prestigious exam board for classical playing also has a jazz syllabus - 5 grades
as an ex teacher I’ve always been fascinated by how stuff get institutionalised and graded, so the free syllabus is an interesting read.
to me “jazz” and " exam grades" don’t really belong in the same sentence, but if it had to be done somehow, I think ABRSM have designed a formula that I’d be happy to teach to ( if I was still teaching).
For Jazz, AMRSM use the method they developed for classical music grades:. the student has to choose and learn to perform a tune from each of 3 shortlists. ( and rattle off a few scales, arps… ) . key difference here is that the tunes are prescribed only as leadsheets, with improv sections.
for jazz , the student picks one blues, one standard, and one contemporary. from the lists.
So here’s what "standards " appear on their lists:
( it does not correlate well with any most popular/ most played / most covered lists that I have seen - i suspect some were included because it was easy to get copyright approval to print in the exam books, rather than because they a greatest tune of all time… )).
grade 1: standards choose 1 of :
Perdido,
Inchworm
Jean Pierre,
old man from the old country
is you is or is you ain’t my baby
blues:
bedford square blues,
oh lord don’t drop that atom bomb on me,
bags groove,
slinky thing,
Prove you groove
FYI I got a lot out of studying Miles Davis Jean Pierre. I knew it only as a re-imagined guitar fusion cover from Eric Johnson . I see now why the original is a great beginners groove to get down;
and Bags Groove - I’d love to see the oscar peterson take crop up in transcription studies as his head has 3 times as many notes in it as the fake book versions…
ABRSMs choice of standards
grade 2: softly as a morning sunrise, contemplation, St Thomas, Moanin’, the big noise from winnetka
grade 3: I wish I knew how it would feel to be free, fly me to the moon, sombrero Sam, A smooth one, the peanut vendor
[standards ??? I’ve never heard of half those . Am i missing anything ]
link
FYI - I am not promoting AMBRM, just opening a discussion - they sell official books and Cds for each grade [ that’s probably a big income source]
paper books and physical CDs only - no downloads.
[ when I search Spotify, i find them all, but greyed out - looks like they used to be up but got taken down - probably due to a copyright claim] - shame as I’d like to hear the simple playalong/ backing track arrangements. ]
from the link:
There are four sections to a Jazz Piano exam, giving candidates the opportunity to demonstrate their skills through prepared work and musicianship tests.
The tunes cover a wide range of styles - from New Orleans and swing through to modal, jazz-rock and Latin jazz. Each arrangement contains a fully notated Head and at least one section for improvisation, with a simple chord sequence and set of guideline pitches.
Jazz exams include:
-
Three tunes from the list for the grade
A blues, a standard and a contemporary tune. All include improvisation. -
Scales, arpeggios and broken chords
Common patterns found in jazz. -
Aural tests
Testing all-round aural awareness and musicianship skills. -
Quick Study
To play either at sight or to reproduce by ear a short phrase and to improvise a response.