Read on Twitter
Ok Twitter, I have a story for you about my student’s @ABRSM Grade 8 Singing exam on Friday… Luckily, both @abrsmchiefexec and @abrsmchiefexr are on Twitter, so this story is for them as well as all of you. (1)
Please take a few minutes to read and share it, for the sake of my student. I am furious on her behalf. Here we go… Are you sitting comfortably? Then I shall begin. (2)
The debacle begins as we arrived at the venue to be shown a seat by the steward, who didn’t see any need to ask any questions about our health, or to provide any instructions about sanitising hands, etc. This also happened repeatedly with candidates after us. (3)
15 minutes after we were meant to be in the warm up room, I asked whether my student could warm-up for her Grade 8 singing exam. The steward looked up from her book (!) and told me that there was no warm up facility. (4)
This was because the small room (‘cupboard’ was the actual word she used) normally used for warm-up 'had furniture in it'. She returned to her book, making no attempt to converse with us or the other candidates, or to generally calm nerves, like most stewards tend to do. (5)
So, just to recap so far, a Grade 8 exam to do with no warm up. A young, bright, and gifted singer, who is forced to sing cold. I start to fizz, but choose not to say anything for the sake of my student. (6)
We were further told that the second piano in the building (normally in the cupboard that seemed to understudy as the warm-up room), was in with the examiner as well so that the examiner could avoid touching the piano that the candidates were using. (7)
My student now understandably looked a little worried. She’s been consistently working for this exam for over a year. And sixth-formers have very little time for extra things like this. (8)
So my student decides to go OUTSIDE to at least do something to warm up. Outside: 8 degrees and rain. She comes in, slightly damp, not really warmed up (funny that), and now more anxious (quelle surprise), having processed the situation. (9)
Have you done an @abrsm Grade 8 exam when cold and wet? My student has. So if you’re still with me, we finally walk into the exam room… How exciting, I hear you say. Except it wasn’t. (10)
The examiner greets us with the wrong name. We are not on the examiner’s list. He thinks we’re here to do Grade 2 piano. Two of us... At this point our bookworm steward pipes up: ‘she’s not on my list either’. I show them the booking confirmation. (11)
So, 35 minutes in a waiting room to walk in cold to a Grade 8 exam, and at NO POINT did the steward raise any concerns. Said steward wore a flimsy blue mask over her mouth (not nose as well, despite ALL Covid advice), and removed it for extended periods of time. (12)
The book reading continued. Must have been a good steward. Sorry, book. (13)
So we’re now in the exam room, dictating basic details like name, date of birth, what exam we were here to do, etc. to the poor examiner, who was AT ALL TIMES utterly professional, calm, kind and warm. This is not about him; he was great. He deserves an extra biscuit. (14)
It’ll come as no surprise that by now my student’s eyes were a little watery. I gave her a reassuring glance, we gave the examiner the details, and we did the exam. She performed well, dear reader, but NO MUSICIAN, not least a sixth-former, should be faced with that. (15)
She will now have abiding memories of her Grade 8 exam being an unnecessarily negative experience, all of which was out of her control. I cannot tell you how angry I am with @ABRSM. (16)
Should also say that my student is ridiculously bright, and has her Cambridge interview today. She’s also hoping for a choral scholarship, and has to now do the interview within a few days of all of this. (17)
And, in case you think I’m over-reacting, I should add: I have been teaching for 17 years, have submitted candidates for, stewarded, and accompanied more @ABRSM exams than I care to (or could ever) count, and I have been Head of Music at a large and musical school. (18)
Every ounce of me believes music education is about enabling, empowering and inspiring. How different Friday’s experience was, thanks to @ABRSM. It was shameful, demoralising, and utterly indefensible. Quite an achievement to be able to reach a new Gold level of shambolic. (19)
So thanks for reading, and please retweet and share, for the sake of my student who, unsurprisingly, is rocking gently in a corner now preparing herself for the next hurdle. Oh, and we paid £101 for the ‘experience’. Thanks @ABRSM. Over to you. (20)
Pretty sure that @ofqual will also be very interested in investigating the shambolic administration of @ABRSM exams. Covid is not an excuse. Just as well that I've written to them as well.
I'm also sure that @davidroper1603, @AcadPrincipal, @lindarncm and @jeffreysharkey will have views on this.
There are so many, like me, trying to give young people an inspiring musical education, and many pushing for greater access to music ( @Howard_Goodall @NickyBenedetti @ShekuKM @JessGillamSax). @ABRSM have become too ££ orientated at the expense of caring about why they are there.
@ISM_music @WeAreTheMU @OfficialNATS @EptaUK Overwhelming responses, both public and private to this thread. Collective pressure needs to be placed on the very highest levels of @ABRSM to reform. They are not fit for purpose. Genuinely causing a regression in music education.
