Grade 7 piano pieces? Options

[fsharpminor]

Id still do the Kabalevsky, yes its very fast but for much of it the notes fall under the fingers quite well.

[playingtheflute]

Id still do the Kabalevsky, yes its very fast but for much of it the notes fall under the fingers quite well.

Ah okay. I think perhaps I'm rushing it a bit, hence I play many wrong notes :/

Also, for B, which would you recommend? I'm not sure between "coming from the fountain", conchita reve and the bruch. :S

[Juan Carlos]

Id still do the Kabalevsky, yes its very fast but for much of it the notes fall under the fingers quite well.

Also, for B, which would you recommend? I'm not sure between "coming from the fountain", conchita reve and the bruch. :S

Conchita reve requires great control of chords, touch, expression (!!) and dynamics (dramatic, Spanish-style expression with extremely marked contrasts and these require more than absolute security, otherwise the character is lost); this is mostly what the piece is based on. I found the sustained relatively slow tempo made it difficult to keep concentration and therefore, mistakes often crept in or expression was imperfect/absent or mostly insufficient. I then started with Viniendo de la Fuente (a lovely piece, too) and that was much easier. However, the greatest difficulty with the latter is not only bringing out the melody with all those double notes but making it sound varied as the same theme is presented a number of times and one tends to play it in the same way at every occurrence. I simply couldn't bring myself to love any of the other pieces and the syllabus, on the whole, did not seem to me to be very appealing ...

[Crock]

Id still do the Kabalevsky, yes its very fast but for much of it the notes fall under the fingers quite well.

Also, for B, which would you recommend? I'm not sure between "coming from the fountain", conchita reve and the bruch. :S

Conchita reve requires great control of chords, touch, expression (!!) and dynamics (dramatic, Spanish-style expression with extremely marked contrasts and these require more than absolute security, otherwise the character is lost); this is mostly what the piece is based on. I found the sustained relatively slow tempo made it difficult to keep concentration and therefore, mistakes often crept in or expression was imperfect/absent or mostly insufficient. I then started with Viniendo de la Fuente (a lovely piece, too) and that was much easier. However, the greatest difficulty with the latter is not only bringing out the melody with all those double notes but making it sound varied as the same theme is presented a number of times and one tends to play it in the same way at every occurrence. I simply couldn't bring myself to love any of the other pieces and the syllabus, on the whole, did not seem to me to be very appealing ...

Juan Carlos, I do agree with you about Viniendo de la Fuente (I think we've discussed this on another thread). I'm not going to do it in the exam because of the problem of making the theme sound varied each time it appears. Going to try the Bruch over the next weeks. I've also spent quite some time learning Conchita Reve and agree with you there too. With the Conchita Reve how much pedal are you using ?

[Juan Carlos]

A lot of pedalling, both left and right one and a combination of both.
Right pedal throughout the piece in every bar up to b. 10 included. I mean, pedalling the first chord and the second in the LH (both in minims) separately where applicable (bb. 1-2-3) and only in the first chord (as in b.5-7-8-9, etc.) when pedalling the 2nd would create too much reverberation. And so on in all occurrences of these rhythmic patterns throughout.
In addition, I used to press Una corda in bars like 11-12-13, up to b. 16 where the chords sound better if subdued. Then, the same as at the beginning with another una corda in bb. 23-24 to render the pp effect more convincingly and also in bb. 29-30 and 33-34 and then, at the end, in bb. 39-40. It is hard to explain all this on the Forum but if you read the suggestions and follow the score at the same time you can get it better, I think. Remember these are only suggestions my teacher made and I'm sure 20 players would give 20 different renderings with 20 different pedallings ... so make a few trials before you decide and, most important, talk it over with the teacher.

[Sam-ChopinFan]

I'm doing
A3: Mozart - Presto (3rd Movement from Sonata in F)
B5: Liszt - Romance in E minor
C2: Martinu - Harlequin (Scherzo) from Puppets Book 2

The Mozart is coming along quite nicely. The really tricky thing is the fact it's marked "Presto", and some of those semiquaver passages are rather fiddly. All in all, I'd reccomend the Mozart or Arne pieces for A. They just seem easier (I'm using that term losely) than that Allamande by Handel, which looks really tricky.

I chose the Liszt piece because I had worked on it some months before I started Grade 7, so had a bit of a head start. Looking back, it probably wasn't the wisest choice as it seem to be the hardest piece from the B list. But it's worth it because it's such a wonderful piece. I liked the look of the Skryabin, but it looked quite challenging because of those rhythms. And I also liked the look of "Swedish Dance in A minor" by Bruch, and it seemed remarkably easy for Grade 7 - then I turned the page and saw all those Trill and ornaments (IMG:style_emoticons/default/laugh.gif) .

The C list was an easy choice for me. I wasn't going to do the Kabalevsky because I didn't want to be doing another piece that fast, as it's not really my forte and I already had the Mozart to worry about. I didn't really like "Black Coffee", probably because I'm not keen on Jazz or 20th century music. Generally, I struggle choosing from the C list as I don't tend to like many of the pieces they put in there. But thhe Martinu piece is really awesome, it's quite easy to get the hang of and it's quite a leisurely piece compared to the two others I'm doing, which is nice because it takes the edge off the exam a little.

All in all, I'm having a lot of fun with Grade 7. The pieces are coming along well and so are the scales. But I liked this syllabus, lots of interesting pieces on there. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[Crock]

A lot of pedalling, both left and right one and a combination of both.
Right pedal throughout the piece in every bar up to b. 10 included. I mean, pedalling the first chord and the second in the LH (both in minims) separately where applicable (bb. 1-2-3) and only in the first chord (as in b.5-7-8-9, etc.) when pedalling the 2nd would create too much reverberation. And so on in all occurrences of these rhythmic patterns throughout.
In addition, I used to press Una corda in bars like 11-12-13, up to b. 16 where the chords sound better if subdued. Then, the same as at the beginning with another una corda in bb. 23-24 to render the pp effect more convincingly and also in bb. 29-30 and 33-34 and then, at the end, in bb. 39-40. It is hard to explain all this on the Forum but if you read the suggestions and follow the score at the same time you can get it better, I think. Remember these are only suggestions my teacher made and I'm sure 20 players would give 20 different renderings with 20 different pedallings ... so make a few trials before you decide and, most important, talk it over with the teacher.

Thanks very much Juan Carlos - lots of ideas and very helpful! My teacher and I are still experimenting a lot - sometimes, lots of pedal throughout, sometimes not much at all. Hadn't thought of una corda other than right at the end...

Like Sam-Chopinfan I find those semiquaver passages in the Mozart fiddly.

Good luck to all us Grade 7-ers!

[Sam-ChopinFan]

Thanks very much Juan Carlos - lots of ideas and very helpful! My teacher and I are still experimenting a lot - sometimes, lots of pedal throughout, sometimes not much at all. Hadn't thought of una corda other than right at the end...

Like Sam-Chopinfan I find those semiquaver passages in the Mozart fiddly.

Good luck to all us Grade 7-ers!

Defiantly! I find the trickiest are those broken octaves on the second page which alternate between the left and right hands. They're absoloutley fine at a slower tempo, however; attempting to play them at Presto speed leaves much to be desired. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/laugh.gif) And yeah, Good Luck everyone taking Grade 7!

[Juan Carlos]

I also studied the Mozart [/i]Presto[/i] at the beginning and got it to sound quite nicely but again, the neatness/speed/phrasing required (but moslty the neatness at that speed) decided me against it.
The thing with us adults, is that we often have a very clear idea of what it must sound like and being a music lover since early childhood, I know only too well how my renderings depart from what I believe to be 'the real thing' so I often get discouraged and move on to more 'achievable' pieces but as I go up through the grades there seem to be fewer and fewer .... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/sad.gif)

[Crock]

Because of the dangerous semiquaver passages in the Mozart that's we're all lamenting, I'm also learning the Bach Sinfonia (3-part invention) as a possible alternative. This is challenging for a different set of reasons!

So I'm looking at doing
A3 Mozart or A5 Bach
B1 Bruch or B3 Conchita Reve
C4 Gershwin

There seems to be less discussion about the Gershwin than some of the other list C pieces.

I took up the piano again only at the start of last year (after a 30 year break) so anything too fast like the Kabalevsky is just impossible....

I do agree with Juan Carlos that you approach the pieces differently as an adult. But there are some advantages as well as getting discouraged. Back then at school the piano teachers were prone to dictate how to play every piece, now I enjoy having some great two-way discussions.

[Tortellini]

Ok, so I might possibly do the exam - in November. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/tongue.gif)

At the moment I am thinking of doing:

A5 - Bach (just reading it through)
B1 - Bruch (have learnt it but it needs polishing)
C4 - Gershwin (not started at all)

Am mostly worried about the aural part of the exam this time though - looks truly horrendous!

[Crotchetymum]

Is anyone using the Trinity G7 syllabus? My son has just announced that he is thinking about taking another piano exam after a 3-year break (from exams, not from lessons). He wouldn't be able to take it until next year and with the changeover of the AB syllabus, I think he'll be looking at Trinity as he's keen to start looking at pieces now, rather than wait until the new AB syllabus is out. I know that he and his teacher will have a good discussion about it and it will be their choice between them, but I wondered if anyone had any opinions about the pieces. I've listened to some on Youtube and I think he'll like the Bach Courante, Schumann Kind im Einschlumern and Hummel Adagio and Allegro Vivace from the A list and possibly only the Copland from the B (Sentimenal Melody). Any thoughts welcome.

[fsharpminor]

I know most of those,
My short list would be Bach, Mozart, Mendelssohn, Schumann, Prokofiev and Cyril Scott
Id probably go for Bach orMozart/Schumann/Prokofiev or Scott

[Crotchetymum]

Thank you. I haven't been able to listen to the Milne (Bob?) Wild Mushrooms - if it's rag/jazz he might like that. I had the Scott down as a query piece - I like it but I'm not sure whether my son will. And I had missed the Prokofiev, but that's definitely odd enough to appeal to him.

[VH2]

Mozart Sonata no. 5 in G, K. 283, 1st movt: Allegro
Mendelssohn Song Without Words op. 19b no. 1
Prokofiev No. 10 (from Visions Fugitives op. 22)

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