An Overview of the 2025 & 2026 ABRSM Piano Syllabus (1)
The new ABRSM piano examination syllabus for 2025 & 2026 is now available. As with previous syllabuses, I will be presenting a series of workshops and creating a collection of video lessons featuring selection of repertoire from each of the grades.
Having been part of the repertoire selection committee for a previous ABRSM piano syllabus, I know the care and attention that go into choosing pieces for each grade. This latest syllabus offers many works that will inspire and stimulate both players and teachers – as well as pose some challenges for continued pianistic and musical growth!
ABRSM has kindly granted us permission to feature a selection of their licensed works in both my video lessons and upcoming workshops. In this series of blog posts, I have chosen and written a brief overview for two pieces from each grade that captivated me, sparked my imagination and that I feel have significant educational value. The first of these posts covers the Initial Grade through to Grade 3 (click here to view the second instalment featuring Grades 4 – 6 or click here for the third featuring Grades 7 & 8).
Initial Grade
In the Dead of Night – Edmund Joliffe
There is much to enjoy in this slow and mysterious piece, a great opportunity to come up with a story from the imagination. We already know from the title that the piece describes the dead of night, but what exactly is going on from moment to moment? Are we all alone in a dark forest, with a friend in a haunted house, or…?
There’s an especially yummy spot in bar 12, the climax of the piece, where we find a G sharp in the LH, and then a G natural in the RH. What emoji might we draw over this bar to make the feeling clear? At the softest, spookiest point, the last bar, we get to use the pedal as we roll our RH over the notes of the cluster to create a special sound effect. What’s the emoji here, for you?
The Wibbly Waltz – Sarah Watts
Marked “with humour”, this piece is sure to keep the young player amused as they think about the question posed by the composer in the very helpful footnote: “who could be dancing it, I wonder?” Maybe Grandma after her second sherry? Legato lines alternate with staccato sections. The challenge in bars 9-10 is to keep the RH light and bouncy while playing the LH smoothly. In bars 17-18 can you pass the tune from one hand to the other without any bumps or breaks?
Grade 1
Fireworks Minuet – G. F. Handel (Arr. Bullard)
Alan Bullard’s clever arrangement of this minuet from Handel’s Music for the Royal Fireworks includes some helpful articulation markings that mix up smooth and detached playing, and dynamic suggestions that help bring out the contrasting characters of the two sections. It is in keeping with Baroque style in such a minuet to play the crotchets (quarter notes) that have no articulation markings slightly separated (non-legato) (bars 5-8, for instance).
It is worth teachers pointing out a few facts about the piece, depending on the age and level of understanding of the player:
- The piece is in two halves, each 8 bars long. The first half ends with an imperfect cadence (I–V); the second half with a perfect cadence (V-I).
- Bars 14 and 15 feature a hemiola, a common rhythmic device at cadence points in music from this period. Instead of feeling these bars “1 2 3, 1 2 3”, we would feel them “1 2, 1 2, 1 2”. Composers of the day did not change the time signature; it is up to the player to discover and enjoy such rhythmical features.
Cyberspace Detective – Amit Anand
This up-to-date piece describes the detectives of cyberspace whose job it is to protect the world from hackers. Spiky phrases with syncopations alternate with smoother bars, giving the music contrasts in touch and character. What is a syncopation and how do we feel its effect? Simply put, a syncopation is a rhythmic accent that falls on a beat (or a part of a beat) where we wouldn’t expect to find it.
We find an example of this in the very first bar, the tied RH A. We need to play this A with the combined weight of the quaver (8th note) and the crotchet it’s tied to. To feel this, we might repeat the first bar on a loop, first omitting the tie (playing the crotchet) and then including the tie (playing as written). A steady pulse is necessary, but more than this – we need to feel the rhythmic “zinginess” of the syncopation in our body.
The last phrase has a crescendo that takes us from piano to fortissimo. How to play the last chord very strongly but without banging or hitting the piano? Place the hands over the notes so that all the fingers involved are in contact with the keys, then thrust the arms upwards and forwards, as though you were trying to push the pianos away from you. The moment you sense you have arrived at the keybeds, switch off effort and rest lightly in the keys. The sound will be strong but without any harshness.
Grade 2
Sparkling Splashes & Smooth Water – Barbara Arens
The 3+3+2 time signature may at first seem challenging to a player at Grade 2 level, but this rhythmic grouping could first be experienced in a few scales before embarking on the piece. Forearm bounces will bring out the rhythmic incisiveness of the sparkling splashes, wrist circles and whole bar pedals the gentle swirling of the smooth water.
Enjoy the contrasts in tone colour and texture as one idea alternates with the other – always with some differences in note patterns to keep the player on their toes.
Moderato (1st mvt from Sonatina in G, Anh 5/1) – Beethoven
This well-known movement gives the player a very clear idea of form and structure. Beethoven has given the music a distinct shape, referred to in textbooks as ternary form (A B A) with a coda. Younger players might think of this as a musical sandwich with a side order. What flavour is the filling (the B section)? Perhaps something smooth and creamy?
The imaginative teacher will point out features such as the expressive appoggiaturas (bars 8, 10, etc.), possibly the calming reference to the subdominant key (C major) (bars 5-6), rising and falling sequences in B section, noticing that the bass note is grounded on a D (dominant pedal point) throughout the middle section.
Grade 3
Allegro moderato (1st mvt from Sonatina in G, Op. 300 No. 93) – Louis Köhler
This good-humoured piece from the Romantic era has a very Classical feel to it with its crystal-clear ternary form structure, singable tunes accompanied by Alberti basses, and elegant two-note slurs. There is a repeated-note idea that forms the first part of the theme for both the A and B sections, marked mezzo staccato. Beware of playing these notes too short – we will find a better sound when we keep the hand in contact with the keys.
The composer, a busy piano teacher himself, made sure to add suitable dynamics when he passed the melodic line from RH to LH in bar 8, a shift in tonal focus we would probably do instinctively anyway. Aim to find a different colour for the B section in the relative minor – maybe darker and more intense.
Discover More!
If you found these notes useful and would like a more in-depth exploration of these works then please do join me for my online workshop series. Over the course of three sessions, I’ll be giving and demonstrating insights on learning, interpreting and practising these pieces. Click here to find out more and to book your place!