I have seen a copy of the AB Selected piano examination pieces and I would like to know which pieces you are doing? and is there any Study, a technical piece to be performed for the grade?
Thanx, Niall

No, you do not have to perform a study, however there are around 150 scales which you have to learn! The pieces I am doing are:

A:2 Handel Fugue in Gm
B:1 Beethoven Allegro from Sonata in Fm
C:8 Chopin Waltz in Em

Id recommend doing:

Bach's sarabande and Rondeaux in c minor
Beethoven's Allegro in F minor
and Chopin's Waltz in E minor.

Last one is especially gorgeous!!

Depends which way you look at the scales.
I get it down to 24 Diatonic (8 each major and both forms of minor)
Then you just play around with them by playing in 3rds and 6ths/ staccato and legato. I do 2 a day.
Then chromatic in minor 3rds (same thing but starting on any note- 3 a day)
3 scales in thirds with separate hands (daily)
Arpeggios - 24 (major and minor with inversions and dominant 7th 2 a day as scales)
Diminished 7s on any note 3 a day... I start same notes as that day's chromatics .

Half an hour a day covers the lot over 4 days

I'm doing

A1 - Bach - Partita in C minor
B2 - Schubert - Sonata in A
C8 - Chopin - Waltz in E minor.

Chopin's really fun to play around with, certain tricky parts but they can be improved and worked on.

Bach requires very accurate fingerings, otherwise its really simple.

Schubert is still fine except learning to cope with triplets on one hand, while the other plays normal beats. (hope you get the meaning here)

I'd have loved to play Grieg's Sonata in E minor but only noticed it after going through Chopin!

hi.
took my grade 8 last week
i did the bach sarabande and rondeaux, its lovely and calming!!

also did the schubert, sounds beautiful but can get boring and it goes on for aggeess, watch out for the tricky triplets stuff and all the octave work, not too bad once you get used to it.

for C i did Sacre Monte, relatively easy apart from a little bit of cross-rhythmy type stuff. Although I felt it difficult to keep a straight face in the exam after my piano teacher sitting there in my lessons pretending to be galloping along a desert plain!!

scales are fine, just do them in manageable groups!
good luck!

wow! mus haf been good!

for Rondeaux i seem to keep increasing tempo as i play. isnt really healthy!

i was considering that sacro piece too. but the last part put me off so im taking chopin.

schubert's pretty easy actually i think.. constant practise will keep schubert just fine.

I'm just about getting to grips with Sacro monte... in the last section I have to leave notes off some of the RH chords as I have small hands and can't reach

keep going with sacre monte, i started off with that one, went off it because of the end section and learnt another piece but then went back to it, with enough work it is fine and not as difficult as it looks! don't be put off by that end bit, it sounds fab when you've got it right

hmmmm.

actaully small hands for sacro would be ideal. esp with the last part - squeezing both hands around the area slightly middle C

haaa. my hands are too big. having problms even doin it slowly.

So glad you're doing the Chopin, its such a nice piece- can be a bit tricky at the end, but just slow methodical practice! I used to think I was always speeding up on the Rondeaux, but according to the metronome I wasnt!

hey! i'm stuck on which ALTERNATIVE piece to do for list A... I dont like the look of the ones in the book...

B: Mozart sonata in D K.311 *i think*
C: Chopin walse... cant remember what key it's in... but if anyone has ANY of those alternative pieces for list A... please help!!!!!

all that u mentioned were alternatives for C list. not A.

whoops I mean I'm DOING those pieces for C and B... looking for pieces in list A... confusing!!

QUOTE

I dont like the look of the ones in the book...

What do you expect them to "look" like to appeal to you?

Have been trying out the Mozart Bb from list B.
I think this one suits my playing better than the others.
Must discuss this with my teacher

Anyone doing Poulenc's Novuellete NO.2?

I just got the score the other day for fun.

Really ###### lotsa flats!