RSCM Southwell and Nottinghamshire Area | Awards guidance for candidates and choir trainers

Section A · Using the voice well

Criteria for assessment

The performance of each item will be assessed on the following:

1. Posture and presentation
   • Good candidates will:
     • Stand and hold their music well throughout the examination.
   • Poor candidates may:
     • Bury their head in their music and sing into their copy.
     • Slouch, tap their feet or fidget as they sing.
   
   
2. Vocal technique: breath management, tone, diction, range
   • Good candidates will:
     • Breathe in appropriate places.
     • Sustain the sound to the end of a line or phrase.
     • Produce good, full tone, even at the extremes of their range.
     • Project the voice well.
     • Produce good vowel sounds.
     • Articulate consonants clearly.
   • Bishop's candidates will additionally:
     • Be able to sing a legato line without aspirating
     • Be able to sing wide leaps without breaking the flow of the phrase
     • Be able to move with ease and control throughout the range
     • Be able to sustain crescendos and diminuendos without forcing the sound or losing tone quality
     • Use vibrato appropriately to colour the sound
     
     
   • Poor candidates may:
     • Produce uneven breathy tone
     • Be unable to sustain to the end of a phrase
     • Strain for high or low notes
     • Have weak or unprojected tone
     • Have poor diction
   • Bishop's candidates may additionally:
     • Be unable to sing a legato line without aspirating each note.
     • Be unable to sing wide leaps without stopping the voice.
     • Have no control over vibrato
       (i.e. vibrato used either indiscriminately or not at all).
     • Over use the glottal stop to attack notes.
   
   
3. General musicianship: accuracy, expression, sensitivity
   • Good candidates will:
     • Sing notes and rhythms accurately and with good intonation
     • Be able to keep a steady pulse
     • Demonstrate a good dynamic range and an understanding of
       phrasing and articulation
     • Show an appreciation of musical style appropriate to the piece being sung
     • Be able to convey the mood of the music and reflect the meaning of the text
     • Sing confidently and with great sensitivity
     • Take care to place consonants carefully at the ends of notes
   • 
     Poor candidates may:
     • Sing frequently out of tune
     • Make a large number of errors of pitch and rhythm
     • Have a tendency either to rush or to slow down without
       good musical reason
     • Reveal little awareness of dynamics, phrasing and articulation
     • Sing with little regard for the mood or musical style of the piece
     • Falter and appear to lack confidence
     • Be careless with the placing of consonants and the change of vowel in diphthongs

Section B · Musical skills and understanding

As a guide for sight-reading, candidates should be capable of performing the sample sight-singing tests which may be found on the relevant pages in Voice for Life: Choir Trainer's Handbook, using Dark Blue and Red levels for Dean's Award, and Red level for Bishop's Awards.
NB Sight-reading and Aural tests are unaccompanied unless otherwise stated.

Criteria for assessment (for both awards)

1. Musical skills
   • Good candidates will:
     • Sight-read fluently with a high proportion of the notes correct and sung in tune.
     • Maintain the tempo and rhythm even when mistakes are made.
     • Show an awareness of dynamics, phrasing and articulation.
     • Sound confident and sing with conviction and continuity even when wrong.
     • Maintain good tone.
     • Breathe in appropriate places.
     • Sing words correctly.
     • Be accurate in aural tests, with all responses in tune, rhythmic and steady.
     
     
   • Poor candidates may:
     • Falter and stop when they are unsure or make mistakes.
     • Lack confidence, sing with poor tone and out of tune.
     • Ignore dynamic markings, phrasing and articulation.
     • Breathe in inappropriate places.
     • Make frequent errors of pitch and rhythm.
     • Fail to sing words correctly.
     • Be highly inaccurate in aural tests, with responses out of tune or unrhythmical.
   
   
2. Musical understanding
   • Musical understanding will be assessed not only through the further questions indicated below, but throughout each candidate's performance.
   • 
     Good candidates will:
     • Demonstrate their knowledge of notation and theory by singing their repertoire and performing sight-reading and aural tests with a high degree of accuracy.
     • Observe common Italian terms, musical symbols and dynamic markings and be able to explain what they mean if asked.
     • For Bishop's Award, demonstrate their understanding of intervals and triads in the aural tests and be able to identify them if asked.
     
     
   • Poor candidates may:
     • Demonstrate a poor understanding of notation and theory by making a large number of errors when they sing their repertoire and perform sight-reading and aural tests.
     • Fail to observe Italian terms, musical symbols and dynamic markings and be unable to explain them if asked.
     • Make mistakes in pitching intervals and in Bishop's Award, be unable to identify intervals or triads in aural tests.

Section C · Repertoire

See the relevant pages of Voice for Life: Choir Trainer's Handbook and Singer's Workbooks for sample questions. (All singers on the Voice for Life scheme are expected to develop their knowledge and understanding of the repertoire; a structure is provided in Module C of the Voice for Life scheme.)

Criteria for assessment

• Good candidates will:
  • Be able to talk knowledgeably about the music they sing with regard to the period in which it was written, the features of the musical style, and the origins and the meaning of the text.
• Bishop's Award candidates will additionally:
  • Be able to compare and contrast any piece they sing with another setting of a similar text, or with a piece by another composer of the same period.
• 
  Poor candidates may:
  • Be unable to demonstrate knowledge of the music they sing beyond what is on the page.
• Bishop's Award candidates may additionally:
  • Only be able to offer simple observations on the repertoire and show little background knowledge about the text, composer or musical style.
  • Be unable to make comparisons with other pieces.

Section D · Belonging to the choir

There is no formal examination for this section and no marks are allocated. Nevertheless it remains a vital part of the awards. On application, candidates must present a written testimonial from their Choir Trainer, signed by the Incumbent/Minister/Head Teacher/Director of Music, confirming their commitment to the choir, including regularity of attendance, reliability and length of membership.

Section E · Choir in context

Candidates will be asked questions, appropriate to their age and experience, relating to their róle in the choir and the choir's róle and responsibilities.

Criteria for Assessment

Where the stated requirements in the syllabus are the same for Dean's and Bishop's Award, a more competent and comprehensive response is expected of Bishop's Award candidates.

• Good candidates will:
  • Give thoughtful answers to questions on their rôle and that of the choir
  • Demonstrate an awareness of the significance of musical ministry within a church or community
  • Be able to give examples of music suitable for specific occasions or seasons
  • Have a comprehensive knowledge of the major seasons in the Church's year (e.g. Advent, Lent) and major festivals (e.g. Palm Sunday) and understand the pattern and format of services in their church
• Poor candidates may:
  • Appear not to have considered their rôle in the choir
  • Demonstrate a poor awareness of musical ministry within a church or community
  • Be unable to make suitable repertoire suggestions for specific occasions or seasons
  • Be unable to answer simple questions on the Church's year or the format of services

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