Considering doing Grade 8 Flute in somewhat over a year's time (this session 2011 or the one after) so I've been looking the syllabus, listening on You Tube and where full pieces aren't available to snippets on Amazon/the ABRSM site. Not so much planning my exam pieces, but discovering all sorts of things I want to play.

All I know is I will probably do either the Mozart or the Quantz from A, and from the other two, I've eliminated the two Bachs and Bullard from list C and am very keen to acquire (and eventually learn to play) pretty well every thing else. I'm currently learning the Poulenc because it's unfinished business from 11 years ago and it has some useful technique bits I need to work on (aka double tonguing) but I doubt I'll play it for the exam. I also got Sunstreams and the Rutter Suite Antique for my birthday last week, and have the Mouquet on a CD. My teacher may well have some as well she could lend me, so I have a decent choice of B list pieces. I don't own any interesting List C pieces, but would definitely like to acquire the Muczynski, Rozsa, Tomasi and Wellesz, and it wouldn't cost that much - only about £30.

My finger keeps hovering above the "add to basket" button on Just Flutes for all of them, resisted (just) up to now, but I'm sure it will slip at some point.

If it's not going to cause you - or worse, other people - actual financial ruin, how could it be wrong!? Why think twice?

I would imagine that quite a lot of the Grade 7 and 8 syllabus is respected repertoire that you will be able to use on future occasions and continue to enjoy playing for a long time.

As a fellow oboist said on another thread: "...as for the guilt, hang it on the back of a door you rarely open..thats what I do "

I think it's very sensible to want to learn most of the stuff on the grade 8 list - it's great repertoire! You might be able to find some of it secondhand, e.g. on eBay, so it needn't cost you a fortune.

Buying music can be an expensive business - if you think you can get that much for £30 then I think you're doing pretty well and should go for it. Certain pieces will cost rather more than that just to buy one piece alone.

If you're looking through the exam repertoire at the moment, can I make a special mention for the Rhene-Baton? In my opinion one of the most beautiful of all the French flute repertoire, but far less frequently played than the Poulenc for example.

I will probably have a student take grade 8 next year, the first I have entered on this syllabus. I know most of the list B things and a reasonable amount from list A but very few pieces from list C. Will be interested to see which list C pieces you end up liking, might give me some ideas!

There's a lot of good repertoire on the Grade 8 syllabus, although this current syllabus has shied away rather from the standard Grade 8 fare that was found on previous syllabuses (and can still be found on the TG Grade 8 lists!). But I do know what you mean about hovering over the 'add to basket button'.

If you are working towards exams at Grade 8 and above it is a good idea to play several pieces from each list so that after you make your choice you spend the hours working on things you really love. This repertoire will be with you a long time.

£30 won't break the bank - less than a night out, so will be influenced by how much the shipping charges come out at for if my list C choices all come in one go, or a couple at a time... The Muczynski is only £3.75 - less than a trashy paperback. Just think I should wait until after my holiday as the envelope probably won't fit through the letter box!

Definitely go for it, if the money isn't an issue!

I had some enormous luck in one particular secondhand shop - I came out with a hoooooooge pile of music for £18. When I got home it confirmed my suspicions - somebody who had done TG recorders to grade 5 had slung out all their music (possibly a teacher!) Anyway, come the time in my lessons that we started looking at a the syllabus, it turned out that I had over half the music from the G5 TG syllabus!

This meant that I played lots of music, and in the end finally settled on the three pieces to play in the exam. But I had plenty of things of a similar level to try, and of course some of these pieces were from multi-movement pieces or multi-piece books, giving me other things to try later on or to use as sight-reading practice or just to play (e.g. in my exam I did the fourth movement of one sonata; but in my lessons we did the whole thing to a good level, before we really worked on polishing the bit for the exam).

Now I'm working-ish on G6, but much the same has happened. I seem to have a large chunk of lists A (more descant than treble) and C (more treble than descant!), but not so much from list B (the modern stuff) - between me and my teacher I think we still have 3 or 4 pieces from list B to be playing with...

What do you mean, is it really wrong??? What could be more right! This is such a refreshing change from people who leap from one lot of exam preparation straight into the next without moving sideways and exploring other repertoire of a similar standard. And at this level, we are probably talking core repertoire that you will be able to bring out again and again in years to come. Think of it as an investment....

I want the Widor Suite, but it's around £40.

Be thankful that you're not intending to buy copies of his ten organ symphonies!

I did all my other grades (1 to 7) basically playing the 3 exam pieces and not much else. I gave up when I left school as I had other interests/demands on my time and Grade 7 wasn't enough to get me into any of the ensembles at university, so the social aspect of playing slipped and I hardly played for 10 years. Now I'm rebuilding technique, filling the gaping holes from non specialist teachers (vibrato and double tonguing are the two we've found so far) and working on repertoire, scales and sightreading with a vague aim of doing Grade 8 in a year or so if I feel ready. I wish I'd pushed for this approach at school as it's fun to have lots of different pieces to work on at once, some easier notewise (Dance of the Blessed Spirits/Faure Sicilienne) but with tonnes to play with on interpretation and tone, a technical challenge (Poulenc, because I really despised it 10 years ago) and some shorter, easier studies with specific technical aims. If I've got time to work hard/ the house to myself, I can work on the technical bits, if my OH is around or I'm tired, the "easier" stuff gets a workout as they sound OK already! The new Grade 8 acquisitions will hopefully come in as the current harder stuff gets easier!

I always missed the flute so would like to find an orchestra or wind band some time, but need more experience and better sight reading as it's such a popular instrument!

this one?
http://imslp.info/files/imglnks/usimg/e/e9...e_and_piano.pdf

It hadn't occured to me that it might be out of copyright already - although it is an A-list piece so I maybe should have thought of it.

Happy playing

incidentally, the organ symphonies are on the site too if you wanted them clavicembalo

with all of this post-why not?!

Actually the Widor Suite need not cost £40. There are two editions - one costs about £40, but the Masters Music Publications edition only costs about £10. You would think there must be something wrong with the £10 one, but close inspection when I made my purchase told me that apart from a different front cover they are identical, and the salesman at Top Wind agreed. I believe the £40 edition is a french publisher - which are usually an eyewatering price!

I gave in - ordered from Just Flutes the 4 I wanted...

It turned up quickly for my birthday, so hopefully will appear soon! Then I can scare myself with what they look like, and what they sound like when I try and play them, in contrast to what they sound like played by professionals!