Are page turners allowed from Grade 8 exams? The Beethoven Sonata i'm doing is 7 pages long (Schirmer edition of the Op.79) and the Chopin Polonaise is 8 pages (old German edition of the complete polonaises) and there isnt much oppurtunity to turn especially the Beethoven

if page turners are allowed please do let me know

oh i forgot to mention, if i remember rightly, Scarlatti Sonata in D can be a bit awkward page turning?

As far as I remember - they aren't. But you can photocopy awkward page turns - so if you are playing on a grand piano you should be able to have 4 pages on show quite easily without any falling off. Just dont do what I did last week when I accompanied at a music festival and stick them in the wrong order....
Second thoughts... you could always memorise your pieces!!

I can't remember whether I played from memory or from the music in my grade 8 (too long ago now to remember) but if I did use the music I would have memorized the bars before and after the page turn so that I could then turn in a more convenient place, and part of my practice routine would be specifically to practise all the page turns until they were 100% confident. When I am accompanying in a recital I still use that strategy, but when performing solo recitals I always play from memory.

greaaaat, The Beethoven is THE most awkward piece to do page turning with. Is photocopying allowed?

Have a look on this site under 'practical examination regulations' This is the relevant bit
Candidates will normally be required to make their own page-turns of the music. Examiners cannot undertake to do this. However, candidates taking a Grade 7 or 8 examination - primarily those taking subjects such as Guitar, Harp, Double Bass and Percussion (Organ candidates are referred to the introductory notes to the Organ Syllabus) - may be allowed to bring a page-turner where this would be absolutely essential and other means of coping with difficult page-turns are not possible. In such instances permission should be obtained in writing from the Board at the time of entry, giving details of the pieces containing the difficult page-turns and the edition to be used.
Personally I think page turners SHOULD be allowed - but there you go!
My understanding is that you may photocopy sheets to 'stick out' on either side etc ( I'm sure as a pianist you know what I mean) but you must essentially play from the original copy with added sheets . An entire p'copied piece is not allowed

The Scarlatti is very tricky to page turn but since it's 4 pages, a photocopy should be alright. I'm doing the Mozart in List B, which has reasonably easy page turns. The annoying thing is that the page is getting very creased with all the page turning, and I got a very painful paper cut doing it once

As far as I know, the examiners can't penalise you as long as you do your best to keep the piece going during the page turns, and miss out as little as possible.

Yes you can use photo copies but if you dont know all ready (which you probably do) then bending the corner of the page forward can make it alot easier to turn.

No, I'm afraid page turners aren't allowed for grade 8 piano. I asked the board once and was told to use a photocopy for an awkward page turn.

This is something that really irritates me, surely they must be able to (although words to the effect that they won't are in the regulations...). Just because there is a page turn the music shouldn't be allowed to be disrupted in any way. I would be more than a little annoyed if I paid to go to a professional recital and the playing was good but was disrupted for every page turn.

There are many ways to get around this: the first is to do as the professionals do and to memorise the piece; the second is to practise the page turns, it's part of the piece if you want to use the music, and manage to do them flawlessly (I saw it done very well at the Adult Learners' concert just the other day) this may involve memorising a few bars of the piece; another is to copy any turns that prove very difficult and do the rest as in suggestion two. I really do not believe that any allowances should be made for page turns in exams as it's something that one has to be able to work around in some way or another, and those who do the page turns well or memorise to get around it deserve more marks than those who don't (assuming the rest of the playing is equal); to me it's almost like saying well we won't worry too much about trills (or insert any other specific issue) but we're listening to everything else....

I think examiners don't do page turns because they are busy listening and assessing the performance, not being part of it. If you imagine having the examiner hovering right by you whilst you were playing watching your every move, I don't think you'd feel at ease (and probably neither would they). Also have you ever noticed how much examiners write in a grade 8? Imagine trying to do that, turn the pages, keep to time...... I guess they simply cannot make it happen. Doubtless somebody would write and complain that their result was poor because the examiner messed up the page turn

My understanding has always been that the Board will allow a page-turner if you ask and make a good case why. Three pieces with a nasty set of turns seems like a good reason - or photocopy as others have suggested.

Well my 3 ha'porth

Stage 1 - ask if you can have a page turner. In recital they would have one. if they say no go on to stage 2...

Stage 2 - find out if it is Grand Piano with the extra space for mare pages (if you can find out in advance) and then...

Stage 3 - do the photocopying extra pages bits, and practise with them so you know when you are going to turn (may be before the end of the photocopied page?)

And Stage 3 - memorise what you can as a backup

And good luck!!!

Well, i've asked the Board about this, and it turns out you are allowed to photocopy from their purple books but if you use pieces from books outside the ABRSM publishing, you need to ask the publisher themselves to photocopy!!! and if photocopying isnt an option, the board need to know the edition you use and assess the situation! so yay all is good!

AnotherPianist, it's perfectly fair that they allow a small amount of disruption to the music, because they DON'T allow a page-turner. They can't expect a perfect piece without one because some pieces don't give you any chance to turn, and some people can't memorise a whole piece. In almost any professional situation, a page-turner would be used, so if they don't allow one in the exam they must accept it will cause some disruption to the music.

But they do allow a page turner if the situation is such that one would be absolutely necessary: they just demand to see the edition of the music to make a judgement of whether it is possible or not, if such a situation arose where disruption was necessary then they would allow a page turner. If they (or the performer) decide no page turner is required then I can't see a reason to make an allowance.

I swear it says that we aren't allowed to photocopy from the abrsm books...or is that just so that you dont give the music illegally to other people?

Also, i don't know whether other people get this, but i always memorise the music anyway, as you do naturally when you practise loads but its always comforting to know that the music's there for you to look at if you lose your nerve and muck up during the exam!

I'm doing the Mozart from list B as well, but have got a copy of the full sonata and the page turns are much more sensible. As for the others, copies stuck to the book can be useful though can get creased and don't always stand up!

When I was playing for the school/university musical orchestras, I copied the music for the songs with tricky page turns (especially those where I couldn't miss notes out) and put the copies into plastic wallets, then put these into a folder. It made it much easier and quicker as the plastic slides along very readily. Don't know whether this would be allowed in an exam though.

You can photocopy a single page (or pages if required) for an awkward page turn the AB (and most other publishers) have given permission for this in a 'code of fair practice'. Of course if you've spoken to the AB (or ABRSM publishing at least) and they've given you permission to do it you can copy whatever they say as they own the copyright and can allow you to do whatever they want. You're just not allowed to copy the whole thing.

Is anyone actually doing the Op.79 Beethoven Sonata in G, the Chopin C minor Polonaise or the Scarlatti Sonata in D? if you do any of these, do you find any of these awkward to page turn?

I'm playing the Scarlatti - page turn isn't a problem if you play all or all-but-one of the notes in the 2nd time bar with one hand. Being only four pages long, can't really complain!

I'm playing the Mozart.
I have a copy of the first page although I think with time it would be possible to get a smooth turn. The rest of the turns are not really difficult.

Yeah, I'm alternating hands for that so I think I'll stick with the photocopy.