.ac.uk

A Companion to Beethoven’sPianoforte SonatasDonald Francis Tovey £12.95Professor Sir Donald Tovey’scelebrated “bar-by-bar analysis ofBeethoven’s 32 PianoforteSonatas” remains a key text forpianists, students, scholars andmusic lovers. Intended as acompanion to the AssociatedBoard’s Complete PianoforteSonatas edition the book containsa succinct and illuminatingsummary of the author’sanalytical approach before eachsonata is dealt with in detail.This new imprint is prefaced withan introduction by Dr BarryCooper, Lecturer in the MusicDepartment of ManchesterUniversity.

Publication: 4 February 1999

Specimen Papers, revisededition, for the Theory of MusicSyllabus, Grades 6, 7 & 8

£2.50This revised edition of SpecimenPapers for the Associated Board’stheory examinations at Grades 6,7 & 8 has been published todemonstrate to teachers andcandidates the adjustments andpresentational changes which areto be made from 1999. This edition provides excellentpreparation material for highergrade theory candidates.

Publication: 1 October 1998