Hi, I badly need advice on this because I am almost completely green at this topic!

Here's the background anyway - I did my grade 8 Piano 3 years ago...and now I'm attempting Piano Diploma. Thing is...I hardly know any of the pieces on the repertoire. I've been so out of touch with classical pieces, as I'm really used to playing what I like (pop, jazz, improv)

I attempted looking for recordings at the library - but it was flotsam. The CDs were nicely lined up in random order.

Dlning is really not an option. And my tutor is leaving this entire task to me ;__;

Im sorta tempted to just pick out my more favourite composers (although I dont know all of their works) and sort of wing it, and I'm quite set on playing something really entertaining and lively. But it seems like a pretty feckless path to take hahaha. F

Frankly I thought seriously about doing this - but I couldnt picture telling the examiners the truth if (and when) they ask me how I came to my repertoire selection.

To cut to the chase...HELP! Anyone!

If you're not too sure what you're picking, choose a range of pieces in a range of styles, you could do much worse than choosing:

A Bach or Scarlatti piece

For example, something from the well-tempered clavier (buy the book, choose one ). If Bach's not your thing, Scarlatti is always an option too.

A Haydn/Mozart/Beethoven sonata

Try not to go for the 'popular' ones.

A romantic and newer piece

For instance, some Chopin and some Ravel.

Have a look at this page:

http://www.pianosociety.com/index.php?id=6

It has amateur recordings of a good number of pieces off the syllabus .

If you are paying your tutor, they should be helping you with this!

At this diploma level they appear to be looking for evidence that you can play a number of styles. It is a good opportunity to find out more about what different styles there are and how to interpret them.

YetAnotherPianist's suggestions are good, you would do well to follow his advice. I followed a similar scheme back in 1997 when choosing pieces for my Advanced Certificate (similar to the DipABRSM) and did okay.

To give you an example, my program was:

Bach: Prelude and Fugue in F minor, Book 1
Beethoven: Sonata in A flat Op 26 (in the relative major of the first piece - examiner liked this)
Liszt: Sonetto 123 del Petrarca
Debussy: La plus que lente (a marvellous piece)
Rachmaninoff: Prelude in C minor Op 23 No 7 (big finish).

I think the total length was 39 minutes, as the time limit for that exam was <40mins. Not sure of the DipABRSM requirements now (probably something like 35 mins +/- 10%).

The piano society page recommended by YetAnotherPianist is very good, with some particularly fine Bach recordings.

HTH

Hmm, a dileema indeed. You should do the choosing, but hopefully your tutor has enough sheet music to expand your choice a little...
Here's a thought. Why not extract from the syllabus all the 20th century onwards works. Do a little bit of research (web - google sort of thing) into their composers and see if that points you back to a composer or even specific work earlier in the syllabus, then try working this back through. By doing that you may find that you can construct a programme around how an early composer for piano has helped shape the repertoire.

Thanks so much Yetanotherpianist..and everybody else. I didnt excpect so much advice so soon. To everybody who helped...cookies all around!

I'll definitely check out the website...I've done Scarlatti before. And most of the Chopin pieces I've heard I've enjoyed. So maybe I will try that out...

Hmm...Fen I'm a little befuddled. So I do research on the composer first and make my way from there? o_O

As for my tutor! I'm still deciding if I should keep her. Most unfortunately she's a friend of a friend. So here's just another one of life's little lessons not to mix work with pleasure. ><


I feel grateful that someone's replied ;_;

Ling,
Hey, I'm trying to suggest ways you might put together a programme, if, as you say, you have no clues! Give yourself a structure to work around that'll also be useful in putting together your programme notes.
In theory OF COURSE there's a research behind the make up of recital, it's not just a bunch of pieces you reckoned you could play

I'm not sure about that, the latter approach has worked for me so far

Ssssssshhhhhhhhhh

To Fen: Ahhh....I get it now.

Well I'm quite determined to play something I like..so one of its going to be Gershwin. That counts as modern right? (I guess I'll just make up the programme notes - haha)

Anyway does viewing the scores help better than listening to their recording? Opinions?



The inner b u m in me wants to pin up the repertoire list, throw a few darts and see where they land. Perfect.

**Sidenote: They censor b u m here? What gives? o_o

I agree here - whenever I've put together programmes for recitals I tend to go through the major periods, like YAP says - it's a good way of putting together contrasting pieces of differing styles. Also if possible try to avoid pieces all in the same key(!!) and mix major and minor a bit too.