Description
The ABRSM Jazz Quick Studies Grades 1-5 book of jazz scales will develop the technical skills you need to play jazz. It introduces patterns characteristic of the idiom, such the blues scale, the pentatonic and various modes, and it explores these patterns on the roots and key centres commonly found in jazz. Regular and flexible practice of these forms, and using them as the basis for improvisation, will give you fluency and technical control. This book sets out the scales by grade and gives a table of recommended speeds.
ABRSM Jazz Quick Studies Grades 1-5
Jazz exams (Grades 1–5) are available for a variety of instruments. They are marked in the same way as Practical exams. However, many of the pieces include large improvisational sections, where the instrumentalist is required to fill in the empty bars with their own melody to fit the standard chord progression listed above.
History
The Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music was founded in 1889 when Alexander Mackenzie then the Principal of the Royal Academy of Music and George Grove founding Director of the Royal College of Music decided that both institutions should combine to form an associated examining board to run joint local exams. The first syllabi was published in 1890 for Piano, Organ, Violin, Cello and Harp, with Viola, Double Bass and woodwind instruments added the following year. Originally, the ABRSM had only two grades and were the equivalent of the current grades 6 and 7. Due to the popular demand for beginner grades, the present structure (grades 1-8) was introduced in 1933. In 1947 the Royal Manchester College of Music (merged to form the present Royal Northern College of Music) and Royal Scottish Academy of Music (now the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland) joined ABRSM. Since the post World war 2 years, the ABRSM saw an increase in overseas exam applications. The curriculum also expanded, with the addition of Guitar, Harpsichord Voice, (with the option of specific exams for “musical theatre” singing at grades 1-3), percussion, Recorder and all brass instruments. The 1990s saw percussion and jazz added to the syllabus. The current diploma exams were introduced in 2000, as well as similar exams for instructors and teachers.
In 2009 the ABRSM celebrated its 120th anniversary and of the 93 countries in which the association offers music examination support, they have been in Sri Lanka when it was known as Ceylon since 1898; in Malta from 1903; New Zealand (1908); Jamaica (1909); Barbados (1926); Antigua (1941); Kenya (1949); Hong Kong, Malaysia and Cyprus (1951); Brunei and Mauritius (1959); Switzerland (1961); Netherlands (1975); Indonesia (1977); Abu Dhabi (1981); Thailand (1982); USA and Canada (1986); Sweden (1988); Turkey and Portugal (1990); and Serbia (2006).
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