2. What does the CAGO require of you?

What you need to know a.k.a. "What this post lacks in amusement, it makes up for in information"


The first thing I found out is that you need to write to the National Headquarters to request an application. Luckily, the person I emailed is very kind and will accept my returning the application a little late... not that I'd recommend doing that... which leads me to:

TIP #1: As soon as you've decided to take the exam, write to: exams@agohq.org to get an application.

It is better to have it and change your mind than run into a problem. (This is one of those "do as I say, not as I do" moments... I'll try to keep those to a minimum!)

On to the requirements:

The first thing you learn from the requirements sheet is that the exam won't be judged by the people actually listening to it; they send it to National Headquarters and there two people will judge, presumably, all of the national CAGO exams. I like that! It makes me feel on equal level with everyone else taking the test.

On to the actual requirements:

The playing section:
- The playing section has me playing three pieces of repertoire and two hymns.
- There are six pieces of rep to choose from and a large booklet of hymns

TIP #2: When you write to get an application, go ahead and request a Hymn Booklet (which is a .pdf they will email to you) in the same email.

The "keyboard skills" section:
- This section can be broken down into four sections:
     1. sight-read
     2. harmonize
     3. transpose
     4. improvise
-Very happily, I discovered that I get 20 minutes to prep for parts 2-4 of this section. However, I imagine that those will be the shortest 20 minutes on the planet, so I am going to focus a lot of my time and attention to these sections.


So, friends, this is the bare-bones organization of the exam. I'll be back in a week or so and hit the ground running with preparations. From that point, I'll have about 7 weeks to prep. Wish me luck!