Diploma Level (Above Grade 8) Piece Ideas

[semibreathe]

Hi y'all

I completed my final graded exam a few years ago and now that I no longer have a teacher, I am looking into organising pieces for my Performance Diploma.

The bulk of it will have to be from the set list but I am not too keen on a lot of them and therefore am after pieces of a similar level. I am open to all suggestions here, just please, please avoid anything atonal for the time being!


And while we're here, any fun piece suggestions for playing just for fun would also be great.




Thanks in advance!

[adodd81802]

Is this the ABRSM thing, or? My piano teacher made me aware they are doing a 30 minute performance diploma, which can consist of 10 minutes of your own choice.

I actually like a lot of the set list considering it's ABRSM...

If it's the same thing I think it is, the rules state you can only have one thing per composer, so before getting good suggestions, work out the min 20 minutes you are playing in the set list, and see what composers / pieces that will narrow you down to.

[semibreathe]

Hi, thanks for your reply 

Yeah it's the ABRSM one. I am willing to look at all options right now so I haven't decided on any pieces yet but I know I will do Chopin and/or Debussy. But apart from that, I am not to fussy with the rest of the set pieces so am happy for any suggestions from all composers.

[adodd81802]

Well I had a look through.

I am not keen on the Debussy options, but the Chopin Berceuse is very nice, a little out of my level in all honesty, but as mentioned as you can only do 1 piece from each composer and you have max 10 minutes you may limit your options if don't start with the set list first.

Here's some ideas from the setlist I really liked.

Brahms Rhapsody G minor Op 79 No.2
Chopin The OP.57 Berceuse
Rachmaninoff's Prelude op 32 no 5
Ravel's complete sonatine
Schubert's impromptu op 90 no 3

These leaves room for a few other pianists (assuming you like romantic, as I'm not really a classical/baroque fan)

You could look at Liszt, Debussy, even John field has some Grade 8 + Nocturnes which are very nice.

Maybe Debussy's Ballade or Nocturne

As mentioned Check out the Field Nocturnes

Also maybe check out Grieg and Faure.

[symphonicdance]

DipRSM (and LRSM, too!) asks for the candidate to structure a balanced programme, and so you should consider composers of different periods and/or different nationality.  A 100% romantic programme will less likely work till FRSM, of which it allows specialisation.

I think it is nice to pick something the candidate really likes.  However, exam fee is not cheap these days, and no one wants to pay the exam fee twice.  Strategically it will be wiser to pick something safe to deliver than something a candidate finds it attractive but difficult to deliver.  Actually there are plenty of safe, on-syllabus choices.

Usually, candidates play 3-5 works.  In this part of the world, most candidates play 4 works (baroque, classical, romantic and 20th/21st century):
- Bach (more popular); Scarlatti (slightly less popular); Handel (seldom picked as own choice)
- Mozart & Beethoven (more popular, usually a long sonata); Haydn & Schubert (much less popular)
- Chopin & Brahms (more popular); Liszt & Schumann (less popular)
- Debussy, Ravel & Rachmaninoff (more popular); Prokofiev, Shostakovich, Copland, etc. (less popular)

[visitor]

... I am open to all suggestions here, just please, please avoid anything atonal for the time being!


And while we're here, any fun piece suggestions for playing just for fun would also be great.


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[visitor]

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