ABRSM Examiner Training

A personal account

I have just returned from three days’ ABRSM examiner training at The Beeches Conference Centre, Bournville, Birmingham.

I can safely say it has been one of the hardest, most intense yet exhilarating experiences of my life, unlike any other. I feel I have come home a changed person.

Part of a process

The course was the third stage in the application process to become an examiner. A written application was followed by an interview, leading to an invitation to attend this course. Successful completion leads on to five days of observation and examining in the real world before finally being added to a probationary list of examiners.

I started the process having been involved in organising exams and accompanying pupils for them over the last twenty years. The examiners I met seemed to love the job and I noticed what a difference a friendly, approachable examiner made to the results students attained. After many years, I finally got to the stage where I thought I might have the qualities needed to apply.

Following an interview in London, I was thrilled to be asked to the training course and was interested to see what it would involve. It felt like a win — win situation where I would gain invaluable knowledge about what examiners were looking for in exam performances, even if I didn’t actually become one myself.

Getting ready

A pack of materials was delivered four weeks before the course started, including confidential aural and sight reading tests. I felt I was cheating as I opened the book and started to practise the piano parts!

A detailed list of what the course involved was made available on an online site and suggestions made as to how to prepare. I dutifully looked at as much as I could, given my work schedule and family commitments. It seemed like I had done a lot, but then I always alleviate stress by making sure I have covered all bases and this made me feel ready to face what was ahead.

Or so I thought.

First day

The day finally arrived. There were 26 trainees on the course and a number of ABRSM support staff. The course was impeccably organised and structured with theory sessions in the morning on how to write accurate and detailed exam assessments, and practical sessions on delivery of exams in the afternoon. These were divided by short coffee breaks and lunch.

All very manageable.

On the surface of it, yes.

In reality, no walk in the park!

Out of my comfort zone

What I hadn’t been prepared for was how I would feel during the course. We were advised at the start to treat it as professional development, not as a selection process. The course was designed to be as informative as possible and everything had a direct application to aspects of music teaching.

This was very true and I know my music teaching will be so much better informed because of the course.

However, it was hard to be relaxed when there was the constant element of assessment. Practical sessions demanded role-play which pushed me beyond any previous experience; I found myself reacting to the simplest of tasks in utterly unexpected ways, floundering at the most basic level due to an unrelenting nervous brain-freeze.

Twenty years of doing pretty much the same job has made me very confident in my work. Suddenly, here I was having to demonstrate, in front of ten other adults, skills that I suddenly felt I had hardly mastered at all.

Out of my comfort zone?

A hundred miles away!

The piano keys seemed unfamiliar and the words of the aural tasks had no meaning as I was trying to read them out in a friendly way for my practise candidate.

By the end of the first day I was almost ready to go home. I don’t like feeling that uncomfortable and out of control. I felt I was letting myself down and that really bothered me. But I knew I had to stick it out.

Second day

However, day two felt different. Although it was equally packed with information and activities I felt I knew what to expect and wanted to face it. I was on an almost vertical learning curve and that was scary.

But somehow it was exhilarating as well.

I found I was loving the challenge and the way I was having to use my brain in ways I haven’t before. The practical tasks were hard but they were fun as well and throughout the process we were all laughing a lot.

Conversations with other trainees were interesting and encouraging. I was definitely not alone in feeling so vulnerable and uncomfortable. We were all facing challenges we hadn’t expected and were all trying to overcome them in our different ways.

Staff support

And the support from the ABRSM staff was always there. Although they were the ones giving constant feedback, they were also very skilled at saying exactly what could be done to achieve a better result, and were patient and helpful in giving their suggestions on how to improve.

To fail and overcome is to grow and develop. As teachers we expect our pupils to do this regularly. I think I had almost forgotten this aspect of learning and was taken aback by how difficult I found learning new things. But ultimately, although I found it painful, it was also unexpectedly positive and inspiring.

Final day

The third day was structured very differently.

It was a day of practise exams where each trainee took on the role of examiner for a part of a session with an actual candidate (unbelievably brave people who came to perform to ten examiners!).

This gave us all the opportunity to draw together all the skills we had acquired over the past two days.

It was incredibly demanding but somehow satisfying to have the opportunity to practise the things we had been taught. To be able to allay someone else’s fears when you yourself are feeling incredibly anxious is a wonderful life skill in itself and I was very moved to see this aspect so courageously attempted. We also had the intensity of listening to each of the performances in a critical way in order to assess them. This had to be done accurately and yet in a way that was informative and encouraging. Quite a challenge to do at speed!

Respect for examiners

And so we all went our separate ways.

It felt sad to say goodbye to people I felt had become friends through this unique experience.

I went home with a deep respect for all the examiners out there, regularly putting into practise with such effortless ease the exacting requirements I had been made aware of.

To be able to assess a performance with such clarity and awareness, to define the musical aspects in words and deliver them with grace and encouragement, as well as provide a warm and supportive environment for candidates to perform their best is a truly incredible achievement.

My eyes have been opened to a world that is both highly structured and methodical, with meticulous standards and protocol, yet at the same time offers the warmth, encouragement and flexibility to enable a positive exam experience.

Would I do it again?

Definitely.

For further blogs about my experiences of the training and selection process to become an ABRSM examiner, see ABRSM Examiner Training Part 2 and ABRSM Examiner Training Part 3

Photo credit:

Cole Hutson: https://unsplash.com/photos/oG6aFaWgnFs