Singing - how do I work out Grade?

[elfonshelf]

DD is 10 and has been having singing lessons since she was 4 (group and school initially and an hour 1 to 1 since she was 7.5 years). She works professionally (West End etc) but has never done exams or graded pieces.

She's recently started piano, can follow a score, and knows some very basic music theory (names of notes, how many beats in a crotchet etc).

We've been looking at secondary schools and in discussions they have all raised the possibility of music scholarships. None of them are worried about her having done music exams - said it might be an idea to take some for piano but not to bother with them for singing.

However I have been asked for a rough guide-line of where she would be grade-wise. Is there somewhere I can find out what level she is at?

Her teacher is a professor at a university teaching final year degree students, and coaches professional adults on the side (DD is the only child on his books) and does the same exercises and aural tests with her as with his degree students. He's trying to work it out as well.

For the scholarships, they want to hear two contrasting pieces, plus aural tests (no problems with any of that) and then there is sight reading.

How does that work for singing? DD has a very good ear - if you play her a new song, she'll sing it back to you pretty much spot on after hearing it once or twice; but if they give her a piece of sheet music and the first note she wouldn't have a clue what to do if she hasn't heard it played through.

I'm feeling awful that we have been so busy with lessons (she does 3 types of dance, plus musical theatre, plus drama as well as the music) and her work schedule - plus normal school, that there just hasn't been space to fit in the normal exams, theory etc.

DD also fairly dyslexic so cramming theory not likely to be an easy task - she prefers to learn everything by ear and avoid sheet music... sigh.

Any ideas on how to fast track the missing bits, how to work out what level the things she sings are would be very helpful!

Oh I totally agree there is no such thing as 'a grade x piece'. I was just suggesting that having a search might give OP a rough idea. I certainly didn't advocate box ticking or say candidates can't have weaknesses
Did you search pieces she's learning or has learned recently?
I can't believe the same pie
ha

Oops, pressed post by accident.
Looking at the syllabus is as I said a great idea.
I can't believe the same piece is set for grade 1 and 6. Are you sure you aren't mistaken? I could only find it at g1 which seems right. It sounds more impressive than it is. If you search g6 singing the pieces are much more advanced - obviously, eg Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again, if that helps...I Dreamed A Dream and On My Own from Les Mis are g5 I think.
Anyway, sounds like she'd get a great education if she gets in, and piano will definitely help her musical development too.

I had a look through this syllabus list... gb.abrsm.org/fileadmin/user_upload/syllabuses/Complete_syllabus_with_amended_pp21_25_30_40.pdf

Which proved mainly disconcerting! Her repertoire is totally all over the place. She's got a G7 and a G8 piece in her audition songs list, and then quite a lot that are in the G5/G6 lists, and a few in the lower grades too.

I suppose best bet is to do the theory, have a bash at learning to sight-sing as a good thing to learn and then find a few contrasting pieces that show off the best of what she can do.

They are extremely expert at what they do and she'll either tick the boxes or not.

I don't want to massively stress her out or make it feel like a chore - she loves singing and that is the most important thing at the end of the day.

I think your attitude is great. Hope she will enjoy the audition (sounds like she will). Good luck!

Does the school you are aiming for awards music scholarships for only one instrument? All London schools require 2 instruments, second instrument being around grade 3, so I would also check these requirements before applying. Competition is stiff, there was around 80 applicants for only few scholarships in one of the girls schools this year, only half of the applicants were invited to an audition and many were quite a high level on several instruments.

Yes, both this school (London and very highly regarded for music) and two 13+ schools are all aware that she only started piano in September and has no grades at all in anything.

The idea of applying for scholarships has come from them, I didn’t think it was an option because we don’t tick any of the requirements, but none of them seem particularly bothered about the unconventional route. So we know she will be seen if nothing else.

We have been asked to fast-track piano with aim of being around G4 standard at 13 and a preference for doing exams because it’s her supporting instrument and we’re right at the beginning, and to get G1 theory done by 11, but none of them want her to start doing singing exams.

We have also been asked to go for pre-scholarship assessment at the 13+ schools in Y6 and to keep them informed of what she does professionally.

Thanks to those who recommended the theory books - they’ve arrived and look really good. We’ve made a start!

Sight singing books have also arrived but we’ve got auditions next week so that is on hold till the next gap. Her teacher is very intrigued to see how they work

Wow she must be truly exceptional. I would be careful not to overstate her singing grade, because aural test and sight reading will be based on her level. So if you tell the school she is grade 8, sight reading and aural will be of a very high level. Good luck! It really gives me hope, I’ve heard such horror stories about auditions this year, so maybe things are not as bad as other parents say...

She sounds wonderful indeed! The schools seem keen on her and I like that they don't fuss about grades/certificate on paper.

By the way, when my DS had an audition for a scholarship, he hadn't done any exam for his first study (violin) but had done for his second study (piano). It wasn't a concern for us as I knew some schools really wouldn't care about certificates (but some would do). He won the largest award the school could offer.

I’ve told them all that I haven’t a clue where she would be grade wise - I came on here rather hoping there was some magic way of working it out having felt a bit of a numpty. I was having conversations with them about what music they had on offer rather than making scholarship enquiries so hadn’t really gone prepared.

It’s tricky as just because you can sing a grade 8 piece well doesn’t mean you are grade 8 level, but at the same time, she’s more advanced than grade 1 even if she’s not got a piece of paper to prove it.

I find it very hard discussing it with them - as her mother I don’t feel I can be very objective and I’m probably one of her harshest critics. I’ll be much happier when they just take her off and make their own minds up rather than asking my not exactly expert opinion (this is when grades come in handy... much easier to be able to say that child has done grades 1-5 with distinction at every grade than explain our situation!)

Neleus - huge well done to your DS! It’s so nice that schools do seem to be able to see outside the box and treat children as individuals these days.

I will let everyone know what happens either way!

There is a lot of dis-satisfaction amongst singing teachers with the ABRSM musical theatre exam pieces. They feel that songs have been inappropriately graded.

I think it is a lot easier to estimate the grade level of an instrumental player from pieces they have mastered, than it is for singers. And even then there are plenty of discrepancies - when I put my son through grade 5 violin he'd already played pieces that were on the grade 6 and 7 syllabuses. The singing lists are wider - I think they need to be, to suit different voices - and I get the impression that it comes down to how a piece is sung. So yes, it's probably going to be appropriate to decline to estimate her singing grade-equivalent, though you may be able to suggest what level her sight reading has got to.

Good luck getting her music reading going. You should find pre-assessments very useful to guide the next steps, too. We got practical feedback "please do more of this" "this is the kind of piece we'd like to hear as a contrast", when doing pre-auditions with my youngest.