The London College of Music (LCM) is known for cornering the exam market when it comes to musical theatre – although, admittedly, recent offerings from ABRSM have started to encroach on this – and for their more flexible approach to exams, enjoyed by teachers and students alike. An emphasis on the performance, still unique across the major exam boards, has incorporated spoken dialogue and staging into the grades while still placing singing front and centre.
New exam syllabus releases are not always the most exciting of events for singing teachers. Updates have often resulted in already-hefty lists receiving small adjustments, rather than a total overhaul, and with many exam boards now moving to the ‘living syllabus’ model, we don't even have that to look forward to! However, 2023 has already proved more exciting. Just a few months ago Trinity College London revamped its singing syllabus, offering, among other things, new sight-reading tests and more contemporary musical theatre options. Now, we have a totally reinvented offering from LCM.
LCME syllabus
I was excited to receive the extremely hefty and newly revamped LCME Musical Theatre books, alongside a shiny new syllabus. There is sometimes a feeling with exam materials that progression through the grades simply increases the challenge. However, my first impression is that LCME has clearly put thought into trying to scaff old skills and knowledge as the performer moves through the grades, offering a more structured approach.
‘Steps’ 1 and 2 are aimed at the much younger learner, with a focus on storytelling and acting through song. Grades 1–3 build upon these skills and performing, introducing simple narratives, and Grades 4 and 5 introduce the great American songbook and more general musical theatre repertoire. Grades 6–8 open up more contemporary musical theatre–which students will no doubt enjoy – demanding a greater emotional maturity and vocal dexterity across the programme.
The free-choice element remains: each grade requires one song to be chosen from the new Musical Theatre Handbook (as appropriate to the grade), but then freedom is offered to choose any other, level appropriate, repertoire as desired by the teacher or pupil. I find it slightly odd that certain grades have a restrictive requirement–Grade 4 must have a pre-1980 song and Grade 3, a pre-1960 song – while other grades are completely free choice. This seems to add a level of complexity to the exam planning and feels slightly inconsistent.
In previous iterations of the Music Theatre syllabus, the spoken dialogue element was restricted to Grades 7 and 8, often taking the students by surprise when that level was reached. However, now there is an added element in that candidates must perform the text of the chosen song (from the Handbook) as a monologue in addition to performing the sung version. This seems like a good way to naturalise the spoken elements of the exam, building a skill-set that is appropriate to the musical theatre genre as a whole.
Speak to any singing teacher and you may find that LCM exams are the proverbial marmite of the singing teaching world, with one large reason for this being the props and costumes. I suspect that many teachers – and I put myself in this camp – will celebrate the simplification of this element; especially those working within significant time and resource constraints within schools. The syllabus now simply encourages a token costume element over a neutral outfit, and highlights that marks will not be deducted if there is no costume or props present. This adds a more inclusive feel to these exams and I'm pleased to see a level of flexibility offered. The discussion element remains unchanged.
The series
The books themselves are fairly substantial, although I find the omission of backing/practice tracks an odd choice; these can apparently be downloaded from the website. The music theatre purist in me applauds the use of original score piano-parts throughout the grades, as opposed to simplified arrangements. However, there is obviously a level of pianistic skill required for teachers to get around these, as anyone who's ever played Jason Robert Brown will know! The songs are presented with printed lyrics, notes on the background of the song and performance suggestions. The notes are useful, although could possibly have explored further depths, such as through making suggestions for extended listening around the style. However, these will undoubtedly provide a useful level of resource for teachers who might be less familiar with the repertoire and are looking for a way into teaching musical theatre; the more experienced may find passages a little lightweight in terms of content.
Steps 1 and 2
These books are appropriate for the very young performer. However, the childish nature of the repertoire (‘Humpty Dumpty’, ‘Twinkle, Twinkle’ etc.) could be off-putting for anyone at Year 5 or above. Thought has clearly gone into vocal development and the songs are suitably restricted in range (which is heartening to see given that some exam boards have recently published songs that do not sit comfortably for younger children). One potential issue is that the accompaniments are sometimes quite complex at this level; I might have rather expected the vocal line to receive more support when one considers the age-range in question. I doubt these initial Steps will be a major part of LCM's entries, but it is very good that effort has been put into developing a product for the youngest performers and, as the title suggests, a way into musical theatre.
Grades 1–5
This set of books contains many of the classics that seasoned teachers might expect to find in early grades. Solid offerings from Disney are included and child-friendly musicals such as Bugsy Malone, alongside a logical, if fairly predictable, range of songs that will appeal to boys and girls alike. Thankfully, there is not one song from Annie, but that is just personal bias! I was slightly surprised by some of the repertoire choices in Grade 1, with ‘Feed the Birds’ requiring a large vocal-range and ‘Part of Your World’ demanding security in moving through the vocal tessitura. ‘Proud of Your Boy’, traditionally an excellent song for a young male with changed voice, seemed a strange inclusion at Grade 3. However, there is a feeling that these books are not just aimed at youngsters, that the mature student has not been forgotten, with the inclusion of songs such as ‘As We Stumble Along’ (Grade 5) and ‘Autumn Leaves’ (Grade 4). I have found that adult learners are often put off the early grades, due to unsuitable and childish repertoire, so it is good to see this consideration and a rounded feel to the list.
Grades 6–8
These books offer a much more advanced level of repertoire. The rather short lists may feel restrictive, but it's worth remembering that these are for one item out of four. With the exception of Grade 6, the repertoire is somewhat predictable, and some teachers might be put off purchasing the volumes since much is duplicated from other publications. Personally, I found the Grade 6 book exceptionally obscure in its choice of repertoire – tracks from The Painters Dream, Tess the Musical and Alfie the Musical, to name a few, don't even have cast recordings available – while the Grade 7 selection felt a little too familiar. That is not to say that new repertoire shouldn't be encouraged; it is great that LCME is exploring these lesser-known shows, but a balance is welcome within one book. Grade 8 rather hits the happy balance between contemporary songs (‘One Perfect Moment’, ‘Being a Geek’) and old favourites (‘A Bit of Earth’, ‘Out There’), offering variety to even seasoned musical theatre teachers. Thematically, this repertoire is clearly aimed at the late teenager; much more mature content, with a greater vocal dexterity required to navigate the songs successfully. One missed opportunity seems to be that, in an industry that has so many high-level performing children, the books could have had more child- or young-teen-friendly repertoire at the higher grade (e.g. songs from the Adrian Mole musical or 13).
Final thoughts
Overall, this is a significant update to the syllabus with some clear and helpful guidance for teachers. No exam syllabus is going to please everyone, but this feels like a comprehensive offer, with a balance of guidance and free choice for pathways through the musical theatre landscape.
Teachers who are currently preparing students for exams can use the old syllabus until the end of 2024.
