Since there's a Grade 3 thread, I thought I may as well start a grade 4 thread!

Is anyone out there doing Grade 4, and if so which pieces are you doing? So far I have taught myself "Air" by Hook and "Alarm" by Bjelinski. I hope to be starting lessons soon, and just hope that I am playing them correctly. Can anyone tell me what the dotted line means between the B flat in the left hand and the chord in the right hand on the second page of "Alarm"? I haven't got a clue, so am probably playing it wrong.

Hi Chris - I have just taken my Grade 4 this week and these are the pieces I played (and will probably be replaying for the retake ).
Hook
Kullak
Readdy

I don't know what the dotted line means - maybe you play the C with your left hand?

Bar 24 you have 2 'voices' or parts and bar 25 is continuing the same except that it's played with one hand instead of 2. The dooted line is there to make this clear.

I hope you do well! I still have a lot of work to do to get things like scales and sughtreading up to scratch, never mind the aural I haven't made much progress with those by myself.


I'm sorry Sbhoa, I still don't quite understand - how do you play that?

As it's written but think of the C as the next note after the Bb if that makes sense.
Try playing the LH of bar 24 continuing with the lower notes in bar 25 to get the idea of how the 2 join up.
It shouldn't sound as though the notes passed between the hands.

Thanks for the help - I think I was playing it correctly anyway

I've just started preparing for grade 4 for the next session of exams. I'm going to play A1 (Bach), B2 (Grieg) and C2 (Readdy - which I haven't started yet). Is anyone else doing the Grieg piece? I think it's a lovely piece, but I'm finding some of the technical aspects aspects a little tricky (perhaps because I'm self-taught!), particularly in bars 12-13. It's simply impossible to play B as part of the bass clef cord in bar 12, so I'm assuming it is to be played with the right hand. However, that being the case, bar 13 has a similar situation, with another (im)possible spread with the left hand, so I'm assuming the B and B sharp are played with the right hand. But how on earth can you play B and B sharp with the left hand and also D etc after the trill on the treble clef as well? I'm very confused by this! If anyone knows the answer!!!!!!

Yes my student is doing the Grieg "Cattle Call" as well - it's a lovely piece of music!

I don't have the music for it in the house, but I remember we spent a bit of time working out exactly how to spread that chord. When she comes over on Monday I'll let you know exactly how we did it, if no one else has answered by then

I'm pretty sure there's a left hand over right somewhere, but I'll get back to you on that one!

Thank you! It is tricky, but worth the patience!

Leon

I prepared this for Grade 4 but ended up doing the Kullak from the alternative list. Re: bars 12-13, perhaps I have big hands as I played the chords all with the left hand here. In Bar 13 do you mean A and A sharp ( a bit closer than B)?

It's actually both bars 12 and 13, with the B and B sharp in bar 12 and A and A sharp in bar 13. There's no way I can make the stretch! Very depressing!

Don't worry I couldn't reach these chords either!!! What I did was for the big chords in bars 12 and 13 (the one with G, C# and B, and F#, D and A to A#) was to arpeggiate them. I just spread the chord out, which actually sounded quite nice!!! Then the one in bar 14 (the B, F and B in the bass and then D#, F# B and F# in the treble) I arpeggiated this too - as it says to - and then the L[ means to play the top F# with the left hand. R[

And that won't lose you any marks, as I did this and got a distinction for this piece....

Hope that's what you meant, and hope it helped!! Happy playing - it's a great song!!

Laura

Thank you for your help

I had a go at the Grieg and got stuck at the same place. I might have another go now that Laura's explained it. I still don't know which B list piece to do.

Grieg is the only B list piece I would really want to have a go at. I've tried to arpeggiate the cord, and it is certainly possible. The tricky thing I am finding is tying it in with the D in the right hand - i.e whether to delay the D until the B in the left. Also, if you are arpeggiating the cord, I assume that you can't give the minims their full value?

The Heller study is an excellent alternative for the B list - many of my students have enjoyed this one.

If you find it difficult to reach the chords you could try this:

Little hands

very funny !

Excellent...I could do with some of those things!

I'm speechless.