Who's looked at the Grade 8 violin in the new syllabus? What pieces do you think you'll do?

Well I'm certainly not about to take grade 8 violin but I did have a look and I think

Bach - Gavotte en rondeau
Schumann
Monti

would make a nice little recital for anybody with the technique and nerve to go for unaccompanied Bach in a Grade 8 exam

I'm quite drawn towards the Lalo, but I don't fancy that great chromatic scale down from the top top top top top top E! It's a nice piece though. I like the Bach concerto in A minor, I played that quite a while ago so might go back and relearn it. The Beethoven and Mozart I'm not familiar with so I'm waiting till I get my CD posted to me. Vivaldi concerto in E is nice but I don't fancy learning all the fiddly bits. Monti Czardas I've just performed at my recital yesterday so I could do that. It's all pretty straightfoward except for one of the double stops in the slower bit and the passage in 2/3rd position in the fast bit. Other than those pieces I don't know any of the others so I guess it's all down to when I recieve the CD. I've got a feeling nearly everyone is going to want to do the Monti Czardas, after all it's such a cool piece.

As a pianist I have been practising the K454 to play with my daughter. We have actually played quite a few of the Mozart (and Beethoven) ones and K454 is probably the best one. .

no idea, but I'll be using this syllabus when I'm Grade 8, no doubt about that, so I'll be checking in for comments about the pieces.

The Monti, Czardes, is great - not seen printed copy of the music, but I hear a terrifying passage of harmonics - something I HATE! Think I like the Shostakovich ..... It's hard to make a decision knowing that I am going to spending the next few months playing them over and over and over and over ........

The Schumann is nice The Lalo has a mega long introduction.

I think I'll go for it next year. I choose you...
list A
Bach: Gavotte en Rondeau
List C
Monti: Czardas

I chose Bach because I have the music and I like it. I've played a bit of it before.
The Czardas - I like the power of it, and I've played it before.

list B? Oh yes, maybe Grieg. I like him (his kind of music) very much... or maybe Schumann?

Harmonics are cool. Only thing is on some days I can get it without much hassle, others.. they sound like I'm breathing down on the violin neck. Kind of fiddly, fleeting technique if you ask me.

They've most certainly 'raised the bar' in the new Grade 8 syllabus.

Possibly a first for the Stravinsky 'Suite Italienne'. As far as I'm aware, until now, it's only ever appeared on the diploma syllabus.

By putting these types of work in at the higher grade levels, perhaps it is an indication that the AB now want an even greater standard of musical maturity and playing ability at Grades 7 and 8.

Oh no Maybe I should take Grade 8 next year with the old syllabus then.

Viohazard and his teacher are considering dumping the Monti (Group C) choice and choosing either the Stravinsky Suite Italienne (Into and Serenade) or the Falla Jota. Teacher says that for Group C he can choose anything at all that he likes (Bach Partita for A, Grieg Sonata for B).

Viohazard thought the Rachmaninov was repetitive and might become tedious to practice extensively, liked the Shostakovich, but liked the Stravinsky just a bit better. The amount of 19th century music he plays for classical guitar makes the Falla feel familiar to him, I imagine.

So would the Stravinsky be a foolhardy choice? Any pitfalls in the Falla? Wiser for a violinist to pick Shostakovich in view of future auditions?!

Shostakovich takes a little time to get 'familiar' with. Not the notes, but the mood, really.

I'm not taking my grade 8 violin exam anytime soon. 'Cos I'm waiting for my result from my exam on Sept 10! It's going to come either tomorrow or the day after!

Shostakovich is a safe bet for any violinist, but also rather predictable. The Falla I don't know, so can't comment. The Stravinsky generally contains a lot of double stopping, as in, full passages written in double-stopped thirds and sixths, which would a lot to expect of a Grade 8 candidate. Put it this way, it would very easy for Stravinsky to sound pretty ropey.

Best bet might be to look at them all and make a decision in a few more weeks.

Thanks Amanda, there is a bit of time for him to think about Group C while he concentrates on the Grieg.

He could always use any spare time working on the aural, cough cough. I'm sure he couldn't discuss all the musical features stuff in the correct terminology. I bought him the Aural Time Grade 8 book and it's invaluable! His teacher has really brought Viohazard's playing up a notch, but just won't be able to teach him the aural/musical knowledge component - I heard him telling Viohazard the other day that the "Rondeau" of "Gavotte en Rondeau" means a "dance where people dance round in a circle". Groan.

One reason why the Monti is being reconsidered is that two publishers are specified in the syllabus, but one was out of stock, and what's arrived is a music plus backing-track version that looks as if it might be simplified. The violin teacher is thinking that as long as we have to order new music anyway, it may be a good idea to try something completely new rather than risk bad habits from when he learned the Csardas at a very basic level long ago!

I was just thinking that it was a month since you had your exam, Rai. Good luck with your results!

Oh dear!

Just curious - anybody doing Grade 8 violin this year, especially in the June session? And what pieces did you (or your students) choose form the new syllabus?

How's it going? Happy with your choices? Found an accompanist and got him or her safely locked up until the exam day?

I have this on the back burner for....sometime or other, but using the current syllabus. The only piece I have definitely settled on is the Mozart in list A Maybe Lalo or Grieg for list B. I haven't got as far as thinking about list C yet.

And then there's all those double-stop scales.....

I picked up Czardas aa couple of years ago, learnt it by heart for busking - and ow the people doing their Grade 8 this year tell me its on the syllabus!

It is weird how some are a lot easier than others - when I did mine last year, I found "The President" (J. Scott Skinner) straightforward....

Sorry - off topic they do look interesting this yr though - nice to have a mess around with now I don't have any grades to work towards

Son thought at one point that he might do the Csardas - like most people he'd learned it a while before Grade 8 level. But then he got scared, wondering what kind of extreme skills they might be looking for when they decided to put it on the Grade 8 syllabus !

Hello,

Hi to `violin-ann', what do you mean by taking Grade 8 next year with the old syllabus? Can one still use the previous syllabus? I learnt a couple of pieces in the previous syllabus but haven't taken the exam. So now I'm having to choose from the new syllabus.

I'm thinking of
Bach -Allegro Assai (list A)
Greig or Schumann (list B)
Senfter

Has anyone had a look at the Senfter piece?

I've been looking at the grade 8 syllabus, hopefully for next march or possibly summer. Definately doing the Monti for the C list, I love it Now looking at the A list and my teacher and I have it down to either the Albinoni or the Corelli, neither of which I know at all and neither of which I can find a decent recording of anywhere Just wondering if anyone knows either piece and could possibly tell me a little about them? Thanks

In reply to the message above, I have the ABRSM recordings of all the Grade 8 Violin pieces if you're interested (drop me a message). My teacher reckons that they aren't that great; almost too 'correct' to convey the right emotions etc. but thats all I have.

I'm doing the Lalo (B) and Monti © - not sure about A, possibly Vivaldi.

Where did you get the recordings from please?
x

I presume my teacher bought them from here:

http://www.abrsmpublishing.com/publications/5155

They cost approx. £19.95 (inc. VAT) to buy.

Ahhh thanks .




Im not working on any grades at the moment, just technique and stuff but I might buy the cd and llisten to the tracks to try and see why piece I might like to do, probably around christmas/spring or even next summer! .

Good luck to everyone doing it.
x

No problem. Sounds like a good idea.

Thanks for the good luck

Having just re-read my above posts, I have spotted a lot of spelling errors, and wrong words! I apologise, was typing quickly.

Haha I've seen worse...I think we got the general gist of it.

Well, the new grade 8 list for violin looks a great mix to me.

Monit Czardas is great fun but will probably be so popular, I can imagine examiners getting pretty tired of hearing it after two years...

My personal favourites would be

List A - Albinoni, Vivaldi or Corelli (as I am a big fan of Baroque violin music)

List B - possibly Schumann or Delius, but I really can't decide (too much choice)

List C - Stravinsky, Rachmaninov or Shostakovich ( yes you guessed it, I am a big fan of Russian music... )

When I said I am a big fan of Baroque violin music, I meant to say - "a big fan of ITALIAN Baroque music in particular"...

I'll be doing grade 8 on the current syllabus but probably not until next Christmas. Nothing's decided...there's lots I like in list A - I adore the Bach Gavotte but don't know if I have the nerve, but also Mozart and Albinoni. For B probably Wieniawski although I haven't listened to the whole list. For C possibly Stravinsky. eeeek. Czardas is cool - but the whole world does play it.
How's everyone getting on with their pieces?