Tradition and Transformation: Digital Representations of Institutional Identity in UK Music Examination Boards

Institutional websites have become key stages on which educational organisations perform identity, authority and relevance. This study investigates how the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music (ABRSM) and Trinity College London (TCL) recalibrated their digital self-presentations across 2016, 2022 and 2025. Drawing on multimodal discourse analysis of five recurring webpage genres, it examines how visual, textual and structural choices negotiate evolving narratives of heritage, inclusivity, learner agency and digital fluency. Findings reveal expansions in presentations of visual diversity and collaborative music-making, yet achieved through distinctly different semiotic approaches: the ABRSM layers broader representation onto an enduring discourse of tradition and rigour, whereas TCL integrates more corporate-associated semiotics to foreground diversity, informality and technological fluency within the architecture of its brand narrative. Across both institutions, examinations transition from being positioned as authority-certified symbols of achievement, to functioning as branded cultural artefacts that suggest lifestyle (participation, belonging) and global relevance.