Im looking for a little bit of advice on choosing pieces for diplomas (piano). I was told by one person that the pieces should be in related keys eg. piece 1 could be in c major, 2nd piece might be g major. Could someone tell me more about this? I was also told start with the sad type and arrange them so that I end with the happiest, liveliest piece. I was also told something about not having really long pieces at the very beginning or the very end. Anyway, im basically looking for any little bit of advice people can give me about this and anything else you would consider relevant.

thanks

Sounds like trying to find the combo for the lottery innit...

Remember the examiners will be sitting through the equivalent of a mid-day recital; they need to be kept interested.

Choose a varied programme that presents music from a wide historical time span. Vary the tempi of your programme - aim for a good mix of quick and slow pieces. Only pick repertoire you are happy playing so you can put your whole heart and soul into the performance.

Avoid hugely popular, overplayed works. Bear in mind, too, that rarely played pieces thrill examiners. Having said that, do not go for 'novelty' for its own sake. You should only choose pieces if you cannot get under the skin of them and play them with genuine understanding and enthusiasm.

Recital programmes that follow a chronological pattern can lead to a super climax; say, a Prelude and Fugue, then a Haydn\Mozart\Beethoven finishing with a Chopin Ballade (or something by Brahms, Liszt or Rachmaninov) leads to a thrilling finish. For a diploma, I would want to include a 20th century piece; I would consider inserting this before the Romantic 'finisher' even though this interrupts the chronological progression.

Hope this helps. Have fun

there are a couple of techniques in ordering the recital.

1.if you want to play a major work, say a big beethoven sonata, try playing shorter less energetic pieces at the start, with the attention on the big work.

2. a well balanced way could be to start with an energetic piece to grab the attention, say haydn, but not too long, so that you have enough energy left for the rest of the recital. then a slow piece, not too major, and a big finale, say a chopin ballade.

i know there arent any chopin ballades in the program but i gave them just as examples.

This is a really helpful thread.
I'm just in the really early stages of looking at diplomas, and whilst I'd like to spend the next 6 months generally broadening my repertoire, obviously the choice of programme is in the back of my mind.

So far,I'm looking at a Haydn sonata and a Chopin nocturne, and I have to get shostakovich in somewhere....

It is soooooooo hard to choose.

And does anyone have any good ideas on programme notes??? Haven't a clue where to even start on that one.

chopet - please let me know how you get on with your decision-making!

Are you talking about the AB dips? If so, I accompanied a clarinet dip last year and I am sure the clarinettist had helpful guidance that he downloaded from the AB web site. Try going to the home page and following the link to diplomas.

There have been several discussions on this forum over the last few months about programme notes - I suggest you look back through them. You'll also find links to the AB guidance writing notes useful.

Cheers

Katyjay

Subsequent edit: There was also a discussion in March about programme notes in the Teachers' forum - have a look there for more tips.
cheers
Katyjay

I agree with a lot of the advice that's been said here - finish with something positive, and play shorter pieces before a Beethoven Sonata if you do one. In fact, that's exactly what I did.

I opened my Piano Dip recital with two Scriabin Préludes (9 and 16 for the curious). Of the pieces in my recital, 9 was perhaps the most indestructible and gave me plenty of chance to get use the piano. Which, in the end, was very useful as the sustain pedal had 1cm of travel from fully off to fully on I then followed it with Beethoven's Pathétique (OK, a popular piece, but I was naive when I chose it 4 years ago...) whilst I still had plenty of stamina left to stick out the first movement.

After the Beethoven - the modern piece - Szymanowski Étude, Op.4 No. 3. It's lovely, actually, have a listen if you're short a modern piece and fancy something Chopinesque with harmonies that are a little more avant-garde but not off the deep end. It's quite a turbulent piece, so I followed it with a Bach Prelude and Fugue (No. 16, WTC I) to clear the air a little. Much in the same way that the Scherzo follows the Marcia Funebre in Eroica. If it works for Beethoven...

To finish - my own choice work - Debussy's 'General Lavine - Eccentric' from Préludes Book 2. I thought it would balance the programme off - it adds some French romanticism, has a jazz/ragtime feel to it, and puts a smile on one's face at the end.

I tried to spread out the romantic pieces separated to keep the sound different and interesting: romantic, Beethoven, romantic, Bach, romantic. If I was doing it again, I don't think I'd pick the Pathétique - probably No. 12. Just because I prefer the piece really and, as Steven Says, staying away from more-played repertoire might do one a few favours.

As for Programme Notes - read everything you can get your hands on, try to get a read of the Grove entries on the Composers whose pieces you are playing to fit the work into a broader context. Analyse the works - don't play a Fugue without knowing what the exposition is, they can (and did in my Viva) ask about it even though one shouldn't put it in the programme notes. I found three paragraphs per piece was quite good format: biography; information on piece, a little context; description of the progression of the piece. In the case of more/less popular composers, divert little space away from/towards the biography.