Hi
I've just passed piano grade 4 and was wondering if anyone had any suggestions for music books to move onto next?

ABRSM's 'Short Romantic Pieces for the Piano' (Book 3 I think for Grade 5-6). Also the appropriate volume of 'Classics to Moderns'

Ian, what type of music do you like playing? (Baroque, classical, romantic, 20th century, jazz etc.)

Could be worth you getting the grade 5 book - theres always lots of nice pieces Have you started any Clementi Sonatinas? If you like romantic era music Chaminade Album des Enfants is lovely and well with your grasp. Perhaps some easy Debussy? You could start some of the Bach Preludes? All depends on the music you like and what you like to play at the piano! Are you aiming for Gd. 5?

O/T: are you still enjoying your Boxster?

You should also be able to manage Beethoven Sonata Op 49 No 2

Pixie suggests some Bach, I would think the Two Part Inventions are the best bet.

Following grade 4 I nearly always do a 'repertoire check' to make sure that a wide range of music is being explored. (Or we discuss why not!)

I list the main 'eras' (which Pixie has done for you!) and we list pieces from the past year or so and try to put them into their style period. It's sometimes a good holiday project for a younger student. Ok, you may not want to go about it in such a formal way, but it could provide food for thought.

We generally do one of the Bach Two-part Inventions at this stage too. I wouldn't necessarily reach for the next grade yet - a bit of broadening can be illuminating and rewarding.

The Keyboard Anthology books would be good for repertoire building, but I would recommend Book II rather than Book III at this stage. The First Series Book II is excellent. To supplement this have a look at Spectrum 2 for some contemporary pieces, and some of the Associated Board Easier Piano Pieces series (names like Alan Haughton and Terence Greaves for modern works).

There are some really good recommendations here. Especially the one from Maggiemay about doing a repertoire check and not going straight on to the next grade.

Allow yourself plenty of time to enjoy playing the piano. Don't forget at this stage there is also plenty of more popular repertoire you can enjoy too. Make your repertoire as broad as possible. Wide is better than narrow.

Also:

First book of Grieg Lyric Pieces
Satie Gymnopedies
Shostakovich Dance of the Dolls
Kablevsky Childrens Pieces
Bartok Childrens Pieces
Clementi Sonatinas
Beethoven Sonatinas

Do start looking at the technical material that will help you progress. Technique building never stops!

Yes all good suggestions from jod . Theres the Kuhlau Sonatinas too

I was working towards G5 when I abandoned the piano (lessons, at least) many moons ago...

... I remember that I took a break from exams to wander around other repertoire at around G4 and it was well worth doing, so I'd echo that good advice. I especially loved the Grieg lyric pieces that jod mentioned and I'm thinking it would be a good route back to the piano now.

I seem to remember that there are a few Chopin and Mendelssohn pieces around that level which are a fulfilling challenge, as well as the Bach preludes and two-part inventions (often come up in exams, I see...).

Thanks for the good suggestions guys
I will be aiming for Grade 5 eventually- but I am not in any rush. I had a 3 year gap between grade 3 and grade 4 so it'll be probably another couple of years before I enter for grade 5. (I think it'll take me quite some time to learn all the scales for grade 5!)

Exam wise I was going to concentrate on the grade 5 theory this year and try to get it out of the way.

I like playing most styles of music- jazz is probably my least favourite as I find it the most difficult to play- may be a good reason to try and play more of it! The pieces I find most difficult during the exams are the A pieces so maybe I need to keep some very technical pieces in what I practise.

Pixie- I'm still enjoying my Porsche: not enjoying petrol prices much though!

Try not to think of it like that. Most of the scales and arpeggios have been covered in previous grades. The only new major scale/arpeggio is F# and there are 3 new minors: Eb, F# and Bb. One of the contrary motion scales (F major) was on the grade 4 list so there are only 3 new ones of those to learn. The only truly new thing is the contrary chromatics and they're not too bad because they're both symmetrical - no funny finger patterns to learn, if one hand is playing a black key then so is the other one.

So overall there are 4 new scales, 3 new contrary motion, and 2 new contrary chromatics. Everything else you've done before. That's not too daunting surely.... That's fewer new things than you had to learn for grade 4

Grade 6/7/8 scales/arps, on the other hand, are a different matter......

Some of the scales I haven't played for many years though- and never to 3 octaves. I'm finding I'm a little rusty on some of them.

I'm working toward Grade 5. I am finding the whole 3 octaves thing an absolute nightmare. Scales that were secure over 2 octaves are a disaster over 3

There are some nice pieces in the Upgrade book. I am also tackling a few from the Pam Wedgwood Jazz series

I know it might sound a bit odd.... but have you tried doing them over 4 octaves instead just for fun? I find the rhythm of 2 or 4 octaves perfectly fine but was initially confused by 3.

Back to the original topic... after grade 4 the first books I looked at (apart from the grade 5 book) were Tchaikovsky album for the young, more romantic pieces for piano (can't remember which volume though), best of grade 4 / best of grade 5, and past exam books for grades 4 and 5.

I know what you mean about scales, Lois - I was surprised that moving from 2 octaves to 3 on scales I already knew was so hard! I keep running out of fingers / forgetting how many octaves I have done etc. Somehow 3 octaves doesn't sound complete in the way that 2 octaves does.

PatC

I Know what you mean! It is easier playing four octave scales than three octave scales. The scales may be longer, but the patterns work better.

The problem with the scales for Grade 7 and 8 are the ones that are not at the distance of an octave apart.

A long time ago, but I had to do all scales a 10th apart as well as some stage (probably ALCM)

I find chromatic scales quite difficult- I have a tendency to forget which note I started on!
Even more chance at forgetting with 3 octaves!

I've ordered
Beethoven Piano Sonata no 49
Clementi Six Sonatinas
Bach two part inventions
and Grade 5 piano exam pieces

Should keep me going for a while!

Just getting stuck in to the first Clementi Sonatina- nice piece of music!

Don't forget at this stage there is also plenty of more popular repertoire you can enjoy too. Make your repertoire as broad as possible. Wide is better than narrow.

Agreed 100% - but in my experience boys and girls at grade 4/5 stage are not terribly interested in learning classical or romantic pieces in between grades. Here are a few suggestions I have found go down well;

New Orleans Jazz Styles by William Gillock
Jazz Etudes for Piano by Emil Hradecky
Hello, Mr Gillock! Carl Czerny by err.....William Gillock and Carl Czerny!

The latter contains a mixture of attractive Czerny pieces with jazzy pices and can be introduced after grade 3. Apart from learning the pieces contained therein the boys and girls also enjoy trying to read the cartoons that appear on each and every page!