I was just wondering if anyone could point me towards any half-decent clarinet studies for grade 8? When I was trying to decide on one day to for grade 7 I found that most of them were dire apart from one, Hard Rock Blues, which I did and actually had a tune. So can anyone recommend any for grade 8 that won't drive me round the bed practising them!

Thanks

If you mean studies on the exam syllabus, for my Grade 8 I did one in G#minor which was quite pleasant - I think it was from the Muller studies.

I did Hard Rock Blues for Grade 7 too - it was brill!

The piece Jo is referring to is out of '80 Graded Studies', and while the key could be kinder, I think it's a nice piece. The other choice from that book isn't terribly tuneful, in my opinion, though apart from the top A, I don't think it's that hard.

The Berkeley I think is a nice piece, why not have a look at that? The Sonata da Camera by Paul Harris is also not too 'study-like' for want of a better word.

Good luck with your grade 8 studying!

I did the one with the top a in 80 graded found it really boring but also found it really really easy and got 28 for it i only chose it so i could concentrate on pieces!!!

I did the Stravinsky for grade 8. It's actually not as terrifying as it looks on sight, though it's still hard! (I got 30/30 so it must have been OK) Berkely is nice too, but I found it really exhausting for some reason. Blatt is OK, but still rather study like.

I did the Berkeley and really liked it. The study out of 80 graded studies I did for Grade 7 on Guildhall!

Berkely is really good. Also, the Bergouis (is that how you spell him?!) I have both and i think i'm going more towards the Berkely. It's really easy if you play it with long Bb. The Bergouis is easy if you can play dom and dim 7ths.

I looked through the rest - they are the only decent ones really! Have fun.