If you’ve ever wanted to be a ‘fly on the wall’ at one of your students’ piano exams, have a look at this great free offering from the ABRSM.
What is it?The ABRSM has just released a great feature on its website called “On Your Marks”. This resource allows you to watch and assess all the elements of an ABRSM piano exam (similar AMEB, ANZCA, Trinity) and compare your assessment with the ABRSM Chief Examiner, John Holmes.
The page is split into the four main exam sections: technical work, pieces, aural tests and sight reading. After watching a video of the student performing in each section, you can select your mark.
When you’ve made your assessment, you can compare it to the Chief Examiner’s mark and watch a video explaining why he marked the piano exam the way he did.
Firstly, it’s fun to use!
This is a great resource for both students and teachers. Teachers can confirm that their own thinking is on-track with an examiner’s; students can see what it’s like to sit a piano exam and they can compare themselves to the performances in the videos. I was also impressed that the webpage was just as easy to access on a mobile phone.
The ABRSM also has a great Aural Training app for iPhone and iPad called Aural Trainer. While you may not use the ABRSM exam system with your students, the app is still a great resource for exam candidates.
Tim Topham is the founder and director of TopMusic. Tim hosts the popular TopCast show, blogs regularly at topmusic.co and speaks at local and international conferences on topics such as pedagogy, business, marketing and entrepreneurship. Tim has been featured in American Music Teacher, The Piano Teacher Magazine, California Music Teacher and EPTA Piano Professional. Tim holds an MBA in Educational Leadership, BMus, DipEd and AMusA.
