Here you go - a grade four space.

I'm currently playing (badly) some grade four viola pieces, having had a break in lessons for about 8 months this year. Some seem so much easier than others!

Looking forward to hear others comments and experiences with Grade 4.

Lis

Oooo thank-you Onion.


Well my G4 music only arrived yesterday so it's very early days yet but I think that English Dance from list A and Allegro from B are definites, I can play those through pretty much up to speed, very rough at the moment of course.

List C is more tricky, I'll probably choose Slow Fox as it's a beautiful piece of music.

What's everyone else chosen?

After a long discussion with my teacher, he decided that I was ready to move up to grade 4 - I wondered whether I should go through the whole of the new grade 3 syllabus first as I know it's harder than the old one. He felt I needed more of a challenge!

I've started on English Dance as well - the double stops are quite fun! Well done for being able to play this up to speed already, Ms Fiddle. Haven't looked at anything else yet but I am going to get my violin out this weekend for the first time in ages and have a proper practice!

There are a couple of spots in English Dance that are a bit sticky but I guess I had a head start with the double stopping etc as I have fiddle lessons as well as 'straight' violin lessons.

I'm really enjoying Allegro though, lots of scope for a really precise yet musical performance there.

It's just the sightreading that has me worried really, there aren't many scales to learn for grade 4 and I think I'll be ok with the aural but I haven't yet worked on sightreading that much in the 3 months I've been back playing. I can sightread grade 1 and 2 stuff but that's not really going to cut it.

My teacher suggested I could take the exam in the first session next year but part of me thinks I'll be better off waiting and really working to get to grips with all aspects of the exam in greater depth.

I'd rather wait until the second session to take grade 4 even if I've already started looking at grade 5 material by then.

I'm doing grade 4 in march, + my pieces are...

A1 - English dance, cause it's the easiest piece in the book so was an easy one to start on! plus the other 2 A pieces are (well seemed at the time) quite complicated to be my first violin piece to ever learn o_O (this is my first violin exam eek). The piece is pretty nice too XD Though i do love A3. anyway...

B3 - Allegro. i love all the B section pieces, and would have loved to do B2 Russian Dance but i think, as with the choice of section A piece, it was a bit technical seeing as i havent been playing long.

and C2 - Clockwork doll. it's really fun to play and sounds cool!

It's my first ever exam too. As I've only really been playing for 3 months or so I'm probably going to take the exam in the second session next year though.

I think Allegro is probably the easiest piece in the book.

Slow Fox is just so beautiful nothing else in list C got a look in.

Dosn't any one like La cumparsita C3 I think it is a brilliant piece, mind you I have got Scott Joplin's Rag Time Favourites for the alternative piece The Chrysanthemum.

I haven't started B3 yet I'm still trying to get my head round the double stopping in The English Dance. You all seem to be more musically aware than me as I wouldn't expect to be ready to take the exam for at least a year.

La Cumparsita would be my choice from list C if it wasn't for Slow Fox which pretty much pushes all my buttons music wise.(Though four or five months of practicing it might change my opinion).

Agree re scales - there aren't as many as I thought there would be.....


It looks as though you have to be confident with shifts at this level - as well as the new rhythms.


No point rushing - better to take the exam when you feel comfortable with all that is required. It'll take me a long while before I'm up to speed - and even then I may not take the exam as it's not my first instrument.

From the others that have posted, looks as though the alternative pieces are pretty cool and worth a go.....

As far as sightreading goes the notes and even the shifting I can cope with, it's rhythms I sometimes struggle with. Anyway I've been working specifically on the sightreading for a few days now, gradually building up the difficulty and I'm feeling more confident already.
Sometimes I just sit with some unfamiliar music and go over it in my head when I'm away from the violin. It seems to be helping.

I played through La Cumparsita yesterday and love it!

My Allegro is rather Largo at present but it's a nice piece.

Yes! I love it


My Grade 4 book came through the post yesterday morning and I've been working through all the pieces. I really like English dance (though can't play it up to speed yet ) The double-stopping is all really new for me as well. I quite like B2 and B3 (sorry, can't remeber the names!). I think all the 3 C pieces are great but La cumparsita is the only one I can play up to speed with the cd

The scales don't look too challenging though. It says in the syllabus that it should be slurred with 2 notes to a bow for major and minor scales but in my scale book (grades 1-5) it shows 4 notes slurred to a bow. Can anyone confirm which is right? Also a lot of the scales are the same as is grade 2 and 3. For example, what is the difference in Bb major? And in A major it seems that the only difference is that you are using your 4th finger instead of open A and E strings. I'm confused

I'm not going to take the grade 4 exam but I've been learning the grade 4 pieces with my teacher. If I was to do the exam, I would do:

A1 English Dance
B3 Allegro
C3 La cumparisita

The new grade 4 pieces are a lot more fun than the previous ones. I'm currently working on B1 Valse Lente with my teacher to improve my bow slurs, it's a really nice piece!

All these Grade 4 pieces sound like great fun!

I might be doing them next November (or June if I work really hard )

Have sorted out my problem now I can't believe I read it as 2 notes to a bow instead of 2 beats!


I'm not taking the exam either but I would choose exactly the same pieces as you if I was going to. I didn't get the previous grade 4 book. Would you say that the new pieces are harder, easier or the same? I thought the new Grade 3 ones were a lot harder than the old ones.

Had my third lesson with my teacher last night, she wants me to do a theory exam, probably Grade 2 or 3 in the first session next year. Hopefully that will make it easier for me when I have to do my Grade 5 theory.
I was kind of planning in my mind to possibly wait to do the Grade 4 violin practical maybe in the 3rd session next year so as to get my technique as secure as possible as it will be my first ever exam and I haven't been playing long but my teacher says I shouldn't wait any longer than the second exam session as I'll be past that level.
I feel like I'm making a rod for my own back by practicing hard, don't get me wrong, I love playing and I am ambitious but it seems like the harder I work the higher the bar gets raised before I get chance to see tangible result.

I think that in the main it's because my scales are quite secure already and in her experience the scales take longer to get right than the pieces. For me though the scales are straightforward but I feel I've a huge way to go with my pieces, sightreading etc. Aural I think I will be ok with.

Hope this doesn't seem like a great big whinge, I'm very pleased to be progressing but the rate at which things are getting harder is scary!

I'm going to do English Dance for sure, Valse lente (my harmonics are coming on well) and probably Slow Fox :-)

Can't really believe that I am at a standard good enough to take the exam. Apparently you will need an orchestral mute for slow fox ..... I've just ordered my online :-)

Yep, the mute is just for the second part.

I'm working on my first Grade 4 piece at the moment (Trinity) - it's Spanish Dance by Bohm which is quite nice. I had a fit when I first saw it but can now play the first few bars ok. I think my second piece is going to be Ragtime Annie - I had a sneaky look at it and really like it.

I won't be taking Grade 4 until late 2008, am trying to write my PhD thesis at the moment and am aiming to hand it in by Easter. Only trouble is I keep seeing my violin and pick that up instead of picking up loads of boring papers

Good luck to everyone working towards Grade 4.

I played that for AB grade 5 - seems quite hard for grade 4 but it's a great piece, good luck with it.

Is anyone out there doing grade 4 cello in March? There only seem to be violinists and one viola responding to this post. My teacher wants me to do it, but I'm not so sure as I'm having real problems with scales and arpeggios . I started looking at the new ones back in the summer holiday, and they haven't improved much, in spite of having devoted a disproportionate amount of practice time to them. There are so many! . I have now managed to get my head round them (have just realised that F, G, and Bb arpeggios follow the same pattern!), but my fingers aren't following, especially on Bb and Eb arpeggios!. As I'm a wannabe perfectionist I'm not happy at the prospect of a very poor mark for the technical side. Pieces need practice but will be fine by then, especially the Schaffrath Sonata in G major, which I'm doing at the Teddington Forums Concert in February. The other pieces I'm doing are the Jarnefelt Berceuse and Gershwin Let's Call the Whole Thing Off (maybe a good idea!) Sight reading is fine, aural less so - can't remember those wretched tunes you have to sing back.

Hi Suepea, I'm not a cellist but I am looking forward to hearing you play in the Teddington Concert.

Scales are always tricky to remember, I know that for viola it feels like a big jump up in the number to learn between grade 3 and 4. I don't know if that is my imagination but it certainly feels that way. Don't beat yourself up over them.

Looking forward to seeing you in Teddington (not long now!)

Cheers,

Lis

Can I be a grade four'ite?

I'm meant to be doing my grade 5 this term which my teacher for some reason thinks I'm capable of. I wanna do grade 4 instead with all you wonderful people!! I haven't done a violin exam since grade 2 so again it's a pretty big leap.

I'm tempted to get the new grade 4 book for fun now as everyone speaks so highly of the pieces. Is anyone doing the exam this term and using old syllabus? I played all of those.

I think this is the best selection of exam pieces I have seen for a long time although some of them do seem quite difficult. My daughter and I are learning them together.

She's chosen:
Andante Cantabile (which I think is the hardest piece in the whole book but she won't be dissuaded)
Allegro
La Cumparsita

I would have chosen (if I had been doing the exam):
Allegro Ma Non Troppo
Russian fantasia
Slow Fox

I am sure that I played Clockwork Doll in an exam before as a child - I wonder whether it was a Grade 4 piece then too?

Well, I had a cello lesson yesterday and have decided to give Grade 4 a go after we had discussed exactly what the problems were and how they could be solved. Then we spent the whole lesson on strategies for practising the dreaded arpeggios and I feel more confident now. I just wish I had had the lesson before Christmas rather than after. We're back on trying to do vibrato as well

I've been entered for grade 4 . We decided that it would help me to focus - especially on scales which I tend to avoid unless I HAVE to do them! Hopefully will get my act together in time....

Pieces are English Dance, Allegro and La Cumparsita. I love the last piece

That's great LooneyTunes, I'm probably doing the first two pieces you've chosen but will probably choose Slow Fox or Clockwork Doll from list C.

I've decided to wait until the 3rd session to do grade 4. As I've only been playing for 4 months or so I feel that although I may well be able to do the exam sooner and get a pass I won't in all honesty be able to call myself a grade 4 standard player. i don't have the 'time in the saddle' so to speak that a lot of players taking grade 4 will have had.
I want to get more secure and knowledgeable in my technique and really get down to the nuts and bolts of playing rather than just learning only what is needed to get through the exam. I feel this approach will serve me better toward my ambition to teach.

I spoke to my teacher about this and she agrees is supportive, I'm also glad it will give me a little breathing room to play a wider variety of music, especially as I'm going to Fiddle H£ll in Buxton in June and need to work on music for that event.

What is this - I heard about it on the fiddle forum?

It's a 3 day get together, from 6-8 June in Buxton for fiddlers or all standards and genres, there are workshops, jams, open mic, lots of chat about gear etc and generally lots of fun.

I've not been before but I've already booked my hotel for June.

There is also a FH in Birmingham which is this weekend. Was too short notice for me though, only having been fiddling since last September.

A little scary in reality.....


I still find it amazing that you've come so far in 4 months! To be honest, I'd probably be more secure if I left G4 violin until at least the summer session - or maybe not take it at all but work up to the level required in my own time. I know that I'll practice now that I've been entered so we'll see but I can always pull out.

The summer session is the worst timing-wise for me due to heavy teaching commitments......



Sounds like you'll be having fun!