In Australia the AMEB (Australian Music Examinations Board) offers 2 types of exams for guitar students (apart from classical guitar), CPM (Contemporary Popular Music) and Rockschool. Students wanting to sit exams need to make a choice between the two syllabuses. Sitting guitar exams creates goals for students helping them to learn technical/aural skills, music theory and develop a repertoire. This article is written to help guitarists choose an exam format that would suit them best. 1
AMEB CPM has 4 levels called Steps while Rockschool has 7 grades. While there are less levels in CPM these exams cover more topics requiring more study and practice for the student. In choosing which type of exam consider how much time you have to practice and study. The advantage of studying for the AMEB CPM exams is that they are more thorough meaning that you will learn more and develop your playing further vs Rockschool on an exam by exam basis. However Rockschool can balance this out by stretching the technical, theory and pieces over 7 grades making it more manageable for some students.
Here are course outlines for the AMEB CPM Guitar and Rockschool Guitar Exams to help you make a choice about which exam format is best for you.
AMEB Course Outline
Technical (25% of mark)
This section includes scales, arpeggios, chords and other technical aspects of guitar playing depending on the step including string bends, 2 handed tapping, sweep picking and harmonics.
Pieces 30%
Each Step requires students to play 5 pieces 2 which are set from the CPM book and 3 free choice pieces. The CPM book offers 6 pieces to choose from and the free choice pieces can be any song or style of a similar level. The pieces are generally played with backing tracks though some can also be played solo or with accompanying musician/s.
Keep in mind that the pieces tend to be edited short versions of the originals as the 5 pieces have to be performed in a 15 minute time limit. This means that the sheet music and backing tracks (if used) need to be edited to fit the time limit. So if you’re looking for a guitar teacher to help you study and prepare for the exams ensure you find one that can help you arrange the sheet music and backing tracks.
Creative 15%
This section requires the student to improvise a guitar solo. The Steps progress from simple pentatonic scale patterns over a 12 bar blues to ii V I changes over multiple keys as encountered in many jazz standards. These improvised solos are played over a provided backing track.
Knowledge & Understanding 10%
This is the music theory part of the exam. Here students are required to know key signatures and harmony in the pieces (e.g. I, IV, V chords etc.) Plus students need to identify elements in sheet music including notes, rhythms, rests, dynamics, structural elements such as repeats, coda symbols etc.
Aural Skills 10%
For the aural a part of the AMEB CPM exams students are asked to hear and identify intervals (the distance between 2 notes), chords, cadences, rhythms and scales. Plus students have to sing back a melody and clap back a rhythm and identify the time signature.
Reading Skills 10%
The music sight reading section has 2 parts. Note reading where students sight read a melody and the other where they are asked to read chords and strum the appropriate rhythms.
Rockschool Course Outline
The Rockschool syllabus offers 2 exam structures. The first being a Performance exam where students play 5 Pieces from the Rockschool exam book or the Grade exam which is more similar in structure to the AMEB CPM exams.
Rockschool Grade Exam
Pieces & Technical 75%
Students are required to play 3 pieces from the Rockschool book. These are either pieces written for Rockschool exams or edited versions of well known songs provided in the Rockschool books.
This technical section includes scales, arpeggios, chords and other technical aspects of playing the guitar including string bends, 2 handed tapping, sweep picking and harmonics.
Sight Reading OR Improvisation & Interpretation 10%
Like the CPM exams the sight reading section is where students are required to sight read a melody. If students aren’t the best readers they can choose Improvisation & Interpretation instead. Here they’re required to read chords and strum the appropriate rhythms OR improvise a solo over a chord progression played on a backing track.
Ear Tests 10%
For the ear test part of the Rockschool exams students are asked to hear a riff/melody and play it back on the guitar. Students are also asked to play back a basic rhythms and/or basic chord progression depending on the grade.
General Musicianship 5%
This is the music theory part of the Rockschool exam. Here students are required to know chord construction, modes (at the higher grades) and identify elements in sheet music including notes, rhythms, rests, dynamics, structural elements such as repeats, coda symbols etc.
These course outlines for the AMEB CPM Guitar and Rockschool Guitar Exams will help you make a choice about which exam format is best for you. Check out the Rockschool and AMEB CPM pieces being performed on YouTube (shown above). These videos will give you an idea of the difficulty and style of the tunes required for the exams and may help you to make a decision on what suits you best. Which ever exam format you choose good luck!
