Piano - Jazz Exam Material
It's hard to imagine now just what a revolutionary concept ABRSM's Jazz Piano Syllabus was when it was first launched in 1998. It was a move into an entirely new area for an organisation that was seen as traditional to the core.
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
Jazz Piano from Scratch is a beginner's introduction, then there are five books of graded pieces, a book of scales, two books of aural tests, and quick studies requiring you to play in both swing and straight quavers from Grade 1, and to use swing, rock and latin grooves.
