Hi fluterocks -

Not put a pupe through 6,7 or 8 on new syllabus yet. I have several working towards 6 & will give my opinions :

Grade 6 - List A : Pepusch has to be the naffest EVER but not challenging out of The Blasted Book. I like the Stanley for pupes who are so good rhythmically as they can cope with the ornamentation. It is also a short option. CPE is cool although it's always hard to interpret this "Claroque"/"Brassical" rococo stuff!

Grade 6 List B - the Jardanyi is fantastic modal nonsense that appeals to a Kodaly Cat! The slow movement needs real control in phrasing and rubato but neither movement is difficult although the Allegro is challenging for the flautist in repsect of counting the long rests accurately. Of my pupes so far the favourite is the McLeod lullaby. Again, more modal stuff although technically much harder than the Jardanyi. The other one my pupes are liking is the Gaubert although open-holed people find the lower notes a tad tricky (so plug the holes !)

Grade 6 List C - having been brought up on Kohler this for me is an absolute must whether an individual chooses to play it in the exam or not. The Stokes is the most popular, however, although again some novice open-holers find it a tad fingery down the bottom.

Grade 7 - not had anyone at this stage yet but my gut feeling is the Bach or Mozart for List A, Poulenc for List B as these are bog-standard repertoire pieces. Unsure about the studies although the Bach isn't too difficult and again the Kohler is good value. Will report back as soon as I have a few pupes go through this grade....

Grade 8 - Bach E major is lovely but it never sounds right to me in this key as I first learned it as a recorder player in F! The Bach Presto is fantastic but NO WAY should it be performed without the previous movement. It makes no musical sense whatsoever on its own and requires supreme communication and confidence between flautist and pianist. The Handel can be bland if not tarted up nicely but it feels more substantial to offer the 3 movements here.

Grade 8 List B - Hindemith is probably the easiest option technically but the Poulenc musically far more rewarding to play and has more scope to stretch the interpretation in my opinion. The Roussel is difficult but stunning although I have never had a pupe good enough to play it whenever it's cropped up on the syllabus. The Mouquet Pan is cool for pupes who have modes coming out of their ears thanks to Kodaly-Bag! The Rutter is super but again I've never had anyone anywhere near good enough to bring off the waltz.

Grade 8 List C - Kohler D major is sight-readable for most of my lot although musically I am tempted by the Bachs. I don't know studies 5,6,7, or 8 on the list and will only have a ferret around here when I have pupes coming up to 8 which won't be until 2011.

Dunno if this helps. Am a bit worse for wear on the alcohol front to be honest!

BottleBag x

Thanks Bag your thoughts on Grade 7 appreciated.

Emsoboe did the Jadanyi for Grade 6 and really enjoyed it. She's kind of struggled over choices on the Grade 7.

Afraid she's one of the people who loves the Bullard studies and was playing Circus FLute long before she knew it was on any list.

My views on 6-8 (unsolicited ):

Grade 6: List A comprises entirely Baroque fast movements. The Pepusch at least has the benefit of a slow movement as well. List B: mine so far have played either the Gaubert or the McLeod. The McLeod has proved the easier of the two. List C: the Stokes is popular, have also had pupils play the Bullard Spanish Flute.

Grade 7: Bach for List A (the Vivaldi is OK but an impossible page turn), either Poulenc or Taffanel for List B. List C: the Kohler has had two takers, the Bullard two takers so far.

Grade 8: most of mine have done TG. Of the AB ones I've had two play the Bach E major, one the Handel and one the Mozart from List A; List B has been one each of Rutter and Hindemith with one switching from Poulenc to Mouquet and one switching from Milhaud to Mouquet (Les Six out of favour ); List C has been all four for the Kohler D major (with one switching a couple of weeks before the exam and getting 24 for it!).

I don't like the AB Grade 8 syllabus anywhere near as much as the TG one, and I prefer the TG Grade 6 syllabus too. (Handel A minor ).

I welcome all opinions I know it's not my thread but useful information can only be good.


Thanks Emsoboe looks like going for Circus Flute, Taffanel and I'm not sure which list A piece it was. Have a suspicion it could be the Bach.

The McLeod and Gaubert on G6 are gorgeous

List A: Yaravi et Huayno (Sergio Arriagada)
List B: Sicilienne (Fauré)
List C: Haven't decided - all input welcomed (but please bear in mind that I don't much like modern music!)

Will have to dig around in some music shops for List C when I get to the mainland shortly. But even then, whether I do the exam or not in November depends on whether there are any TG exams here then.

I don't know whether it would assist anyone engaged in this discussion, but I've just spent the past two weeks re-designing the trubcher.com website. I've added many free-to-listen audio clips for quite a number of the baroque and classical exam pieces for all three syllabuses .

Sounds great Ros! Will definitely be checking it out

Thanks Sarah! - it's not quite finished yet (about 150+ hours of work so far!) but I think it's a whole lot better.
I really appreciate your support. Let me know if you think anything needs to be changed.

You have, or shortly will do, a PM, Ros

What are the rules on 'tarting up' the Handel? I have read the rules on ornamentation and it is very clear that you don't HAVE to put in certain, editorial ornaments, but in the case of the adagio, can you pop some in? I'm just thinking a few trills and passing notes I do have a very old copy with virtually no ornamentation and no dynamics whatsoever... would a newer edition would give me some ideas at least?

Back on topic though... I just sneaked in the last grade 5 session allowed to play the sicilliene, which I absolutely loved (I see I'm not alone!) and I do think it's a great loss to those taking grade 5 now
As for the grade 8 syllabus I have totally fallen for the list B Hindemith... almost looking forward to that bit of the exam!

Penny

Oh Bag never reads the rule book these days! However, the Adagio is NAKED without twiddling! I never buy editions with ornamentation marked on (the AB Baroque Flute Pieces books drive me MAD with all the trills written out! BAH )

But that's just how this Old Bag operates. Each to their own.

B x

Writing out trills is just wrong makes the music look so so much harder. I did struggle with 1 wind band piece where the composer had written out a load of mordents - he did apologise it was only because the version of Sibelius he had then didn't play back ornaments and he'd needed to play to someone to demonstrate the effect he was after.

I'd also like to remind folks that just 'cos the Sicilliene isn't on the syllabus it doesn't remove it from the repertoire......you can still enjoy playing it. As KatyJay's sig says - Music is for life not exams.

I like to look at several editions of baroque music for ideas when adding twiddles.... it depends. (If I'm just playing for myself, I play the ones that feel right to me.) After all, if you're not an expert, baroque ornamentation is a bit of a mine field. You'd hope the editors had a better idea that I do! And so I think there is a place for editions with all the fuss written in. My favourite ones though have the plain score with a suggested embellished version underneath.

On a slightly random tangent, I was tidying up some papers pre-moving last night, and found my G7 mark sheet. There was an interesting comment about the ornamentation being 'imprecise' in my list A piece (can't remember what it was). I wonder if that was a euphanism for "not really sure you knew what you were doing"...