The ABRSM (Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music) is an

examination board An examination board (or exam board) is small board organization that sets examinations, is responsible for marking them, and distributes results. Some are run by governmental entities; some are run as not-for-profit organizations. List of nati ...

and

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based in the United Kingdom. ABRSM is one of five examination boards accredited by

Ofqual The Office of Qualifications and Examinations Regulation (Ofqual) is a non-ministerial government department that regulates qualifications, exams and tests in England. Colloquially and publicly, Ofqual is often referred to as the exam "watchdog ...

to award graded exams and diploma qualifications in music within the UK's

National Qualifications Framework A national qualifications framework is a formal system describing qualifications. 47 countries participating in the Bologna Process are committed to producing a national qualifications framework. Other countries not part of this process also hav ...

(along with the London College of Music, RSL Awards (Rockschool Ltd),

Trinity College London Trinity College London (TCL) is an examination board based in London, United Kingdom, which offers graded and diploma qualifications (up to postgraduate level) across a range of disciplines in the performing arts and English language learning and ...

, and the Music Teachers' Board). 'The Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music' was established in 1889 and

rebrand Rebranding is a marketing strategy in which a new name, term, symbol, design, concept or combination thereof is created for an established brand with the intention of developing a new, differentiated identity in the minds of consumers, investors ...

ed as ABRSM in 2009. The clarifying

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"the exam board of the Royal Schools of Music" was introduced in 2012. The Royal Schools referred to in ABRSM's title are: * The Royal Academy of Music *

The Royal College of Music The Royal College of Music is a music school, conservatoire established by royal charter in 1882, located in South Kensington, London, UK. It offers training from the Undergraduate education, undergraduate to the Doctorate, doctoral level in a ...

* The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland * The Royal Northern College of Music More than 600,000 candidates take ABRSM exams each year in over 93 countries. ABRSM also provides a publishing house for music which produces syllabus booklets, sheet music and exam papers and runs professional development courses and seminars for teachers. ABRSM is one of the UK's 200 largest charitable organisations ranked by annual expenditure.

Music Medals

Music Medals Music Medals are QCA-accredited music assessments and teaching resources offered by the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music and aimed at younger learners. They are available to all schools and Music Services that register as Music Medals ...

are QCA–accredited music assessments and teaching resources aimed at younger, group-taught learners. Music Medals are distinct from graded music exams in that no external examiners are involved and the initial assessment is made by the teacher.

Teacher training

Since 1995, the CT ABRSM (Certificate of Teaching) designed specifically for music teachers has been offered in addition to the diplomas, albeit as a separate qualification. In 2010, the new CT ABRSM Plus, which combined the DipABRSM and old CT ABRSM, was launched to give teachers access to the DipABRSM. From September 2013, the CT ABRSM Plus stopped being offered in the UK or Singapore for financial reasons. There are also numerous short courses and seminars on music teaching, accompaniment and syllabus instruction available to teachers.

ABRSM publications

ABRSM published its first books in 1918 and its publishing department was first set up in 1921 and was designed to provide suitable music for examinations, performance editions of popular works and new instructional compositions. One of the original editors was Sir

Donald Tovey Sir Donald Francis Tovey (17 July 187510 July 1940) was a British musical analyst, musicologist, writer on music, composer, conductor and pianist. He had been best known for his '' Essays in Musical Analysis'' and his editions of works by Bach ...

, who wrote informative notes on the music which are still highly regarded today. ABRSM (Publishing) Ltd. was established as a separate company in 1985.

ABRSM digital resources

Since 2009 ABRSM has produced several practice applications to support teachers and students: * Melody Writer - a tool designed to help improve melody writing and music theory knowledge and understanding * Aural Trainer - an iPhone app that helps students practice their aural skills * Speedshifter - a practice tool that allows students to vary the speed of audio without altering the pitch * Piano Practice Partner - an app for iOS and Android devices that helps students practice exam pieces for piano at Grades 1 to 3. Piano Practice Partner plays one hand so that students can play the other as they learn.

History

The Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music was founded in 1889 when Alexander Mackenzie, then the Principal of the

Royal Academy of Music The Royal Academy of Music (RAM) in London, England, is the oldest conservatoire in the UK, founded in 1822 by John Fane and Nicolas-Charles Bochsa. It received its royal charter in 1830 from King George IV with the support of the first Duke of ...

, and

George Grove Sir George Grove (13 August 182028 May 1900) was an English engineer and writer on music, known as the founding editor of ''Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians''. Grove was trained as a civil engineer, and successful in that profession, ...

, founding Director of the

Royal College of Music The Royal College of Music is a music school, conservatoire established by royal charter in 1882, located in South Kensington, London, UK. It offers training from the Undergraduate education, undergraduate to the Doctorate, doctoral level in a ...

, decided that the two institutions should combine to form an associated examining board to run joint local exams. The first syllabi were published in 1890 for Piano, Organ, Violin, Cello and Harp, with Viola, Double Bass and woodwind instruments added the following year. Originally, the ABRSM had only two grades and were the equivalent of the current grades 6 and 7. Due to the popular demand for beginner grades, the present structure (grades 1–8) was introduced in 1933. In 1947, the

Royal Manchester College of Music The Royal Manchester College of Music (RMCM) was a tertiary level conservatoire in Manchester, north-west England. It was founded in 1893 by the German-born conductor Sir Charles Hallé in 1893. In 1972, the Royal Manchester College of Music ...

(merged to form the present

Royal Northern College of Music The Royal Northern College of Music (RNCM) is a conservatoire located in Manchester, England. It is one of four conservatoires associated with the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music. In addition to being a centre of music education ...

) and Royal Scottish Academy of Music (now the

Royal Conservatoire of Scotland The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland ( gd, Conservatoire Rìoghail na h-Alba), formerly the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama ( gd, Acadamaidh Rìoghail Ciùil is Dràma na h-Alba) is a conservatoire of dance, drama, music, production, and ...

) joined ABRSM. Since the post-

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years, the ABRSM saw an increase in overseas exam applications. The curriculum also expanded, with the addition of

Guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

, Harpsichord, Voice, (with the option of specific exams for "musical theatre" singing at grades 1–3), percussion,

Recorder Recorder or The Recorder may refer to: Newspapers * ''Indianapolis Recorder'', a weekly newspaper * ''The Recorder'' (Massachusetts newspaper), a daily newspaper published in Greenfield, Massachusetts, US * ''The Recorder'' (Port Pirie), a news ...

and all brass instruments. The 1990s saw percussion and jazz added to the syllabus. For Diplomas, LRSM was the one that was always available. The DipABRSM and FRSM were introduced much later in the year 2000 as well as similar exams for instructors and teachers. The ARSM was introduced in the year 2016-2017 to serve as a bridge between the Grade 8 and DipABRSM exams.

Controversy

In response to the

Black Lives Matter Black Lives Matter (abbreviated BLM) is a decentralized political and social movement that seeks to highlight racism, discrimination, and racial inequality experienced by black people. Its primary concerns are incidents of police bruta ...

movement, on 15 July, 2020, the ABRSM syllabus came under public scrutiny for the lack of

BAME A number of different systems of classification of ethnicity in the United Kingdom exist. These schemata have been the subject of debate, including about the nature of ethnicity, how or whether it can be categorised, and the relationship betwe ...

representation in the 2019/20 syllabus. Over 4,000 people signed a petition which found "255 pieces in the new piano syllabus" to not include any black composers.

Chi-chi Nwanoku Chinyere Adah "Chi-chi" Nwanoku (; born June 1956) is a British double bassist and professor of Historical Double Bass Studies at the Royal Academy of Music. Nwanoku was a founder member and principal bassist of the Orchestra of the Age of Enl ...

"described the 'woeful lack' of ethnic diversity in the ABRSM syllabus as appalling" with Scott Caizley also stating how "the ABRSM should make its syllabuses less white if it was "committed to seeing a more racially diverse intake of students entering conservatoires". The ABRSM's spokeman responded to the criticism and said "the death of

George Floyd George Perry Floyd Jr. (October 14, 1973 – May 25, 2020) was an African-American man who was murdered by a police officer in Minneapolis, Minnesota, during an arrest made after a store clerk suspected Floyd may have used a counterfeit twe ...

in the US had made it think deeply about its efforts to get more black composers in its syllabuses".

References

External links

*(UK version) {{DEFAULTSORT:Associated Board Of The Royal Schools Of Music Performing arts education in the United Kingdom Classical music in the United Kingdom Music education in the United Kingdom English music Royal Academy of Music Scottish music Educational charities based in the United Kingdom Royal College of Music Royal Conservatoire of Scotland 1889 establishments in the United Kingdom Organizations established in 1889