The Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music in Milan at the Sir James Henderson School
The Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music is an educational body and a charity and is the worlds leading authority on musical assessment. The organisation is based in London and runs exams centres all over the world. The Royal Schools in the UK are:
Royal Northern College of Music
Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama
The conference, the first ever of its kind in Italy, was a chance for all Italian speaking music schools and teachers who follow the ABRSM exam system (www.abrsm.org) to get together. The conference itself was a lively mix of teacher training and networking, all in Italian. Teachers were helped in all aspects of exam preparation by Martin Biggs, Director of Music at the Sir James and ABRSM examiner and Representative for the North of Italy. Guy Perricone, the new C.E.O. of the ABRSM and of Italian origin himself, had flown in from the UK for the event. Mr Dillow, the school’s Principal, welcomed everyone and the school caterers P.A.P. provided excellent refreshments over the day.
About 50 teachers from Milan, Milan hinterland, Casale Monferrato, Cremona, Varese, Busto Arsizio, Bergamo, Gorgonzola, Vicenza, Bologna, Firenze, Roma, Bari and Valdagno all came, bringing with them a huge range of accents and cultures but with a lively communal spirit!
The day concluded with a “High Scorers Concert”. Nearly fifty participants ranging from Prep Test to Dip ABRSM level performed to an enthusiastic audience. The school’s “Friends” were of immense help organising the afternoon refreshments, the photos and a welcoming committee in the morning. All in all the day was a great success. The gym looked like a real conference centre and the weather was perfect. Hopefully the first of many more!
For some of the music teachers present it was their first experience of the British approach to music exams and they provided some interesting feedback after the conference:
….. Avanti cosi! (Stefano L, BOLOGNA)
….. Bella iniziativa…da ripetere! (Daniela M, VALDAGNO)
..... Per favore, altri incontri come questo… (Andrea M, BOLOGNA)
..… thanks for the great day, very well-organised, and I made some lively contacts. Thank you also for the delicious buffets. I really want to open a new centre in my area…..I must get to work on this. (Christine C, hinterland Milano)
Gregory Wright