My teacher and I are having a little disagreement here, and it's because of the tempo given for the Indian Song (this years' B section exam piece).

My teacher says that I should play it up to the tempo marking.. MM 76 crotchet beats. But the thing is, the tempo marking is also Andantino.

I personally feel that Andantino means slower... more like 66 crotchet beats in a minute. 76 is more like Moderato. I have heard this piece before and it isn't very fast. To me, it's an expressive piece that doesn't have to be that fast.

For my piano (Grade 4) years ago, I played a piece up to the metroneme mark given (92 quaver beats), but the piece was also marked Adagio, in the end, I got one mark short of a pass because the examiner said it was meant to be slow.
I just hope this doesn't happen again. (4 doesn't seem to be a very lucky Grade for me!!)

So what do you think? Anyone???

I'm not familiar with the Grade 4 pieces, but someone may have the CD of the pieces and can check what tempo Carmine played it at on there?

Anyone?

I think you should play it at the tempo at which you feel fits the MUSIC the best. I only ever glance at tempo markings, though I do end up playing the pieces around the marked tempo. However, one of my pieces (Gershwin's Piano Prelude II) is marked at 88 crochets per minute and I play it MUCH slower. It just has an andante feel to it, and I don't like to play it that fast. My teacher agrees with me. We even found a recording on a CD of Gershwin that has the piece played a lot slower. So... I think it really depends on the music. Have a talk with your teacher, try playing it both ways, and ask him/her which tempo better encompasses the music.

I always advise my students to follow the tempo markings if possible, or to slow down if they can't really make them.

Anyway, just tried out the piece yesterday with the indicated speed. I think it is acceptable, but might be quite fast for students. But never go faster than that. But, is the chromatic semiquaver part ok for you? If you have problem with them, better go slower then the indicated tempo, rather then messing out the chromatic notes and let the 'sliding sound' come out

I dont' think the speed is really that important, is the feel of the music that is important ?!?!

I'd have had a good moan at the board about THAT one, I can tell you! If the board publishes the exam pieces with metronome markings they surely should not then PENALISE you for taking the markings seriously.

Liz

Well I guess it's too late to moan about that now, it was in 1989 and heaven knows the if the examiner is still alive! I was just a country lass then, we didn't have the internet. Even to get to the examination venue, we had to drive up like 2 hours (25km away). We took accepted everything as it was back then. It was disappointing though because I played everything well, no pitch problems and major mistakes, but because of that one song I got 126 overall. I was aiming for a distinction as you can see.

Anyway thanks for your comments Jane, Leia and HappyGirl (whom I hope is happy again! ) I rather prefer my 66 crotchet beats a minute tempo. I think I shall stick to it. 76 is alright, just that I "feel" the 66 better. The semiquavers.. well.. I used to play at 76 and most of it was ok until recently, then suddenly I have this weird problem of missing a note here and there. But as I said, now I feel 66 better. 76 is just getting all the notes right it seems!

sorry, just curious, do u mean ''indian'' song?
is there any ''indian'' song in the grade 4 piano pieces list B??????????????
im also going to have my grade 4 exam this august,n i have the exam pieces cd too, but did i....miss that ''indian'' song?i thought i NEVER EVER heard any indian song in the grade 4 piano exam syllabus..

I think this question is about the violin syllabus.

You are both right. It IS the violin syllabus and I mentioned the title wrongly. It's actually HINDU song. Well who asked them to change the title? The piano version of it is called, 'Song Of INDIA', so I got somewhat mixed up. Sorry!

Is that by... um... Rimsky Korsakov I THINK? From Sadko? Descending chromatic semis? I did that piece for grade 4!!!! (if it is the same piece...) I did it in '91 I think... I guess it takes longer for string pieces to come around again than it does for the wind sylabuses!

Yes you are right! That IS the piece. Maybe there's more repertoire available for strings then solo wind instruments. How did you do on the piece, btw? What did the examiner say about it?

Anyway the piano version of it is called Song of India and you can find it in Piano Pieces For Children Vol 3. by Amsco Music Publishing, New York City, if anyone's interested. Quite a lot of pieces in there. Like Humoresque, Moment Musical, Fur Elise, Turkey In the Straw... something like the kind of songs found in Violin Pieces The Whole World Plays.

how funny! I think the 91/92 syllabus material has come round again this year, or at least some of it, because a friend of mine is accompanying a grade 5 exam this session and is currently learning the accompaniment to a piece that I did for my grade 5 in '92

I can't find the music, and I took the exam back when there were only two lists, so I am not *totally* sure which section it was from in the exam book, but from the comment sheet (which, coincidentally, I happened to find yesterday whilst searching for something else!!) I think it was the piece I got 24 for - "This had a warm tone at the outset. Chromatic passages sometimes a little uneasy, but the rhythm was accurate". Hehe. It makes me feel very old that all my violin music is back on the currents lists though...

Sorry I can't be more useful - it was a long time ago that I played it. And I wasn't (and am not now) that brilliant at the violin anyway! If I find the music and have a go I'll let you know any tipes that my teacher gave me. I do recall how it goes - I really liked the opening section I seem to remember!

That's not bad Sarah, my friend did it on the 10th of June and the results are out, she got 22. The examiner said that her higher register was often not in tune and the whole piece was played at the same dynamic level, Oh dear, I hope I don't do the same. I seem to have trouble coordinating the dynamics with the proper bowing. How do you produce the 'warm tone' and control the dynamics? Play with faster bows? I think I will get the same comment as you on this part: 'uneasy chromatic passages'. Yes, my favourite part of the song is the beginning too. Maybe because it's easier to play!

That's interesting - well it's nice to know I didn't do too badly on it!

Warm tone: I'm no expert, but I'd say, don't be too tentative with the bow, (even in the quiet bits) and if you're able to use a little vibrato that might help. But definitely has a lot to do with the bowing arm I think. Ask your teacher about how to make the dynamics effective... I think that a lot of violinists have a tendency when they're not very confident to use too little pressure or too little bow when playing quietly so the quiet bits come about weedy rather than quiet, if you see what I mean (I know I used to do that, still do when playing up high!). Ideally you need to pick the brains of one of the violin experts round here... maybe start a new thread on violin dynamics?/or on bowing? Bowing everyone says is the hardest thing about playing string instruments, even though it seems like it should be pretty straightforward.

The chromatic sections are pretty hard as I remember - need ideally to be very accurate, and confident, both of which are hard to do when you see lots of little position changes and I think it's slurred too isn't it?! Practice the sections you find hard on their own and see how accurate you can get them, if you know you can play them pretty well then you will approach them with much more confidence.

Strange - I'd never heard of this until a couple of weeks ago, now it's cropping up all over! I'm learning the piano accompanyment for suprano voice, and finding it strange to play chords with no melody. Goodness knows what wil happen once we bring a singer into the equation!! *Really* nice piece though. Once I start getting the hang of it a friend and I are ggoing to try it as flute / piano.

Weird... now as a piece for soprano voice as well? The fulte/Piano duet sounds like a good idea. Or maybe for clarinet/piano- that would sound really swell! My mom actually told me that she first heard this piece as a recording with voice and she loved it.. might be from one of the singers she adores. Mario Lanza or somebody.