Hi everyone, hope you are all well and enjoying the bank holiday weekend!

I am trying to decide when I should take me grade 8. I have pretty much mastered list A and B pieces and am getting there with my scales and so am thinking of taking exam in november. I've got a problem with list C though. I really like the Skinner piece, but it is very difficult and many of my problem areas on violin are highlighted in this piece. I don't really know what the best thing to do is...slog on with the piece or find another to play. Which pieces do you think are good in this list. I also know the Bartok but I can't find a pianist who can play this piece securely (at least that's what they say!)

Getting slightly worried about this now so would really appreciate advice - do you think november is too soon???

Blythy !

What are you doing for lists A and B? And what are your problems with the Skinner? (I played it for my G8 so maybe I can sympathise/offer advice.) I would persevere with it - you're unlikely to get a violinist marking you, so they probably won't realise any small technical slips which tend to pop up in this piece! If you do get a violinist, they'll understand which parts are difficult and not be overly harsh on those sections. Plus, it's quite easy to practice because you can treat each variation as a seperate exercise, and just take 10 minutes here and there for whichever section. I found with this piece that I got to a plateau, and I liked it but considered changing as it was too long, but got over it after just working on all the bowing techniques that pop up (especially the spicatto and up-bow stacatto sections). You can be really musical in this piece as well.
So in case you can't guess, I vote stick with it. If not, the Bartok is good. Kabalevsky is OK. But I found the Skinner to be the most fun by far.

November: why not? If you've already got 2 pieces at a good standard and the scales are going well, I'd enter, or you'll get bored by Spring! How are the aurals going? They're pretty horrible for G8, ditto sight-reading. What does your teacher think?

I did the Bartok for mine - it's a really great piece to do. Might it be worth hunting around for a different pianist? Best of luck.

I also did Bartok for my exam. It's a lovely piece which sounds like a very virtuoso one but isn't so difficult to play. I think that it is not necessary for the pianist to play everything what's in the score. Important is especially to keep the right rhytm my accompanist didn't play everything and did a few mistakes during the exam, but it's not the pianist that matters, the examiner is paying attention to you

Aurals are really horrible I definitely reccomend buying the specimen cassetes or CDs
And be ready to play in 5 flats, 5/8 time for the sight-reading - that was a little bit of a surprise for me

Good luck!

Oh, bad luck. My SR was in B minor and in 4/4... I guess I was lucky.

Heh, I wonder if we got exactly the same piece...

Hi all! Many thanks for your advice. I do really like the Skinner and think I will stick with it. I am finding it hard at the moment as I haven't had a lesson in many years (i'm 26 and determined to get grade 8 eventually!). Am working on it alone at the moment, but have a lesson booked in a weeks time. What concerns me most is the left hand pizz as I haven't encountered this before. Any advice? Also the ricochet is going to be interesting i feel!!

Have taken your advice re: Aural tests and sight reading.....5 flats yuk!

Thanks again for your input - greatly appreciated!

p.s my pianist is fantastic, but he is a consumate perfectionist!!! Explains why he doesn't feel happy playing the Bartok.

oh and list A - Handel list B Ten Have

Cool I also did Ten Have do you have any info about him? All I know is that he was Dutch. I even started a thread to find out more, but unfortunately nobody could help. He's a very "mysterious" composer

Can't help you with the Skinner, because I don't know this piece at all.

Right now I practise Manuel de Falla - Danse Espagnole, where the left hand pizz occurs. Thank god that just the "1" finger or open string has to be played so I can pluck with "3" finger. I have so extremely small hands that it would be a problem for me to pluck the strings with my (very clumsy) little finger.
I am also fighting slured arpeggios in spiccato. Today I found out that I use the brain too much it's much easier when I concentrate just on the feeling of the right hand, but not sure if this will help you with ricochet...

From list A I played Tartini.

I am 12 and am also doing my G8. I chose the Bartok, Brahms, and for C: Vivaldi. It is short piece, and easy to learn and play. My advice, do a piece that is nice and short, examiners can't mark you down because of piece choice, and not too hard. As for when to take your exam, it really depends on how long you take to learn things, and when you feel confident, if you feel really nervous, take it next year. I started mine last month, and am doing it in Nov.
Hope this helps!

Well, many of my friends chose Chen Yi's Romance of H'siao and C'hin for their C list. Some chose Kabalevsky though.

For A list, they chose Vivaldi's Spring or Handel's Sonata.

i can thoroughly reccomend the Kabalevsky