To give you some idea of how composition exams work I will be sharing some of the pieces I submitted for my own portfolios. This will include my original compositions and possibly some of the arrangements, depending on copyright limitations.
When I discovered this suite of exams I did not know anyone else who had completed them and could find very little online, so I decided to start at the beginning. The brief for the Grade 2 original composition (piece 1 of 3) is as follows:
“An original composition for solo instrument of the candidate’s choice, of approximately 1-2 minute’s duration. The instrument chosen may be monophonic (e.g. an orchestral instrument) OR polyphonic (e.g. piano), but may NOT be voice.”
Choosing a single instrument was easy enough, and I decided not to be too ambitious with the first piece – I figured at this level the examiners want to see a basic grasp of rhythm and harmony. When taking a lower grade exam the assessors may interpret finer elements which would be expected of a more advanced player as errorst; playing with a lot of rubato in a Grade 1 exam would probably result in losing marks rather than gaining them, as the examiner would likely assume you were having trouble maintaining a steady rhythm. For most students on their first instrument this isn’t likely to be a problem, but it is worth considering if you are a more advanced player studying a second instrument (or my American violin teacher who had never taken any grade exams because they don’t have the same learning framework in the US and so decided to sit every exam from Grade 1-8 in order to better understand the system, much to the confusion of the examiners!)
I chose G minor as it is a key I like and it works well on piano. 120 bpm is a very common tempo for pieces because it syncs well with the average human heartbeat (around 60 bpm). The ternary form structure is ABA1, with a light middle section sandwiched between two forceful and dramatic themes.
Features
The piece starts on the low side of the bass register with the right hand playing on the higher side, mostly up to 2 ledger lines but going as high as 4 ledger lines in bar 47. The piano’s wide range is one of its best features and I like to make use of that, moving outside the typical ‘harpsichord’ (or 61-key electronic keyboard) range wherever possible. Bars 11-14 make use of a Baroque style pattern where the left hand repeats what the right hand has previously done.
The middle section is marked by a double thin bar line; this is not essential but I find it easier to navigate around the piece when it is clearly divided up. This is not so essential for a piece that is only 2 pages long but when you’re dealing with a piece that is 15 pages long (such as the Grade 8 original composition, which will be covered in a future post) these visual markers are extremely useful. Here the key modulates (changes) to Bb major, also known as the ‘relative major’ because it has the same key signature as G minor. The range in both hands becomes more central and the note durations become longer to give this section a slower pace, inspired by Burgmüller’s ‘Knight Errant’ (op. 100 no. 25).
The third section repeats material from the first section and then embellishes it, increasing the range and introducing some chords in the right hand to thicken the texture. The piece ends on a perfect cadence (V-i; D-Gm) with a gentle final chord intended to drift off at the end.
Performance notes
“Sharp, biting”: this is the emotion you want to convey. The upward arpeggios represent chills shooting up your spine, whereas the slow ominous crotchets moving downwards at the end of the phrases creates a sense of dread and anticipation. The middle section conveys precisely the opposite; think of it as a break from the drama of the surrounding sections. It should start off light and fluffy, without too much weight on the staccato crotchets – remember that staccato means the note ends early, not that it starts firmly. The chord in bar 37 that reintroduces the first theme should be heavy, but be careful not to bang the keys. The semiquaver run in b.49-50 should be shaped, getting slightly louder as you move up the keyboard. The final chord is marked mp and does not have a fermata so count those 4 beats carefully.
Listen to the piece and then download the score to have a go yourself.
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