AMEB Piano Examinations - What to Expect
AMEB (Australia Music Education Board) is just one of many music exam boards, however it is highly respected within Australia. Exams are fantastic at setting a gradual increase of difficulty for students to continue learning and growing as musicians. Exams get progressivly more difficult, starting at preliminary grade and going up to to grade 8. Anything higher than grade 8 (AmusA & LmusA) are associate and diploma level, considered very technically difficult, and in my opinion, professional performance level.
I would usually not suggest starting exams until a student has been learning for 2-3 years, but it honestly depends on their age, level of dedication, learning speed, and love of classical music.
Practice Expectations
If your child is interested in undertaking an AMEB piano exam, there are a few things to understand. It is expected that the piano student will dedicate 30 minutes of their time to practice, 5 days a week. Without this, a student may be unprepared and need to postpone their exam to a later date.
The Syllabi
There are two AMEb piano Syllabi to choose from.
AMEB Piano for Leisure exam
AMEB piano Exam.
Here’s how they differ:
Piano for Leisure Syllabus
There are slightly fewer scales and technical exercises to prepare
The number of pieces to prepare are slightly less.
There is a larger selection of film music and Jazz to choose from, as well as classical music.
Piano Syllabus
More scales and technical excersizes for a stronger foundational knowledge
A larger repitoire is required
Although other styles are available, this is a classical heavy syllabus.
Another thing to consider is that AMEB are now offering online repertoire only exams. The following points may help you decide what is best for you.
Pros and cons of repertoire exams (online):
Pros:
For students who get extremely anxious, this can be a way to participate in exams without the stress of a face to face examination.
For those who live busy lives with many hobbies, there is less to prepare.
You can film as many takes as you like until you have a video in which you are happy to submit for examination.
Cons:
The exam doesn’t require students to develop their ear with aural listening tests.
The exam doesn’t require students to memorise a more in depth understanding of the composer, musical period of music, structure of the piece. This is still touched on in your lessons regardless, as all of these details will help students perform using the correct touch, expression and stylistic interpretation.
The rules for video submission are strict and you may easily miss one little requirement and end up having to re-record the entire exam.
Pros and Cons of Comprehensive Exams (face to face):
Pros:
You are required to display a comprehensive skill set including general musical knowledge, aural listening skills, scales and sight-reading.
Practicing performance skills by performing live.
Cons:
You have one shot only to play everything to the best of your ability. Mistakes and all.
Child safety concerns - A parent of one of my students (school teacher) mentioned to me this year that they were shocked when they were asked to wait outside the examination room during their child’s piano exam. This is of course likely so that the exam runs swiftly, the child can focus and there is less room for cheating, however something to consider for those cautious parents.
Conclusion
Ultimately, exams are a fantastic way to see fast progression in a piano student’s skills, but they are not for everyone. Choosing to undertake exams requires a lot of dedication, however they harbour fantastic skills in a pianist.
