DipABRSM or ATCL?

[kghayesh]

I have finished my grade 8 ABRSM 2 years ago and I was thinking of pushing it a little bit forward and going for a diploma. I know there is DipABRSM and ATCL out there, so what is the exact difference and which is better? all i know is that DipABRSM is harder and there is no quick study in ATCL

[dan101]

I feel bad that no one has replied so I'm going to attempt to, even though I am not familiar first hand with the exact diplomas that you have mentioned.

In Canada, after having completed your last piano grade, you basically can take either a teacher's of a performer's ARCT. In England, there is a similar choice, depending on the college of your choice. I did four years at the Royal College of Music and then took the teacher's ARCM.

The general feeling was that the teacher's exam was more intense, with more theory and 'away from the keyboard' study. The performer's version was mainly concerned with your practical level of playing. Most of my colleagues who were interested in a well rounded education opted for the teacher's exam.

I hope you can relate some of this to your circumstance. Best of luck.

[kghayesh]

Well, I feel bad too nobody replied (hehe, except for u of course). The thing is, I am not interested in doing a teacher's diploma because I don't wanna be a piano teacher anyway. I am taking an absolute performance apporach to music. I am quite good in theory as well but I was only asking about performance diplomas... hello....is anybody here??!!

[gyzzzmo]

Go talk with a teacher

[richard black]

Why bother? Do you need a bit of paper for a job application?

[kevinr]

There are some forums at

http://forums.abrsm.org

which it might be worth chacking out. There is one forum specifically about diplomas which has some threads on comparisons between various diplomas.

I can't speak from fist hand experience (I jus did the ATCL many years ago) but I don't get the feeling that either is regarded as harder, or more highly valued.

As you say, the only difference seems to be that in the ATCL (recital option) there's no quick study - you just have to play and produce some program notes.

[dora96]

What ATCL ,LTCL,  and FTCL stand for ? In fact, I am thinking doing Trinity dipolma. My teacher told me that Trinity collage dipolma is recognised by worldwide. This is good advantage. Is that right ?

[elevateme_returns]

Dip ABRSM


DEFINITELY. trust me, a trinity college diploma is embarrassing to have when compared to ABRSM.

however ABRSM is a lot harder to pass . .   when i did it 2 years ago i got the pass mark for both sections lol.

i got my LRSM results on saturday i got 85% !

[dora96]

Dip ABRSM


DEFINITELY. trust me, a trinity college diploma is embarrassing to have when compared to ABRSM.

however ABRSM is a lot harder to pass . .   when i did it 2 years ago i got the pass mark for both sections lol.

i got my LRSM results on saturday i got 85% !

What do you mean trinity collage diploma is embarrassing? I am going to have this exam very soon. Is there something I should know about it ? Please explain thanks

[bob3.1415926]

I wouldn't worry about it too much. I've not taken either, but I have looked closely at the syllabus from both boards, and if anything the Trinity requirements are harder. There's many pieces on various AB diplomas, which aren't deemed acceptable for the equivalent Trinity diploma. As for the standard expected, I couldn't really comment, but I've not heard anything to the effect that one is less rigorous than the other. I thoroughly disagree with elevateme_returns.