Go for gold with Music Medals

The Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music (ABRSM) has revealed  that its award-winning Music Medals programme is now available for use in schools across the UK. This means that more young people than ever before will be given the opportunity to learn to play and perform a musical instrument.
The initiative was originally launched back in 2004 and works as a “rewarding and fun” structure of assessments and teaching resources for young people to follow. To this end, Music Medals aims to help pupils acquire the knowledge, skills and understanding to perform music, both within an ensemble and individually.
ABRSM claims the scheme that complements the needs of teachers and their pupils as it is a flexible system fully supported by a range of unique music for beginners.
Added to this, there are a number of advantages schools using Music Medals will benefit from.
Firstly, teachers will be able to record evidence of a pupils’ progress as they work their way through the five progressive levels – Copper, Bronze, Silver, Gold and Platinum. Each assessment covers three primary activities which must be completed to move to the next level. These are playing together, playing solo and musicianship skills. Performances are videoed, marked by the teacher and moderated by ABRSM.
In addition, the Music Medals scheme is a great way for young musicians to gain accredited qualifications – recognised by Ofqual and the corresponding agencies in Wales and Northern Ireland.
Indeed, speaking in response to an online survey into the initiative, one teacher said that “Music Medals have been a valuable addition to my teaching goals”. Going on to say “They are great for beginners and set useful shorter-term targets for use in between exams. The options cater to all musical strengths and encourage me to do more improvisation with my students.”