Royal Irish Academy or Associate Board

fredchest82

Hi there,
I'm looking to study Grade 8 in Piano and hopefully go onto to do a diploma of some sort, in order to teach. Which would be best to go with - the Royal Irish Academy (I did up to Grade 7 classical with them) or turn to the internationally recognised Associate Board or the London one(is there one?)....

any experiences?

thanks
fred

Fluorescence

Look up the repertoire list for both and then choose based on that. Personally, I chose ABRSM. I felt like the pieces they used were a higher standard.

fredchest82

thanks,
which is more popular in Ireland? Royal Irish Academy?
I'm just thinking of if, someday, I wanted to teach following a diploma....

Fluorescence wrote: »

Look up the repertoire list for both and then choose based on that. Personally, I chose ABRSM. I felt like the pieces they used were a higher standard.

Fluorescence

ABRSM do 3 levels of diplomas which will allow you to teach. They're both pretty popular anyway, so it doesn't matter all that much.

banquo

They're both popular, but the ABRSM are a higher standard.

evolving_doors

fredchest82 wrote: »

Hi there,
I'm looking to study Grade 8 in Piano and hopefully go onto to do a diploma of some sort, in order to teach. Which would be best to go with - the Royal Irish Academy (I did up to Grade 7 classical with them) or turn to the internationally recognised Associate Board or the London one(is there one?)....

any experiences?

thanks
fred

London College of Music one is the easiest I reckon (ALCM).
From what I remember the DipABRSM entailed a lot more than the ALCM and there is tonnes of online support with the ABRSM.
RIAM is straightforward enough too.
A few things to check though... do the different boards require you to have Theory to a certain grade before you can apply?

Also the teacher you are with makes a big difference (not to put down your current teacher of course). Where I was, my teacher got me to teach some of her students and discuss aspects of repertoire/technique etc. It's not all about the pieces. Coming up to exam times some teachers like to get other people to listen to students ...

tomasrojo

I don't believe there's much difference in difficuty of attaining eqivalent qualifications from ABRSM, TCL or LCM. LCM had a reputation for being easier a while ago, but it seems unlikely. I think they all rank the same in the UK's National Quaification Framework.

fredchest82

thanks, for the replies, sorry for late reply. I read with gusto

Doshea3

One important thing to bear in mind is the cost: the RIAM diplomas are considerably more expensive than their English equivalents (approximately €100 dearer), and they are often cited as not being quite as high a standard.

fredchest82

I didn't realise that. Thank you..