Hi Wilbert I suggest that you print out the horn syllabus for the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music (ABRSM). You can view it here
http://www.abrsm.org/regions/fileadmin/user_upload/syllabuses/hornComplete10.pdf Take a look at it with your friend and work out roughly where she is relative to the grading structure. Grade 1 is suitable for beginners who have only been learning a year or so. In Britain, a music major going on to a performance course at music college should have achieved a standard equivalent to a high mark in Grade 8. I would guess that your friend is somewhere around Grade 6 standard, but you will be in a position to work that out with her. You'll note that the Schumann Adagio & Allegro doesn't appear on the repertoire list at all. It is beyond Grade 8 in difficulty. The ABRSM syllabus will provide her with an indication of what sorts of pieces will form an appropriate challenge for her next stage of development. That's the easy part. The hard part is getting her teacher to accept this. That's a non-musical question. First, your friend needs the confidence to realise that what the teacher is asking for is unreasonable. The ABRSM syllabus may help there as well, as it does give an indication of what pieces have various levels of difficulty. Then she will need to speak with her teacher about it and request a more appropriate challenge, perhaps selecting one or more pieces from the syllabus for the next grade up. It may be that the teacher throws a hissy-fit about this, in which case your friend may have to take the issue to the head of the music faculty. If she's a long way from home, she might appreciate having somebody (perhaps you) along to support her at that meeting. Regards Jonathan West _______________________________________________ post: [email protected] unsubscribe or set options at https://pegasus.memphis.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/options/horn/archive%40jab.org
