Music...

Niamh-17

Hey, Im going into leaving cert in september, and have been trying to decide what 4 pieces to play for my practical. (Im also doing music technology) I play piano, and recently got honours in grade 5. Just wondering what pieces did you play? im hoping to get some ideas!

Atm, im attempting Phantom of the opera. I also am playing one grade five classical piece.....not sure what other two pieces to play.

Hope you got on ok with you music leaving cert result also

PurpleFistMixer

I did 4 pieces on violin-
Meditation (grade 7 piece, romantic)
Stormy Weather (grade 4 piece, jazzy)
Schindler's List (grade 7 piece... depressing)
Czardas (grade 8 piece, fast... bit of a show off piece really)
And I had just done grade 7.

You don't need to do pieces of a high grade though, I just made things difficult for myself by picking such tricky pieces (particularly the czardas). It's more about the performance they say, than mad technical skills.

Do a variety of styles, I'd say. Classical, modern, jazzy, to make it interesting. It is a performance after all.

22diamonds

I played 4 piano for mine, did grade 8 exam in 5th year.
I played:
A schubert impromtu (grade 6 standard)
Mendelsohn venetian gondola song (grade 7)
A Fantasia by Bach (grade 8+)
My own arrangement of a piano piece from the film "finding neverland".

Basically, I would suggest varied music. Fast Vs slow, classic Vs modern, etc.
Even though mine looks all classical, it's got slow/fast classical, fast baroque, slow romantic, and modern lyrical.

Saying that, you could even play a beatles piece and get the same marks. So play what you're comfortable with. Better to play grade 4 musically than grade 6 with mistakes.
Best of luck!

Niamh-17

Yeah i see where are are coming from about playing a grade 4 well, instead of making mistakes in a harder piece. Im already nervous about the practical and i really want to pick pieces that are of good standard and that i am comfortable with, as i am hoping to get a good grade in the leaving.

Also im just wondering , do you have to play one musical, one modern, one classical and one irish.............or have i picked that up completly wrong?!

Thanks for yer help

22diamonds

Nope it's not that specific at all, Didn't stop me getting an A1 this week anyway

Niamh-17

Wow, thats great....congrats you must be delighted
Im glad to hear it isnt that specific, makes it a lot easier to choose pieces!