Grade 8 Exam Pieces

[sk15]

Hi all

I am going to be playing my Grade 8 UNISA exam sometime in the first half of September. My repertoire is as follows:

- J.S. Bach: Prelude and Fugue (in C Minor) BWV 847
- F. Mendelssohn: Variations Serieuses
- E. J. Moeran: Toccata

I would like to know how my pieces sound from the recordings attached. The quality isn't too great, and I know I haven't played my best, but I would just like some idea of how I am doing, aside from my teacher's opinion.

Also, I know I made many note / finger slip errors which sound awful, most of them are not an issue because they just happen occasionally and not all the time. Wrong notes which sound obvious are only because I recorded these while playing from memory. I'll work to get everything as good as possible. I know I also need to work especially on getting the notes of the last two Variations Serieuses clean and clear!!

Thanks guys

[indianajo]

Can't listen, no flash player available for this old computer.
But, incorrect notes indicate a need to slow down. First you circle the incorrect notes with a pencil. Then you play that measure  slow enough where you can play it with the incorrect notes, corrected, over and over again.  If you can play twenty times in a row correctly, maybe you can speed up a little.  Still incorrect, slow down some more.  If you can't play correctly with two hands together, play one hand alone until the measure is correct, and so boring you have memorized it. Then you can string several measures together around the incorrect passage, always slowing down if anything is incorrect.
Playing correctly isn't something you think about (except to recognize the error); it uses the part of your brain that you learned to walk with. You don't think conciously about every step, do you? Learn the piece with that part of the brain.
When your lower brain has the muscle movement learned well enough, you can speed up a little.  Going from quarter note =30 bpm to 40 bpm totally correctly is a lot harder than going from 50 bpm to 100.
A bonus to learning a piece this way, your lower brain has memorized the piece, you only have to think about repetitive passages in the right order to completely memorize it.   I can play pieces by memory I learned 40 years ago, just one time through with the sheet music gives me access to all those movements I learned as a teenager.  
Good luck on the exams.  

[sk15]

Thanks for the advice.

So I played my exam, and I managed to get 91%! I was invited to perform and compete in a national scholarship competition due to getting above 85 in each of my three pieces and in the exam overall, so I was extremely ecstatic about all that!

In any case, for each of the Bach and Moeran I got 18 out of 20, while for the Mendelssohn I got 22 out of 25.

Playing at this level, could anyone recommend any pieces similar to the Variations that I could start learning? I've started learning the notes of Liszt's Totentanz (Piano and Orchestra version), Chopin's Ballade in G Minor (I picked up most of the notes there quickly, just need to brush up the fast sections and work on it musically) and Liszt's La Campanella (also picked up most of the notes quickly).

P.S. I managed to perform my exam pieces waaaaay better than I did in those recordings in my first post! Want to remove those horrible recordings but I can't lol!

[pianoplunker]

Thanks for the advice.

So I played my exam, and I managed to get 91%! I was invited to perform and compete in a national scholarship competition due to getting above 85 in each of my three pieces and in the exam overall, so I was extremely ecstatic about all that!

In any case, for each of the Bach and Moeran I got 18 out of 20, while for the Mendelssohn I got 22 out of 25.

Playing at this level, could anyone recommend any pieces similar to the Variations that I could start learning? I've started learning the notes of Liszt's Totentanz (Piano and Orchestra version), Chopin's Ballade in G Minor (I picked up most of the notes there quickly, just need to brush up the fast sections and work on it musically) and Liszt's La Campanella (also picked up most of the notes quickly).

P.S. I managed to perform my exam pieces waaaaay better than I did in those recordings in my first post! Want to remove those horrible recordings but I can't lol!

Congratulations on a successful performance. Was there any feedback on what was causing you not to get 100% ? 

[mjames]

Thanks for the advice.

Playing at this level, could anyone recommend any pieces similar to the Variations that I could start learning?

Chopin's Variation Brillantes, Liadov's Op. 35 or Op. 51.

And damn man, you're just taking the grade 8 exams? Those are some pretty tough pieces you're playing LOL

[ale_ius]

Do you have experiences with transcriptions?
[Very nices in 720P!]

Copland(arr.Bernstein）：El salón México
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_Sal%C3%B3n_M%C3%A9xico

-Alee Marie.

[sk15]

@pianoplunker Thanks! But please tell me the 100% thing is a joke? LMAO The UNISA examiners are extremely strict and I don't think anyone gets 100% for UNISA exams! Or for individual pieces within an exam.

@mjames Thanks for the suggestions! Haha yeah, UNISA graded exams are pretty hectic in terms of repertoire. For example (and I was reminded of this from you suggesting Liadov) I played Liadov's Prelude in D-Flat last year for grade 7, yet it is grade 8 on the ABRSM syllabus. Also, for my grade 6 exam, I played Mendelssohn's Song Without Words in E major, Op. 19b No. 1 (I think that's the correct opus number?) yet on TCL's exam repertoire it falls under grade 7. I know the Variations Serieuses are at least licentiate level on all other boards, but I really wanted to learn it when I saw it on the grade 8 list. Best music-related decision I have made!

@ale_ius Looks interesting... I'll look into it. Thanks

[sk15]

So... None of those pieces really interest me for the time being... I really love Chopin's second Ballade Opus 38, but I'm not sure if I should start it. Looking at my Grade 8 repertoire, does anyone have suggestions regarding whether I should start this piece or not?