I will be taking Grade 8 viola this term and wondered about what tempo the scales and arpeggios should be played. As the syllabus does not give an exact metronome marking, I do not want to be penalised for playing them too slowly. What tempo do other violin/viola players take the scales/arps for grade 8? Has anyone ever got comments that they were playing them too slowly?

My daughter took grade 7 cello last December and concentrated on getting the scales steady and very accurate as no tempo was specified. She was disappointed when she lost a couple of marks and the examiner's only comment was "the pulse was rather slow"

As fast as you can go without messing them up! I'm doing grade 8 scales right now and I play with a metronome, starting at around 72, and working up to 92 or so (2 notes to a beat) just to sort out the basic fingerings. I try and play each metronome marking 3 times before moving on as well so it doesn't seem fast by the time you get into the 90s. Then I play it at the original speed and it seems so easy. I don't really know what's expected...the 88BPM is sitting in my mind for some reason. No clue about apreggios though, sorry!

Oh and for the 3 octaves to a bow slurred scales...obviously they will go fast, so no point playing their seperate bow scales slowly when you can do them faster as you will have to get some speed up eventually.

...and also once you have your fingers in motion they are in some ways easier to play fast, because you have to fit so many notes into one bow.

When I said 2 notes per beat I did of course mean 4...whoops...
And guess what!! I found the recommended tempo for all instruments/all grades! Unfortunately I couldn't keep the booklet but I'll photocopy it at school tomorrow and post it up.

Ok here we go...sorry for the wait, was out all day yesterday.

Grade 1:
scales: crochet = 60
arpeggios: crochet = 46

Grade 2:
scales: crochet = 66
arpeggios: crochet = 63

Grade 3:
scales: crochet = 80
arpeggios: crochet = 69

Grade 4:
scales: minim = 52
arpeggios: crochet = 76

Grade 5:
scales: minim = 63
arpeggios: crochet = 88

Grade 6:
scales: minim = 76
arpeggios: minim = 50

Grade 7:
scales: minim = 80
arpeggios: minim = 56

Grade 8:
scales: minim = 88
arpeggios: minim = 66

Hope that helps!

Thanks for the information on the tempo markings, i was looking for it the other day! I guess it isn't stated for ABRSM violin, but for other board like TCL they did state the tempo for exam..