I'm going to start my Grade 8 violin this term, lessons start next week and I'm having a look now at my choices of pieces. But for Grade 8 you can't get an exam book, can you, so could anyone give me any ideas of what anything on the list is like to get me started? I'm sure my teacher will have some of it for me to look at or maybe the cd, I don't know.

I think the best thing to do is to listen to the CD and decide which ones you like. It is an expensive business buying the music, and I must say that when I got my music, I was dismayed at how difficult it was! However, it is all really nice, and it was very tricky to choose. There's lots of double stopping which I find hard. But it's a real incentive having lashed out the dosh to make sure I learn it all.

I'm having a go at the two unaccompanied Bach pieces - the allegro assai and the gavotte en rondeau. Don't know which I'll end up doing, probably the allegro assai. I have bought the Schumann, but at the moment I'm doing the Albeniz. It's lovely. Finally, I have been learning the Monti which isn't as hard as the rest (I think). However, I loved the Rachmaninov, so am having a bash at that too.

Perhaps you could borrow some music from the library? Just to look at how scary it is?! The Bach is in a lovely book which is great to have in your collection anyway.

Good luck

I have the Bach Allegro assai: 4th movt from Sonata No. 3 in C in a Galamian book that my teacher told me to get but the syllabus says it should be Barenreiter edition. Does anyone know how close they are? Do I need to splash out on Barenreiter or will I get away with the Galamian?

Ta, Joe

Any edition is acceptable for exam purposes- the Barenreiter (which I choose to use as its a reliable urtext edition ) is listed on the syllabus only as a suggestion.

denmark

Im not a violinist, but my daughter is , and together we play that K454 Mozart sonata, the slow movement is gorgeous, but maybe a difficult one to play really well

By chance I heard the Stenhammar on Classic FM the other day and it was gorgeous, I'm going to have to get the music. I like the Bach Gavotte for list A.

For exam purposes, yes, but for general playing I recommend Barenreiter too. You could buy both. I lucky have access to 5 editions (not all my own...) to compare fingerings but personally find it best to figure my own out. I dislike having other peoples' ideas put on the music which change my interpretation of it without even knowing which bits are original and which edited.

I don't know about splashing out, my Barenreiter was £9.95 maybe 3 years ago. I thought Galamian was more expensive than that? If not, I shall go and treat myself

I'm no where near grade 8, but these pieces sound awfully difficult (except Czardas)!!!

They are Well, the notes are OK but playing them half way decently is another story altogether.

It seems like they've raised the bar on the grade 8 exam pieces!! Am I dillusional, the piano pieces doesn't seem as hard!?

Having been cogniscent of various boards syllabi since 1960's, I am convinced the pieces set for grade 8 have for some instruments become harder (eg organ) and some easier (piano). Violin I think hasn't changed much. (Though not a violinist I have played piano part of a lot of violin repertoire) I realise this is a gross generalisation and of course the adjudicating standards may also have changed, but that's how I perceive things.

I think they are setting pieces for violin which are too hard to play well at that level, both musically and technically. The idea that anyone taking grade 8 can play those Bach movements to performance standard is ridiculous, I wouldn't trust myself to play them all that well 3 years on from getting my grade 8. The examiners seem to take it into account though. I just find it weird that I always expected myself to play pieces note-perfect and musically pretty well for the earlier grades and then at grade 8 knew there were a lot of scrappy things in the performances, especially in technique, but still got the highest mark out of all the exams.

I learnt Czardas off by heart t'other year for busking. Didn't realise it was actually Grade 8 standard - quite a few people I know have picked it, it does seem easier in comparison...

I enjoyed doing the last syllabus, but these look really nice.

I rang up and asked my friendly string music supplier (Fuller Music) about all the pieces I was even vaguely interested in, knowing they always have virtually everything in stock. They are all string players there, so they appreciate the level of difficulty of the music. They were really patient and helpful. They retrieved all the music from the shelves and gave me info on time/key signatures and tempi - obviously essential for putting together a balanced and varied programme - and they told me a bit about how easy/scary each of the pieces looked. And I had prior warning of tricky harmonics and double-stopped passages! :-)