advice about my exam pieces

[littletune]

I thought I would post questions and recording here until my grade 4 exam (in June), but for now I only wanted to ask something about Bach's preludes. My teacher and me can't decide if I should be playing Prelude BWV 924 or Prelude BWV 939. I have been learning the 924 prelude since January and at first I just didn't get it and I kind of hated practicing it, but now I got better at it and I kind of want to play it for my exam, but I am scared it's too difficult. My teacher said that it would be better if I played the 939 prelude cause it's easier and I could probably play it better. But we still haven't decided.   and I saw on Youtube that the BWV 939 is an exam piece for grade 5 (I don't know where) and if the 924 is more difficult than I don't know if I could really play it...  
Does anyone have any advice? Would it help if I recorded myself playing it and posted it? I mean I haven't tried to do that because I still always make mistakes and I haven't been working on dynamics or anything yet. well if someone knows those two preludes and knows about how difficult they are or something and which one would be more appropriate for grade 4 exam that would be great!  

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Well now I decided to post two of my exam pieces... one more for fun and the other a little more for real  

The first one is Etude, Op. 599, No. 63, Czerny and I started learnig it not long ago hands together so i'm not playing it well yet, but I decided to post a video of me practicing just for fun, because while I was playing my cat came into my room and was watching me and moving her ears so it's really funny   if you decide to watch it look at my cat and specially her ears (specially when I make mistakes) and at the end when she looks at the camera I think she's like: Ok this still needs A LOT of work!!  
(oh and yes I'm wearing pajama pants!   and my chair is too high and falling apart, cause I didn't have the piano one, and that's why I covered that side of the picture with some special effects   )

And the other one I'll post a recording of Bach's Little prelude BWV 924 (that I was talking about the first time)... now I memorized it and it's going a little better, but I am still worried that it's too difficult for me. If anyone has some advice or something that would be great.  


Now I will add two more recordings of 1st and 2nd movement of Sonatina, Op.36, No.1, by Clementi. There are still mistakes of course and I haven't really been working on dynamics yet, so not very good but I just want to post it anyway the way it is now. In the second movement there's a noise when my cat was walking around camera again. 

[cjp_piano]

Which exam system are you referring?

[littletune]

Oh... well I'm not sure which exam system. I guess the exam system we have in my country (Slovenia) but I guess that doesn't tell anything to anybody here.  I just thought if anyone could tell me if this 924 prelude seems too difficult for grade 4...  Like in general...  I don't know maybe I'll record myself playing it if that would tell anything...  Thanks for the comment! 

[cjp_piano]

There are different systems with different numbering systems. So no one is going to say that a certain piece is "grade 4" because some systems are 1-10, some are 1-8, etc. So one piece might be grade 4 in the 1-8 system, but the same piece is grade 5 in the 1-10 system.

[zoecalgary]

Hi litttune. I think maybe you can try the one that is new for you and see what you think. This will give you a better idea of what you may prefer to practice more and perfect for your exam. And of course if you learn 2 pieces in the process thats ok too! If that doesn't work or you are too short on time I would trust your teacher. She has a better idea of what your capabilities are.  Good luck!! I am doing my grade 4 exam in April (except I believe I'm 2-3 times your age!! Haha!!) Good for you for making such great progress!!

[littletune]

There are different systems with different numbering systems. So no one is going to say that a certain piece is "grade 4" because some systems are 1-10, some are 1-8, etc. So one piece might be grade 4 in the 1-8 system, but the same piece is grade 5 in the 1-10 system.

Well I wish I knew exactly how our system is but... I'm not sure from which to which grade I'm supposed to count... because first we have 1-8 grade (if you don't count the pre- ones, or whatever they're called) but you can also only finish 6 grades and then go to conservarory (or well something like middle school or secondary school?) which has 4 grades... and then after that you can go to music academy (which is I think 3 and then 2 years, but I don't think that counts as levels anymore)...  so I'm really not sure... so I understand that you can't tell me if the piece is too difficult or not... but thank you anyway for reading and answering!   

Hi litttune. I think maybe you can try the one that is new for you and see what you think. This will give you a better idea of what you may prefer to practice more and perfect for your exam. And of course if you learn 2 pieces in the process thats ok too! If that doesn't work or you are too short on time I would trust your teacher. She has a better idea of what your capabilities are.  Good luck!! I am doing my grade 4 exam in April (except I believe I'm 2-3 times your age!! Haha!!) Good for you for making such great progress!!

Hi! Thank you!! Yes I think my teacher is still waiting to see if I can get it right or not now she said I need to play it a little faster and completely without mistakes. So I think next time she will tell me... or I will ask her if I should maybe look at the other one too.  Good luck with your exam!!! (well I'm not as young as kids usually are when they do grade 4, I'm not 9 or 10 anymore, I'm 13 already  because I started learning piano at 11, and not at 6 or 7, when they say it's the best time    ). Thank you again! and I really hope your exam goes really great!!!   

[littletune]

I will start posting my exam pieces now! I posted two of them in the first post (Etude, Czerny - video and Little prelude BWV 924 , Bach - a recording), and the description is also in the first post. The sound is not all that good because I was recording with computer camera (because my camera is not working). But I hope it's possible to hear it anyway (I listen with my headphones). And I'll try to record and post all of my pieces this week, because I won't have my piano lessons, so I'll be playing for Pianostreet instead of for my teacher  ... and I hope I get better soon, becaue I only have about 5 weeks left.  well this is for today...   

[pianowolfi]

but I decided to post a video of me practicing just for fun, because while I was playing my cat came into my room and was watching me and moving her ears so it's really funny   if you decide to watch it look at my cat and specially her ears (specially when I make mistakes) and at the end when she looks at the camera I think she's like: Ok this still needs A LOT of work!!  
(oh and yes I'm wearing pajama pants!   and my chair is too high and falling apart, cause I didn't have the piano one, and that's why I covered that side of the picture with some special effects   )

This video is truly legendary and might go viral !!
And you play beautifully!

[littletune]

This video is truly legendary and might go viral !!
And you play beautifully!

Thank you very much Wolfi!  
Well I don't know if it could go viral, because I put the video on unlisted (because of all the mistakes I was making  but maybe I'll change it one day ), and here on Pianostreet I don't think it got very much views... at least if I look at how few downloads the Bach recording has gotten (and one of those was me! )... but next week I will try to start posting in the audition room anyway... and maybe I can record my cat one more time (without me making sooo many mistakes!) because I think my cat really likes piano, because almost every time when I start practicing she comes into my room!   

[littletune]

Well now I posted two more recordings in the first post... first and second movement of Clementi Sonatina.
Wow I was really surprised to see that the Bach recording has 12 downloads now!  when I wrote that last time about that it didn't get much downloads it only had 3 or 4!  and now it's 12!! thanks for listening!! 
I think next week or even during this weekend I will start posting in the Audition room... and I hope I get better till then!!!!   

Ps:
wow i have to say this: I have exactly 2222 posts now!! and this thread exactly 300 views!

[49410enrique]

we look forward to it. don't make us all wait too long! i know what you meant about recordings with mistakes, but those are really the best ones for us to learn about , how else do we really know what kind of mistake might happend when we play for real? it will let you see what you should give more attention to . mistakes are no big deal if you go back and fix them. we ALL make mistakes when learning.

[mobydick]

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Well now I decided to post two of my exam pieces... one more for fun and the other a little more for real  

Hi, I think you play well, but your cat is the real star! Love how he shows up exactly when the music starts then even stares at the camera

[krajcher]

Yeah, if cat was the examinator, you would get top grade .

[danhuyle]

love the cat in the video.

[littletune]

we look forward to it. don't make us all wait too long! i know what you meant about recordings with mistakes, but those are really the best ones for us to learn about , how else do we really know what kind of mistake might happend when we play for real? it will let you see what you should give more attention to . mistakes are no big deal if you go back and fix them. we ALL make mistakes when learning.

Thank you for the comment! I will start posting in the audition room really soon! I mean I really HAVE to!!  Sometimes I have a feeling like I'm doing better but then sometimes I just start making some stupid mistakes again...  but well we'll see how it goes... 

Hi, I think you play well, but your cat is the real star! Love how he shows up exactly when the music starts then even stares at the camera

Hi! Thank you for watching and commenting!  Yes I think my cat is really cool too!   

Yeah, if cat was the examinator, you would get top grade .

I wish she was!!!!    Thank you for the comment!

love the cat in the video.

Thank you for watching and commenting! I think my cat will now want to be in all of my videos cause everyone likes her so much!     

Thank you everyone!

[littletune]

Oh I will now post the rest of my exam pieces... They all still need A LOT of work but I want to post all of them now before I start posting in the audition room... I will post a video of Sweet dreams by Tchaikovsky (I played it without the pedal), and you can see my cat in the beginning again and then towards the end and also my bird (the little yellow one)... 

And I'm also posting two recordings... one is my last piece that I'm playing: Little butterfly's advendture by E. Ulaga, I hope I'm playing it right cause on monday at my piano lesson I was playing it wrong.
And the second is the third movement of Sonatina, and it's still really bad... I just practiced it on my own (I asked my teacher if I could) and I haven't been playing it at my piano lessons at all yet (because it's possible I won't even be playing it for my exam)...
So this is all for now... and I will soon start posting in the Audition room, I hope at least a little better versions!!!! 

[49410enrique]

i actually realy liked your tchaikovsky (i have yet to listen to the other recordings, but will).

you do a super nice job w legato and balance of voices, effective phrasing and cresc and decresc too!

i prolly wouldn't add too much pedal, again i sorta like the sound you're putting out right now on it! just go w your teacher's input for the exam but to the extent you can be conservative with it i think you should try to (perhaps not the exam if your teachers says more pedal but certainly for your enjoyment or a final recording)

[littletune]

Thank you very much for listening and for the comment Enrique!  (or 49410, if you would rather be called that  ) Well my teacher does want me to play with the pedal, at first I liked it more without the pedal, but now I got used to the pedal too... I will post another recording (with the pedal) and you can tell me what you think of it. but tomorrow (I hope I'll have time) I will post (in the Audition room) Bach's prelude and first and second movements of Sonatina, because I will play those for a recital which i have on Friday!    i don't really feel ready to play them at a recital, but well... I hope it won't be too bad!!! because i think those are the pieces that scare me the most! Thanks again! I'm really glad you liked the way I played!