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Easier

A list

Beethoven ~ Écossaise in G (A1) The écossaise is a sturdy dance, but a "dance" it should be. A danger is to take the various wedge indications and 2nd quaver beat accentuations too literally. The effect then becomes hard and sometimes nasty. Try lengthening the staccato touch, where indicated as wedges. That will give a more emphatic quality without detracting from the dance feel.

Adam Carse ~ Rustic Dance (A5) (piano duet) needs to be played at a quick tempo but is not otherwise challenging, much of the primo part is written in unison between the hands.

Goedicke ~ Étude in A minor (A6) should be fairly easy to learn. As you can see, below, it is only 16 bars in length. Be sure to distinguish between the left hand crotchet/quaver rest and dotted crotchet note lengths.

Mozart ~ Bourlesq (A10) is a truly delightful piece and one that should be fun and easy to learn. The left hand is mainly a light staccato touch throughout with the right hand playing with some legato and some slurred phrasing.

Prószynński ~ Kowalczyki (A12) is a charming, easy piece that contains a varied range of articulation and dynamics.

Purcell ~ Air in D minor (A13) is a piece you may recall from previous syllabi. A simple and effective solution of what to do with the articulation can be heard in this extract, played by Dinara Klinton (ABRSM Grade 2 recordings), where the right hand is mainly legato with a consistently detached left hand bass line:

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B list

Stanford ~ Lullaby (B2) is a relatively easy piece to get together. It's always helpful to remember not to take articulation marks too literally, for example by making the second dotted crotchet of each bar too short. A lyrical length is much better, as heard here:

Bartok ~ Sorrow (B4) asks the performer to imagine the feeling of sorrow and express it in the playing. A range of tempi will work, although it shouldn't be taken too quickly. The craftsmanship of the composition is worth dwelling on momentarily. The melody consists of four, four-bar phrases, the first eight being repeated almost exactly. However, Bartok's subtle harmonic changes help to cast a different mood over the musical landscape, becoming more acerbic when he uses the dominant 7th clash of C natural in the melody with C sharp in the harmony in line 3. It's a wonderful piece of writing.

Grechaninov ~ Farewell (B5) doesn't have the harmonic complexity or the same subtleties as Bartok's Sorrow, but should be easy enough to learn.

Spindler ~ Waltz in A minor (B8) is a gently expressive piece with some right hand 3rds in the middle, relative major section. The ternary form should make it an easy and attractive piece to learn.

Steibelt ~ Adagio (B9) has appeared in previous syllabi. The musical challenge, as with many simple pieces, lies in getting it to sound musically sensitive, tapering phrase endings elegantly, and achieving a promising musical balance to the textures.

Whilst El-Dabh ~ Soufiane (B11) may not be to everyone's musical taste, it is nevertheless an interesting piece with its haunting Arabic influences. The hands rarely stray from their initial positions and, apart from a few slightly more challenging rhythmic moments, it should be relatively simple to put together - once the chromatic harmonies have been understood.

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C list

David Blackwell ~ Railroad Blues (C1) is an easy 12 bar blues. The left hand groove plays solid crotchet beats throughout. Getting the right hand swing feel to be comfortably consistent and well integrated can sometimes be less straightforward, as many pupils will revert to a more dotted, less jazzy way of playing. Perhaps try this simple way of learning the alternating right hand bars. Once this is rhythmically secure, start leaving out the 2nd triplet quaver:

Nikki Iles ~ Sweet Pea (C8) (duet). Like so much of Nikki Iles' compositions, this feels so natural to play and listen to. It's a laid-back groove, with the primo part having a repeated chord sequence - the kind of earworm that makes its presence most welcome!

Sculthorpe ~ The Singing Sun (C9) is an atmospheric piece, requiring use of the pedal to colour the floating harmonies and convey the spacious character to quite a haunting effect.

Mirosław Gasieniec ~ Kukułka (C11) is a pleasant piece in 3 time, with regular crotchet - minim left hand chords patterns and a singing right hand melody.

Grieg ~ Norwegian Dance No. 2 (C12) (duet) is a good opportunity to learn a little more about playing duets as well as getting to listen to some orchestral music, as in the link here. This arrangement uses only the music from the first section:

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Easier

A list

B list

C list

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