ABRSM launched its new piano syllabus in June for 2023/24 and received much praise. With an attractive freshly designed front cover, all pieces within the books are new and the alternative pieces included in the lists have been given a slight refresh. There are 13 pieces offered per grade for each list – List A pieces are ‘faster moving and require technical agility’, List B pieces are ‘more lyrical and invite expressive playing’, and List C pieces ‘reflect a wide variety of musical traditions, styles and characters’. This means that musical periods can appear within any list.
The lists offer fantastic diversity in terms of race and gender, as well as core cannon. I feel that Initial to Grade 2 offer the best selections in terms of accessibility for all; some grades are more appealing than others. In my own teaching, I will be changing the fingering or adding some in several pieces in the Initial Grade – it's sparse at times and occasionally does not appear to be very logical. Teachers should critically look at all fingering throughout.
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