Am planning to take Grade 3 violin in Nov - just wondering is anyone else doing the same and what pieces are you doing?

I am planning to do....

Watkins Ale
Romance
Down by the Riverside

I have also looked at Rigaudon and Trio (but think it's a good bit harder than Watkins Ale) and Ain't Misbehavin but prefer Down by the Riverside.

Scales going ok - except Bflat but arpeggios are tough! Much harder than my piano experience from years ago. Good luck to all preparing for exams!

I was planning fairly generally to take Grade 3 in November having passed Grade 2 this June .. but I'm just back from travelling the world and have not had Claudia (my violin) out of her case for nearly five weeks!!!!

So I may postpone until March unless I can do some very hard work in the next few weeks But I was thinking of the Handel and 'Ain't Misbehavin' and not sure about the third piece. I haven't even begun to think about the scales

How long do you think it will take me to get my fingers back into shape???.. I can't believe how long my left-hand fingernail have become hahaha!

Hope you've all been working hard while I was away....

Well my practice has been hit and miss for most of this year but in spite of that I am planning on getting some serious practice in between now and Nov - I had the pieces and most scales to a reasonable standard when I got married in April but since then.........

Let's do Grade 3 together!!!

Well, I am not planning in taking any violin exams in november as it's the 'piano turn'. My next violin exam will be March 08. But my violin teacher suggested I start learning the pieces from the grade 3 syllabus so am off to buy the book tomorrow (I have learnt scales arps and dominant sevenths already just like you). Will let you know how I will get on!
I may not be taking any violin exam in november but we can still make that journey together

Yes - I'll join in the challenge with you BUT (and it's a very big 'but'...)

I took Claudia out of her case last night for the first time in five weeks... and what an awful noise I made!

My fingers were stiff and wouldn't obey me, I was out of tune, my left arm and shoulder really hurt!!!

I seriously don't know if I'll be ready by November - when do the entries go in?

I'll start lessons again next week but I haven't even begun to LOOK at the scales never mind play them! I played G and A yesterday which were slightly out of tune and then I tried D with the shift and it was all over the place. I played a Kayser study but it was the first one (!) in the book when I was working from the back of the book before I went away! I 'ran through' the Grade 3 pieces and I played the Handel terribly and it was off-pitch and I played so many wrong notes because my fingers wouldn't move correctly! I quite like Watkin's Ale though. And I still like Ain't Misbehavin.

Sooooo. I'll have to work out a practice schedule to fit round work (which has taken off recently). I'll write down all the scales and start working through them. I'll practice third position. And I'm thinking of buying some gold-fleck rosin to see if that will help.

Also, my violin sounded 'fuzzy' and a bit muffled - does that mean I need new strings? She wasn't too badly out of tune after all these weeks but maybe she's just in the huff with me

I'm not sure, November may be too soon

Lottie, do the same as me, get ready for grade 3 in november but don't sit the exam, we can then skip to grade 4 for a couple of terms after that come on, we can do this one

I have bought the new syllabus today and listened to the CD.
From my first 'listen to' I like:
A3 German Dance
B1 Grande valse brillante
B3 O mio babbino caro
and all of the C pieces
so I think I'll start with those but eventually learn them all anyway.
Funny about Bflat, I don't find to have a problem with that one but my teacher told me that it is an 'infamous one' generally.

Ah.. I'm using the 'old' syllabus - the new one is just out. Wondered why I didn't recognise those pieces.

I like the sound of the Grand valse brillante - who wrote that?

Chopin
when you hear it you WILL recognize it, it's a famous one (infact I only recognised it when I heard it from CD)

Can you use the new syllabus for this November or does it start from next year? I'm not sure I like the pieces from the 'old' one very much.

Another day went by yesterday with no practice I seem to have lost a bit of my old enthusiasm which is really sad. Any ideas for rejuvination? I did have a very busy day and I've still got jet-lag from my Aussie trip ..but those are excuses really.

Today I'm definitely going to pick up Claudia - even just for half an hour! And take a look at those scales!!!

You can only use the new syllabus from March; however you can use the old syllabus for the March sitting if you are working on those pieces.

There are some lovely pieces in the old syllabus - 'Romance' is hauntingly beautiful when played well and I really like 'Ain't Misbehavin''. You can sneak a preview of the pieces by going into musicroom - they play the first 30s of each piece on the CD demo.

I love the romance but it brings tears to my eyes how badly I play it because I don't have the technique (ie vibrato) to play it as expressively as I would like. Ain't Misbehavin is great fun.

Off to do some practice *halo*

They don't expect vibrato at grade 3 - Romance still sounds great without it.

Yes, vibrato is only expected at Grade 5.
You could try beethovan's Moderato for an easy A section piece.
Or the brahm's waltz for the b section.
but if it was me taking the exam, I would do the Romance

Orla, are you still doing the same pieces?

The entry is due and I'm still dithering about whether to risk it... and I still haven't begun the scales!

Yup have decided on Watkins Ale, Romance and Down by the Riverside. Think I will have to hand deliver my application to the Ireland Rep at the weekend - the closing date here is Monday! Pitch and intonation was apalling at my first lesson with new teacher yesterday but she seems to think that with some hard work between now and exam I can pass.....hopefully will do better than just scrape a pass but sure we'll see......go on enter....I could do with an exam buddy!!!

My Romance isn't sounding so hauntingly beautiful - it's more like a race to the end!! I'll have to do some serious practice and my teacher wants all scales from memory by next Tuesday!!!

So having decided to take Grade 3 in March next year I have also decided to use the new syllabus because the pieces do look really interesting.

At my lesson last week my teacher said the new pieces for Grade three are HARDER than the old ones!!! There's lots more position shifts and the 'tunes' are more difficult too! From what I've seen of the new ones so far I think she's right - do the ABRSM pieces always get harder each time the syllabus changes? She also thinks the Grade 4 pieces are easier than the old syllabus

Anyway, I've just noticed the bit about arpeggios three notes to a bow... WHAT!!!!.... how hard is that??? (I haven't tried it yet but it already just SOUNDS scary - how on earth will I get that lovely and smooth!!!!!)

I'm starting with working on 'Oh Mio...' because I think it's a lovely piece and reminds me of views of Italy from the Merchant Ivory film with Helena Bonham-Carter that I can't-remember-the-name-of.... I'm going to play it mostly in 3rd position because it makes the notes sound so rich. I haven't decided on the other pieces yet. I don't even know which violin to play these days

So how are all my fellow grade-3'ers getting on? Can you all play Dmajor in tune over the shift?

Lottie, I'm happy you have chosen the new syllabus so I will have a 'buddy'
Oh mio babbino caro is also the first I have learnt, the book 'suggests' to play it ALL in third position, but of course as you know there are MANY ways to play a piece. My teacher suggested I tried to swap and change between 1st and 3rd as it makes the bowing easier (there are some string crossings to do in third position only just for the sake of one note). But having learnt it all in 3rd now, although I do sometimes play it the way he suggested I still prefer it all in 3rd position.

So far I have learnt that one, Jeanie with the light brown hair, old Joe clark, sweet Lorraine (love this one!) and Rumba, I have also learnt the Grande valse brillante BUT this is MUCH harder than it looks because of all the 'jumpy bow' you have to do (middle section being the hardest to polish! I'll get it polished by march!).
Of course I can do with perfectioning all of them but Grande Valse is my challenge.
Oh yes, am learning Canon as well, your favourite Lottie
The arpeggios 3 notes to a bow are scarier then they look, I am just practicing them slowly each time and they are getting better, if you don't expect instant results you will surprise yourself, slowly but surely they will come on nicely.
D major 2 octaves? I am doing fairly ok with that one

As for the pieces getting harder/easier, there is often people thinking some pieces are harder/easier than previous syllabus, I guess it's because sometimes it is so relative to judge what grade a piece is, often you will never get everybody to agree on it happens with the piano syllabus all the time

when I feel 'confident enough' (which might be never) I might record myself on youtube and let you see it/listen to it but you'll have to be 'sitting down' and holding on tight

PS Old Joe Clark: the fast middle bit is a 'tough one' to master too (not the speed, the bowing, in order to get smooth sounding notes at the speed required)LOL

Oh wow - it sounds like you're really having fun with all the pieces! .. and the scales!!

I'm really only just getting back into the 'swing' of things now and starting to enjoy playing again (I felt so discouraged after my long break). I'm even off to play Scottish tunes in a concert tonight (not solo, there's a small group of us).

In 'Oh mio..' I'm sliding a couple of notes from third to first position to make a very slight glissando to try and make it sound more 'vocal' (if that makes sense). I'm also determined to have my vibrato under control by March to just add a teeny weeny bit to the longer notes (it's not to show off but just to bring out more of the 'voice' quality - I do love Puccini!!!) I keep bursting into singing 'Oh mio' in the woods when I'm walking the dogs so I think it's etched into my brain now (the poor dogs just give me funny looks because I'm NOT a singer by any stretch of the imagination )

Ooo isn't this fun - we can compare notes over the pieces now.... and hopefully compare notes all the way to grade 8 - now don't I sound ambitious!!!!!! I'd love to see/hear you play on youtube!!! Do you need a video camera to do that?

I'm going to give the other pieces a try over the weekend.

I was sitting here (after reading your earlier post) thinking "ooh that would be nice with a little subtle swoop from 1st to 3rd position here and there", and then find you've already posted that so can I add my agreement that that could be rather good IMO

which couple of notes do you shift in?
Also in bar 7, second half of the bar, playing the D then C#, it makes more sense to use your first finger from third to second position and back to third, that sounds nicer too rather than cross string just for that C#.

poor dogs
for youtube yes you need a webcam, my computer has an inbuilt one. I have already video'd myself (poor grammar there, sorry) for my brother who lives abroad as he sometimes wants to hear my progress (I haven't heard from him since he's seen it )

I agree - I 'borrowed' the new syllabus from a friend and this was the only piece I really liked. The shifts, in conjunction with a long pause on some of the top notes, really bring out the character of the piece. For some of the notes I've been encouraged to slide down to 2nd position which isn't actually as difficult as it sounds.

The new syllabus does strike me as more difficult than the old I might add - but at least that means you have to get on top of 3rd position which will make things easier in the long run.

Well I had a good 'try-out' of the whole new Grade 3 book this morning and I like it a lot better than the old one.

Seeing as I'm not doing the exam until March I'm going to aim to learn all the pieces thoroughly (unusually I quite like them all) but provisionally I can see me playing these ones for my 'programme'; I think they balance one another very well and are good rounded pieces...

A - Lord Cutt's March
B - O mio babbino caro
C - Sweet Lorraine

I think my least favourite is the Beethoven but even it is okay really.

I love all this 3rd, 2nd position work (especially in O mio..) because although I'm struggling with intonation at the moment hopefully it will all be much more secure by March.

And then there's the scales.... they're not too bad either and I LOVE doing the chromatic ones and I've always had a soft spot for dominant sevenths... hopefully by march my legato arpeggios will be nice and smooth. I'm starting all the new scales very slowly so far.

I went over to my parents yesterday with my teacher and we played duets for an hour (Pleyel and Mazas (sp?) because my parents can't get out to concerts. I didn't play terribly well but I did use Dad's violin and I think he was 'amused' It was good fun though and they had great chocolate cake - it was just like playing a Drawing Room Recital I'm very lucky that my teacher is becoming a good friend and really enjoys playing - who knows, we may do this in public one day.... *dreams on hahahah*

I did my grade 3 last Nov, I did Watkins Ale, Romance and Down by the Riverside. I saw the new grade 3 syllabus and it does look a bit harder than what I did for my exam! It's funny how syllabus changes, I remember over 10 years ago when I first learnt the violin, you only had to do 2 pieces for the exam now it's 3 pieces!

The examiners comments about my exam was that I need to have more expression in my playing and need to play my scales faster. I was playing everything a bit slower than usual and with more care cos I was really nervous! Next time I know I should just go for it and stop being scared of making mistakes!

Good luck to those doing the grade 3!

Great to hear someone who has done the same pieces as I am doing this Nov. Playing with expression is hard when you are trying to play the right notes and concentrate on intonation and such. Any tips in particular for these peices? How slow/fast were you playing the scales. I presume you will get better marks by playing slow and correct than fast with mistakes? Congrats on getting your grade 3 - have you done any grades since?

What?

When I did violin exams one always had to do 3 pieces - and I started over 20 years ago and took my last exam about 10 years ago...

I practiced the pieces at about the same speed as the CD recordings, when it came to the exam I slowed down a bit for the Watkins Ale without meaning to cos I got nervous and cos it was in 6/8 time, I messed up my rhythm! For Down by the Riverside, the comment I got was it needs to feel "lighter".

I was playing my scales at a moderate tempo but I lacked "effortlessness". I was playing too carefully, guess the examiner picked up that I was thinking too much and being too careful! I shouldn't have crammed in my scales a few weeks before the exam! I got a merit, I thought I failed and did bad in sight reading and aural (I crammed that in during the last few weeks before the exam as well) This was my first ever exam!

I'm sure you'll be fine for your exam! Let us know how you get on!

I'm skipping the grade 4 exam and planning to take my grade 5 within the next 1.5 years. I don't practice a lot and don't have regular lessons, so my progress is a bit slow! You really need to practice a lot when it comes to shifting in 2nd, 3rd and 4th positions for grade 5!





Ooops, I remembered wrong. I just got out my 1995/96 grade 3 violin exam, you do have to do 3 pieces! But there's only List A and B, no list C...that's why I presumed it was 2 pieces. There's less choice of pieces back in those days.

Thanks for the tips - I am struggling with my scales/arpeggios at the moment - the ones I well I can do pretty effortless-ly but if I am struggling, it's just a train wreck....

It's very useful to get some feedback from someone who has done the exam. I would LOVE to get a merit but I'll have to get practicing.Need to try and put some life and expression into the pieces too.

Best of luck going for Grade 5 - that's pretty impressive!

I took (and passed with merrit) my grade 3 last easter. I played the same pieces as you. Romance is beautiful. Wishing you all the best for the big day x

You can practice your scales with a metronome and then slowly speed up the beat. And use a guitar tuner to check your intonation. It's all about practice practice practice! You can do it!