30 April 2010
Piano teachers and students will want to look out for ABRSM's 2011 & 2012 Piano syllabus when it is published in July 2010.

 

The syllabus will include 158 newly selected pieces across all eight grades, and will be supported by new Selected Piano Exam Pieces sheet music and recordings, also to be published in July. Further support for piano teachers will be available through a series of seminars to introduce the new repertoire in late 2010. The new syllabus will be valid for exams taken from 1 January 2011.

 

Wide-ranging repertoire
The anniversaries of two giants of the piano repertoire are celebrated in ABRSM's 2011 & 2012 Piano syllabus. The bicentenary of Liszt's birth falls in 2011 and is marked by the selection of pieces written in his most lyrical vein at Grades 5, 7 and 8. The 150th anniversary of Debussy's birth in 2012 is celebrated by the inclusion of his haunting Valse romantique at Grade 8.

As a result of extremely positive feedback from teachers and candidates regarding the selection of arrangements for the first time in the 2009 & 2010 Piano syllabus, we have continued this trend for 2011 & 2012. The new selection takes in arrangements for piano of music from Russian ballet, German Lieder and American spirituals, plus tunes by Joni Mitchell, George Gershwin and Dave Brubeck.
Music from the piano's core repertoire from the Baroque period to the music of today remains at the heart of this new ABRSM syllabus. There is a focus on composers from eastern Europe and Russia, from the familiar Glinka, Martinů and Smetana to the lesser-known Grechaninov, Papp and Rybicki. Music from Spain and Catalonia also features consistently, with appealing idiomatic contributions from Albeniz, Granados, Mompou, Rodrigo and Turina.

Sheet music and recordings
To support candidates and teachers using the 2011 & 2012 Piano syllabus, ABRSM will also publish one volume per grade of Selected Piano Exam Pieces. These include the sheet music for nine of the 18 pieces featured in each of Grades 1-7, and 12 of the 32 pieces featured in Grade 8. All other syllabus repertoire is available from a variety of publishers.
ABRSM's Selected Piano Exam Pieces are available with or without CD recordings of all pieces featured at each grade, giving teachers and students maximum flexibility. The CD recordings are also available separately, as are individual pieces as MP3 audio downloads from www.abrsm.org/audioshop, starting at 79p each. These downloads are designed for candidates who may only need individual pieces to help them prepare for their exam.
All ABRSM Selected Piano Exam Pieces sheet music and recordings will be published in July 2010.

Support for teachers
As part of ABRSM's ongoing support of instrumental and vocal teachers, an extensive series of professional development seminars to introduce the 2011 & 2012 Piano syllabus will be held between August and October 2010. Dates and venues will be announced in the coming months for events in Hong Kong, Indonesia, Macau, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand and the UK.