Hello all

Anyone else thinking about Grade 4 flute sometime soon/done it recently? What do you all think of the new pieces?

I like lots of the List A pieces but not so many of the B/C ones

My 11y.o is doing grade 4 flute tomorrow . He's playing Calypso, Sicilienne & No.40 out of 76 graded studies. He started with the Handel from List A but it wasn't right for him so we changed to Sicilienne in the middle of April (rightly or wrongly? -turned out to be less than 6 weeks to the exam date). His teacher chose the pieces & having a look at the syllabus I think he might have chosen differently. He loves the Novelty Foxtrot from List B & I like Comic Song too.

Go Babybird!! Hope you find lots of pieces you like.

I did gr4 last summer, so can't help with the pieces cus they've all changed...
beware of the sight singing...tis horrible, or maybe it's just me... "aural test B was erratic" lol
good luck though, i'm sure you'll enjoy it!

Thanks all I'm not sure if I want to take it next session or the one after. I only took Grade 2 last November so I'll have a lot of catching up to do with the aural and sight reading. My sight reading for Grade 2 was horrible enough (although in lessons I always found it easy ) I also managed to get full marks on the aural, somehow

I've decided that I really like the Study in D in list C

I nearly did that at grd 3 (16/18), NEARLY failed at grade 4. I hate sight singing...

I started playing the Novelty Foxtrot yesterday and actually really liked it I originally dismissed it thinking it would be too hard but it's not that bad

Hi,
I have just had 4 students do Grade 4 and they all chose different pieces, as I like them to choose their own seeing as they are going to be practicing them, it's better they do something they like! Anyway the novelty foxtrot and comic song are certainly fun pieces to play, echo is one of those that grows on you, also the prokofiev Gavotte is good, just a few accidentals to get your head around
Good Luck with your decision making

Hi,
I've just doen grade 3 and am thinking about grade 4 want to take it at Christmas so I can do grade 5 in the summer and I joint the main concert band when grade 5!:-) Targets! :-)

Have kind of chosen pieces - I like the comic song, Rondeau and playful flute. There are a few others but those are my best so far!:-)Is anyone else playing these?

My pupil played the Bach siciliana, the Prokofiev Gavotte and I think no.40 from 76 graded studies. The Gavotte is a great piece to improve articulation, timing, dynamics, tone, allsorts.

I hope it is not too late for you if I add my comments to this thread - I have just taken Grade 4 flute (still awaiting results though.) The problem I had was choosing my pieces when I couldn't actually play any of them properly! However, I started just after Easter and worked my way through eliminating my "difficult" ones over a period of about three weeks. That then left me plenty of time to work up the three I had chosen, which I thought I might need having taken my last ABRSM exam (piano) in 1952 and only starting to learn the flute last October!

A Pieces

Bach Rondeau - decided not, as too many runs for me.

Roseingrave Largo & Presto - could not get my fingers round all the turns.

Paradis Sicilienne - took to this straight away, lovely piece of music and became my favourite.

Rameau Tambourin - tried this but preferred the previous one. Also thought it was a bit long.

B Pieces

Hindemith Echo - thought this was not too hard to play alone, but decided the timing with the piano was going to be everything in getting good marks. Since taking my exam I have now been able to play it OK with the CD so consider it if you are good at timing the rests.

Seiber Novelty Foxtrot - I really like this piece - but just could not play it at anything like the speed suggested! I think I need to have another go at this one.

McDowall Comic Song - I think this is quite a popular piece to choose, so decided to give the examiner something else to listen to (he said, hoping there would be another one!)

Prokofiev Gavotte - I have always loved the Classical Symphony and so when my teacher offered this one to me, I decided there and then that I wanted to choose it. There is an extended staccato section in the middle which was the last thing to come right, and as someone else has said, the piece is full of lovely changes of dynamics and articulation, giving you a good chance to show your interpretation to the examiner. The thumb trill took a bit of mastering, though.

C Pieces

Andersen Study - when I tried out this piece, I simply could not get my head and fingers round all the changes of rhythm and accidentals, and the way it goes up and down the registers. However, I used it as a relaxation piece during the latter stages of my learning of the chosen ones, and it has now become one of my favourite pieces. I think I might have been able to pass with this one, after all.

Rose Impromptu - I found choosing a C piece difficult, and ended up with this one by a process of elimination. I personally don't have a problem with 7/8 time and found that as we are constantly told by our teachers, we must practice if we want to play a difficult piece well! It took a while to get anything near the suggested speed, but hopefully I cracked it in the end, even though I know it wasn't as good as the other two.

Tulou Study in D - I liked the first page, but it seemed to me to just become a series of scales, and as I was having great difficulty converting my piano playing ability on scales to flute, it put me right off.

Bullard Playful Flute - this ran for several weeks as the competitor to the Impromptu, but one of them had to go. Otherwise I quite liked this. My teacher asked me to play it with a swing, which is not how it sounds on the CD.

Good Luck in your own choice!



PS (added Saturday 26th July) - Just heard my result - I passed with a Merit! Whoopee now I can celebrate!

An update

I think I've now decided which pieces I'm going to play

A - Blavet Ciciliana
B - Prokofiev Gavotte
C - Unhappy Flute

Exam is on the 27th of November

I think you've got a good programme there Babybird2. Very fond of both the Prokofiev and Unhappy Flute, and you've had plenty of good advice about the Prokofiev in particular. With the staccato section, I'd practice it slowly to start with, if you're unsure.

I'm grade 4'ing this session as well

Tentative programme is Rondeau, 8 and 10 by Koechlin and then Tarentelle -I am also playing novelty foxtrot a lot as I really enjoy it even when at speed my fingers and head to two totally different things lol. Have alternatives for the other two but think I will keep to the three I've listed.

I love the Tarentelle - but can't get my fingers round it

Yes, the fingers can be very tricky, it's almost be thrown out the window a few times, but it's starting to come together. It's the only study that I liked really, none of the rest did anything for me.

Not going too well today notes are all fuzzy and scales are totally jumbled...

twill be alright on the night!

nick

Good luck fluters!

Your pieces sounded beautiful on Saturday. And I think we did make a start on cracking that aural thing too.

All the best Babybird2!

I'm at the stage of exam preparation where playing my pieces makes me want to throw my flute / myself out of the window I feel like I'm not concentrating enough and am hence playing wrong notes constantly. And my tone has been rubbish the past couple of days. And I'm too stressed to breathe when I should do which really isn't good. And I can't keep up with the CD. And and and....

Feel free to ignore the above. Just venting my own frustrations about flute playing

I think from talking to various people the general consesus is the CD's are often on the fast side. Stop worrying, practice slowly and you'll be fine. Remember to take really big breaths that will help with the sound generally (something emsoboe learnt at RNCM woodwind day).

You'll be fine, good luck!

And remember that in the exam the accompanist has to go at your speed, not the other way round.

Good Luck Babybird2. Just knowing you are not playing well should really add focus to what you are trying to achieve! It's when you think you are doing well but you are not that is the real problem!

Go for it!! I have my fingers crossed for you (which believe me did not help today during my lesson!)

tomorrow's the day

Had my last lesson yesterday. Played the Prokofiev with the CD and it was perfect (well, as perfect as it will ever be)

Good luck!!

Thanks - I'm exciteed now

Good Luck for tomorrow, I will be thinking of you, especially the Prokofiev in which I hope I have helped a bit. Your challenge is to get more than 25 marks for it!

Good luck to all - have mine next Friday (ducking out of uni for a bit mwwhaha hope I don't miss anything key about how to teach primary science lol). Serious hat time and a lot of practise.

All the best.
Bev.

Thanks for everyone's support

The exam is done Went ok I think!

Pieces were fine. Scales were good - I didn't get scales for A major or C major or C minor, only arpeggios And I didn't get the dreaded F# minor arpeggio

Sight reading was nasty (3#s) but I just kept on playing. My rhythm was awful Aural was ok too

I'm sure you will have done really well.

I hate waiting for results and they aren't even mine

Thanks

I hate waiting for results too. I want them NOW!

What I found irritating was the fact that the examiner knows at the time you leave the room whether or not you have passed, but I guess is sworn to secrecy! Probably in case someone challenges later his/her general exam results.

Anyway, I hope yours is a good result.

Sounds good - fingers crossed for the result

Have my fingers crossed for you.

Thanks everyone (especially gedall40 for all your help with the Prokofiev )

You are very welcome. If you have got more marks than I did then you can play it at Leeds in January

No thanks It's a nice piece but I know you like it much more than I do so I won't ruin it with my playing and I'll let you play it instead
I think I'm a bit sick of it actually, I must have played that quaver section about 100 times over the past few days...

I think I already commited myself to playing the Blavet at Leeds anyway

Sounds good Babybird2. Particularly pleased that you thought the aural was OK, after your worries about that.

Best of luck for the result.

Thanks

I sort of got the hang of the singing back thing in the end (I did sing it back, you'll be pleased to know!). I don't know why but I did some practice in the lesson before my exam and it just clicked

It was definitely starting to click in at Eccles Babybird2. Glad that it went well.

Yes, it definitely was! Thanks Barry

Now, what do I play next?

Have you got the Harlequin Book 2? Andante recommended it when Emsoboe was about your standard. Alternatively Grade 1 or 2 Jazz.

I've got the Harlequin book 2 on my musicroom wishlist in the hope that someone will get it for me for christmas Thanks for the suggestion

I've got so much music though there must be a milion things I can play

At my own request, I started working on the slow movement to the Poulenc Sonata - I think this is a really beautiful piece. It used to be a Grade 7 piece, and is really showing up flaws in my intonation, plus it has a couple of top Bs to get. Plenty to work on, but I love playing it.

A week ago my teacher gave me the Bach Sonata No 2 in E Flat. She said I need practice at playing baroque music, and playing E flats. She is proving to be right on both counts! I must put much more practice into it. I missed my lesson this week and when I go next week I don't think she will be very impressed with just the first 18 bars played slowly . I don't think the middle movement will be too much of a problem, but it looks like a long haul for the last.

Emsoboe struggled with tone on the Flute for sometime, strangely a masterclass at RNCM in October sorted her out. It was all to do with not taking enough breath. She was advised to take in so much air that she made a sound when breathing in. It's done the trick for her.

I would recommend that anyone around or above G5 in October next year give the Woodwind Day a go, either as an observer or participant. It's free!!

That breathing advice is making sense of something I heard earlier this year. At our local music festival in Leamington Spa we had as adjudicator for the Woodwind section Paul Harris. He was excellent at using every entry to give a Masterclass on how to improve. I remember one thing he said was to do with air pressure. He pointed out that a piece of paper held between thumb and forefinger does not fall to the ground because the thumb is putting as much pressure on the front of the paper as the forefinger is doing on the back. He said that we must use abdominal breathing not simply to take in deep breaths for long passages, but also to use two muscles in our stomach area for them to push against each other. I must admit that I tend to only take short breaths for short passages.

Thanks for the tip, I will give it a try tomorrow. I'm not sure if I will be at Grade 5 or above by October but the Woodwind Day sounds good.

For anyone who is interested and doesn't read the Adult Learner's forum, I got a merit

Well done you.