Trinity College London have brought in two new areas of assessment in your digital exam.
In place of the Supporting Tests (Aural and Sight Reading) you are now being marked on your overall performance.
There are two areas: Performance Delivery and Focus, and Musical Awareness. Each carries a maximum of ten marks. These are defined below:
Performance Delivery and Focus (10 marks): assesses the focus, assurance, and continuity of the performance – are the musicianship skills sustained meaningfully throughout the candidate’s performance? Are they maintained in a focussed way as they move between pieces and across the technical work?
Musical Awareness (10 marks): assesses whether the candidate has sound musical knowledge of their whole programme – are they able to demonstrate a sustained awareness of the appropriate interpretations of their pieces, moving fluidly between styles or genres? Is there a sustained commitment to the personal interpretation of the score? Are they confident in their delivery of the entire programme?
In practice this means:
Think of your audience!!
Examiners are considering your whole performance from the very beginning to the very end of your video. When you are filming think of them, your audience, and make sure that you consider the following points:
- You aren’t playing to yourself. It’s still a performance, even though your audience isn’t in the room with you.
- Don’t do things that would distract from your performance; maintain your focus throughout. It’s easy to lose concentration right at the end of a performance, but you must keep that focus going, even after the performance is over. This is respectful both to your audience and to the music.
- Take a moment to gather yourself before you start each piece. Sing the first few bars in your head before you begin. You will then know the speed and dynamic level you want to achieve right at the start, and you will be “in the zone” for that particular style of music.
- Don’t rush! The transition between pieces should be smooth. A few seconds of silence between pieces allows the previous music to “sink in” to your audience’s ears and mind. Don’t even turn the page until you have “framed” your performance with a few moments of silence before it starts and after it ends.