Virginia Hall, Beethoven & a Sad Ghost

We’ve published four new videos from the elementary grades (Initial – Grade 3) for the 2023 & 2024 ABRSM piano examination syllabus. As with the previous videos, these walk-throughs offer practice suggestions, tips on style and interpretation and many other ideas for pieces by Chwatal, Shruthi Rajasekar, Beethoven and Nancy Litten.

New Videos

Initial Grade A1: Chwatal – Little Playmates

This fun and joyful piece is a great introduction to playing hands together. In this excerpt from his video lesson on this piece, Graham Fitch demonstrates how tiny wrist adjustments can help the hand feel comfortable and strong, even when using the traditionally “weaker”  fourth and fifth fingers:

Grade 1 C1: Shruthi Rajasekar – Virginia Hall

Dedicated to Virginia Hall, a secret agent, this piece uses a repeated ostinato motif to create suspense throughout. In this excerpt from his video lesson on this work, Graham Fitch shares a creative way to help learn the rhythm of the ostinato figure while adding some fun to your scales practice!

Grade 2 A1: Beethoven (arr. Czerny) – Écossaise in G, WoO 23

The bouncy Écossaise by Beethoven from the Grade 2 list features different types of staccato articulations. Graham Fitch explains the distinction and demonstrates how to execute them in this excerpt from his video lesson on this work:

Grade 3 B1: Nancy Litten – The Sad Ghost

This mysterious piece is full of opportunities to create a haunting atmosphere. In this excerpt from his video on the piece, Graham Fitch explores possibilities for using the pedal to create a spooky effect as the music fades away towards the end of the piece:

Click here for links to view the full videos on the Online Academy!

Other Videos

The following videos for the elementary grades (Initial – Grade 3) are also available:

• Initial Grade – Heinrich Wohlfahrt: Patterns (No. 10 from Kinder-Klavierschule)
• Grade 1 – Diabelli: Allegretto in C (No. 3 from Die ersten 12 Lectionen, Op. 125)
• Grade 2 – Trad. Chinese (arr. Yip): Kangding Love Song
• Grade 3 – Clementi: Vivace (3rd movt from Sonatina in C, Op. 36 No. 1)

Click here to view the full index of a of available videos, including links to several from previous and other syllabuses (further information on our project for the previous 2021 & 2022 syllabus is available here).

Videos for almost 60 pieces have been recorded already and are currently in the various stages of the editing process. Several further shoots are planned and we will be releasing the videos in frequent installments over the coming months. Please click here to sign-up to our mailing list for updates and notifications on this project and our resources for piano examinations.