Guild Examinations

The purpose of the Guild examinations is to certify and acknowledge performance proficiency, including competency in musicianship and carillon technique. Two levels of examinations are offered:

1. the Associate Carillonneur Examination, which evaluates a candidate's skills at an intermediate level utilizing carillon repertoire of moderate difficulty.
2. the Carillonneur Examination, which tests a candidate's skills at a more advanced level and requires performance of more advanced carillon repertoire.

By offering two levels of examinations, the Guild recognizes that its membership comes from diverse backgrounds, and that individuals have varying levels of achievement and professional goals.The common goal of the examinations is to encourage professional development at whatever level is appropriate for an individual in his or her own personal circumstances, and to certify and recognize professional growth and achievement. Successful completion of the Associate Carillonneur Exam advances an individual to Associate Carillonneur membership, and passing the Carillonneur Exam advances an individual to Carillonneur membership. It is not necessary to first pass the Associate Carillonneur Exam in order to attempt the Carillonneur Exam.

Following is a brief description of each exam. A complete description of each examination process along with application forms can be found below under the heading for each exam.

Associate Carillonneur Examination

• Any Associate member of the Guild may take the exam.
• The candidate will play his or her own instrument, which can be of any size, including two-octave range.
• Required repertoire pieces are from Playing the Carillon:An Introductory Method by John Gouwens (2012 edition preferred). Two-octave repertoire is from The Belmont Carillon Book, Volume II.
• In addition to a playing evaluation, there are two instructional components: carillon history and program creation.
• The candidate will record two of the required pieces and enough other music of moderate difficulty for a total recording of 15 to 20 minutes. The recording must contain video of the candidate playing all or part of one of the required pieces; all others are to be audio only.
• The recording is submitted to the chair of the Associate Carillonneur Examinations Committee. The candidate's identity will be known by the judges and one judge may communicate with the candidate to offer helpful suggestions.
• Three judges will listen to each candidate's recording and evaluate the written material submitted. Two 'pass' votes are required to pass the exam.Only successful performers' names will be released to the membership. No vote by the membership is required. Successful performers will be recognized in the following edition of the Carillon News.
• The candidate is not required to play an examination recital at the Congress.

Carillonneur Examination

• Any Associate or Associate Carillonneur member of the Guild may take the exam.
• Signature of the candidate's teacher is required on the application.
• The candidate will choose one required piece from each of the three categories (technically difficult, expressive, arrangement/transcription) and prepare a recording of these pieces, along with enough other repertoire for a total of 30 minutes. Pieces chosen for the recording should be comparable in level of difficulty to those on the required pieces lists.
• The recording and copies of the scores are submitted to the Chair of the Carillonneur Examinations Committee. The recordings and scores are distributed to the jurors for evaluation. The identity of the candidate is known only to the Chair.
• Four out of five jurors must vote to pass the recording in order for the candidate to advance to the Congress exam stage.
• The Chair will notify candidates if they have passed or not passed. If the candidate passes the recording stage, he/she is invited to perform an examination recital at the following Congress. The candidate submits copies of the scores of the pieces to be performed to the Chair (the jurors will select the required piece to be played as well as one piece from the candidate's repertoire).
• The candidate plays an examination recital at the Guild Congress and is evaluated by the jurors. Again, the candidate's identity is known only to the Chair, and not by any of the jurors. Four out of five jurors must vote to pass the recital in order for the candidate to be recommended for Carillonneur membership.
• Successful candidates will be voted into Carillonneur membership by carillonneur members at the Congress. After this final step, the identity of the candidate (new Carillonneur member) is shared with those in attendance and published in the following edition of Carillon News.