In about 6 weeks' time I am going to have to perform my PDC (Performing During the Course) solo for AS music (Edexcel). My teacher says that it must be grade 6 or above (to count as More Difficult and get higher-scaled marks) and there is no prescribed duration.
It's not these requirements I have trouble meeting but later in the year I'm going to have to do a 5-6 minute solo (can be one or more pieces but must also be grade 6+) and I don't want to be left with my "second-best" pieces for then.
Sooooooo... My best pieces are the Elegiac Blues and Ilynsky's Berceuse from the old grade 7 syllabus, those two together add up to just over 5 minutes, and I want to keep them for the 5-6 minute solo later in the year.
My "second-best" pieces are the Fantasy in D Minor by Mozart (has been discussed recently on this board and is listed by Edexcel as being grade 7 standard) and the Haydn Moderato (A3) from the 03-04 grade 7. The reason why these are second best is that the Haydn is prone to going wrong under pressure (and has 2 page turns!) and the Mozart has not been tested in an exam situation, plus I've only known it a short time.
Then there's Satie's Gymnopedie no 3 which is apparently grade 6 standard and that I can play easily but it doesn't seem promising for an exam as such.
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH I'm so confused what shall I play???

cant you play this time 1 good piece, and 1 second best

then next time, the other good piece, and second best piece?

probably beethovan's pathetique... Rach's barcollrole( can't spell)..... bach probably...it reeli depends

QUOTE

cant you play this time 1 good piece, and 1 second best then next time, the other good piece, and second best piece?

No because I can only play 1 piece this time but I have to have 5 mins worth next time!

What I'm wondering is whether to play a good piece this time and do one good and one second best next time, or a second best this time and the 2 good ones together next time...

How about trying Sinding's 'Rustle of Spring'? It's a fantastic performance piece - goes down REALLY well in concerts, festivals etc - and although it looks fiendishly difficult on the page it's actually not too difficult technically. All the pupils I've given it to in the past have loved it!

Or Christopher Norton's Latin Preludes No 1. It's really cool and sounds impressive and isn't too difficult. I think it might come to 2mins. But another option is the Andalusa (erm I forgot by who, maybe Granados but it's pretty well-known), a Maiden's Prayer by Badarzewska. Or even the new Grade 6 jazzy piece is cool, Feelin' Good by Brian Bonsor.

How are the marks divided up? Use the best pieces when the most marks are resting on it! If they're all the same then just make sure that you get all the best pieces in over all. I don't think that you'll have to learn any extra pieces if you don't want to (although everyone seems to be suggesting a lot!) it sounds like you have plenty to choose from already; maybe you should do the best pieces now and practise the ones that aren't as good for the later performance to make them both equally good...

Thanks for the suggestions everyone- some of these look really good!

QUOTE (violin-ann @ Sep 23 2004, 04:46 PM)

. Or even the new Grade 6 jazzy piece is cool, Feelin' Good by Brian Bonsor.

ye!!! thats sooo kool!

One important thing to remember is that you get no extra points for playing anything above Grade 6 (other than getting the extra points for Grade 6 rather than Grade 5). The best way to maximise your points is to play something you know inside-out that is at least Grade 5 level. The maximum mark you can get is the same whether you play Grade 5 or Grade 6+.

Both PDC and final performance are worth 7.5% of the final A level marks, so both marks are equally important. At AS the balance is slightly towards technique rather than musicianship (reversed at A2). So go for something you are technically absolutely secure with.

Hope this helps.

Hmmm... Thanks for clarifying that, Andante in C.
But our teacher says that we must play something of Grade 6+.
I'm only concentrating on grade 7 pieces because I never took grade 6 and the exam pieces are the ones which are easiest to re-learn as I polished them the most in the first place.

I'm doing A2 Edexcel music this year, where you have to give a recital of 20 mins, so trust me, don't use any pieces you really really enjoy for AS if you intend to go on to A2- then you won't end up in the position i'm in now. Choose something simple from grade 4/5- save the harder pieces for later!

I think I'll probably choose the composition option at A2 anyway as I don't think I could face doing a recital... especially because last year at GCSE I got so shaky and nervous that I kept hitting wrong notes and had to re-record my pieces countless times...!

QUOTE (cecilia @ Oct 11 2004, 04:29 PM)

I kept hitting wrong notes and had to re-record my pieces countless times...!

ah yes, i lost count how many times i re-recorded my AS performances!

That was an... um... encouraging thing to say, Nat... *gulp*

well i got 88/90 so it couldnt have been too bad!

WOW that's really good I hope I do that well!!!