How to get a Distinction at ABRSM - Pieces

How to get a Distinction at ABRSM - Pieces

In order to get a good mark on your pieces in ABRSM exam, it is not just a question of playing the right notes with the correct rhythm. It is probably good enough to pass at lower grades, but to get a distinction, your performance needs to stand out.

The dictionary definition of “distinction” is excellence that sets someone or something apart from others. There must also be a sense of involvement when playing, communicating the mood and style to the listener.

With this in mind, getting a good mark in an ABRSM exam starts right back with choosing your pieces. You should listen to the all the options and then choose the one that inspires you. You will play a piece you enjoy the most, better. When my students pick their pieces, I start by playing them the three options in the list. I then ask, “Which one did you like the best?”

Sometimes they will respond something like, “The first one looked the easiest”, to which I will point out that they are all as difficult as each other, only sometimes, to the less trained eye, the hidden difficulties may not be so apparent.

The next step, is not to start learning the notes, but to listen to other good performances of the piece. Makes notes on how others interpreted the piece, the shaping, phrasing, dynamics etc. You are a musician, an artist, NOT a technician.

YouTube has become a very popular resource for students to learn their exam pieces. However, there are a lot of very poor quality performances on the platform, particularly for pianists.
What compounds the problem, is that if you search on YouTube for a particular piece, invariably what comes up first in search, is a certain channel that has been around the longest and so has the most subscribers and hence, views. Being first in search, doesn’t make it the best.

You will NOT get a distinction by copying the performances of this popular channel.

... Indeed many of his performances, particularly at the higher grades, would barely scrape a pass, let alone get a distinction. If you do use YouTube, try to find performances that you find musically engaging.

To get a distinction in your pieces, a good place to look, would be at the official ABRSM marking criteria. The assessment is divided in 5 parts:
1.Pitch
2.Time
3.Tone
4.Shape
5.Performance

For example, if we take a look at the marking criteria for a distinction, phrases used in the official ABRSM mark scheme include, Expressive, musical Shaping; Vivid communication of character and style; Assured; Fully committed.

So, you have chosen your pieces, listened to other good quality performances. Now it comes to learning the notes and at this point, you should start slowly, observing all the musical details from day 1. Don’t ever play a piece faster than you can comfortably manage to observe all the musical elements, such as dynamics and articulation. Some may say, I’ll add the dynamics later. However, “later” is often a time when you have started to memorise and rarely look up at the music. You are running on auto-pilot and so if I suggested, “Oh make bar 8 forte”, it will disorientate your muscle memory so much that you might not even be able to play the notes.

Once you have learned your piece both musically and technically, you should be confident when going into the exam. Remember one of the marking criteria for a distinction was “Assured”. Go into the exam, believing in yourself, and when playing, you should have done enough preparation that you can even forget about the notes and ENJOY the performance. Yes that’s right I said “ENJOY” in the context of an exam. If you enjoy performing, the examiner will enjoy listening.

Now I have a little homework for you:

First of all write down the five elements of the marking criteria, that is, Pitch Time Tone Shape and Performance (and remember that I go into each of these elements in detail in my Ebook - “How to get a distinction at ABRSM”).

Then listen to two performances of the same piece

and finally come back to this video and leave a comment what you learned about the difference is between a pass and a distinction. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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[ely]

I got my Grade 8 Piano results back hehe.

Thanks to your videos I managed to get a distinction ^^

[meiqinlin]

The funny thing about this video is how my music teacher tells me to first sight read the notes and rhythm and then adding the dynamics etc. when learning a piece. The even more funny thing is how I trust your video more than my music teacher who is currently a student at the the royal academy of music

[PeterHontaru]

I think that Beethoven himself (even in the later stages of his life) would hear the difference between your video and Alan’s.

I’m only going for a grade 5 exam next (aiming for distinction again) and the differences are clear.

Sounds like one is being played by a computer and the other one by someone that has actually been practicing and cares about both phrasing and voicing on top of pitch and rhythm!

[ritabanerjee]

The second performance has more of character to it. There is frequent change in intonation, giving the piece a shape. The first performance in contrast, is mechanical.

[Alex-xedx]

RIP ALAN CHAN, THIS MAN WAS MURDERED BY MUSIC ONLINE UK XD LOL

[kei]

Luv jazz, i remember back in the day all the last c pieces were amazing

[typianoland]

Thank you for sharing your knowledge and experiences. Your video not only helps students to get a distinction but also allows me to teach my students better. ☺

[LpsAster]

wish i knew all this before i got into any of my exams - feels like a shame, i’ve taken five exams by now and i feel like it could’ve been so much of a better experience for me. anyway will save this and keep it in mind for the future

[LaCarusiella]

I believe it's a gift...you either have it or not. Anyone can learn the notes but the rest you can't learn. It has to come to you naturally

[thesimplestoic]

I think that perfectly illustrates what you say. The first piece, I just couldn't listen any more after about 30s. Poor examiner, if they had to listen to that multiple times in a day. Your piece was a joy to listen too.

[petefurness]

The interpretation was so much better in the first performance, more expression and a clear involvement in the piece being played.

[perpetuaa]

Thank you. This video really helped me in my performance grade 1 piano. I got a merit not a distinction but without the tips in this video I think I would have only got a pass.

[rebeccaday]

One of the interesting things about these videos was the first being on an electric piano and the second a live one. I actually thought the first one was more technically accurate but also showed more musicality. This piece - which I don't know - seemed to have a relentless rhythm through most of it and the second performance, apart from missing a few notes here and there, faltered at times in the even-ness of the rhythm. There were fewer dynamic variations in the second performance too, so I would mark 1 as a distinction and 2 a pass. This is marked from the heart as I am taking Grade 6 in 4 weeks, have a Heller Prelude to play where I often find I cannot achieve the consistent rhythm that I am aiming for and since I have an electric piano but have lessons on a living one (and exam on a Grand living one), the transition in terms of key weighting is marked. I could see similarities between my errors and some of the errors in the second video.

Thank-you for these videos they are all extremely useful.

[grainnel]

I've just done my grade 4 saxophone exam, although I don't thi k I got a distinction (I am a nervous exam taker) this helped calm me down and reassure me that I knew the material. Thank you so much!!

[photonatjag]

Many seem to say the second video, I think the performance on the first is more confident and musical (if a little fast). Either, I've got it wrong, or the videos are wrong the wrong way. This doesn't just help with exams, these criteria help with general performance as well. One comment in the video was something like 'be involved with the music', which I see many performers fail on just because they are playing an easy bit of music. It's the same for pop music with live bands.

[dennisdelosriosoakes]

This answered many of the questions I had about choosing and working through the pieces section of the exam.
Homework: 1) Pitch, 2) Tone, 3) Time, 4) Shape, 5) Performance. The first performance conveyed more assurance and confidence than the second performance also the tempo was faster and the notes had better contrast and clarity.

[tiplee]

Pitch
Time
Tone
Shape
Performance
:)

[FireFoxGaming]

Hi! Thank you for this helpful video on how to get a distinction in your exam pieces. I got 23/30 in my first piece and 26/30 on my second two pieces at Grade 7 piano - do you reckon that is a decent result?

[mypianofavourites]

Homework Part 1 = Name Five (5) Elements for a Distinction. Answer = 1) Pitch, 2) Tone, 3) Time, 4) Shape, 5) Performance. additional information Distinction requires the performance to 'Stand Out' with Excellence that sets the performance apart from others. Posted 17th February 2019

[gonferaburton]

I had to listen to both these performances so many times as I could hardly believe they were both playing the same piece. My mother was a music teacher (piano and guitar). I played piano until 14 (when I regrettably quit). I got no enjoyment whatsoever from the first piece (Chan) don’t know who played the second piece but it was so much more enjoyable. It has musicality and I felt it was played with expression. The first seemed only technically accurate (I assume?). I have been taking up the piano on and off over the years. Please tell me I am right or I will give up now.