The third ABRMS grade 1 piece I’ve been learning is a peice titled Fresh Air by Andrew Eales. Again another unpolished performance but getting the notes and rythmn mostly right. As with all grade 1 peices I’ve learnt so far, I know I still have work to do. The biggest issue being my dynamics and articulation.
The Journey
At first glance this looks like an easy peice (and of course, it is as it’s a grade 1) but there are a few things that kept catching me out. Holding doing the E whilst continuing playing other notes in bar 1, 3 etc… took my brain forever to get right.
The piece introduced me to several new concepts:
- Wider range of dymanics
- Coordinating hands together with different patterns
Challenges
The main challenges I encountered were:
- Reading it! I’ve still not done enough site reading to really be able to pick a random bar and play it instantly
- Implementing the dynamics effectively
- Coordinating hands together, especially with holding certain notes in the bar.
Reflection
Looking back, this was an excellent piece to start with. While I still have work to do on certain sections, particularly the Alberti bass sections and dynamics, I’m happy enough with my progress to move on to other pieces while continuing to refine this one.
For those interested in learning this piece, you won’t find this on MuseScore due to copyright. It’s available in some of the ABRSM books or available to purchase online but I wasn’t sure on the legitimacy of these sites.
What’s Next?
My tutor has suggested I continue working on these but me’s also introduced me to some new grade 2 peices to look at. I have another ungraded peice (probably a level 1 arrangement) given to me too, which is a basic arrangement of the traditional song Amazing Grace.
I will continue to keep coming back to each peice but focus on new grade 2 peices now.