In Canada we basically have the whole country on the Royal Conservatory of Music. There are, however, some others but are not as popular as the RCM.
There is a syllabus made for every instrument (or to my understand every instrument... maybe not the kazoo, but who knows).
I don`t have the clarinet syllabus with me right now but I will throw graded pieces/studies I know of.
grade 6 - Finzi/ Five Bagatelles
grade 8 - Tartini/ Concertino
Vanhal/ Sonata in Bb major
Rose/ 40 Studies Bk 1
grade 9 - Rose/ 40 Studies Bk 2
Rose/ 32 Etudes
grade 10 - Mozart/ Concerto in A major
Messager/ Solo De Concours
Cavallini/ Adagio & Tarantella
Cavallini/ 30 Caprices

I think that the 2nd mov. from the Mozart is actually grade 8 and that parts of Tartini & Vanhal are grade 9 but I wouldn`t quote me on that.

Dmitri, in Australia, there is a big emphasis on technique as well as repertoire (which is pretty straight forward up until about 8th grade) - ie. until Associate, most of the exams are half technique as well as aural training, sight reading, A & C transposition and general knowledge.

All scales are done in 8th grade (melodic & harmonic minors, majors, scales in thirds, broken chords and arpeggios, dominant 7ths, diminished 7ths, whole tone scales, chromatic, sustained scales) but the top note required is Altissimo A. The pieces can vary (if you read my discussion with Rachel on the subject) and some discrepancies show up but yeah, a rough standard is expected for each grade (although there isn`t an assumed knowledge to do any AMEB exams until you hit Associate). It doesn`t mean the world if you don`t do them but for developing technical facility and performance opportunities, its good practice.

Alyssa- do you know if there is any prerequisite for the L.MusA? I was thinking of doing it (once I get over my fear of exams and auditions), but I never did my AMusA, and if that was the prerequisite I wouldn`t want to do it, because it would feel like a waste of time preparing pieces that are below my level of playing.

I don`t know, to be honest. All I know is that there is a prerequisite of 8th Grade if you want to do AMusA. I`d say there probably is but don`t quote me on it.

Its often a pain if you do have to do a lower level if you want to qualify for a higher one cause the higher the level, the more EXPENSIVE it gets. But if you have a fear of exams and auditions, maybe doing the AMus would be a good idea first to prepare you as the exam conditions for AMus and LMus are similar - except the technical level of the repertoire. Have you ever played any of the AMus repertoire (ie. Muczynski, Spohr, Messiaen etc)? There`s no tech work and if you`ve already played them, its easy enough to re-prepare to a decent level. Just a thought...

Al

I thought that 8th grade was only the recommended prerequisite for AMusA.
I have played some of the AMusA pieces. They are easy.

I called the AMEB yesterday, and they said that there is now no prerequisite for LMus. (It used to be the case that you had to have your AMus first, but they changed that.) At the moment I`m choosing an exam program, and I will hopefully do the exam at the end of the year.

Well, you learn a new thing every day. Goes to show I pay a lot of attention to AMEB! He he! Good luck with the LMusA. And what I figure is, even if you don`t do as well as you want in the exam, you still get some cool letters at the end of your name.

The letters are half the reason I want to do the exam. The other reasons are that my uni degree will be in composition, and I want something to show for all the work I`ve done on the clarinet. There`s also the fact that it`s been ages since I`ve done anything clarinet-related that`s given me a real sense of having achieved something.

Rachel what year at uni are you? Did you start off in performance and change to composition or did you always want to be a composer? I`ve never wanted to do anything other than performance. Suppose I`m just too obsessed with playing the clarinet to write for it I`m only second year performance though and have only done composition on and off for 2 years (compulsory subjects and specialist stuff like serial music).

Aylyssa- I`m technically 1st-year, but doing mostly 2nd-year subjects. I did the Preparatory Program at the Conservatorium the year before last on clarinet, but my audition to get into the Bachelor of Music went badly and so I wasn`t there last year. At the auditions in September last year, I auditioned for both clarinet and composition, and I got in for composition. I would have been happy to be accepted for either clarinet or composition. I`ve wanted to perform since I started playing, and when I started composing (about a year after I started playing) I wanted to compose as well.

Prep programs are always really good, I think. Particularly in performance - the Bachelor of Music can be a bit of a shock to new students (especially when they`re 17 and just coming out of high school) so going into prep courses is a good idea. I did a year-long Certificate course before starting the BMus which gave me time to catch up to the others in the class.

This is a bit off-topic, but Alyssa will be interested.
I had the pleasure of hearing Paul Dean play on Thursday. He played "Stick Dance" by Andrew Schultz, for clarinet, violin and piano. ( With Michelle Walsh, violin and Stephen Emmerson, piano.) He sounded very good, although he moved around too much. He was standing to play, and the way he moved was EXACTLY the same as the what one of my friends does when he plays. It is very distracting. Nonetheless, it was a very good concert.

He he... I`m glad someone else notices how distracting it is. I thought I was just crazy or out-of-the-norm. It`s a shame because there are so many good aspects of his playing and the acrobatics detract from all these things. When he came to my uni for a masterclass last year, everyone in the class became overly obsessed with him (some even considered moving states ) but noone seemed to notice (or care) about the moving around on stage and I thought they would have (as none of them move much when they play). Moving around is an interesting topic of discussion though. I think I might post the topic.

Yeah, I am very disturbed by the way some clarinettists move when they play. I`ve seen some that move in the most un-natural way, I think it`d by harder 2 do their dance-type movement than to actually play the piece.