Should I be puzzled by the absence of broken chords in Grade 2 piano?
Having encouraged pupils to practise and enjoy them in grade 1, they then get neglected until a year later and I feel that I am starting all over again. Any reason for this?

There's nothing to stop you from continuing to do them with your Grade 2 students, even if they aren't on the syllabus!
Or you could make the pupils feel really grown-up by introducing the Grade 3 ones early. They all like to feel that they can do something 'above' their nominal grade!

Yes, I agree with you about keeping the broken chords going, but why omit them for Grade 2?
Just curious

I remember many years ago, the Grade 3 broken chords were set for Grade 2. Many Grade 2 found these rather challenging and they were eventually moved to the Grade 3 syllabus. If they had to keep this type of broken chord exercise, it was a good move.

In those days, there were no broken chords for Grade 4. It was only Grade 1 and 2 that needed to learn them.

I would be more than happy if they abandoned them altogether and replaced them with something else (perhaps a cadences played either on their own or at the end of the scale or maybe some basic harmony stuff?).

QUOTE

I would be more than happy if they abandoned them altogether and replaced them with something else

Same here - everything has its use of course, but I find the amount of time spent in memorising them at grades 1 and 3 (especially at gr 1) seems entirelyout of proportion to their usefulness. I'm quite relieved not to have to plug away at them at grade 2 if I'm honest.

Not so arpeggios, since they form such a useful pattern, (and I do a lot of work with triads too which are not required for exams). Arpeggio and triad patterns are useful in all kinds of ways, not just for exams. But I don't find broken chords add anything much for most pupils that they don't get from arpeggios - except perhaps a bit of finger dexterity.

Maggie

Maybe they don't do broken chords at grade 2 because the scales themselves are much harder as they are hands together. So what with the two octave arpeggios as well, broken chords could just be one thing too much!

QUOTE (maggiemay @ Sep 20 2004, 09:03 AM)

[QUOTE]I would be more than happy if they abandoned them altogether and replaced them with something else

I agree with this. I don't really see the logic of introducing them for grade 1, omitting them from grade 2 then introducing them again-albeit in a different pattern- for grades 3 and 4. Many of my students are adults and don't want to do exams- I teach all of them scales and arpeggios, but I haven't really found the need to tackle broken chords. I personally find scale and arpeggios cover what is needed in pieces, from a technical and key learning point of view.

Broken chords are important! The 2-time piece in the prep test book uses them!!
My pupils tend to learn the same pattern as grade 1 broken chords, but with *black notes* which seems very exciting for some reason! It bridges the gap nicely, but with out the pressure of having to perform them in an exam situation.