Deadline for RCM Exams

A reminder to everyone that the deadline for registering for Spring exams for this June 2013 is March 5, 2013.  The Royal Conservatory of Music (Toronto)  has a brand new site and registration system that all students and teachers will have to register for regardless as to whether they have registered for previous sites or not.  Also it is important to note that rcmexaminations.org is no longer to be used, but the old site is still up their in the search engines and as a teacher you can log into it still, but that is not the site to use. Neither is rcmexaminations.ca which some enterprising person has bought to try to capture business from the RCM.  You should use examinations.rcmusic.ca if you wish to find the Royal Conservatory of Music.

Introducing iSCORE

iSCORE is a web-based learning portfolio that has been tailored to meet the needs of music teachers and their students. Generously supported by the Government of Canada through the Department of Canadian Heritage, iSCORE is provided without charge to qualified users, and is a major step forward in the development of online teaching tools. iSCORE is the result of over a decade of research on the use of web-based tools to support learning. In developing iSCORE, musicians and students, aged 8 to 58, offered advice and helped field test the implementation of this tool in music studios and other community music making contexts. Studio teachers, all of whom prepare their students for RCM exams, also contributed to the design and testing of iSCORE. The tool supports music-making with a wide range of features. On the home page, students can create their own profiles and goals. Using the embedded recorder, students can record and save their music-making – repertoire they are studying or compositions they are creating. An annotation feature allows users to make comments directly on video or audio materials, and iSCORE also makes it easy to link to websites, upload documents, and create work directly in the portfolio. There are also links to composition and sequencing tools to encourage creative work. Interactive boxes allow for personalized plans, reflections, and feedback from teachers.

Royal Conservatory of Music iSCORE program

Royal Conservatory of Music's exam system to become standard for U.S. music schools

From the Globe and Mail  Saturday March 26

When New York’s famed Carnegie Hall decided the United States’ patchwork of state music programs should have a national system to unite them, its leaders gave little thought to starting from scratch. Instead, they turned immediately to Toronto’s Royal Conservatory of Music.

At a Saturday conference of thousands of music teachers in Milwaukee, Wis., the two institutions will announce the Carnegie Hall Royal Conservatory Achievement Program, an extension of the conservatory’s existing exam system intended to be the new U.S. standard for music training and learning.

The goal is to increase participation in music throughout the U.S., partly by emphasizing music’s central role in the development of innovative, healthy, happy societies. But it may also prove a welcome source of revenue if it catches on.

“It comes back to the goal to make participation in music a central part of the daily lives of every person,” said Peter Simon, president of the RCM.

Carnegie first commissioned consultants to explore the appetite for creating national exams and curricula. The study showed that schools, teachers and parents were eager, and tapped the RCM as having the most reputable and applicable system. The two institutions had no formal relationship, but Simon flew to New York last fall and discussions moved quickly.

“It was pretty much: Here’s the study, we want to do this, we think you guys have a great program, let’s do it,” Simon recalled. “And at that moment I said, ‘I love it, we’re off.’”

Carnegie’s education program is substantial and expanding through an ongoing $200-million (U.S.) renovation, which will carve out a 5,600-square-metre education wing. The project has similarities to the RCM’s recent revamping of its own building in Toronto.

“We totally share the same vision,” said Clive Gillinson, Carnegie Hall’s executive and artistic director.

National programs in several countries have shown that the sense of progress and achievement born of having a national standard is instrumental in keeping students engaged in music, says Jennifer Snow, who splits time as the RCM’s director of teacher pedagogy and a professor of piano at the University of California, Los Angeles.

The examination program is designed to be used locally by students of all ages and skill levels, a doubly important strategy as music classes struggle to survive in cash-strapped schools.

Read More at the Globe and Mail

RCM Exam Accreditation Information

Did you know that students taking Royal Conservatory of Music Examinations can get high school credits for completing their exam requirements? In this way students can get high school credits for taking private music lessons that can count toward their graduation requirements. It is important to note that in order receive credits for practical examinations students must also complete the theory exam co-requisites.  The table below, copied from the Royal Conservatory of Music website lists the information for the province of British Columbia. Please note that the education in Canada is a provincial jurisdiction and some provinces have different requirements.Information for other provinces is available on their site.

MUSIC INSTRUMENT	RCM EXAMINATIONS LEVEL	RECEIVE CREDIT FOR...
Voice, Piano, Strings, Accordion, Guitar, Harp	Grade 6 Practical + Grade 1 Rudiments	Grade 10
Brass, Woodwinds, Percussion, Recorder	Grade 4 Practical + Grade 1 Rudiments	Grade 10
Speech Arts & Drama	Grade 7 Practical + Level 1 Speech Arts Theory	Grade 10
Voice, Piano, Strings, Accordion, Guitar, Harp	Grade 7 Practical + Grade 2 Rudiments	Grade 11
Brass, Woodwinds, Percussion, Recorder	Grade 6 Practical + Grade 2 Rudiments	Grade 11
Speech Arts & Drama	Grade 8 Practical + Level 1 Speech Arts History & Literature OR Grade 9 Practical + Level 2 Speech Arts Theory + Level 2 Speech Arts History & Literature	Grade 11
Voice, Piano, Strings, Guitar, Accordion, Harp	Grade 8 Practical + Grade 2 Rudiments	Grade 12
Woodwinds, Brass, Percussion, Recorder	Grade 8 Practical + Grade 2 Rudiments	Grade 12
Speech Arts & Drama	Grade 10 Practical + Level 3 Speech Arts Theory + Level 3 Speech Arts History & Literature	Grade 12