Behind the Scenes

One of the biggest changes to come out of the recent review of the syllabus was music. The syllabus now contains a large selection of music from the concert, ballet and light classical repertoire. For Grades 1–3 and Grades 4 & 5 we used nearly 100 musicians, including the Orchestra of English National Ballet, and solo instrumentalists in various styles of music.

This section contains articles about the music in the RAD syllabus: how it was made, and how you can find out more about it.

Click on the links below to see exclusive video footage of some of our recording sessions, and insights from the people who produced the music:

• A musical journey – A behind the scenes documentary, showing how the music for the syllabus from Pre-Primary to the new Advanced was made.
• The way ballet should sound… – Andrew Holdsworth, recording engineer and producer talks about the experience of recording the Orchestra of English National Ballet for Grades 1–3.
• Recording piano music for Grades 4 & 5 – Meet Fares Marek Basmadji, pianist for the Grades 4 & 5 piano recordings.