Thread: Best piece for grade 4?

I'm officially doing grade 3 piano music (I've only been playing for a year afterall), but I can easily do grade 4 and could maybe stretch to grade 5. Anyway, can anyone tell me what they think the best piece is that I could play at my level? All that's stopping me playing the pieces I want to play is my technical ability, so being able to know what I could handle would be great. I don't necessarily need to say what style I want, I just want to know what you lot think.

Gives us a hint, what are the last three pieces you learned?

Which is your favorite style/music period/composer?

Ok then. I actually just ordered Claire de Lune online, after my piano teacher seemed to think I may be able to handle it. Anyway, I've been playing Chopin's Prelude in B minor, as well as Black and White rag (although I heard Winifred Atwell play it and it's nowhere near as complicated as that version, still tricky though). Other examples of what I've played- 'Toreador' from the Carmen Suite and The Entertainer.

I'd like to play some music from the Romantic or Classical period, but I'd also like to try some Jazz. Anything that has a nice tune, I suppose! I don't have a favourite composer as such, as I tend to really like a selection of tunes from many composers.

Any help is much appreciated!

Nice choice. Are you playing the whole sonata or just the first movement?

I think you will like two Schubert scherzos, D593
Nº 1 http://www.classicalmidiconnection.c...t/schusch1.mid
Nº 2 http://kunstderfuge.com/_/schubert_s...c%29yogore.mid

Don't be afraid by the midi files... they are very good and entertaining pieces. They are a very good study of character.

Ask your teacher for more Schubert pieces (like the Serenade).

For something more Prokofievan you can try Khachaturian's Waltz from Masquerade.

Thanks a lot! I wouldn't have hunted those pieces if you hadn't recommended them, so it much appreciated. I'm actually about to do the Serenade- it's in a book of tunes I'm working through- but the scherzos sound very exciting.

Although, I don't think I mentioned a sonata... Am I missing something, or is one of the pieces I mentioned actually a sonata and I didn't realise? To be honest, I'm not really that sure what a sonata is.

How about baroque pieces? Henry Purcell or Bach. When I was in the third grade, what i love the most is Henry Purcell's adaptation of hornpipe in g minor and Bach's fugue in E minor BWV 900.

By the way, talking about midi files, why it seems that some people are afraid of midis? My piano teacher also forbid me to listen to any of them, she said that it will poison my expressiveness.

Originally Posted by R-F

Although, I don't think I mentioned a sonata... Am I missing something, or is one of the pieces I mentioned actually a sonata and I didn't realise? To be honest, I'm not really that sure what a sonata is.

My bad. As soon as I read "Clair de Lune" I thought you would be referring to the Adagio Sostenuto from Beethoven's 14th piano sonata, which is also known as Moonlight sonata, or Claire de Lune sonata. I immediately discarded Debussy's Clair de Lune, from the Bergamasque suite, as I don't think is adequate for 4th graders.

Yeah, I got the music for Debussy's Claire de Lune the other day, had a look at the first page and thought,
"Yeah, I could probably handle this."
I then had a look at the next 6 pages and thought,
"Yeah, this is going to be more of a year long project than a quickly-learned piece."

Anyway, I have my Grade 3 exam on Tuesday so I'm practicing for that just now. I should pass it easily, but you can never be too careful. Thanks for all the pieces you guys have recommended!

Originally Posted by R-F

Yeah, I got the music for Debussy's Claire de Lune the other day, had a look at the first page and thought,
"Yeah, I could probably handle this."
I then had a look at the next 6 pages and thought,
"Yeah, this is going to be more of a year long project than a quickly-learned piece."

Give it a go all the same. You don't have to play it particularly fast. Take it phrase by phrase. You may need some advice on handling the LH arpeggios when you can't spread them between both hands. There are different ways.

All Debussy is difficult - even if it seems easy to play the notes there's the matter of expression. I'd say that Clair de Lune is about ABRSM Grade 6/7.

Anyway, I have my Grade 3 exam on Tuesday so I'm practicing for that just now. I should pass it easily, but you can never be too careful. Thanks for all the pieces you guys have recommended!

Best of luck (hoping that luck isn't too necessary!)

Originally Posted by Frasier

Give it a go all the same. You don't have to play it particularly fast.

No. You just need to play it particularly well.

All Debussy is difficult - even if it seems easy to play the notes there's the matter of expression.

Agreed. It's particularly difficult because not many students play impressionist or more modern works before trying to play Debussy (I mean, nobody dares to tackle Franck, Poulenc, Fauré, Messiaen)... so in that initial switch to the great french master what the students have in their head is Bach, Beethoven, Chopin... and I think their Debussy sounds romantic, but not impressionist.

It's not the kind of piece I'd be preforming in the near future, simply because I havn't played enough impressionistic music to aquire a good technique for it. I only bought it because I liked the piece so much, and plan to play it simply for my own enjoyment. I've listened to it being played by different artists, so at least I know vaguely what it should sound like.
On another note, I did my Intermediate 2 exam at school (different to Board Exams), and I thought I performed really well on both Piano and Tuned Percussion. On Tuned Percussion I played Pizzicato Polka and Dance of the Reeds, and my music teacher who was accompanying me on the piano said he would have gave me 10s for both pieces. (Perfect Scores). For Piano I played Chopins Prelude in B minor, Cha Cha, March of the Wooden Soldiers and Equivoque No. 8. I thought I played them all very well.

Jw, I don't really want to change the subject, but how do you know what grade of music you're playing?