Hey Everyone,

I'll tell you why i thought about this topic.
Days ago , I was with a company of friends , when they asked me to play something. I actually don't have somethin to play to them (they wouldn't rather exam pieces or some scales, you know!!)

So if anone can help me choose some "Showing off" pieces for grade 6-7 stanard ,I will be very greatfull

try rondo ala turk - good old mozart - can be played quite fast - cheese always goes down well!

Not really an easy piece, but Chopins Nocturnes in C# Minor (posth) or op.9 no.2 in Eb are both quite nice...



A bit lower than 6/7 but also Einaudi's Le Onde or Nyman's Heart asks Pleasure First are quite showoffy/pretty

Clau de loon by debussy??
not sure about the spelling...
it's about g7

A bit of Scott Joplin might work...

I agree that Mozart's Rondo Alla Turca will be regognised by pretty much everyone.

This is exactly what came into my head when I read your post. It sounds fantastic, and is really worth learning it! Your audience will be impressed

Clair de Lune?

Back to good old Mozart.. why not try the Fantasie in D minor. This is an easyish piece with great 'show-off' runs.

G7... I can play it, but not well... I would say it's past Grade 7, possibly Grade 8? The semis in the Left hand are really hard to get even and some of the held notes and voicing is treacherous! Altough I suffer with small hands.....

I think the Rondo is more impressive, plus, everyone knows it.

EDIT: Referring to the Fantasia in D minor.

I think you'd need to be beyong grade 7 to make a good job of Clair de Lune! Lots of subtlety required, that might not be appreciated by the listener! Scott Joplin goes down a treat for the type of situation you're talking about. The Entertainer is harder than many people think (to do it well); what about Elite Syncopations? Fun to play, impressive to listen to (especially the last section) and probably - at a complete guess - about Grade 7. (Slightly easier than the Maple Leaf Rag.)

EDIT - I take it from your name (La Chopiniste) that you are fond of Chopin? Have you looked at John Field's nocturnes? (He was a fore-runner of Chopin, which I'm sure you know.) They vary in difficulty, from about Grade 6 to diploma level. No. 12 is short, and manageable in a short time. No. 1 is about Grade 6. Get the Peter's edition - contains eighteen nocturnes. And get a CD of them!

Love to be able to do that Joplin stuff, just because children like it as well and I never know what to play them! I cant get the the octaves with thirds in... I am doing parallel practice at the moment but its so boring... and difficult!

I'm fascinated by everyone's definition of 'easy pieces'.

I think that anything previously mentioned would take me months of work.

Not that I want for a second to discourage you from learning other repertoire, it's something you should do anyway; but you could always just play your exam pieces to them. Exam pieces are pieces in their own right; I'm sure if you didn't introduce them with 'these are my exam pieces' they wouldn't have been any the wiser . You never know, your 'showing off' piece might appear on next year's exam syllabus .

good point AP, there is "feeling Good" from the C list in the grade 6 sylabus, thats quite showy, if you are playing to people who will appriciate more "hip" music rather than mozart or chopin.

C. P. E. Bach's Solfeggietto? Good study piece as well.

You'd be surprised what impresses people.
I had visitors the other week, my godfather and his wife, and when they popped out for a few minutes I took the opportunity to get my fingers moving with a Hanon excercise. I was stopping when they came back ine but was pressed to continue... they were very impressed!

Einaudi- Quel Che Resta. Played in assembly and ppl were v. impressed. It was really easy too....

How about Fur Elise ? At least everyone knows it !

So far in school concerts, I've played one exam piece (Rondo by James Hook, on the Grade 5 syllabus), "Of Strange Lands and People" by Schumann (part of the Kinderzenen), and Für Elise. I think FE got the most popular response though, probably 'cause everyone knows it.

It's "How long is a piece of string?"! In replies, we're going on the grade/level that the thread starter suggested.

Ok... looks as though I'm a very slow learner then as the thread starter said grade 6 - 7 and I've just passed grade 8 and wouldn't describe most of the suggestions so far as easy.

You shouldn't be looking for 'easy showing off pieces' such as Chopin and Mozart works. It is ludicrous and insulting to the great composers and pianists who play these works well! Play something because you love playing it, not because you want to impress someone. When you're playing you should be trying to project the music, not project yourself

Me too! Tried the Entertainer at some point and gave up....maybe sometime in the future...

No I am positively sure that it is Grade 7...in fact it was in the syallbus of the year... something like 1968~1969 Trinity....as my ex-teacher did it for her G7 very very long ago.

Oh yeah, what about Bach's Two Part Invention No.13?? The one in A minor...that's my favourite!!

It's a lovely invention...but darn tricky...my fingers keep slipping off the keys!

As far as 2-part inventions go, I'd recommend nos. 4 or 8 posibly.

I guess one of chopin's etudes or mazurka's would go down well while also being an exam piece. Why not get the best of both worlds and pick a song from your graded syllabus. I play my grade 6 pieces to friends and they love them.

Perhaps what was expected in 1968 is not the same as what is expected now. Or am I a cynic?

It really doesn't matter how hard a piece is (within reason) - it's how well the student plays the piece compared to the marking criteria that's important. You could probably examine grade 6, 7 and 8 fairly effectively by setting exactly the same pieces for each exam.

They play that on recorder in Year 8! I can't face it being played on piano with those simplified versions... that piece is actally really hard to play nicely!

Hope I'm not "done" for saying the same thing in two different threads - but it's very true that it's not what you play, it's the way you play it. I would actually avoid things in this type of situation that "everybody knows", as you'll have to make a really good job of it to impress - they'll be used to the Classic FM version! Do look more closely at the John Field Nocturne no. 12, and don't be put off by all the demi-semiquavers; remember that it's Lento - and slower would be acceptable. It's also only two pages long.

I'd agree here, I'm impressed by the way people play things; rather than the piece that they play. Last time I went to a piano teacher's concert to hear a range of people play (grades 1-6) I actually was the most impressed by the person who had just passed grade 1 and played a grade 1 piece and a coupl e of other pieces around that level. Yes there were people around playing far more difficult things; but he just had something special: the extra bit of musicality to add. I know good pianists (way beyond grade 2) who can make grade 2 pieces sound like they're impressive difficult pieces just by playing them very musically. Play well, not necessarily something difficult and you'll earn yourself more respect. Most people have no idea how hard a piece is when they listen to it anyway. I'm much more impressed by an easier piece played well; a hard piece played badly just makes me think the person should be playing something else....

yes i have a feeling that people are better in the pass than in the present.
the standards in the pass is stricter than in the present, but I don;'t know why.

Ahh, but the OP said he was grade 6/7 and wanted something easy.

Wouldn't that suggest Grade 5 maximum. Something easy to me would imply, 'a max one weeks practise'?

Anyway, what about Tarantella by Pieczonka? Very flash. About Grade 5 sounds grade 7 or 8

I agree. I often play Le Onde or Heart Asks Pleasure First if the need to show off arises. However, I'm not very good at Heart Asks Pleasure First. I can play it well enough to impress an unmusical person, but the left hand is often a bit improvised!

If you buy 'Recital Repetoire' books, they have some good pieces in, at a standard where concert pianists actually play them in concerts.

I don't know why this didn't occur to me before because my son plays it continually - have you looked at Queen's Greatest Hits? Most "pop" music doesn't work for piano solo, but this does. Bohemian Rhapsody is a tad on the difficult side, but Good Ol' Fashioned Lover Boy is well manageable within a week or two if you're about Grade 6-7.

The other thing that works well on the piano is Meat Loaf. Again, some of it is very hard, but "Heaven Can Wait" is not. And room for lots of expressive playing, too!

Yes, true - I'm not going to mention names but someone not too far from this thread fooled me into thinking a G5 piece was much harder because they played it so beautifully

The truth is: Somethings when you play the piece, you'll never realise how impressive it sound to the audiences...but when you actually record yourself and listen to it...it'll sounds so much better.

Meatloaf is fantastic on the piano! 2 Out of 3 is one of my favourites. I just can't quite co-ordinate the start of Paradise by the Dashboard Lights!

Me neither!

Teaching jazz mostly I have about 5 hours of music under my fingers which I can sit down and play on spec
But this is needs to be worked at and memorised

Some Elton John alwayes goes down well or Lady Madonna Fats Domino on Blueberry Hill
There are plenty of books such as the Joy of series which contain nice tunes to impress

Your listeners will probably be more impressed with a nice melody or you can impress with a bit of boogie piano which can dazzle the audience