i'm wondering if anyone has any ideas about what i could start as a new piece...
i'm taking grade 7 at easter, and have done all the pieces and most of the other stuff for it. At the moment, i've just finished/am playing To Spring (Op. 43) by Grieg and Melody (Op. 3 No. 3) by Rachmaninoff.
I've been flicking through our books, but just have no idea what to be looking at, and my teacher has asked me to look at a new piece for monday.

Any suggestions welcome!

Thanks
Piello

Perhaps one of Chopin's Etudes or one of Mendelssohn's Song Without Words?

For modern music try one of the Spectrum books published by ABRSM

I've recently bought a book of pieces called "Female Composers" published by Schott which has some nice little pieces in it.

What sort of music are you looking for? (I'm not familiar with the music from your syllabus) I might have some more suggestions.

HK

Thanks for that, HK. I really like Romantic pieces, but have played a lot of them recently...so i'm not really sure!

I'd say Chopins Etudes are all Grade 8 and above, but some of his preludes and Waltzes are around Grade 6 or 7. Scriabins preludes are amongst some of my favourite shorter pieces, as well as the romantic influence which is more obvious in his earlier works, there is a mystical quality to his music...as well as beautiful melodies and novel harmonies. They range from about Grade 5 to 8. The Bach inventions are also brilliant and good for developing technique. There are some good arrangements of popular songs or Jazz ballads, but you have to look carefully to find ones that really work, an excellent book is the best of Piano Bar Vol 1 which comes with a CD, very effective arrangements of songs by Duke Ellington, Stevie Wonder, The Beatles and many others. They range from about Grade 5 to 7. Vol 2 is not as consistently good as the first book.

A few suggestions from romantic repertoire:-

Schubert Moments Musicaux ( 6 pieces Grade 7-8)
Schumann Waldscenen (Forest Scenes) (9 pieces Grade 6-8)
Mendelssohn Songs without words (Treat yourself to a full volume af the 48 pieces, many grade 7-8, a few easier, some harder !)

Grieg Nocturne (Its in Grade 8 syllabus, but in my opinion its rather easy for Grade 8)
Butterfly (standard Grade 8 fodder)

Obviously theres lot of Chopin, partculary Waltzes, Mazurkas, Nocturnes 2, 6, 9 10, 11, 15, 19

You could also look at some Mozart Sonatas eg K330,331,332,333.
And easier Beethoven ones eg Op 10 No 1 and 2, Op 14 No 1 and 2, Op 79.

Thanks people! i'll have a look at some of those later; i know there are at least some we already have.

thanks for the help!

I would agree with Fsharpminor on the pieces selection really.

As a quick question...

what level would you say the proper version of Clair De Lune is?

Probably low-mid grade 8 ish. Sorry, that wasn't very definite.

Grieg Nocturne (Its in Grade 8 syllabus, but in my opinion its rather easy for Grade 8)
Butterfly (standard Grade 8 fodder)

I would say that the Nocturne has it's challenges in the expressive subtleties of the piece, which are also technically quite tricky, and the same for Butterfly. I've played both for some years now, but after recently recording myself, realised that i was'nt happy with my interpretation, and that at times they were too loud or lacked the required finesse. It was'nt easy to get them excactly how i wanted. And it's nice to know they're Grade 8, because i've never taken a single exam !

That's interesting...I played it earlier this year. I think it was the 'proper' version...
If I was asked, I'd have put it at grade (6 - ) 7. oh well.
Thanks so much for all the suggestions. I love being at this standard and still improving; it feels as if the world is my oyster! and there are still sososoooo many pieces that I can't possibly play!!
doesnt it just make you the piano! (well it does me!)

piellox

I don't get this idea that certain pieces "are" grade such and such.

I have two difficulties with it. Firstly, any particular grade contains a wide range of pianists, each with different strengths and weaknesses. They will all find different pieces easy and different pieces difficult.

Secondly, there is no piece so simple that you won't play it (much) better with a few years more development. It is 35 years since I took my Grade 8. I thought I was a good pianist back then. Now I realise I was barely a beginner! I recently re-learned "Fur Elise" and can finally make it sound something like. It amazes me that this technically demanding piece of music is learned (and usually murdered) by children who have barely passed Grades 2 and 3. I also learned a couple of so-called beginner's pieces by Gurlitt - and they are really not so simple to make convincing. As for Mozart's "easy sonata" ... I find it no easier than K576 - which is supposed to be a virtuoso piece. "Clair de Lune". I first learned it when I had just passed Grade 5 - about 1970! I am still working on it!! I thought I could play "Dr. Gradus ad Parnassum" from Children's corner ... until I recently heard Paulo Giacometti play it as an encore to a recital.

Also I don't understand pianists asking for suggestions of what to learn next. I don't know your tastes, your background, your technical strengths and weaknesses, or your aspirations. The best I can do is suggest that YOU learn stuff that I like. Hardly satisfactory.

There has never been a time that I have not had a list of pieces that I wish I could play. I never needed any suggestions. And in any case the best "suggestions" were usually in the form of someone playing something new for me. Usually my list is long enough for about 5 lifetimes of non-stop study.

Perhaps we should all LISTEN to a lot more piano music. Go to recitals, borrow CDs from the library, sight-read through masses of stufff (however slowly and falteringly), pester teachers to play some of their repertoire for you. You should have a huge list of stuff that you'd like to be able to play someday - then you can jus ask for advice on how to go about learning it.

Mad Tom, in some ways i can identify with what you've written. There are an endless list of pieces in my head i'd like to learn, and at the moment I probably would'nt ask for recomendations on what to do next either, but then we're all different. Also, giving a piece an approximate Grade level indicates the approximate technical standard required you'll need to play it well...they do the same in the piano magazines i occasionally buy....and i can't think of a better way. You are right that interpretation is sometimes not considered as important in less difficult pieces, and in many ways getting these pieces to sound good is not that easy anyway. I bought a Barenreiter edition of various works by Debussy yesterday, just to get the Danse Boheme, some of the other pieces included were the Arabeske, Clair de Lune and Reverie...which i already play. However, they were described as ''easy pieces'' on the cover and they went further in the foreword by saying they were suitable for the''beginning pianist'' ....ok so they're not Debussy's hardest pieces, but I thought that was just a little bit too much.