The Leinster School of Music & Drama launches 'Rate Your Ability'
An exciting initiative for traditional Irish musicians and lovers of this music around the world.
Rate Your Ability invites musicians, free of charge, to receive an evaluation of their particular level of playing from a long-established Irish school of music and a panel of esteemed adjudicators headed by Catriona McElhinney Grimes.
Players are invited to video record a 90-second piece of music of their choice, and email this to the LSMD for review. The LSMD examiners will listen and give advice as to what they believe is the player’s current musical level in Irish Traditional Music. This is an ideal opportunity for any musicians who wish to know their level of expertise, but who may have been unsure as to how to commence the process.
Catriona McElhinney Grimes, our chief examiner at the LMSD, recently spoke with Joe Nash on Limerick's Live 95FM about the exciting new initiative in which she invited musicians of all ages across the country and worldwide to apply and avail of this free assessment.
To aid their development, once they have received their free assessment, candidates can progress onto the LSMD Grade Examinations as fee-paying students if they wish. These candidates can use the LSMD’s Traditional Irish Music syllabi and go on to achieve success in the LSMD’s system of nationally recognised grade exams.
About the Leinster School of Music and Drama
The Leinster School of Music & Drama (LSMD) is an Irish Examining Board founded in Dublin, Ireland in 1904. Since its founding, the school has produced an array of accomplished performers and educators. Arthur Darley was one of the professors in that start-up year, teaching both classical violin and traditional Irish fiddle. Among his many accomplishments, Darley was a founder member of the Feis Ceoil and the first musical director of the Abbey Theatre. He also travelled Ireland collecting traditional music and together with PJ McCall wrote “The Boys from Wexford”, “Boolavogue” and the Feis Ceoil book “Irish Airs” (1914).
With this background, the LSMD has developed an examination structure for Irish Fiddle, Tin Whistle and Banjo. To introduce these examinations to players of these instruments and lovers of this music from around the world, the LSMD has developed the concept “Rate Your Ability.”
Questions? Contact the LSMD at [email protected].