The widening of guitar exams into non-classical styles continues to develop. Up to now, Trinity's guitar offering has been the long-established classical guitar syllabus, the plectrum-only acoustic-or-electric guitar syllabus, and the guitar element of the reasonably new rock and pop syllabus. This new acoustic guitar syllabus replaces the plectrum syllabus and repositions it with a more representative overview of the repertoires and techniques that acoustic guitarists actually play. Candidates can use any guitar, acoustic or electro-acoustic – there's scope for some misunderstanding there – with pick or fingerstyle techniques employed as appropriate.
Where the classical syllabus offers a separate book for each grade, like the outgoing plectrum syllabus the new system encompasses the range of grades in three volumes: Initial-Grade 2, Grades 3-5 and Grades 6-8. These are attractively produced books with finely engraved notation and – for the first time outside the rock and pop domain – tablature, reflecting both the recent practice of exam boards and the predominant tendency among learners in this area. The tab characters lack blank space surrounds, which slightly impairs their clarity; slurs are present, but for rhythmic and other details, reference to the notation is required. Partly due to the presence of the tablature, some of the higher grades feature pieces that cover quite a few pages – eight for Minor Swing, for example.
As with classical and the previous plectrum guitar styles, sight-reading is optional as a supporting test up to Grade 5. From Grade 6 it is required and presented in standard notation only. All the technical work elements have been carried over from the plectrum syllabus, and the range of supporting tests is the same.
In the way of the majority of exam boards, three pieces (tracks, songs?) are to be chosen from the list. And in the way of Trinity, one choice can be an own composition, as long as this fulfils set criteria.
Helping to move this syllabus towards some of its competitors, many of the syllabus pieces feature backing tracks, either optional or required. These are accessed by a simple download; however, if used in the exam, the candidate must provide and operate their own playback equipment. Up to Grade 5, live duet options can be chosen.
The main thing is of course the repertoire, and this syllabus scores very highly on the inclusion of attractive ‘you want to play me’ choices. The stylistic range errs on the commercial mainstream side (eg Stairway to Heaven, You've Got a Friend, Ed Sheeran at the lower grades) but includes plenty of blues, country and jazz. Fingerstyle modern masters like Andy McKee and the distinguished arranger Clive Carroll appear, and there are quite a few composers familiar from other syllabuses. Under-represented, to me, are traditional folk styles, and there is very little use of alternative tunings, even at the higher grades.
On seeing the presence of the backing tracks, I was interested to discover whether these would feature actual singing. After all, one of the most important uses of acoustic guitar right across the stylistic range is its role as accompaniment to the voice. It may seem strange even to ask the question, but there are exams out there where no voice is present in the backing track, even in songs that really cry out for it. Here, there are at least some with vocals. These do the job just right – not trying to ‘out-Plant’ Robert, just being there, and good for the purpose.
Trinity has produced a number of supporting videos, available on its website and YouTube channel. These are a good start, though they seem a little underdeveloped. One hopes Trinity will expand them in line with those for its rock and pop syllabus. There is such a lot of advice that candidates could benefit from in making their choices, in quickly and efficiently learning them, and in picking up stylistic hints from the visual clues coming from a fine player. These are areas that I feel could use more input and development.
In summary, this is the exact way the syllabus needed to move forward. For a newly conceived collection it's a great start, and I'm confident that Trinity will build on this in future.
Books priced at £11, £13 and £15 www.trinitycollege.com
