Sorry! For asking another question on pieces! If you think me silly, then blame it on my wretched cold! I have a terrible cold today and I also feel strangely hot and cold more or less at the same time.

Anyway, here goes - I am looking for a grade 5 solo violin piece to be played with piano at a charity concert and also, festival but it must be no more than 3 minutes long! I really do need help so please suggest anything this brief you know that sounds nice?

Thanks a lot. Really appreciate your advice!

Tess

Im not sure what grades these are, maybe someone else can clarify that, but how about some kreisler.Like liebeslied, polichinelle, syncopation, chanson louis XIII.I have them all together in one book (this one here) I think theyre under 3 minutes
hope this helps.......

edit: have a look at the syllabus for trinity's first concert certificate, could be mistaken but I think its rounabout grade 5 or so....here it is.

....kriesler`s liebeslied....i love it
but i think its more than 3 minutes

What about one of Dancla's Airs Varies? We refer to them as "Mozart on a Ferris Wheel" - good fun to listen to!

Hi ALL...
THANKS a LOT for your responses! Really grateful!

Kriesler`s piece is over 3 mins but beautiful! The rest like trinity's are a little bit too easy 'cos she has played them at the end of her 1st term (believe it or not and really, I'm not boasting here ) but she is now in her 4th term.

I must check these - polichinelle, syncopation, chanson louis XIII - out somehow. Might be grade 5 level??? In the meantime, any more suggestions? Keep them coming...

Cheers,
Tess

PS. Exam pieces are in fact graded for convenience but they may well bore not only the player but also both the accompanist and the audience! Exam pieces are often chosen for concerts and festivals!

Hi all ears...
Is this playable by a 5th grader and no more than 3 mins (or less)? It's OK to be less than 3 minutes but she's not allowed to go beyond.

Do you know? Thanks very much.

Tess

the swan by saint-saen......

Hi Tess! Hope your cold is better soon.

Can VN's teacher not suggest the pieces that she would play best? He knows her better than we do!

Hi noodle,
I don't know why but what he suggested will take a lot more than 3 mins. Maybe it's OK for him but not for me.

EDITED - Previous explanation edited to avoid some very young person/s reading/knowing too much.


Tess

I have to admit I've no idea how long it is - or even what grade it's considered - but one she should try out sometime is the Dvorak Sonatina in G major, a really fun piece to play... it's in 4 movements maybe one of them would be appropriate?

Hmm, jolly good. I'm partial to Dvorak, Sarah. I do like him!

My strategy is this, Sarah, and I've used it on kids a lot with quite a good deal of success - Never a complainer be but as a suggestor, yes! So say, if she's fed up with cornflakes for breakfast, she used to say something like - Yucks, why cornflakes, AGAIN?! She's not allowed to say that under the above strategy bec that's couched in the words of a complainer. She has to "disguise the same criticism" by making a suggestion with an enquiring tone and words like - Can I have toast instead today / Can dad buy some other cereal this weekend? Substance is virtually the same but the atmosphere is very different as the same thing is "clothed and disguised" as a positive suggestion?

Thus I cannot revert with what I honestly think unless I can come up at the SAME discussion with some positive or better or practical alternatives? Hence my fishing here for brains...

Tess

Ahhh OK

Is the grade 5 thing a requirement for the concert/festival or just a rough guide of where she's currently at?

Yes, it is where she's currently at I heard. She can't play any higher.

ps the Dvorak is very cool.... worth looking in a local music library for a copy, it's in ours. I did the finale at a concert when I was 12 oe 13 and it went down well!

I shall have to have a go at it and time it, see if I can work out how long it is

OK, what I'm thinking is that a grade 4 piece if it was sufficiently interesting might be worth suggesting - just something else to throw into the pot.

OK, I'm going to go have a play!!

YUP YUP YUP! You are a star, Sarah. You are spot on there - an interesting grade 4 piece shd be great and is of course, playable by her. Doesn't have to be G5 at all. That is just a guide to indicate ability and to exclude G6 pieces and above. Equally a G2 piece like Goldfish Bowl in Trinity's syllabus might be a bit boring / easy?

Thanks!!!

*nods* I gotcha

The reason I asked was because of a piece in the old (01/04) exam pieces called "La Cinquantaine" which is rather nice and fun, but having just had a play unless I'm playing it too slow I think it's a touch too long. Good piece though

The Scherzo and Trio of the Dvorak would *just* fit in the 3 minutes with no repeats, though then again I suspect I play it a little slow so maybe it would be doable.

Another possible is a Weber Waltz arranged for violin and piano which is definitely under 3 minutes, and I *think* about grade 5, no higher at least(?)... Edition Peters, no. 7211. Quite fun to play, has some interesting bowing challenges and some nifty position changing.

Another possible though I don't know how easy to get hold of (I have the violin part... the piano part is... somewhere... ) is a Reger Romanze I did for my grade 5 some 13 (eeek!) years ago (I feel old ) which is a really nice piece, very tuneful and lots of expessive possibilities. Some position changing, a couple of harmonics, but bowing etc pretty straightforward.

I also found Elgar's Chanson de Matin in a grade 5 book but it struck me as rather too long, as it's 2 pages and not that fast. Fingers bit too chilled to try

Another Dvorak: Humoresque arranged for violin, think this scraped under 3 minutes.

However, my "star prize" (of my suggestions anyway ) goes to Howard Blake's "Dance of the Snowmen" from The Snowman suite... lovely piece, VN is just at the age to appreciate it (even if she's not seen The Snowman the piece is a lovely dancey one and very fun to play, sure to set feet tapping - I would imagine a great "crowd pleaser" at a concert - and if she has seen it or if you show it to her, it's the one that the snowmen dance too and is played in the film by a Scottish snowman fiddler... I know that captured my imagination at her age! ), it fits the time limit and it's just a great piece - AND should be easy to get hold of, assuming the Suite is still in print and I'd be surprised if it wasn't.

So anyway those are my recommendations

Sarah, that's wonderful! You have taken a lot of trouble and thought in this...

We have seen The Snowman and Dance of the Snowmen (if it's the music at the Christmas ball?) is absolute and pure fun! I will go to the main library in town to look for it. Will also look for Dvorak's Sonatina in G major just in case one or the other is too hard/long.

Thanks a million!

You're welcome Tess! I hope one or both are easily available.

Yup, that's the piece, it's great - I played it when I was 10 or 11 and LOVED it! Soon as I saw in in a grade 5 booklet I just knew it would be a good one to try. I have no idea whether it will be easily available in a music library (though I'd be surprised if the Dvorak isn't) but hopefully it will, and I'd be very surprised if the Suite itself isn't still in print.

Hope it turns out a good choice! I really enjoyed having a play through of it this afternoon, though I think my bow needs re-hairing and sounds a bit rubbish

Enjoy...

Sarah

I've got a photocopy of the accompaniment in my "study library" from having accompanied it for a G5 exam in 1991. I thought it was really attractive, very lyrical and flowing, nominally in 6/8 but with rhythms that are in 3/4 across that some of the time. The candidate I played it for found it hard to play in tune because it was quite chromatic, but I don't think she was being very well taught at the time. At the given metronome mark it only lasts for about minute! I think it would be equally effective somewhat slower.

I expect ABRSM could tell you the original publisher if you wanted to get hold of a copy, or they might be willing to sell you a reprint of the version they printed as it's out of copyright. I don't know if they do that. Quite a lot of publishers make authorised photocopies of out of print music from their archives these days.

Hope you find just the right thing for the occasion.

I'm glad someone else has heard of it! Yup, I played it for grade 5 toward the end of that examining period, December '92. Really lovely piece

tess : i try to PM u but your box is full...so i`ll post it here

the swan is below grade 5 level......but many profesional still perform it. its an expressive slow piece which needs a beautiful tone colour.
its a famous piece.i`m sure many had heard of it. try to find on the net or ask your teacher....i`m not sure where to get the score

I've heard an arrangement of The Swan..if I am thinking of the correct piece

But it was originally written for cello (as part of Saint Saëns' Carnival of the Animals). I would always recommend avoiding arrangements for performance if possible. It's very difficult for some instruments, but violin has such a rich repertoire that it seems a pity to use arrangements at any standard.

If it's out of copyright, I doubt very much that ABRSM would help... Pity. Does anyone know how to google very old music scores in particular? Maybe there's a special website for these as people look for old scores from time to time, don't they? I wonder ... Hmmm, this piece will be HARD to locate.

I'm also VERY impressed that it's only ONE minute or two!!! Why? Because the other piece she'll be doing for her March auditions is long so one long Baroque and one very short modern or non-Baroque will look perfectly matched. She's a quick learner, that girl, so it's GREAT FUN and also quite good for her to learn 3 pieces before deciding which 2 to present. Oh, I do hope I can fish Sarah's piece, dacapo. So then - Dvorak's Sonatina in G major, Howard Blake's Dance of the Snowmen and Reger (???) Romance, hey!

Aha! Just suddenly realised that a 1-minute piece shd be quite easy to memorise as well! Perfect for a poor sight-reader with lazy eyes.

Thanks, everyone for the wonderful response! So so pleased we had asked...

Tess

Tess, I'll get Viohazard to play the Dancla #6 (ehem, if I can find it...) and time it.

The two adagios from Vivadi's Summer and Autumn are both short - one of them outrageously short, forget which, but both well under 3 minutes.

Reger Romanze

Looking forward to hearing how she gets on!

The Swan is beautiful though I think it's better on a lower pitched instrument myself... not that I am biased....

From Google:
Violin : ABRSM.org - Exams
Selected Violin Examination Pieces 2001-2004, Grade 5 (Associated Board);
Elgar Salut d'Amour, Op.12
Duration: 3'00"

A lovely piece.

There's an old grade 5 Martinu piece which is fun and impressive for competitions and concerts. I don't remember the name though. And how about Paragon Rag? That's very cool.

hey....that`s my exam piece i`d played....so does the paragorn rag

I'm sure you are not biased. I really like the sound of the viola myself. However, VN's cheap violin has a fairly bright sound. Will go to library TODAY to look all these up. Shd be fun!

I LOVE this delightful relaxing piece but can't choose Elgar Salut d'Amour, Op.12 for 2 reasons. First, this is not her cup of tea as a matter of taste. She loves contrasts but this is so peaceful it makes Elgar sound like Kreisler! Secondly, I notice a strength of hers lies in her very fast left fingering. Perhaps that's the reason she likes intensity and contrasts SLOW/SLOW/FASTER/REALLY FAST so much. Like love songs/poems - a lot of sweetness, anger and then pain! The Swan as TK said is slow so it won't work for her... though that's my cup of tea!

Thanks, ALL.

Fast fingers eh?

Dance of the Snowmen should suit then. I'll bear that in mind if I think of any other pieces.

dance of the snowmen?...which composer`s?

[What about Ashokan Farewell? It has a lovely piano accompaniment and it's dead easy, but it's a lovely tune.

I've just got a copy of Shostakovich Romance from the Gadfly from Fullermusic after hearing Chloe Hanslip playing it and thinking how lovely it was. Certainly the arrangement by Donald Fraser I have been sent is extremely simple as to notes and rhythm - the only trouble is it says "2nd time 8ve higher ad lib" which takes you pretty near the end of the fingerboard. Otherwise the highest note is an F sharp in fifth position.

"Chanson de Nuit" is a bit shorter than "Chanson de Matin" and good if you like the slower bits.

I remember hearing Salut d'amour many years ago and thinking "a piece that sounds that easy shouldn't sound so nice". But then I got it and it didn't sound so nice!]


OOPS! just read your most recent post Tess! these are all the types of pieces your daughter doesn't like! sorry!

did u just said salut d`amour is not nice?

Anyone got a recording of this work (amateur is OK)? It appears to be available in an arrangement for cello (by Klengel, pub. Breitkopf) and I'm thinking of getting it if it's good...

I could probably make a recording and email it to you, Storini... can't guarantee how good it'd be though! PM me though if that sounds like your best bet! It IS a lovely piece... I could even play it on viola instead - would sound more cellistic, would probably sound better with my skill level, and would definitely help that my viola bow doesn't need rehairing

Howard Blake. From the Snowman Suite.

Tess,

I wanted to send you a PM about Reger Romanze but I think your mailbox must be full (again??). I think there's a way to send email to someone's home address. If you can sort out how to do it and let me know how to contact you I'll do that. Or just say here if your mailbox is accessible again.

Zoda meant he/she got the music and then try it out and his/her playing/rendition of it is not nice.

oops! I'm glad you posted that Tess! I thought TK was talking to you! Reading back I realise that question was directed to me. Thanks for explaining

PS- I'm a "He"

You are welcomed, Zoda.

You know, folks, that RR is a real mystery. I even posted enquiries to a large internet music shop and they cannot find it for me! However, VN's teacher will try to find it for us so we'll just wait and see. I gave him 1991 to 1992 as the exam years, hoping that that is correct?

Can anyone tell me whether RR is an arrangement for violin or a real/original violin piece?

Thanks!

91/92 is right!

We have done some listening homework, etc, and VN has decided that she'll try to learn her present concerto plus 3 of the following - Salut d' amour (she likes this slow piece ), Dvorak's Conc in G major (a possibility) and either RR or Dance of the Snowmen!

Thanks, everyone!

Tess and VN

Look forward to hearing how she gets on

Yup, will keep folks informed. Beg of Feb (festival comp) and March (charity concert and auditions) seem far away but that leaves only 2 clear months to learn 3 pieces well - not a lot of time really - her teacher being a perfectionist - but they think she can do it so we will have to let her try!

By the way, Sarah, when you tried Reger Romanze out for Storini, how did you find RR's tempo, generally? Would you say, it's slow or moderate?

Thanks,
Tess

I've now looked it up in the British Library, and it must have been very popular. By 1910 it had appeared in two versions both notated "new edition", and by the time the second one was printed there were arrangements of the piece for viola, cello, flute, horn, clarinet, oboe and trumpet, all made by different people!! I thought the ABRSM version metronome mark of dotted quarter/crotchet = 63 felt rather rushed, and was interested to find that the older edition had no metronome mark, just "Andante con moto". In some places the harmony is changing after only an eighth/quaver.

I still don't know the tempo (slow/moderate pace to a layman's ear, that is) but as for the length of time taken, I think Storini found it to be 1 min and 45 seconds. That was helpful. So far, I've only heard it in part! We are looking fwd to hearing VN's teacher play it next week when we get the music! Don't know why but I feel quite excited about RR. On a totally different matter, I also feel quite calm at the same time having prayed and just heard that my kid is now undergoing an operation - right now!!!

Um Don't know! it's marked Andante con moto... I play it at the speed that feels right to me.

I did a recording of it for Storini on the viola which I could send if you like, it's not brilliant but would give you an idea (though it will not be at the pitch one would play it at on the violin)

Sarah

ps is that your little boy having the op? thoughts & prayers with you & him

I have made an MP3 recording of the piano accompaniment to Reger's Romanze, you can hear it here ; I have also dubbed on a synthesised violin part to produce the complete piece which you can hear here .

The tempo I chose is a strict quaver=120, i.e. dotted crotchet=40; this is much slower than the ABRSM recommendation mentioned above (which I didn't know about when I made the recording): as dacapo says, Reger uses rapidly changing chromatic harmonies and these need time to tell I think, opinions welcome.

Anyone is welcome to dub their own playing onto the piano accompaniment, and submit the results to YAP's site. I have the cello arrangement, but won't get round to playing that for a while. The key is G major, and I don't think it was transposed in the various arrangements.