Hey guys!

Today, I realized that my LRSM piano performance program is very heavily skewed towards the late Romantic. Then, on a whim, I calculated the estimated length of my practical... and came up 1 minute short of the minimum required length. 35 minutes. How could I do this to myself? Ugh.

This is my program right now:

Chopin Scherzo n1 in B Minor, Op 20- approx 9 minutes 30 seconds
Bach Chromatic Fantasia and Fugue in D Minor, BWV 903- approx 11 minutes
Scriabin Sonata n4 in F#, Op 30- approx 8 minutes

Together with the

Faur? Barcarolle n5 in F# Minor, Op 66- approx 6 minutes

and allowing for 30 seconds of silence between pieces/movements: a total of 35 minutes.

I only see two options right now: the first would be to take my chances with the homogenous program and drag out the pieces to compensate for the missing minute, which would still be slightly dangerous (and it would make me miserable, since I usually favor a faster interpretation). The second option... Luckily, I sort of despise the Faur? Barcarolle. Replacing the Faur? with a longer, more beautiful piece from the Classical period will give me a more balanced program. Even without the time issue, my recital would be very homogenous. Not only is it 75% romantic, but every single piece, even the Bach, has some kind of passionate, wild style.

Of course, the obvious issue with this is that I am already underprepared for the April exams (I still have to memorize the last few pages of the Fugue, learn the notes of the last pages of the Faure, and I'm not even halfway done piecing together the notes of the Scriabin. Oh God, I'm going to fail). A new piece is exactly what I don't need.

So, my big question is: Are the issues with my program's insufficient length and lack of diversity serious enough to warrant learning a totally new piece? And if so, any suggestions? I'm looking for a piece from the Classical period about 8 minutes long, preferably both beautiful and easy to memorize (or, you know, just easy)

Well, actually- Little question: ABRSM really seems to stress the importance of having a balanced program with a variety of style and moods, but I can't find that anywhere on the scoring rubrics they supply on their website. I can't find anything about failing to meet the time quota either, for that matter. Will they take off lots of points for having an unbalanced program that's too short, or only a few? If it's only a few, it'll probably be smarter to keep the program I have right now.

Thanks so much for reading all of that. Any advice at all would be greatly appreciated!

It only stipulates two periods for LRSM

I think the "balance" of the program is less important for LRSM than for DipABRSM, but if you also dislike the Faure and are coming up short, replacing it seems like a good idea. How about the Mozart Rondo K. 511? About 9 minutes, beautiful, melancholy but definitely not "wild", and because its Mozart the difficulties will probably be more musical than technical. Alternatively, Beethoven op. 78 is also beautiful and short, though it's not on the syllabus (but approved for LTCL, so hopefully in the ballpark).

I'm afraid I haven't got answers, but I do have a few questions.....

The timings you've come up with, are they your current timings for playing these works? If so, are they likely to shorten as you get more familiar with the pieces?

Are all the pieces on the current repertoire list? (I don't know the piano repertoire at all). I seem to recall that for the Licentiate you can have up to a third of the programme not on the list.

Did you mean the December exam session? Or next July? There isn't a session in April.

Any particular reason you want a classical work? As Jod pointed out, you only need to include two distinct eras at LRSM.

Before I ready Lilly post , I also thought of the Mozart Rondo in A Minor K511 ! In fact there's nothing on the list from a Classical period thats as short as that, others are Sonatas. Even Beethoven Op 78 is 17 minutes.
You may consider a Mendelssohn Prelude and Fugue, not really too Romantic, not too difficult to learn

I did say it wasn't on the list (which is okay since OP is allowed up to 1/3 of the program off the syllabus), but it's definitely not longer than 11 minutes, and that observing all the repeats... you must be thinking of something else.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JC2IAc3L_YA

It's not that important? Phewww. Thanks so much for the advice! Exactly what I was hoping for. I will definitely check those pieces out.



For the Chopin and the Bach, yup, they're my current timings. I don't believe they'll shorten... in fact, my piano teacher keeps telling me take the Bach slower x) For the Scriabin and the Faure, since I'm not too familiar with those, I sort of averaged out the length of some recordings I found on the internet.



They are all on the current repertoire list. And yes, you can have pieces not on the list. But I don't really want to have to justify my choice to the examiners during the viva voce x)



There is in Shanghai



Oh, it was just that in the complete guide on their website they really seemed to stress the importance of having a balanced program with a variety of styles, periods, and even key signatures. I thought it might be one of those things where they say you don't have to do it, but they really mean "we won't disqualify you, but we will be deeply unhappy, subconsciously become biased, and then fail you"

Yes sorry Lilly, my set which I transferred to my iPod, has the last movement of Op2 No2 stuck on the end of Op78 ! Something went wrong with the 'info' part. Op78 is indeed 10min 40s

If the ABRSM intended the LRSM to be a general balanced programme I'm sure they would have said so on the syllabus and not specified that it only needs to contain music from two periods, and similarly if it always wanted the FRSM to be a general balanced programe it would state so and not mention anything about specialist programmes.

There are reasons for these types of recitals, festivals etc.

So don't worry about the lack of classical piece. Baroque and Romantic are fine.

I don't think the having only two periods is a problem in itself, but the combination of only two periods, similar style of piece even within one period, the program being too short, and the fact that the OP dislikes one piece suggests that something should be changed, especially since we're talking about next April and there's plenty of time to prepare.

Balance shouldn't be a problem - the regulations say this:

"In your choice of repertoire, you should aim to present a balanced programme that includes a contrast of repertoire from at least two distinct musical eras. Variety of mood and tempo should also be a guiding factor in the construction of the programme."

You have two periods and the Chopin and Scriabin are sufficiently different to be no problem at all (and the "compare & contrast" question is something you would have to be prepared for in the viva).


As for duration, the marking criteria are given in appendix 2 to the syllabus. The standard for a fail at LRSM is given as:

"Despite evidence of some competence, technical and musical grasp not equal to the demands
of the programme at this level."

I would put it to you that presenting a programme that doesn't even meet the time stipulation might be regarded as not equal to the technical demands of the programme at this level. Putting together a programme that does meet the time stipulation is hardly rocket science, so . . .

. . . in my opinion you have until April to prepare another 1 - 9 minutes of music to LRSM standard.

What you need is effectively a short encore piece. Given your 2 chosen periods, how about a short Bach Prelude and Fugue or a pair of Chopin Etudes? If you don't mind having a personal choice, a Chopin Waltz or Prelude (or Mazurka, or . . . almost anything short but not too short by Chopin) would do nicely, maybe a Mendelsshon Song without Words, or a short Schumann piece (Traumerei?) If you want a 3rd period, how about Ragamuffin by John Ireland, or again if you don't mind going off syllabus one of the pieces from "Meet George Gershwin at the Piano" (most of which are set from time to time at grade 8 or Dip level but should do as an "encore" piece as it's how you play them that counts)? You could even be really adventurous and play something from this century (some Kapustin should be easily up to LRSM standards??)

My usual advice is that the repertoire lists are sufficiently large that I see no reason whatever to take any risk, no matter how slight, by going off-syllabus at all. However, the regulations say you can, so you can. If I pass my Dip retake I might go for LRSM. Who knows, I might go off-syllabus myself!

Whatever you do, good luck!

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Thanks Robodoc for the advice! It was helpful and really gave me something to think about... I'll talk to my piano teacher about the off-syllabus pieces you suggested and see what he says (unfortunately, I'm not going to see him for quite a while Oh, and he did once mention that the Chopin and Scriabin had very different styles, although at the time I silently disagreed- both frequently repeat their thematic material and almost over the top in their expressiveness- not a bad thing. They have contrasting soft slow and loud fast sections, a lot of broken chords. and important melodies in the middle line, which, in my limited experience, is somewhat unusual in homophonic music. But now that you mention it again, their moods are very different, which is the most important part- the syncopation in the Scriabin makes it almost dreamy, and the Chopin is a very driven 4/4. Sorry, that was a very major digression. Back to the point) And now that you mention it, it really would be unprofessional to have a short program. I don't know how I feel about the idea of an extra encore piece though. I was getting kind of excited to lose the Faure xD In any case, I will definitely consider your many great examples!

By the way, lilly763, I checked out your profile (not creepy), but I PLAY THE VIOLA TOO Personally, I like the piano more as a solo instrument (partly because I'm better at it, haha), but the experience of playing in an orchestra is absolutely unbeatable. Thoughts?

I'm in no way an expert in this topic, but my immediate thought was that if you are uncomfortable, and that discomfort will affect the quality of your preparation or performance, then it is better to change now than closer to April.