AMEB

[spaciiey]

Just out of curiousity... is there anyone here that learns the AMEB syllabus?

[Bob]

Not me.  Not that I know of anyway.

What is it?

[spaciiey]

Ah ok then. If you're wondering, AMEB stands for Australian Music Examination Board... its basically the biggest examination board I know of here in Australia. I take it there aren't many aussies around here then heh.

[thelittlepianist]

Hi, yep I learn from the AMEB syllabus -- hoping to do Grade 8 early next year! 

[spaciiey]

oooh yay awesome, someone *does* learn it! hahaha

i've only just started grade seven... roughly two weeks ago, because I have no time to do the grade six exam.  And my theory exam is coming up in about two months...

Are you thinking of doing Associate or Licentiate at all?

[futureconcertpianist]

Hey, I am in Sydney and did AMEB getting LMusA by age 16.
In my opinion AMEB is not very good unless you can do about 3-4 exams a year and enter lots of competitions for experience playing all of your pieces.
4 pieces a year is a total waist of time.
You need experience, I am finding the university thing with concert practise and master class with a one hour lesson a week with a fine professor a great experience as there is always free time and I try to play one or more times a week in concert prac and master class.
FCP

[thelittlepianist]

oooh yay awesome, someone *does* learn it! hahaha

i've only just started grade seven... roughly two weeks ago, because I have no time to do the grade six exam.  And my theory exam is coming up in about two months...

Are you thinking of doing Associate or Licentiate at all?

Cool, what theory grade are you doing? I stopped at grade 4, hehe.

yeah, I'm hoping to do Associate after I finish Grade 8. Licentiate seems a bit too scary for me .. How about you?

[prongated]

In my opinion AMEB is not very good unless you can do about 3-4 exams a year and enter lots of competitions for experience playing all of your pieces.
4 pieces a year is a total waist of time.

Agreed.

Any budding professional musician in Australia should skip AMEB grades, practise hard for however long it takes until they are up to Licentiate standard, and, if they bother at all, do the LMus exam. Eisteddfods are way more exciting than exams...

[kony]

AMEB is good in that it basically forces you to be familiar with the four major periods of western art music - it is really good for those who are not trying to become a professional, but still achieve a high standard.

[spaciiey]

Hey, I am in Sydney and did AMEB getting LMusA by age 16.
In my opinion AMEB is not very good unless you can do about 3-4 exams a year and enter lots of competitions for experience playing all of your pieces.
4 pieces a year is a total waist of time.

good grief... LMusA at 16!!
I agree... AMEB probably isn't the greatest... but it suits me ok because I really only play piano for fun. Even though I love music, I would never ever hear the end of it from teachers, friends, parents etc if I took a career in music, so me being a professional isn't really an option lol.

Cool, what theory grade are you doing? I stopped at grade 4, hehe.

yeah, I'm hoping to do Associate after I finish Grade 8. Licentiate seems a bit too scary for me .. How about you?

I'm doing Grade 4 theory. I might do Associate... it depends how much time I have by the time I actually get to it - its a little far off at the moment.

[prongated]

AMEB is good in that it basically forces you to be familiar with the four major periods of western art music

...sorry...no. The choice of pieces there are very constraining and does not do justice to the amount of available repertoire out there. And classifying anything written in the 20th century as that is totally absurd - not many years separate Stockhausen and Shostakovich, but their compositions are totally different!

Moreover, it encourages ppl to learn just 4 or so pieces to 'pass' a grade - hardly going to teach them anything about music.