Hello,

I'm not sure if I'm expressing this quite right, but do the ABRSM graded exam pieces only use the notes which you learn in the scales for that grade, or can they sometimes include notes that are higher?

The reason that I'm asking is that I've been looking at the Grade 4 treble recorder piece "Mexican Jumping Beans", and it goes all the way up to top F, but I'm sure that the Grade 4 scales don't go up that high (am I wrong?)

For clarinet you sometimes have pieces with notes maybe a tone higher than the highest note in the scale requirements.

Thanks Sbhoa. The Grade 4 scales seem to go up to E flat, so I guess that's about right then.

There's definitely violin pieces which go a nudge higher in a similar way (ignoring harmonics), but not further. The Reger Romance for Grade 5 is one example.

By the time you get to grade 7 the scales take you up to a top D, and E for 8, and I've only ever seen notes higher than that in a handful of pieces - the Sibelius concerto hits a G, for instance, and that piece certainly isn't going to be appearing on the syllabus any time soon!