In part 1 of the three-part series RGT Chief Examiner Merv Young provides an overview of these new diploma exams for Acoustic Guitar…

With the immense popularity of the RGT Acoustic Guitar Grades we have had repeated requests from tutors about what exam options there are for their students once they have passed Grade 8. We are delighted to announce the introduction of these Acoustic Guitar Concert Performance Diplomas that enable acoustic guitarists who are serious about mastering their craft to take their playing beyond Grade 8 and achieve an accredited qualification.

We are offering four levels of diploma for Acoustic Guitar: DipLCM (NQF level4), ALCM (NQF level 5), LLCM (NQF level 6) and FLCM (NQF level 7). So if you’re interested in taking one of these, or guiding some of your students through them, the following overview should give you an insight into what’s involved.

Exam Content

Those of you who are familiar with some of the other performance diplomas RGT offers will notice that the term ‘concert’ is a new label. This term is to reflect the fact that these diplomas are almost entirely repertoire-based which enables you to focus on the primary aspect of contemporary acoustic guitar – playing pieces!

There are two components in each level of diploma:

• Performance. Candidates perform a varied programme of music of a duration that depends on the level of diploma.
• Programme Notes. Candidates prepare a typewritten summary of the music performed. The exact word count varies according to the diploma level.

The duration of the performance and word count for the programme notes for each level of diploma is as follows:

Read Part 2 of the series.