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

The early bird pricing still has some time to run.

In the last episode, I mentioned the ABRSM Start Here podcast as one worth listening to.

I thought that their third season had ended after eight episodes, so I was pleasantly surprised when two new ones dropped on Monday.

These new episodes cover punk and house music, and although I don't listen to either of those sorts of music, the stories of their origins and their development was interesting to hear.

So I think, first of all, it's useful to say that there are a number of different bodies that offer examinations in HAARP out there.

Some of the most well-known are the ABRSM, which offer examinations from grade one to grade...

And further than that, I think they start to get called diplomas and things like that after you go past grade eight.

They're widely recognised in the UK.

In actual fact, the grades seven and eight give you UCAS points.

So if you're applying to university, you actually get extra points for that.

ABRSM also offer performance exams where you don't have to do as many technical exercises.

No, wait, do you have to do technical? I should probably have looked this up before I started.

You've referenced music theory a couple of times, and I'm really interested.

This is an ABRSM podcast, after all, Grade 5 music theory and all that.

What are your feelings about theory? Would you like to...

Have you worked with young musicians, aspiring DJs, who have looked to perhaps develop their musicianship, who haven't perhaps had the advantage of a... of a classical traditional music education? And if so, how have you developed their skills with them? What have you advised them to do, whether it be textural, melodic, beat led, et cetera? And what would you like to see more of in the traditional music theory space? That's the second part of that question.

If you liked today's episode, why not go back and check out the other two series of Start Here.

If you like house, you might enjoy our episodes on dubstep, garage and experimental.

Follow ABRSM on TikTok and Instagram and tell us what genre you want to be unpacked next.

An even more eclectic selection of music comes from podcasts and the radio.

The ABRSM series Start Here covers all sorts of musical genres and made me aware of some that I'd never heard of.

Many of them are not to my taste.

Admittedly, they're not aimed at old blokes, but I'm still really glad to have heard about them.

Eli's father, Chun Yong Jun, says the decision to pursue CXC Music came after recognizing that Eli was ready for a greater challenge.

He did ABRSM theory and he got a distinction.

And so I said, what's the next step for him? It was very challenging for him because CXC is usually two to three year program.

So he had to learn the entire syllabus in the six months because he was so young.

And then I found in the literature that this is supported.

You can look at the ABRSM grades, the number of people who do grade one compared to the numbers who do grade eight, and I thought, "Oh, that's really sad.

I don't want that for my kids.

I don't want them to, to drop out."

[laughs] So, so there was a lot of thinking at that point, and reflecting.

And, and then I was like, "Why, why did I...

W- so why do we drop out of things?" And so the ABRSM actually, there was a document about this, and they said it's because we lose interest.

And I was like, "Well, why do we lose interest in things?" And I...