Selected and Reviewed by Andrew Eales
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Over the years ABRSM have produced a steady flow of graded piano repertoire books to supplement their exam resources, with series such as A Keyboard Anthology and Short Romantic Pieces becoming standard items in the teacher’s library.
However, one could have been forgiven for wondering whether some of these selections were made up of the most obscure pieces set in previous syllabi rather than the most widely enjoyed. So when Faber Music brought out their “Best of Grade…” books a few years ago, those looking for a one-stop collection of consistently appealing and varied pieces breathed a collective sigh of relief.
This summer ABRSM have responded with the publication of Encore, a set of four books which, based on their own data, include the most popular pieces featured in graded exams over the last decade or so.
Happily these collections include some great in-house pieces and arrangements now unavailable elsewhere. So, might these books play a central role in students learning over the next few years?
Let’s take a closer look.
The Encore Series
As with ABRSM’s aforementioned repertoire series, Encore comprises four books, each including a selection of pieces previously set at two different graded levels. So for example, Encore Book 1 covers pieces from grades 1 to 2, Encore Book 2 includes music from grades 3 to 4, and so on.
Unlike those previous publications, the pieces are not jumbled together, but instead separated by grade, so that the first half of the book is devoted specifically to music from one grade, the second half to the next. At Grade 1, there are 11 pieces, while by Grade 8 this is reduced to just 7. Nevertheless. the first book has 32 pages, while the fourth has 56, printed on off-white paper.
The pieces themselves represent a nicely varied selection at each and every grade level; the quality and appeal is uniformly high, and there are genuinely few “fillers” in the mix.
It is worth noting that there is no audio content, either via included CD or on their website, which is a little surprising given that ABRSM has previously produced and distributed specimen recordings of all these pieces alongside their exam syllabus publications. Their inclusion would have been the icing on the cake.
Just a footnote…?
Were this the whole story I could confidently recommend “Encore” as an ideal repertoire collection to enrich the learning of players at all levels. But perhaps the best is yet to come. Where these books are potentially a real game changer for ABRSM, unlikely though it may sound, is in the footnotes provided for each piece.
These include:
- background information: a short introduction to the composer and context of the piece
- key skills: a note helping teachers identify and get to the heart of the challenges included
- ideas for activities: tips that teachers and students might find helpful in order to branch away from the piece itself and into more creative musical activities.
The Background Information is sometimes embarrassingly slight, for example:
“The Danish-born pianist and composer Cornelius Gurlitt taught in Copenhagen and Hamburg. He composed a great number of works.”
… but often far more interesting and useful:
“Beethoven composed the three sonatas of Op.2 in around 1795, dedicating them to his former teacher Haydn. This first movement is more textually transparent than much of Beethoven’s later piano music.”
The Key Skill comments will surely be a great help to less experienced teachers, and could also prove a helpful reminder for those of us who have taught for many years but who risk becoming at all complacent.
But it is when we come to the Ideas for Activities that the Encore books are at their most interesting. These typically introduce elements of practical musicianship that are too often overlooked in piano teaching, and encourage listening to varied interpretations, aural engagement, improvisation, and composition.
Take for example this suggestion, which accompanies Bach’s Little Prelude in C (Book 2, Grade 3):
“To recognise how Bach has composed the entire piece from one motif, explore dominant 7th arpeggios beginning on C and G. Compose a different motif using these arpeggios.”
Such an instruction takes teacher and pupil well beyond ABRSM syllabus requirements, and offers a useful starting point for the educator who wants to take more engaging approach, having perhaps previously limited themselves to ‘teaching to the test’.
Similarly, alongside Sandré’s “Petits bateaux sur l’eau” we find suggestions for original composition alongside encouragement to further explore core classical repertoire, providing fertile territory for integrated musical exploration and learning:
“Compose your own piece with the same title, using bars 1-4 in the left hand and notes A B C D E in right as initial inspiration. Find and listen to a recording of Mendelssohn’s “Venetian Gondola Song” Op.30 No.6 from his Songs Without Words, and notice its similarities and differences to Sandré’s piece.”
At Grade 7 and 8 level these “ideas” turn increasingly towards comparing interpretations and analysing, for example, Fugue and Sonata Form structures.
At all levels the suggestions given are creative and highly welcome. Those who follow up on even some of these ideas are likely to find their musical experience transformed for the better.
Closing thoughts
ABRSM’s “Encore” series of graded anthologies is a great addition to any piano student’s music collection, and will enable teachers to raise the bar with students and in their own teaching. I would have loved a full eight books rather than four, but that in itself is intended as the highest praise!
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