Hello
Anyone doing grade 3..
How are you finding the pieces in section B..
Song and Sunshine seem very difficult to learn for me...I have not tried the Marche des Soldats de bois yet....

I am playing Passepied in Section A
and Going to try Equivoque No 8 in section C..

I wanted to play Cha Cha and Song originally but have found them quite hard...I don't always want to just pick out the easier pieces. If it shows it in the book I thought I should be able to play any of them if I reach that standard..It doesn't seem to be the case..How do you find it in the grades you're taking.
BFN Mike

Hi

I'm not doing grade 3 myself but I am teaching it. Mine are doing the Cha Cha one, it is hard and some are getting frustrated with it, but they love the sound of it when I play it, so they are determined. It's a nice change. As for B pieces.. Song seems a popular choice although I feel it is hard for grade 3, still can't moan really.

Joy

Hi! I'm teaching Grade 3 too. In list B, my students are either doing B2 - Marche des Soldats de Bois or B4 - Hiller - Polish Song. The Gurlitt piece is more difficult.

i know someone who is doing the Vanhal in list A, the Equivoque in list B and for list C erm...March of the somethingorother!!

Sadly I always seem to skip the odd grades, so i never knew what Grade 3 is like. I'm currently working towards grade six though

Happy teaching!

Dear Mike

I think I may have replied to you on another post re; my grade 3 pieces. Anyway just to answer your question on this thread I did 'Song' and 'Cha-Cha' for my grade 3 and found them to be quite challenging pieces. But they are both nice pieces to do and I feel worth having a good bash at. You will get there in the end!

I found both of them needed more work than the A piece! but feel it was worth the effort! ( hope the examiner last week thought so as well! - ha-ha!!)

What does your teacher think? Even if you do decide not to do them for the exam at this stage it might be worth trying to learn them anyway as when you come to it grade 4 may then seem a little easier.
There does indeed seem to be some variation in the difficulty of pieces within the same grade book but I always have to do the music I like the best.

Good Luck and let us know how you get on.

I sat grade 4 last summer, and try as I might, couldn't get to grips with any of the c pieces. My teacher suggested I try another c piece, not in the ABRSM book - until then I didn't know there was more of a choice! I chose a piece of Kabalevski - challenging but fun and I liked it, which makes a difference!

When it came to the exam, I didn't have an exam piece number, as it wasn't in the ABRSM book, but when I told the examiner, she seemed quite excited and told me the number. My teacher reckons she seemed pleased as not many people deviate from the ABRSM books for exam pieces, so it made a change for the examiner to listen to something different! Maybe you could explore this avenue?

Good luck!

Anne

Hi Annette
I haven't seen the teacher since my exam..as it's half term and she only works the school teaching year..
I guess I should try the harder ones or I'll not learn the techniques to take things further...I suppose only doing the pieces that you can manage easily is not the best way to improve...Will keep everone updated...
I will try Song and Cha Cha first...I've heard them on the cd and they are the ones I prefer.
Will keep you updated....

Hi Anne as well
Going off the beaten track may be a good way to progress if I get really stuck...I guess examiners would prefer to hear something different..although it must be interesting to hear the same piece with all the different interpretations...
BFN Mike

have any of you tried C1- Dance i think its called. its so hard to get hands together!