What's changed and what you need to know for the year ahead.
Syllabus news
Not too much change this year but a few things that might be handy to know about. Please have a read through whatever relates to your teaching and learning and get in touch if you'd like to know more.
SPEECH AND DRAMA
You have an easy year! No changes for you but don't forget to check out yet another new PAA syllabus for Public Speaking to further complement our existing suite that is sure to suit any learner!
VIOLA
The new syllabus is here! And it's brilliant. Among many considerations, the syllabus consultants addressed some historical inconsistencies with the violin syllabus and aligned the sight-reading requirements. The Lists include a broader range of styles, retaining all your old favourites and adding a broad range of genres to experience the breadth of repertoire right from the beginning (plus a few discrepancies have been tidied up). You'll see more works by women, Australian, and a greater diversity of composers and there's a strong alignment with the new Technical work, and Violin syllabus throughout Level 1. There's a new Certificate of Performance exam to cap Level 2 and help learners begin their Diploma preparation.
Teachers who also specialise in Violin will see some of the same pieces in Level 1. These have been chosen to enable group playing either in unison or a 5th apart (alternatively a string shift is suggested).
In addition to the syllabus itself, the accompanying resources include Level 1 Grade books, Technical work book, Sight-reading book, and recorded accompaniments (Preliminary to Grade 3).
If you've already begun working toward an exam with the old syllabus, that's totally fine. You have until the end of 2025 to enrol and complete that before the syllabus is withdrawn.
TEACHING
The design of this new syllabus has been embedded with quality pedagogy and teaching practices, and the "why" behind teaching. It incorporates cutting-edge research about how music students learn best, and how best to teach including developing the intrinsic motivation to cultivate life-long learning. There are two exams available: The Certificate (CTMusA) is a great starting point for emerging teachers or teachers of young learners, and the Associate (ATMusA) recognises more established teachers. Both have been curated to allow you to focus on the area that you are working in, based on the students you actually work with.
The syllabus is supported by two excellent documents: the Companion guide includes articles written by leading pedagogues and scholars and has been curated very purposefully with specifically relevant content; and the Assessment guide is a resource for both the Candidate and their mentor as it outlines how assessment tasks are structured and expectations of Examiners.
PIANO FOR LEISURE: CERTIFICATE OF PERFORMANCE
The Manual List has been refreshed for this exam with approximately 40 additional works now available. They feature increased stylistic diversity and representation by women and Australian composers. No List pieces have been removed but out-of-print editions for some works have been replaced. You can continue to enrol with the normal PFL syllabus - there's no change from old to new here, simply more fantastic works to choose from!
PAA PUBLIC SPEAKING
This is a great new addition to the PAA exam suite, sitting alongside Acting and Screen Acting. This syllabus will be great for students who are working toward a presentation, or who simply want to build confidence. And let's not forget about young people preparing for the real world - this skill set is invaluable when it comes to interviews, customer service roles, and simply interacting with colleagues. Exam enrolments can be done at any time and taken at your convenience.
ROCKSCHOOL: CERTIFICATE 3 IN SUPPORTING MUSIC AND PERFORMING ARTS LEARNING
Emerging teachers and classroom assistants in the performing arts will love this new syllabus that provides foundational teaching support. There are no prerequisites and you can specialise in any of the Rockschool and PAA syllabus areas. Exam enrolments can be done at any time and learning is designed to be self-paced for your convenience and to best fit with your teaching flow.
ROCKSCHOOL: ASSOCIATE AWARDS
Two new exams are available for Level 4 and 6, offering a valuable extension beyond Grade 8. These exams are purely performance-based with no theory or other assessment components. Performers can specialise in any Rockschool instrument (or Vocals), as well as PAA Street Dance, Jazz Dance, Musical Theatre, or Acting. Exam enrolments can be done at any time and taken at your convenience.
FLUTE: GRADE BOOKS
Grades 5 and 6 now have new resources! We've just released an extension of the Level 1 books in Series 4 to provide learners with more amazing repertoire to fuel their journey. There are no changes to the technical work requirements or manual lists, other than to add these new works to the options available to candidates. Head to your favourite local retailer or the AMEB Online Shop to get your copy.
ROCKSCHOOL: BACKING TRACKS
Due to cyber security risks, USB sticks are no longer accepted for Free Choice (and transposed) backing tracks in the exam room. All Free Choice backing tracks must be brought on a personal device. We’ll provide adaptors for candidates to plug into amps in each venue but please help your students prepare ahead of time: get them used to practicing with their tracks on their personal devices well ahead of the exam day. Please note that tracks should be downloaded ahead of time as internet is not guaranteed (particularly in our regional venues) and streaming issues may result in the candidate performing without their accompaniment. This year will be a bit of a trial of using devices, so please provide us with your feedback about how things are working (or not) and what information you’d find helpful in preparing for exam days.
VIDEO EXAMS
We've updated the requirements for all Video Exams (including Rockschool) so please ensure you double check your relevant guidelines. This includes a substantial change to the Technical work for Comprehensive Exams. Instead of pre-recording all your TW with your pieces, it will now be included in the Online Component where the Examiner will ask for a selection of TW, much like in a face-to-face exam.
THEORY OF MUSIC GRADE 6 WORK BOOK
It's coming. Each grade sets new challenges and the level of musicianship and pedagogy required here is getting pretty nuanced. So we're taking a bit more time to get it right and provide you with a really fantastic resource. But it's not far off so watch this space.
FOR LEISURE: OWN CHOICE WORKS
A reminder that Examiners will be asking General Knowledge questions relating to all List pieces AND all Own Choice works. This relates to Comprehensive exams for Piano for Leisure, Singing for Leisure, and Saxophone for Leisure.
Candidates may choose to perform a program of List works OR substitute one List for an Own Choice piece. The intention of the syllabus is that the full program may be the subject of General Knowledge discussions, thus Own Choice works should be included in those discussions. It's really just a fair way to do it - there shouldn't be a penalty (or advantage, depending on how you look at it) for choosing all List works for your program.
SYLLABUS WITHDRAWALS
Don't forget that the following "old" syllabuses are currently being phased out and will no longer be available after December 2025:
- Viola
And remember - you can't mix and match. Pick EITHER the old OR the new syllabus and prepare the entire exam from the one set of materials.
And a reminder that the following "old" syllabuses have recently concluded and are no longer available for examining:
- Harp
- Accordion
- Lower brass (Euphonium, Trombone, Bass Trombone, Tuba)
- Rockschool Vocals
- Teaching
- Podcasting*
- Vlogging*
*Still want to do a Media exam? You can enrol with the UK Rockschool team directly via RSL Awards. Head to the "Creative Digital" menu for more information and to enrol.
UCP & TCE
A friendly reminder that students can achieve both AMEB exams AND UCP concurrently. You can even use the same repertoire (although that's discouraged because, let's be honest, a bit of variety in life is a good thing). This recent change acknowledges the different assessment requirements and objectives of each and recognises the immense amount of work that we know goes into achieving both of these worthy undertakings!
And don't forget that any practical exams (Grade 4 and upwards) and theory exams (Grade 2 and upwards) are eligible for bonus TCE points. Just include your details in your enrolment and we'll even report everything to TASC for you.
WHAT'S NEXT?
Our publishing team is working on Piano Series 19, Viola Grade books for Grades 5 and 6, and Theory of Music Grade 6 Work book at the moment so watch this space! Also coming soon (in 2025) are new Rockschool Grade books for Electric Guitar, Drums, and Bass.
Other updates and changes
PANDEMIC PRECAUTIONS
We've again reviewed our pandemic measures and have withdrawn most of them, to align with government recommendations and what we've all come to expect. Some remain but we're expecting that these will simply be part of life, rather than the exception from now on. On exam day, you will still be expected to:
- Sanitise your hands on arrival
- Practice good personal hygiene (this was always a good idea, even before covid!)
- Minimise physical contact with others.
- Abide by venue requirements (where not already covered by these measures)
- Adhere to any instructions given by AMEB personnel.
Please note that these measures are all subject to change and we will respond accordingly if the government or other relevant bodies recommend additional action.
EXAM SESSION DATES
No real changes here other than to shimmy around school term dates and the usual things that move slightly from one year to the next. We didn't quite see the takeup of the string exams in Hobart for Session 1 that we were anticipating but we're offering that again this year as we understand that it can sometimes take a couple of years to get into a new teaching/learning rhythm.
ENROLMENT CLOSING DATES
Very slight adjustments here. After the trial of the "late closing date" feature in SCORE last year, we found that you don't need it for the shorter sessions so the option will only be available for Sessions 2 and 5. Where the late feature is available, you can enrol for an additional week after the closing date for a fee of $25 with the guarantee that we will have an exam time for you. If the late feature is not available, we still recommend you get in touch to see if we can fit you in. The $25 late fee still applies but we can't necessarily guarantee that there will be a spot available for you (but we'll only take your money if there is). We've also extended the enrolment timeline for Session 5. Previously, the close date for Session 5 was concurrent with the close date for Session 4. In reality, we weren't able to do much with your enrolments as we were prioritising scheduling Session 4, so you may as well have that time back for your own convenience.
Download your printable session dates
COPIES OF MUSIC
We are no longer asking you to bring copies of works for General Knowledge discussion to help with physical distancing. However, you are still expected to bring copies of pieces where specified in the syllabus.
We continue to ask that For Leisure candidates please provide copies of your Own Choice works for Repertoire exams. This is a requirement for Comprehensive exams but we appreciate your assistance in extending that to Repertoire as well. One of the greatest benefits of these syllabuses is that they offer such a wide variety of genres for candidates to choose from - a chance to explore and engage with a plethora of styles and works. Our Examiners are amazing but being expected to know every single work available is a pretty big ask. They've asked for copies of the music so that they can read along to see just how brilliant the performances are, and to be able to provide relevant comments and guidance in their reports.
RESOURCES AND SUPPORT
We've revamped what was previously a section titled "Teacher resources" on our website with lots of great new tips and content. There's a section for parents, and another just for Candidates. And this is where the new gold can be found - a brand new page dedicated to Candidate wellbeing resources. Wellbeing means different things to different people but, in a broader context, we believe that looking after ourselves holistically will give us the best possible chance of being the best versions of our performing selves. This new resource is designed to help you achieve exactly that, by optimising sleep, diet, exercise, mindset, and so much more. There's also a section for anyone feeling overwhelmed or needing support so please check it out and refer your students to take a look. You'll find all of this and more in Resources and support in the menu above.
And that's a wrap! Or at least, for now. There'll be plenty more to come this year and we can't wait to experience it with you. If you have any questions or would like more information on anything, please get in touch with your friendly AMEB Tasmania team.
