DipABRSM exam - piano

[chocolateandtea]

hi guys, my son wants to give DipABRSM a go, unfortunately his piano teacher has never had a “higher level” student before, so we don’t have any insights/tips beyond what is published on ABRSM’s website. this teacher is young himself and doesn’t have many students, he plays really well but is not familiar with the ABRSM examinations.

if anyone could please share with us any information, tips, advices, what to expect on the day, anything really, it would be much much appreciated. We are a little in the dark here.

thank you!!!!

A friend of mine may be able to help, she has taught to a high level and taken all the exams herself.

Thank you

Speaking as a pianist who has done a DipABRSM exam I'd strongly advise you get your son an experienced teacher.

The assessment at Dip level is not as generous as at Grade 8 - it's not sufficient to just know the notes and play well, there is more emphasis on interpretation and playing to a (almost) professional level.

The whole performance is taken into account (not individual pieces) and the examiner will be assessing the program selection, the transitions between pieces, and the contrast between the pieces.

Your son will also have to prepare to be asked questions on his pieces, defend his choices, and explain why he chose his program.

It's a massive step up from Grade 8 and I would absolutely encourage you to pursue it, I'm just saying you shouldn't underestimate what the requirements are or risk your son's confidence plummeting should the current teacher not be able to pull him up to the required level ahead of the exam.

Be aware that ABRSM are revamping their diploma exams and the last opportunity to take dipABRSM is this autumn. It will be replaced by the ARSM (available now), which has the same recital criteria but cuts some of the other elements of the dipABRSM.

Otherwise I’d echo CarribouCarafe. Also, has your son done much performing? If not I’d highly recommend he get some experience - be it to family, at school, local church/hall for charity…. Performing a recital is a different mind set to taking a Grd 8 exam and, unless he’s an utter natural, prepping that aspect of things will really help him on the day.

Thanks everyone for your kind messages.

Regarding teacher, it has been hard finding someone who is available, within sensible travel distance, and at an affordable cost. We are not a family with musical background, certainly no connections, we found the current teacher from a tutoring website.

Regarding performances, yes, we have been “harassing” the school for an opportunity, of course getting friends and relatives around on weekends. Basically doing what we can.

I would really appreciate it if someone could share their experience on the day of the exam. Also a very specific question about the program notes, we know that it should not be technical as it is meant for general public, does this mean even the “basic” terminology should be omitted (eg sonata rondo form, tenuto etc)? Does the examiner expect something completely non-technical or something with sensible use of terminology but perhaps with a definition included?

grateful for any help!

Abrsm are currently ‘redeveloping’ their diplomas. Not sure what that will mean. Dependent where you are based, have you looked at any Music Festivals, competitions etc. to increase performance experience ?

If you can't find a teacher in your local area you can always try a more qualified one who does lessons on Zoom - I've been teaching on Zoom for the past 5 years and feedback has been that I've been able to do a better job than their previous in-person lessons. I also receive Zoom lessons fortnightly and have experienced that they can work well with the right teacher-pupil pairing.

Not advertising my services, just suggesting it if you haven't already considered.

I did DipABRSM (not on piano) and honestly you do need an experienced teacher who can give advice on the program notes and viva sections.
If I can dig out my old program notes I'll let you know what sort of level of technical vocab I used, but it was a while ago so I might not still have the data stick

Good that you’re getting performance experience in

For ARSM there is no longer a viva, and “programme notes” seem to be a written list of pieces:
https://gb.abrsm.org/en/our-exams/diplomas/music-performance/arsm-associate-of-the-royal-schools-of-music/

Are you anywhere near any private schools? They can have some excellent music teachers coming on site, and some allow them to teach external students.

Are you prepared to share roughly where you are, as suggestive may be able to give you a local-ish name - and good teachers tend to know good teachers…

I would also be wary of heading into a diploma without a teacher experience in prepping students to that level.

@drawingmaps thank you so much! This would be really helpful.

regarding zoom lessons with a “more qualified” teacher, perhaps we have been looking at all the wrong places, a few people we have contacted, despite advertising on their profiles as experts who could “teach beginners to diploma level students”, it turned out none of them have actually taught any students above a grade 7 or 8. Worse still, a couple of them lied and it took us a while to figure out because they simply could not answer certain dipabrsm -specific questions. It was infuriating to spend money having someone googling “fun facts” about a particular composer on a zoom call…

taking deep breaths…

we would be happy to take any contact information of piano teachers who could give us a couple of consultation sessions via zoom (or other online platform) on program notes/viva voce.

again many thanks for all you good people out there!

Looks like detailed program notes and viva have been removed then. That's a shame I think. For me it was what took me up to a distinction, because I was an academic nerd and very good at talking about things I knew a lot about, but only an adequate performer at that level.

my son is taking the dipabrsm exam this year, so the viva vice is still very much relevant.

we are still looking for people who can give us some tips from their own experience

thank you!

Hello!

I've just taken my DipABRSM on violin! 🎻
Did your son take his exam in the end? Did he get some advice, and how did he get on?
It's now a 3 month wait for the results...