Hello,

Have just started on my grade 8 piano preparation, and am playing the Scarletti (A ) Mozart (B ) and Liszt (C ) has anyone else done these pieces? Any handy hints available for how to play them well?!
Also, does any one have any advice about how to tackle the exceptionally tricky aural tests and scales, becuase quite frankly I'm terrible at both things!! The pieces and sight reading are my fortes!

Thanks,

Milly

Wow! For scales, many are similar to previous grades. Do them regularly. If you don't know the correct fingering/notes, make sure you learn them properly. Learn one a day and you'll soon have it sorted. Make sure you go over new ones regularly too, in order to keep them on the boil.

I give my pupils a sheet of which scales to practise on which day. This makes sure that none are left out. Maybe your teacher has got something similar for you?

Enjoy!

quote:
"Enjoy! "


That's a little bit optimistic.....
But I will try

which Scarlatti piece? i'm doing sonata in D minor for my AVCM, i think that was on grade 8 last time i looked...not sure i could offer much advice though, just sympathy!
keep going over everything SLOWLY AND CAREFULLY!!! - if you've just started then you should have plenty of time to learn scales and things yet and i really should start taking some of my own advice, and then maybe i might get there....

Sorry to be all moany.. But as part of forum rules, cross posting is not allowed. (You can read my post to this thread in Viva Piano though...)

There are two current G8 Scarlatti offerings - D minor and D major (the one in the purple book). The D maj one willhelp with scales and arpeggios in itself!

Not sitting the exam but am tackling the Scarlatti (D maj), the Mozart, the Schumann and the Mendelssohn.

Good Luck

i'm doing the D major scarletti
playing it veeeeerrrrrrrrryyyyyyyyy slooooooooooooowlllllllllllllyyyy, lol!
think ill speed it up about 4 days before the actual exam, when im perfect

whey! i was going to do them pieces but now im doing scarlatti minor, mozart, and debussy's 1st arabesque.

If u dont like Lizt like i didnt then do debussy coz its reely nice and easy........... if i can play it so can you

Same with me! The Liszt didnt really suit me so I changed to Debussy! Love it...

Sorry, but 'text talk' isnt allowed on here, as it's unfair for many users who aren't in the UK or do not speak English as a first language. Welcome to forums by the way!

Hay everyone!

Well I did Gr 8 last year & played scarlatti major, clementi and debussy! Lots of lovely pieces

Um I'm not sure if I agree that the Debussy arabesque is easy!! It is difficult to get the balance right and to make sure the triplets are even and cross rhythms correct.

Im doing the Shostakovich, the Beethoven and possibly the Schumann. I have to say I loooov the Beethoven even though it is so very loong....

When I did my grade 8 last november I did the Bach prelude and fugue, the Mozart Allegro Moderato, and the Mayerl Autumn Crocus. Autumn Crocus was by far my favourite piece.

Handel, Mozart and Albeniz. All of which I love.

I can play the fuga of the Handel completely now but a little on the slow side.
The Mozart is going Ok, and the Albeniz slowly, but securely.

Someone else doing the Shostakovich! My exam's next saturday..... argh! I can play the fuge top to bottom now which just wasn't happening three days ago! Hey, it's not got time to go stale I suppose! I wish my hands were big enough for the Beethoven because it's such an amazing, emotional piece, but the semis that stretch a 10th just weren't gonna happen!

Okay...my exam is in 2 weeks 3 days time, and I'm having problems with my Allegro Assai. I'll post here and see if people can help:

Bar 41: I CANNOT do a C to Eb stretch, and have to jump. Its very hit and miss at the moment, and if by chance I DO play it right, I get so surprised that I muck up the next set of notes...any advice?
and also, a bit weird but how do I make the ending sound more like the end? Because I'm not doing repeats, it still sounds unfinished at the end despite obvious perfect cadence.

For my grade 8 exam in this coming Sept, I take Scarlatti (A) --Sonata in D Minor, Beethoven ( - Sonata in G Op.79, Mendelssohn © -Scherzo in E Minor.

For Beethoven piece, is there any good advice of how to practice the "trill" in bar 45 and 167? I keep practicing but it doesnt help much (slower in speed and do not move smoothly).

For Mendelssohn, i think the most difficult part lies in bar 54 to 61....

Do anyone of u taking the same pieces? Any clues and suggestion regarding those pieces?

Thanks and good luck .


Elizabeth

scarlatti(D major) and Mozart are the farmost popular seleciton.

another one try the Bach prelude and fugue? very good indeed.

debussy is another fond piece of mine.

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I studied lots of the C pieces.

I ended up doing the Scarlatti major, the Bach F minor one, and the Schumann.

For Scarlatti, start by going through it at a RIDICULOUSLY slow pace. About a quaver per second.

Play the notes very firmly, giving no thought for dynamics to start off with. Do this for about a week, then start to speed up. Believe me, I played it too fast for ages, then about a month before the exam, I did this, just started back from the beginning. It became my highest scoring piece.

When you have note security and fluency, then discuss the dynamics with your teacher. I went for a very light, happy tone, which of course fits.

Good luck.

For Allegro Assai, regarding the C - Eb jump in bar 41:
Try landing on fourth finger, then doing 3 1 3 2.
If you have trouble doing it with the left hand (that was my problem) , then just play the F firmly then leave it, and devote all your attention to the right. Usually I'd keep the left in mind as I played, and I messed up continually.

For the ending, slow down during the triplets in bar 89. Make the final Fs accented and slightly longer than the symbols suggest. The turn shouldn't need to be fast, you've already demonstrated your technical brilliance in Bar 78-9!

I just did Grade 8, absolutely thrilled 'cos I got 138 I did:

A: Bach
B: Schumann
C: Liszt

With the Liszt, the opening has to be very slow, solemn, grand, almost regal-sounding. Use pedal for the longer notes to give it sonority, but don't let it get at all blurred. Take note of the dynamics and slurring - very important. Die right down to ppp by the end of the first page, and shape the right-hand phrases in the last line. The second page has to be very sweet, quiet and not too fast. It should sound something like the guy who has died (since the piece is an elegy) ascending into heaven... lol. And after that it should build into a climax. Learn those jumpy chords well! And make sure you get the timing right on the last page, it's kind of tricky. Well, that's about it :-) Let me know how you get on with it.

Like the original poster, I'm doing the Scarlatti D Major, the Mozart and the Liszt!

I've only just started looking at the pieces (I also considered the Bach Prelude and Fugue, Shostakovich Prelude and Fugue and the Albeniz) so it's slow and steady at the moment, but I'm not planning on doing the exam until November.

Yesterday, I sat down with the Scale Book and played every single scale and arpeggio (legato and staccato if necessary). It took an hour just to actually play through the scales... some of them up to speed but most are too slow at the moment and some will need an AWFUL lot of work (thirds in one hand... agh!).

I haven't done an exam for 12 years, so I need to remind myself of how to do the aural as well. I always used to get full marks for this, so hopefully I'll have managed to retrain myself by November.

Yay!
Scarlatti minor all the way (I'm just about getting the hang of it now! - exam July 15th *faints* if I go for the summer session...)

I did Scarlatti D minor in my exam last summer, it was'nt too hard + I enjoyed playing it although there where one or two spots that I just kept tripping over!!!

(I also did Haydn in D and Autumn Crocus- loved this piece)