October 2023

Dear Trinity College London South Africa community,

I was lucky enough to attend the Piano 2023 launch event in London late last month, at which two of our piano students' recordings were played; Chloe playing Le Coucous Bénévoles (Grade 3) and Hugo playing Walk in the Park (Grade 5). Both did fantastically and we were so very proud of their efforts. The event itself was a interesting mix of new syllabus performances and a panel discussion amongst a group of contributing composers. All in all it was an interesting and valuable session, and I'm hoping we will be able to share a recording of the event at some point soon.

The new school term sees the start of our main face-to-face exam sessions around the country which run for the next six weeks. We also expect teachers and schools who favour digital exams to start entering their students in large volumes between now and early December. It's a busy, exciting time of year for the Trinity team. Good luck to all candidates and teachers and do let us know if you have any questions or concerns about entries, payments or exam logistics. It is a particularly busy time of year, and so we ask for understanding if queries take slightly longer to answer than usual. 

On November 4th/6th, over a thousand students will write Trinity theory exams across the country. As I've mentioned previously, South Africa punches above its weight when it comes to numbers of Theory exam entries globally. It's for this reason that Trinity has selected South Africa as one of the first locations in which to offer it's digital theory platform. Our focus at the moment is very much on the upcoming practical and written theory exams, and as such I'll delay providing much detail about the new platform until next month's newsletter.

Best regards,

Peter

Peter Borchers - Trinity College London National Manager for South Africa, Botswana and Namibia

peter.borchers@trinitycollege.com

Music Academic Updates

Submittable Forms for Digital Exams

A number of improvements have been made to Submittable following the launch of the Piano Grades Syllabus 2023. For instance, all piano pieces published by Trinity now state whether they are from the standard or extended editions of the books, and display problems with special characters have been fixed.

In light of the ever-expanding repertoire lists it can happen that a piece is missing, has errors or is not included on the appropriate list (e.g. ‘Piece not published by Trinity’). In this instance please notify the Trinity team and we will rectify the issue. 

Electronic Drum Kits (EDKs) for Rock and Pop

We are pleased to say that electronic drum kits (EDKs) will now be accepted for Digital Rock & Pop exams at all grades. Previously, an acoustic kit was required at Grades 7 and 8. This change is to Rock & Pop Digital Grades 7 and 8 only. There are no changes to how face-to-face exams operate, or for classical & jazz exams:

As the grades progress, the technical requirements of the songs require increasing ability to utilise nuance, shading, and higher degrees of timbral control. In recent years, an increasing number of EDK models have begun to replicate the feel and tone of an acoustic drum kit. In response to these developments, EDKs will be accepted at all grades provided that the kit can reproduce all timbral and dynamic variety demanded by the pieces with full clarity, as well as any particular effects that individual songs may call for. 

As a guide to kit requirements:

• Mesh heads for all drums
• Wide range of nuanced dynamics on all drums
• Minimum of dual trigger zones
• Cymbal bell tones and dampening
• Snare on/off available
• Low-latency kit, sensitive to velocity
• Positional sensing and the ability to obtain stick across rim sound for higher grades  

As no allowances will be made for kits that cannot produce a particular effect (eg differentiation between ghosted and non-ghosted notes, use of brushes, choked cymbal and so forth), candidates should ensure that their song choices are suitable for their instrument.

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Submitting Digital Exams

Exam Fees 2023

How to Enter 2023

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