Grade 8 ABRSM Piano Exam Pieces

2015 & 2016 syllabus

C: 3 Waltz in B minor Op. 69, No. 2 by F. Chopin

A: 3 Sonata in F minor, Kp.239 by D. Scarlatti

B: 8 Allegro con spirito: 1st movt from Sonata in D, K. 311/284c. by Mozart

Music exams and exam boards

Music Examination Boards - Music Exam Boards providing Music Examinations
and more throughout the UK. There are a number of independent bodies who solely provide assessment in musical ability which are open to all.

• ABRSM graded (Grade 1-8) music exams for all instruments, vocal, music theory or musicianship, etc.

The Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music is the exam board of the Royal Schools of Music, delivering over 650,000 exams and assessments every year in 93 countries. ABRSM is committed to supporting high-quality music-making, learning and development throughout the world, and to producing the best possible resources for music teachers and students.
For more details, please visit:  http://www.abrsm.org/
Facebook http://www.facebook.com/abrsm  Twitter http://twitter.com/abrsm
You Tube channel: ABRSM YouTube

• Rock School

Rockschool is the leading accredited provider of rock and pop exams worldwide.

They are committed to making music examination, practical, flexible and fun!

Rockschool leads rock and pop music exams worldwide. The Graded Music Exams (Grade 1-8), Diplomas and Vocational Qualifications are taught the world over and are renowned for their practicality, flexibility and creativity. Their qualifications are inspired by the legends of rock and created with you, the musician, in mind. Learn by playing the music you love and gain a recognised qualification in the process!
Rockschool is accredited throughout the UK by the qualifications regulators of England (Ofqual), Wales (DCELLS), Northern Ireland (CCEA) and Scotland (SQA Accreditation). 

For more details, please visit:  www.rockschool.co.uk
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Rockschool/
You Tube channel: Rockschool Ltd

• Trinity College London

Trinity College London is an international exam board that has been providing assessments since 1877. With a rich heritage of academic rigour and a positive, supportive approach to assessment, it provides recognised and respected qualifications in a unique spectrum of communicative skills — from music, drama and arts activities to English language — at all levels. Each year over 600,000 candidates in over 60 countries take a Trinity assessment and their international network is growing fast.
Trinity exams and assessments are designed to help students progress. They encourage candidates to bring their own choices and interests into the exams — this motivates students and makes the assessment more relevant and enjoyable.
Trinity exams are internationally recognised and fully accredited by Ofqual (Office of Qualifications and Examinations Regulation) and other education authorities in many countries around the world.
For more details, please visit:  www.trinitycollege.co.uk  
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TrinityCollegeLondon
You Tube channel: trinitycollegelondon

Other examination boards based in the UK include the London College of Music; Victoria College of Music, the National College of Music.

Music exams are set in both theory and practical aspects. The theory examinations are taken by pupils of all instruments and typically cover areas such as musical notation, construction of scales and composition.
The practical exams concentrate on the particular instrument favoured by the pupil, for example piano, guitar or flute. They cover elements such as playing set pieces, technical work including scales, sight reading, aural, musical knowledge and improvisation.
In the United Kingdom the music exams are graded from 1 to 8, with Grade 1 being the entry level, and Grade 8 being the standard required for entry to higher study in a music college. Additionally, Trinity College London offers an Initial level qualification at Entry Level 3 of the UK Qualifications and Credit Framework, and ABRSM offer a Prep Test qualification as a useful preparation before the Grade 1 exam. LCM offers two Step exams at this level and VCM offers four Introductory grades aimed at those in the first 18 months of learning.
We encourage you enrol online, this is the most efficient way to manage your exam progress.

Where to buy music books needed for exams?
You can buy music books directly from each of the exam board, please search shop or exam books on their websites. They are publishers too. And also all their books are available on other websites, e.g. www.amazon.co.uk    www.musicroom.com or even eBay.

The Chinese Folk Songs Series in Harlow Chinese Community Center

Offering Piano, Singing, Music Theory for the graded exams. Specialized in performing the Chinese folk music, running the Chinese language, the Chinese folk song/dance, cultural workshops.     

   

二零一四年六月二十八日  

"Colourful China" 多彩中国

2 adult Mandarin beginner classes had a chance to know the Chinese colourful cultures by attending a music session. In 2 hours, we learned about:

1. A brief comparison between the western music and the Chinese folk music's features.

2. 56 Chinese ethnic groups. We had a quick look through a few major minorities' folk songs, costumes, locations, religious, etc.

3. We also learned a Tibetan folk style song called The Himalayas. 

Watch our singing video by clicking the picture below.

Below photos were taken during the lesson. Do you know who is in Han race costume? and who is in Mongolian's? in Xin Jiang Uyghur's? in Tibetan costume?

The presentation slides:  

http://www.scribd.com/doc/232148784/Slides-Chinese-Folk-Song-Workshop-2014?secret_password=sb8jg6VAVGYU6AyEgKKe

Pupils' handbook/Information Pack

Pupil Profile Form, Music Teaching by Yan Li Jones

Teaching Chinese and Chinese Children's Songs

Harlow Chinese School
Our Year 2 pupils sung 2 Chinese songs, check out our videos below.

     Rehearsal time                                

 

My folk dance in the Chinese New Year celebration.

Harlow Chinese Community Celebrating Chinese New Year 2014

Performance Registration Form

Dear parents/carers,

All of our students did really well, not only the Chinese language learning but also singing, I’m so pleased. As a music teacher, I'd love to give them a good performance opportunity in our coming Chinese New Year party. All pupils are encouraged to join this big celebration, there will be showcases, including lion dance, singing, folk dance followed by a traditional Chinese New Year lunch.

Year 2 class plans to perform 3 songs,

1. Practise Good Manners, with simple dance movements, nearly all actions have been remembered by hearts now. Our lovely girls are doing so well, a few boys too.
2. Happy New Year Song, we are going to add a few percussion instruments, which will be played by pupils.
3. Looking for a Friend, a music game song, it is part of our current Chinese language study listed in our text book on page 31.

• Dress code: prefer the traditional Chinese costumes, if not, wear something red or anything smart will be fine.
• Time:  Please come at 11:30am for a rehearsal on performance day.
• Venue: The Harlow Chinese School

If you have any question, please feel free to contact me or our very helpful class assistant. Finally, wishing you a very happy Chinese new year.

-------- Cut From Here Please ------

Please fill in the form below to let us know how many students can come to perform?
你能来参加中国新年聚会的班级表演吗？午时开始

Pupil’s name 学生姓名：

Parent’s name 家长姓名：
Contact number 联系号码：
Email 电子邮件：
Event: The Chinese New Year party on Sunday from noon to 4pm.
Can your come to perform in this party? Please tick one.
Yes 是的，可以来  No 对不起，来不了
Photo and video consent: 关于学生演出录像，摄相的许可
Please sign it if you are happy for us to take photos or videos of the performance for displaying on our school website and the teaching Blog, which enable us to send a link to you to share between you and your families.
Yes, I give permission 是，我同意  Signature 签名: -------------------------
No, I don’t like my child's face being seen online (if so, we can blur his or her face on video) 对不起，我不同意。(如此的话，我们将作视频脸部模糊处理)
Please return this part of the notice as early as possible. Thank you. 请将表格填好后剪切下半部及早交还。谢谢配合。

Libraries

Library Inventory

We have many books, CDs, DVD about various music and music education available for our learners, parents/carers, fee of charge. The returnable deposit is £5/item. Renewable after 1 month.

Piano

      For learners and parents:

• Syllabus Guide, popular piano and keyboards. Printed off the Rock School's website
• Piano Syllabus 2013 & 2014 (ABRSM)
• Jazz – Flute Clarinet Sax Trumpet Piano and Ensembles Syllabus from 2007 (ABRSM)
• These Music Exams (ABRSM)
• Motivating Musical Achievement (ABRSM)
• Selected Piano Exam Pieces with CD (in different grades and in different years ABRSM)
• Teaching Notes on Piano Exam Pieces Grade 1-7 2012-2013, 2013-2014 (ABRSM)
• Piano Scales & Arpeggios for Trinity Guildhall examinations from 2007 Initial – Grade 5
• Trinity Guildhall Piano Initial Pieces & Exercises for Examinations (in different years)
• John Thompson's Easiest Piano Course, Part 1-4
• Share the Fun (for young children)
• 388 Questions and Answers to Piano Study ( in Chinese)
• Tunes You’ve Always Wanted To Play, Easy Classics for Plano
• Learn To Play Blues
• Jazz Piano, The Complete Guide With CD
• Blues Piano, The Complete Guild with CD
• Easy Piano, Andrew Lloyd Webber
• Classic Experience Encores
• 12 Oscar-winning film songs, arranged for piano
• 16 West Country Songs, arranged for piano

Piano/ Voice/Guitar

• Nursery Rhyme Songbook (for young learners)
• Disney Hits
• Disney Love Songs
• Tweety’s Easy Listening Songs
• Sylvester’s Snappy Songs
• Falling Into You, Celine Dion
• The Elton John Collection
• Guitar Basics for children with Enhanced CD
• The Guitarist’s Way, Book 1 and Book 2 ( for children)
• Classical Guitar Masterpieces
• Experience Hendrix Book One – Beginning Guitar Method
• 17 Modern Country hit songs
• Crash Course - Acoustic Guitar
• Crash Course – Bass
• Giants of Blues
• The Best of Iron Maiden
• ABRSM Songbook, book 1 with 2 CDs
• The Art of Song, Grade 1-8 and piano accompaniment CDs, Grade 1-8
• 30 Italian Songs and Arias
• Gabriel Faure-50 Songs

I have a large amount of choir pieces, from different eras and genres. Songs from oratorio, classical, 60^th, 70^th, 80^th pops, English, Irish, Scottish folk songs, America's pops, musical theatres, Christmas carols, movies, Chinese music. 

DVD Films

• The Sound of Music
• The Phantom of the Opera
• Evita
• Mama Mia
• Les Misérables
• Fiddler on the Roof

CD

   I have a large amount of CD collections, from different eras and genres.

• Music from the ancient Greece and Rome
• Instruments of the Middle Ages and Renaissance
• Handel Arias and Cantatas, bought it after watched the concert
• A night at the opera
• Mozart’s Idomeneo Re di Creta. Act 1, 2, 3. Bought it after watched the concert
• The Deil’s awa’ wi’ the Jazzman. Bought it after been to the piano player’s one day workshop about Instrument/Vocal Teaching in ABRSM London head office.
• Mozart Overtures
• Nights in the gardens of Spain
• Dvorak, Slavonic Dances Op. 72
• 20 Best of Asia, Africa, Australia
• Beethoven Piano Sonatas, bought it after watched the player’s concert
• Brahms Hungarian Dances, Nos.1 -21
• Classical chillout, 4CD set

Many more of piano concertos, orchestral, chamber music collections. Chinese instrumental pieces, pop songs, etc.

Education/Music Education

• Young Learners
• Nurtured by love, Shilici Suzuki, I’d like to recommend it to all parents/carers. (DVD)

Shin'ichi Suzuki (鈴木 鎮一, Suzuki Shin'ichi, October 17, 1898 – January 26, 1998) was the inventor of the international Suzuki method of music education and developed a philosophy for educating people of all ages and abilities. Considered an influential pedagogue in music education of children, he often spoke of the ability of all children to learn things well, especially in the right environment, and of developing the heart and building the character of music students through their music education. Before his time, it was rare for children to be formally taught classical instruments from an early age and even more rare for children to be accepted by a music teacher without an audition or entrance examination. Not only did he endeavor to teach children the violin from early childhood and then infancy, his school in Matsumoto did not screen applicants for their ability upon entrance.  Suzuki was also responsible for the early training of some of the earliest Japanese violinists to be successfully appointed to prominent western classical music organizations. During his lifetime, he received several honorary doctorates in music including from the New England Conservatory of Music (1956), and the Oberlin College Conservatory of Music, was proclaimed a Living National Treasure of Japan, and was nominated for the Nobel Peace prize.

Magazine:

Libretto (ABRSM News and Views) since 2011

Books:

• 1001 Classical Recordings, You Must Hear Before You Die
• The Classic FM Hall of Fame
• An Illustrated Encyclopaedia of Musical Instruments and the Great Composers

Music Theory Books

• Music Theory in Practice and Model Answers, Grade 1-8
• Theory of Music Exams, papers and answers, Grade 1-8 in different years
• The AB Guide To Music Theory, Part 1, 2
• Harmony in Practice and Answer Book

Sight-Reading

• Sight-Reading Made Easy
• Piano Specimen Sight-Reading Tests, from 2009, Grade 1-8

Aural Training

• Aural Training in Practice, Book 1, 2, 3 Grade 1-8 with CDs
• Specimen Aural Tests, Grade 1-8 with CDs

We encourage our learners buy their own books for music learning and preparing music exams, there are in print and eBook versions, available on each exam board’s website, music shops, Amazon, etc. For details of buying, please refer to the Music exams and Exam Boards post on my teaching blog. The link is  

http://musicteachingyanlijones.blogspot.com/2014/01/exams-and-exam-boards.html

There are free resources for sight reading and aural training. Musical apps. for Ipad, Iphone, can be downloaded free, a lot of music quizzes, games are available on some websites. For details, please refer to the Music Theory post on my teaching blog. The link is http://musicteachingyanlijones.blogspot.com/2013/11/music-theory.html

Public Libraries

Search Libraries in websites of the councils. For instance, www.broxbourne.gov.uk

www.hertfordshire.com    www.enfield.gov.uk etc.

I have been reserving and borrowing books, CDs and DVDs a lot from these services provided by councils, you can do it online or go to local library. Everything is so easy and convenient, I believe that you can find everything you want. 

My Chinese music workshop in a secondary school in U.K 2012

My Chinese Music Workshop on July 19, 2012
by Yan Li Jones

Teaching a Chinese folk song in a secondary school in Hertfordshire, U.K. Listen to a part of the recorded session by clicking the link:   http://youtu.be/JtHjQmdgaPw

It's a wonderful chance to introduce our colourful Chinese culture to the English students. We had so much fun on watching a couple of boys in bright colour Chinese ladies' traditional costumes from different minorities. They even volunteered to learn some traditional dance movements. After introduced a basic Chinese musical information and taught them a Chinese folk song, the session finished with a quiz, a good way to summarise. These boys and girls did really well on matching the costumes, dance movements, greeting words with the minority names and their residential locations on map of China. When they were leaving, they all looked so excited, their teacher had to stop their questions, for example, "Is there Google in China?", "Do you like noodles?". A girl told me that this was the most interesting session she ever had. I was still very excited although it had been repeated 5 times on that day. Thanks to our beautiful Chinese multe cultures, her attraction, which makes me so proud. Will run more workshops definitely.

The PowerPoint slides used during the session.

My Chinese music

1. The Chinese silk fan dance and folk song from Han race 2012

《茉莉花》中国江苏民歌配空竹表演 

2. A Mongolians' love song - The Clarinets version

《敖包相会》单簧管版   http://youtu.be/EBS4h8XyXLU

The chorus version as the picture below 合唱版  http://youtu.be/hjczneaOkaE

3.  A new Tibetan song in folk style

     Watching it by clicking the link below:《天路》

         http://youtu.be/z2qpH9m8tUA

 4. A Chinese pop song: The Legend 2013《传奇》流行唱法 http://youtu.be/dx0pCzV7NX8

5. A Chinese song：'Today, It's Your Birthday, My Motherland' 《今天是您的生日，我的中国》美声唱法 Watching it by clicking the link:    http://youtu.be/jJY5eJK8KDw

6. Jasmine Blossoms 《好一朵美丽的茉莉花》民族唱法 Watching it by clicking the link:  http://youtu.be/l4Ry8RyAujM

My piano music collections

1. Sunset in Paris, piano accompaniment for flute pre test 巴黎落日



2. Sunset in Paris, flute part was played by keyboard 巴黎落日http://youtu.be/WqpM7u_rTNY

Flute tone played by Yan on CASIO Keyboard, piano accompaniment played by Yan on June 2013. Music composed by Sarah Watts, from ABRSM Flute Pre Test book.
长笛音色由电子琴演奏，配我本人预先录好的钢琴伴奏。钢琴伴奏部分有单独的录像供排练使用，请查看。

3. Nostalgy 乡愁     http://youtu.be/ECdcIrSdi8E
      From Richard Clayderman's piano collection. One of my favorite pieces.

4. MARIAGE D'AMOUR  

5. Green Sleeves, an English traditional tune.  http://youtu.be/thKhWwLYgDg  英国民歌《绿袖子》

Getting involved in the community acitivities

1. My 70 years old dad performed Chinese diablo in U.K 我70岁老爸在英国公园表演空竹,只可惜下雨

Playing double-diablo. This video was shot in 2012 when my dad visited me from China. He practices 5 hours a day, won the 1st place at the competition 2013 held in my hometown, an annual festival.

In Waltham Abbey U.K with my dad 2012

2. The Chinese community's performance in Harlow Town Fair 2012 (Yan as a dancer) The link is http://youtu.be/APfrXVkeCyc

3. Chinese Mid Autumn Festival celebration in Harlow Chinese School 2013

Yan sung Karaoke Chinese songs, kids made the beautiful lanterns after having Chinese buffet dinners.

4. The Harlow Chinese School Children Choir. 

Yan as the music teacher

Music Theory

1. The Check List when learning a new piece:

Key

Time Signature 

Composer and Date 

Style and features 

Dynamics

Tempo

Articulation

Texture

Repetitions

Mood

Climax

Tips for Completing Your Check List

Major/Minor?

List any key changes

Simple/Compound/Irregular? 

No. of beats. Type of beat.

You may need to research the date of composition.

Baroque/Classical/Romantic/20th Century?

Volume eg forte, piano, crescendo, diminuendo.

Speed directions. Metronome mark. Tempo changes.

Legato, staccato, accents, slurs etc

Thick chords. Unisons. Arpeggio movement. Polyphony.

Repeat marks. 1st and 2nd time bars. DC. DS.

Calm? Graceful? Playful? Lively? Dramatic? Sombre?

High point of the piece.


2. Music puzzles, game apps and links to improve your sight reading ability and sense of rhythm.

Hi,
I am so pleased that you enjoy playing the NoteWorks on my Ipad. I already found some similar online games so you can play at home on your computers. These games all designed to teach note recognition and improve your sight reading skills and sense of rhythm a lot.
The link is below.
http://www.musictechteacher.com/music_quizzes/music_quizzes.htm

Enjoy it.
Regards,
Yan

3.  Choose an acoustic piano or a digital piano?

Dear Parents,
I would like to remind you that unlike violin, the older acoustic pianos do not sound better when they get older. So please don't buy something too old and cheap, hard to resell later on.
Here are some tips about how to choose a digital or an acoustic piano.
http://m.wikihow.com/Choose-Between-Digital-or-Acoustic-Piano

Hope it helps.
Regards,
Yan

4. How A Scale Is Made

There are 2 ways to figure out how a scale is made. One is by knowing the key signature. When you know the key signature, you can start and end on the root note of that key. 

The other way to figure out a one of the 12 major scales is by steps. In music there are half-steps ( semi tones) and whole-steps (tones). A half-step means going to the next closest note – higher or lower. A whole-step skips one note. On the piano, a half-step is usually the next black note from a white note. A whole-step is usually the next white note from a white note.

The formula for figuring out a major scale using whole-steps (WS) and half-steps (HS) goes like this:

Root – WS – WS – HS – WS – WS – WS –HS (Root)

Root-Tone-Tone-Semi Tone-Tone-Tone-Tone-Semi Tone (Root)

5. Key Signatures

Music key signatures tell you what sharps or flats to play in a key. One way to learn how to play chords is by knowing the key signature of the root note of the chord. Key signatures also tell you what notes to play in a scale.

 Music key signatures can have only sharps or only flats. Pick any key on the piano and it has a key signature. We’re going to focus on major keys here.

C major is the only key that has no sharps or flats.

There are 7 key signatures that have sharps in them. Here they are:

G: F#
D: F#, C#
A: F#, C#, G#
E: F#, C#, G#, D#
B: F#, C#, G#, D#, A#
F#: F#, C#, G#, D#, A#, E#
C#: F#, C#, G#, D#, A#, E#, B#

Notice that all the keys repeat the sharps from the keys before. An easy saying to remember the order of the sharps is: Father Charles Goes Down And Ends Battle.

The last sharp of the key is always the note before the name of the key. For example, F# is the last note before G. D# is the last note before E. If you remember the saying, you can figure out how many sharps are in each key.

For example, “Father Charles Goes Down And”. A comes before B so, B major has 5 sharps. Because of the saying you know they are F, C, G, D, and A sharp.

Now for the flats. There are also 7 keys that have key signatures with flats in them.

Here’s a list:

F: Bb
Bb: Bb, Eb
Eb: Bb, Eb, Ab
Ab: Bb, Eb, Ab, Db
Db: Bb, Eb, Ab, Db, Gb
Gb: Bb, Eb, Ab, Db, Gb, Cb
Cb: Bb, Eb, Ab, Db, Gb, Cb, Fb

Here’s an easy way to remember the order of the flats. The first 4 flats spell the word “bead”. Then, you just need to remember G C F.

Also, the last flat in the previous key tells you what the next key with one more flat will be. For example, Eb major has 3 flats – Bb, Eb, Ab. So the key that has 4 flats is Ab.

Music key signatures are always written the same on the staff. So, if you need to write them, always put them on the same lines or spaces you see here.

When playing in a specific key signature, remember to always play a sharp or flat if it’s in the key signature. If something sounds a little off while you’re playing, check that you’re playing the right sharps or flats. If the key signature says to play an F#, every F should be an F#. 

6. ABRSM's top tips for exam success
   
    Ten top tips for practising

1. Always have a practice plan and decide what you want to achieve in each practice time
2. Sometimes, begin with the 'difficult bits' rather than starting at the beginning of a piece
3. Check your posture – the way you stand or sit and the way you hold your instrument – using a mirror
4. Practise small sections of music slowly and thoroughly before you speed them up. Remember – what you can’t play slowly, you can’t play fast!
5. If you make a mistake, correct it immediately. Don’t simply go back to the beginning for another ‘run up’
6. Be aware of the pulse of the music - it's dangerously easy to slow up for tricky bits!
7. Practise the whole ‘performance’ experience – play your exam pieces to friends and family so you experience a few nerves and learn how to cope with them
8. Listen to your tuning and always aim for a beautiful tone quality
9. Try practising your scales to a different rhythm or, for a change, start at the top note, descend and finish at the top again
10. Enjoy what you play – vary the styles of pieces that you practise to avoid getting bored

Ten top tips for exam success

1. Arrive in the waiting room at least 10 minutes before your exam is due to start. Last-minute panics do not help the playing or singing
2. Use the time before your exam to get your music and instrument ready – you can warm up silently by moving your fingers or blowing though your instrument
3. Feeling nervous before an exam is natural. Try smiling as you go into the exam room – it will help you relax
4. Make sure you are comfortable before you begin. If the stool or music stand is the wrong height, don’t be afraid to adjust it or ask for help
5. It’s fine to ask the examiner if you can warm up by playing a scale or a few bars of a piece
6. You can choose to do your exam in any order. Just let the examiner know
7. Try to keep going in the exam even if you make a mistake – it probably won’t be as disastrous as you think
8. Don't worry about pauses between your pieces – the examiner will be writing and will tell you when to start your next piece
9. Your examiner may stop you during a piece if he or she has heard enough to make a judgement
10. Remember – the examiner is on your side and is looking forward to hearing you perform.

7. Piano Fingering

Many beginning and intermediate piano students struggle with piano fingering. I often see students use awkward fingering when playing the piano.  Our fingers are of different lengths; thumbs are shorter than other fingers. Generally speaking, the thumb is the strongest finger of all. The thumb, index finger (2nd) and middle finger (3rd) are used the most for piano playing. The fourth finger is the weakest and least used. 1) Never use the thumb to play a black key. The only exception is when you're playing a piece that has all black notes. The thumb should not be used to play black keys because it's too short. The fingers most used to play black notes are the 2nd and 3rd fingers. 2) When playing the melody with the right hand and some keys are out of reach, you may move the whole hand to play the note. If the key is only a couple of steps down from the thumb, you may use the thumb as an anchor and cross the second finger over to reach the note on the left side of the thumb. You do not need to move the hand. Just move the second finger over. Once the second finger plays the key, the thumb will cross over to play the other note to the left of the key. Suggestion: Practice the scale often to know what finger to use. (Go to the scale drill lesson) 3)The same rule applies to the left hand.   4) Watch other experienced pianists whenever possible, look at their fingering and imitate their movements.