Your RCO Exam

hello and welcome to Huddersfield and simples Hall one of the examination venues used by the Royal College of organist the Hall is part of University and has a striking three manual mechanical action organ by wood of Huddersfield I'll Co accreditation including the diplomas of colleague associate and fellowship can seem a little daunting on paper but this video aims to take you through the process and put you at ease whilst you're preparing for the exams today we'll be doing a walkthrough of a mock AR Co exam with your truely as the guinea pig let's go inside entries for examinations can be made online via the members area of the RCO website applicants who are not members of the RCO must join the college as full or student members all you need can be found on the website at our co.org dr UK but if you have any queries then contact the college on the day of your practical exam you'll be greeted at the examinations nu by one of the examination stewards who will take you into the preparation room 20 minutes before the exam style they will ask you which pieces you have chosen to play and where there's a choice which of the keyboard skills tests you wish to undertake they will also ask whether you wish to start with your pieces or the tests and inform you of the key into which the hymn tune should be transposed this pattern can be expected at CRC o as well and FRC o is similar but four pieces and the tests are in two separate sessions during your preparation time you will be given all the tests to look through with a metronome but away from the keyboard it's a really important time for you to go through and identify any particularly tricky passages difficult modulation in the transposition or a point where the parts cross in the school reading remember to check the metronome mark playing the tests at the indicated tempo is an integral part of the assessment criteria at the end of your preparation time the Stuart will come to collect you and take you through to the exam hall the examiners and stewards are always extremely welcoming and do their very best to put you at ease you are welcome to bring your own page-turner who is allowed to help with the registration in the pieces alternatively the steward will page turn but will not assist with the registration every candidate at a rco gets 90 minutes practice time on the examination organ in the weeks leading up to the exam this is an excellent opportunity to get used to the space and the organs and to decide on your registration for the examination pieces everyone is allocated a general channel and can set up to six general Pistons in addition candidates are free to use one fixed channel of divisional Pistons once you enter the exam hall you are given five minutes at the console to recheck your general piston settings and to orientate yourself at the console many candidates like to with the keyboard tests as a warm-up for the pieces or to get the unknown elements out of the way for each test you get an extra 30 seconds or 40 seconds for sight reading at the console to look through the tests silently remember not to play the organ in this time otherwise the examiners may mistake your practice for the test itself okay useless rust the transposition exercise comes first this is usually similar to a standard hymn tune except with some slightly more complicated harmony here and there so it's worth practicing transposing in a range of styles leading up to the exam the less complex Bar chorale harmonizations always provide challenging and engaging material on which to practice [Music] next up is a score reading exercise in which you'll be asked to play an open score in four parts each vocal part includes text and here there's an opportunity to shape the motifs across the voice parts remember that these exercises aren't just about playing the notes that are also an opportunity to demonstrate your musicality [Music] Oh [Music] for the third keyboard skill you get a choice between improvising in a specific genre harmonizing a short melody or realizing a figured bass if you choose the figured based option then the examiner will play the melody on another manual whilst you provide their compliments [Music] the last test is playing a passage of organ music at site though of course you have had a brief opportunity beforehand to visualize its performance at some point in the test you will have to add a pedal coupler as marked in the score so check where the greater pedal and swells the pedal Pistons are located on the organ they may be in a different place to what you expect using the swirl box is also required [Music] all the other half of the practical exam requires the candidate to place three pieces chosen from the lists published in the diploma regulations it is best to choose three contrasting pieces that show off different aspects of your organ playing when deciding the order of your program bear in mind things such as key relationships between the pieces dynamics pacing and style keys and timings are published in the syllabus and it's worth mentioning that @fr Co program planning and stylistic projection are actually part of the sheduled of marks so develop good habits at a rco [Music] [Music] Oh [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] once you have finished the exam you must leave the hall whilst the examiners discuss and mark your performance each of the pieces is marked out of 30 with 60 marks across the three pieces required to pass the examiners will be listening for insightful musical communication fluency accuracy and security of technique appropriate Tempe imaginative registrations and constant organ management each of the keyboard tests will be marked out of 15 with 40 marks required to pass again the examiners will be listening out for accuracy consistency of tempo and authoritative presentation a more detailed breakdown of the marking criteria can be found on the RCO website these criteria are not just for the examiner's but also to the candidates and can be an extremely helpful way for you to focus your preparation alongside the practical exam there are two written papers the first of these focuses on stylistic techniques requiring the completion of a vant corral and the writing of fugle techniques and two-part counterpoint this paper is three hours long leaving an hour for each question the second paper starts with oil perception testing pitch recognition and the ability to recognize technical and compositional devices in a short piece of organ music supported by an annotated skeleton score question 2 in this paper requires the candidate to answer questions on three unseen extracts of organ music whilst in question three the task is to write an essay of about 500 words on a set period of organ repertoire lastly the candidate has to write another 500 word essay on a specific set work or works relating to the historical period tested in question 3 this paper is three hours long with half an hour for the oral tests and then two and a half hours for the remaining questions whilst it may feel like a lot of writing it's an excellent way to get to know new organ repertoire one of the best ways to prepare for the questions on the set work and the set period is to actually play the music and get to know a characteristics and idiosyncrasies for yourself remember that all of the written task when well-prepared can help you nurture insightful playing and fluent keyboard skills when you sign up for an exam you'll be told the day on which the examination results will be released they're released online at midday and contain a breakdown of your marks as well as some comments from the examiners it's not the end of the world if you don't pass everything first time it's possible to six modules separately or alternatively you can retake certain sections if necessary I hope this video has helped to unravel some of the mysteries of their AR Co exam more information and resources can be found on the RCO website good luck [Music] you

Channel: Royal College of Organists

Views: 158,906

Keywords:

Id: VEZH-G3NRQ0

Length: 12min 58sec (778 seconds)

Published: Thu Apr 27 2017