Rockschool's Performance Diplomas

[bluesparky]

Hello!
Has anyone taken a look at or had any experience of these?

Since taking a few Grade 8 exams on bass I’ve been on the look out on where to head to next for bass qualifications.

I’d love to do a full-time education course but that simply isn’t an option, I’ve also been pursuing piano & music theory grades to keep myself ticking over but I’d really been enjoying the bass exams, basically as thanks to my work schedule it’s impossible for me to be in a band to it gives me something to work towards, practice for and some direction.

The links for the diplomas are here:

[url="https://www.rslawards.com/music/diplomas/performance-diploma/level-four"]https://www.rslawards.com/music/diplomas/performance-diploma/level-four[/url]

[url="https://www.rslawards.com/music/diplomas/performance-diploma/level-six"]https://www.rslawards.com/music/diplomas/performance-diploma/level-six[/url]

It looks like level four equates in standard to the first year of a music performance degree course whereas level six equates in standard to the final year of a music performance degree course.

The prerequisite for Level Four is a Grade 8 / Music A level / Music BTEC and the Level six entry level is a Level four qualification.

I’m very interested in it and I very much look forward to choosing what I’ll play for the exams and working hard to master the arrangements I’ll play, although I’ll be breaking new ground on learning about how to answer questions such as: understanding target audience, relevance of target material, use of promotional material, who are the target audience and is my material likely to reach them, do I know what to do with any follow-up i.e ‘likes’ on Facebook, twitter followers, contract knowledge, liability insurance etc!!

I don’t know how many of you are interested in any of the exams out there (RGT, rock school or trinity etc) or whether this floats you boat, but I’ve not seen it mentioned on here before so I didn’t know if anyone had noticed it yet..

Thoughts anyone?

Cheers.

[ambient]

How long does each course take, and how many hours ?

I finished my BMus degree last year. My first year I had maybe 20 hours a week contact time. We were expected to do at least that again at home. In reality it was a lot more, I probably spent another 30 hours a week at home practicing and other work.

It'd be a lot of work doing something the equivalent of a degree, whilst working full time. Unless you can break it down into smaller modules spread over a period of time.

I'm currently doing a part time MMus. I have one 2 hour lecture a week, I totally misjudged the amount of work outside of that.

[bluesparky]

[quote name='ambient' timestamp='1454852224' post='2973513']
How long does each course take, and how many hours ?

I finished my BMus degree last year. My first year I had maybe 20 hours a week contact time. We were expected to do at least that again at home. In reality it was a lot more, I probably spent another 30 hours a week at home practicing and other work.

It'd be a lot of work doing something the equivalent of a degree, whilst working full time. Unless you can break it down into smaller modules spread over a period of time.

I'm currently doing a part time MMus. I have one 2 hour lecture a week, I totally misjudged the amount of work outside of that.
[/quote]
To be honest, I'm not sure, however, reading the syllabus closely it does seem to say in one section "Candidates are expected to complete the whole of this unit in one exam sitting, however prior research and preparation would be expected for all sections and the promotional portfolio will be submitted at the beginning of the exam having been completed in the candidate’s own time.

The syllabus also seems to suggest a “cross-media promotional portfolio” is to be submitted to support their program.
Unless I'm mistaken (which is quite common) it appears to be mostly exam based except for a portfolio / promotional material which needs to be prepared in advance - which sounds interesting...