Hi, I am doing my grade 7 this year. Will be playing Allegro in A (Bach), Etude in A no. 13 (Heller) and Allegretto (no. 3 from Visions fugitives) (Prokofiev)

Anyone can tell me how i can play these pieces well?

Thanks

Well,
I play the bach and prokofiev pieces as well. I'm not really a good player, but the best thing to do is to try and GET the music. It might be hard to understand. Feel the music.

Make sure you look at any accents and slurs on the prokovief really carefully, his music makes little sense if you don't.

I did the Etude in A, the Haydn and the Elegaic Blues. I didn't really like this set of pieces though!!

My advice with the Etude: practise the RH on its own, over and over, until you can play it with your eyes closed. Then, focus on the LH until you can make the leaps with your eyes closed. Then, when you can play it perfectly with your eyes closed, you won't muck it up in the exam when you're nervous. Don't smudge the pedalling, and make sure to shape the phrases in the RH musically. Best of Luck!

PS: I like playing with my eyes closed!!

Thanks alot for the advice. For the Etude in A, is there a need for pedaling? I found it very difficult to pedal.

Sorry I took so long to reply!
With the Etude, the pedalling isn't essential but it is a nice effect. I mainly used the pedal to cover the arppegios in the RH, and to help join the LH slurs. With the pedal however, you have to be careful not to smudge the harmonies. Clean the pedal at each harmonic change, and listen carefully to make sure it's clean. If you find this hard, as I did at first, practise v. slowly, and make sure you mark in on the music what you're doing when. Then, after you can do it slowly, increase the speed, until you're happy.

Without the pedal, it's very hard to keep the harmony of the bass notes throughout the whole bar, but it would probably be best to have no pedal, than to pedal really badly. Keep working on it, and you should get it.

Hi there,I am playing the same songs as you.Well,playing through dynamic is very important for the etude in A.Try to give some feeling to this song especially the third page second line bar.By the way,can we press the pedal while playing the staccato?

Hi There,

I played Allegretto for my Grade 7 in March. The examiner commented that the balance between the right hand chords and left hand was good, and that the mood of the second page was brought out well. As mentioned earlier make a big deal out of the accents on the second page and make the most of the dynamics as the second page as it is a different mood from the first page.

bring the mood out in the piece and I'm sure you'll do well.

Hope it helps.

Lots of luck for your exam.

Is anyone else playing Anthony Payne's Micro-Sonata? I chose it mainly because I have small hands, and there's only one stretchy chord, but I am enjoying it much more than I expected. I suspect it is the least popular List C piece, but would love to hear from anyone else who's playing it.