Ive just got some Grade 8 pieces, not decided really which to pick but Lalo sounded great on you tube, so I ordered it, more fool me. Is anyone else doing this one and how on earth do you play the 6th bar before E, the octave higher bit??
What pieces have you picked?
This all seems very daunting being an adult returner and over 20yrs since doing Grade 7

I'm doing the Bach Allegro Assai, the Schumann and the Stravinsky. I was going to play the Rachmaninov, but my violin teacher felt it was a bit similar in style to the Schumann. Violin teacher wanted me to do the Shostakovich initially, but I found it a bit boring. I'm still trying to work out how to play the bit in the Stravinsky with the trilled double stop immediate pizzicato chord pattern! Not that I've tried to play it yet, as am focussing on the first movement at the moment: but it looks scary!

I looked at the Lalo, but it looked even scarier than the Stravinsky!

The Bach is okay, but really fast and I get really bad cramp in my hand playing it. The Schumann is lovely!

I'm doing the Czardas (it's soo much easier than it sounds, definately one of the easier pieces on the syllabus!), Bach Gavotte en rondeau (i wanted to do allegro assai but it's soo long) and i'm just about to start the 3rd piece... which i'd quite like to be the Wieniawski. I wanted to do the Grieg but it's too similar to my other 2 pieces... was tempted to go for the Lalo but it all seems very high and stuff Schumann is nice too though There are none which i reallyyy like from list B but the Wieniawski is growing on me. I'll wait to see which my teacher says

Thanks for replying,
I did the Czardas years ago and again when I started playing again last year and my teacher would prefer me to do something else but I just love it apart from the harmonics. I watched it played recently and the soloist did vibrato on the harmonics!! I struggle just to get the notes!
I am looking at the Bach allegro assai too, it seems quite playable and I have just played the first piece so already had the music. I bought the Mozart sonatas after listenning to it on You tube but my teacher has mentioned Grieg and also wieniawski so I will have to have a listen to them. I seem to like a few from the same list

I'm doing the Bach Allegro Assai which my teacher thinks should go slowly. I wanted to do the Gavotte en rondeau but my teacher made me stop because I couldn't play any of the double stops. Also playing the Schumann

I just wish I could borrow the music to the others listed as being an adult learner theres no one else I know doing grade 8, any players I know did it years ago so its expensive having to buy the pieces then find out I dont like them or they seem impossible to play.
Its interesting that your teacher said to play the Bach slower, my teacher played it pretty fast. Has anyone got the Grade 8 cd or already played it who could let us know what they did?

My teacher also said to play the Allegro Assai a lot slower than I expected. Still fairly fast, but I was trying to play it at the speed that Arthur Grumiaux plays it on the recording I have, and my teacher slowed it down quite a bit, much to my relief! Remember it is also on the LRSM syllabus, so the examiners must be expecting a significant difference between the two levels!

If you are getting cramp in your hand with the Bach, then you may have a technique issue that needs addressing.

It should be lively, but not fast.

On a modern violin with a modern setup, you can play it at any speed you like, but.......

......the problem with modern interpretations is that most of them are on violins with a modern setup. The bridge is higher, the bass bar much bigger and longer, the strings are a higher tension, a modern bow plays at a higher tension and as a result the instrument responds a lot faster than a Baroque violin. Therefore, the music can be played far faster than it would have been in Bach's day. That's not to say that music was played very slowly back then, it just wasn't taken at the break-neck speeds soloists use today.

Not always possible to do, but the best way to know what speed Allegro would have been played at, is to play the music on a Baroque violin with a Baroque bow. With a lower tension bow and unwound gut strings, the instrument is much slower to speak and it takes a little more work to produce the notes.

What sort of technique issue? I always sort of assumed the cramp was caused simply because the movements required for the piece were so fast and repetitive, but if it's actually something I could correct, I would be forever in your debt for suggesting it! Could a tendency to play with a squashed wrist cause cramp? Or having a tendency to leave my thumb behind when shifting? Because I'm trying really, really hard to correct those things, and if improving my wrist shape or loosening up my thumb could prevent the cramp, that would be wonderful, as they're things I'm working on now! But if you are able to surmise anything else it might help me examine my playing and spot something I'm doing wrong that I haven't noticed... (Sorry, I know it's probably a stupid question, to ask you what's wrong with my playing when you've never seen me play, but just in case there's some sort of common technique problem that causes cramp!) (And Louby - sorry for hijacking the thread!)

If you're getting cramp from tension, the easiest way to release it is to use a little vibrato. To the people who are likely to respond that Bach shouldn't have vibrato, first off that's a matter of opinion, second it's personal taste, third we use modern instruments which respond and resonate better with vibrato and fourth, it does help out technically if a player has tension

Of course you're right that a bad left-hand position is going to be causing some real problems for you in a fast piece. Just a small hint: the whole point of technique is that it eradicates any pain, discomfort or technical difficulty in playing. If it hurts, there is a technical (or physical) problem. Both the things you mention are very likely to be causing cramp, but they suggest in my mind and experience that there's a bigger underlying problem, specifically that you're gripping/holding the violin with your left hand rather than simply allowing it to support the instrument. Your natural LH position should be the same as it is if you just turn your hand palm-up now, without the instrument. (Actually, this does mean that your wrist doesn't HAVE to be straight with your lower arm, but can be slightly at an angle. So long as it's free of excess tension it's ok, and depends partly on things like your vibrato type, position, hand shape etc.)

I second the vibrato to loosen up tension, I was getting in a right pickle on the first movement of the Bach in A minor and my teacher told me to do vibrato to free/loosen my hand and it worked so worth a try. Im also struggling with a collapsing 3rd finger when used after a 4th finger, its driving me nuts so Im now having to suffer Schradiek studies to try and strengthen it

Have you tried your local library service? Even if the nearest library doesn't have a music section there may be a city centre library you can get to, or they may be able to do an inter-library loan. I'm sure I've even seen the AB books for loan in Birmingham's Central library, as well as numerous separate pieces

Most of lists A & B can be found for free here, albeit in editions which you might not want to use for detailed study. Perfect for trying pieces out, though.

Thanks for the great replies, a very very kind member has offered to lend me some pieces so I can have a play before buying them but never thought of the library and Im off to look at the link now
Thanks again.