Grade Violin Exam Pieces 2020-2023

Score &Part

3 ABRSM

Violin
Exam Pieces
ABRSM Grade 3
Selected from the
2020-2023 syllabus

223
19c0F
ABRSM Violin Exams
to help you prepare 1or your (irade
3 exan. All requirements are yalid fr.
Here aresome key points
ecenmber 2023. More detailed information on the syilabus requirements and syllabus overlap details ran til
online at www.abrsm.org/violin. n the exan, Uie requirements can be taken in any order.

Pieces (330 marks)

This book cotains nine pieces from ABRSM's 2020-2023 Grade 3 Violin syllabus. In the exam,
you will need to play three pieces, one from each of the three syllabus lists (A, B and C).
You can choose from the pieces in this book and/or the other pieces set for the grade: a full list is on the
Opposite page. You will need to follow all da capo (D.C.) and dal segno (D.S.) indications but other repeats
(including first-time bars) should not be played unless they are very short (i.e. a few bars) or unless the
syllabus specifies differently.

Scales and arpeggios (21 marks)

Learning scales and arpeggios helps you to build strong technical skills by developing reliable finger
movement, hand position, co-ordination and fingerboard fluency. It also helps you to develop your
musical understanding through familiarity with keys and their related patterns.
You can find a complete list of scales and arpeggios required for Grade 3 in the back of this book. In the exam,
they should be played from memory.

Sight-reading (21 marks)

Learning to sight-read helps you to develop quick recognition of keys, tonality and common rhythm
patterns. It also helps you to learn to keep going even when you make mistakes, and work music out for
yourself- which makes learning new pieces quicker and easier.
In the exam, you will be asked to play a short unaccompanied piece of music that you have not seen before.
You will be given half a minute to look through and, if you wish, try out all or any part of the test before you
are asked to play it to the examiner for assessment. For the full sight-reading parameters, please see the
syllabus.

Aural tests (18 marks)

Aural skills enable you to assess the sound and balance of your playing, keep in time and play with a sense
of rhythm and pulse. These skills also help you to develop your sense of pitch, your musical memory and
to spot any mistakes.
In the exam, the tests will be administered by the examiner from the piano, and you will be asked:
a To clap the pulse of a piece played by the examiner, and to identify whether it is in two time,
three time or four time.
b To sing as 'echoes' three phrases played by the examiner.
To identify a change in either pitch or rhythm during a phrase played by the examiner
To answer questions about two features of a piece played by the examiner.
For more detailed information on the tests, please see the syllabus.
(Total available: 150 marks)

Editorial guidance
We have taken the pieces in this bookfrom a variety of sources. Where appropriate, we have edited the pieces tone
you prepare for your performance. We have added metronome markings (in square brackets) and ornament reud
The fingering and bowing indications have b e e n a m e n d e d w h e r e necessary to e n s u r e a consistent approach witnl e

album. Details of o t h e r changes or suggestions are given i n t h e footnotes. Fingering, bowing a n d editorial adaiuons a e

guidance only: you do not have to follow them in the exam.

Violin Exam Pieces Name

ABRSM Grade 3
Selected from the 2020-2023 syllabus Date of exarn

Contents
LIST A page
IG.E. Handel La réjouissance: fourth movement from Musicfor the Royal Fireworks, FWV 351, arr. ABRSM
2 Joseph Haydn Themeand Variation: from Symphony No.94, Hob. I:94, second movement,
ar. Alexander&Carson Turner
3 attrib. W. A. Mozart Contredanse: No. 1 from 12 contredanses, K. 269b, trans. Jones

LIST B
Gabriel Fauré Theme from Berceuse: from Dolly, Op. 56, arr. Blackwell

2 Astor Piazzolla & Horacio Ferrer Chiquilín de Bachín, arr. Huws Jones

3 Oskar Rieding Andante: second movement from Concerto in B minor, Op. 35

LIST C
I N . H. Brown& Arthur Freed Singin' in the Rain, arr. Iles 10
Symphony (Pvt.) L¢d. 11
2 Rachel Stott Shadow Wizard 438/2, Havelock Roau,
Violin Globetroters Colomb0-6. 12
3 Ros Stephen Relaxing in Rio: No.3 from e l : No. 0112585172
Violin consultant: Kathy Blackwell 0114967928
Footnotes: Anthony Burton

DUET with violin accompaniment PF/VN with piano or violin accompaniment

Other pieces for Grade 3

LIST A
Wade. The Young Symphonist, Vol. 2 (Spartan Press)
4 Boyce (3rd movt from Symphony No. 4 in F, Op. 2 No. 4), arr.
Gavotte
repeat). Holmstad: Gamle danser blir som nye (Norsk Musikforlag) soLO
Holmstad Lett på fot (Light-footed) (with 1st
Vol. 2: Violin (Carl Fischer) DUET
Kling March, arr. Gazda &Clark (upper part). Compatible Duetsfor Strings,
F. Küchler Allegro assai: 3rd movt from Concertino in D, Op. 15 (Bosworth)
Mascitti Gavotta (4th movt from Sonata in E minor, Op. 2 No. 10). Baroque Violin Pieces, Book 1 (ABRSM)
Waterman (upper part). The Young Violinist's Repertoire, Book 3 (Faber) DUET
Mozart Duo (from 12 Duos, K. 487), arr. de Keyser &
3 Violin (Faber)
10 Telemann Bourrée (from Wedding Divertissement). The Best of Grade

LISTE
(from Carmen), arr. K. & D. Blackwell. Fiddle Time Sprinters (OUP)
PE/VN
4 Bizet Habanera
G.Concone Andante pastorale, arr. Gazda & Clark (upper part). Compatible Duetsfor Strings, Vol. 2: Violin (Carl Fischer) DUET

Rowlands. Klezmer Fiddle Tunes (Schott)

Gebirtig Moishele Mayn Fraynd, arr.

Barbara Heller Lalai -A Lullaby to Awaken You?, art. Mohrs. My First Concertfor Violin (Schot)

Elton John& Tim Rice Can You Feel the Love Tonight? (from The Lion King), art. Galliford & Neuburg. Top Hits from TV, Movies &

Musicals for Violin (Alfred)

9 Papini Theme and Variations 1 and 2 (from Theme and Variations), trans. Applebaum. Solos for Young Violinists, Vol. 1 (Alfred)
10 Friedrich Seitz Adagio: 2nd movt from Student Concerto No. 2 in G, Op. 13 (Bärenreiter)

LISTC
Bartók Pillow Dance: No. 14 from 44 Duos for Two Violins, Vol. 1 (upper part) (Universal)
DUET
4
5 L. Bernstein I feel pretty (from West Side Story), arr. Wastall (solo part). Session Time for Strings: Violin (Boosey & Hawkes)
Katherine & Hugh Colledge Stiffkey Blues: No. 21 from Shooting Stars for Violin (Boosey & Hawkes)
7 C. Dancla Chasse du jeune Henry: No. 17 from 36 éludes mélodiques et faciles, Op. 84 (Schott) soLo
8 Grechaninov The Joker (No. 3 from Early Morning, Op. 126a). The Young Violinist's Repertoire, Book 3 (Faber)
9 Thomas Gregory Vamoose. Vamoosh Violin, Book 2( Vamoosh)
10 Sheila Nelson Toad in the Hole (upper parl; without improvisation). Technitunes for Violin (Boosey & Hawkes) PF/VN

First published in 2019 by ABRSM (Publishing) Lid, Unauthorised photocopying is illegal Music origination by Julia Bovee
All rights reserved. No part of this publication Cover by Kate Benjamin & Andy Pots, with thanks to Brighton College
a wholly owned subsidiary of ABRSM, 4 London Wall Place,
be recorded or transmitted Printed in England by Halstan & Co. Ltd, Amersham, Bucks.,
London EC2Y 5AU, United Kingdom may reproduced,
2019 by 1The Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music in any form or by any means without the on materials from sustainable sources.

Distributed worldwide by Oxford University Press prior permission of the copyright owner.
 2 Rejoicing t
toTiae

A1 La réjouissance iauthoised
Copie, f this
oDyrigh
mui
Fourth movement from Music for the Royal Fireworks, HWV 351

Arranged by ABRSMM G.F. Handel

(1685-1759)

Allegro 88

mf

13

Cresc.

16

George Frideric Handel was born in Germany, but spent the last 47 years ofhis life in England, where he became famous as a composero
oratorios and instrumental music. In 1749, he wrote his Music for the Royal Fireworks to accompany a firework display in Green P a r k a d
celebrating the end of a European war. It was played by a band of about 100 musiclans: oboes, bassoons, horns, trumpetsand d r d
probably strings as well, in defiance of King George ll's reported remarks that he wanted 'martial music' and 'hoped there would De o

1996 byThe Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music

Reproduced from Violin Exam Pieces 1997-2000, Grade 3 (ABRSM)

AB 3938
 It is 3
7legal
to make
unauthorised
copies of this
copyri
si
right Theme and Variation A.2
from Symphony No. 94, Hob. 1:94, second movement

Arranged by James Alexander Joseph Haydn

and Barrie Carson Turner (1732-1809)

Andante ['= c.104]

mf

E
P

12

17 Variationa

mf
28

cresc.

he Austrian composer Joseph Haydn made two extended visits to London in the 1790s. During his stay he directed the first performances of
the last 12 of his more than 100 orchestral symphonies. The Symphony No. 94, first performed in March 1792, is known in English-speaking
countries as the'Surprise Symphony, because the theme of the second movement is interrupted at one point (on the second beat of bar 8, n
tne repeat) by a sudden, startling loud chord for the full orchestra. This free arrangement presents the theme, without the surprise, followed by
a version of the final variation of the movement.
1993 HarperCollins Publishers Ltd

AB 3938
 ts
legal
to make

A3 Contredanse urauihonSEd
CODes of his
Copgt
No.1 from 12 contredanses, K. 269b music
Transcrided and edited
by Richard Janes attrib. W. A. Mozart
(1756-91)

c.63)

13

The contredanse was a

popular 18th-century dance in lively two-in-a-ba metre, which began its life in France as a version of
countury dance. (lts the English
name is aFrench pronunciation of the English term.) This
written by the Austrian
example comes from a set of contredanses said to have been
composer \Wolígang Amadeus Mozarn. probably in 1776 or l77, for a local
nobleman in his home town of Salzburg. The
set was
originally for orchestra, but all that has survived ofit is a group of four dances in an for solo piano. It is now
that Mozarn wrote these. arrangement thought unlikely
2000 by The Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music
Reproduced from Vlolln Eram Pieces 2001-2004. Grade 3 (ABRSM)

AB 3938
 P

25

28

AB 3938
6

Theme from Berceuse

B:1 from Dolly, Op. 56

Blackwell Gabriel Fauré

Arranged by David
(245-1924
Allegretto moderato= c.63

2
P dolce

mp

mp
P

24

mf

poco rit.

dim.

The French conmposer Gabriel Fauré wrote his suite Dolly for piano duet (four hands on one keyboard) in the mid- 1890s for Doly,theo
daughter of his friend Emma Bardac. He sent the tirst movement, Berceuse, to Doly in June 1893 for her frst birthday: it wasanadapiatioe
piece he had witten nearly 30 years earlier. The titdle means 'Cradle song': you can heartherocking ofthe cradle in the repeated hgureshir
piano accompaniment to the smooth melody. The piece is often remembered as the music for the BBC radio series Listen with Mother W
ran from 1950 to 1982.
2019 by 1The Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music

AB 3938
 ,It is
Little Boy of Bachín
to make
unauthorised
copies of this
Copyright
music
Chiquilín de Bachín B:2
Arranged by Edward Huws Jones Music by Astor Piazzolla (1921-92)
Lyrics by Horacio Ferrer (1933-2014)
Slow waltz. = 116

mp

19I

cresc.

35

dim.
mf

Sla 1. 2.

mp

The Argentine musician Astor Piazzolla was a leading figure, as a band-leader, composer and player of the bandoneon (button accordion), in the
development of the tango, his country's national dance. This piece, however, is not a tango, but a popular song in slow walt time. First released
in 1969, it has words by a frequent collaborator with Piazzolla, the Uruguayan-Argentine poet Horacio Ferrer. They describe a poor young boy
selling flowers in the Bacthin restaurant in the theatre district of the Argentine capital Buenos Aires. The boy was a real person: he was eleven at
the time the song was written, and when it was finished Piazzolla and Ferer performed it to him in his family's one-room apartment.

1969 Editorial Lagos and 1969 (Renewed) Warner/Chappell Music Argentina

All ights administered by WB Musie Corp and Warner/Chappell Overseas Holdings Ltd. London WB 5DA
Thisarrangement ©2018 Editorial Lagos
Reproduced bv permission of Faber Music Lid for Europe and Alfred Publishing Co. (UK) Lid for rest of world. All rights reserved.

AB 3938
8
1legal
to mae

B:3 Andante uriauthorised

pies of this
cOpyright
Second movement from Concerto in B minor, Op. 35

Oskar Pieding
(1849-1916)

Andante . = c.56]
Solo
4

m mf

rit.
14

a tempoo
20

mf

But he spent most o

OSkar Rieding was born in north Germany, studied in Berlin and Leipzig, and worked as an orchestral violinist in Vienna.
his career in the Hungarian capital, Budapest, where he was leader of the Opera orchestra from 1871 to 1904. After that, he retired to Cilli (Celje),
then in Hungary but now in Slovenia. Rieding wrote many educational works for violin with piano. Some of the best known are in the form ot ne

Romantic concerto- including the Concerto in B minor, first published in 1909, of which this is the central slow movement.

Source: Violin Concerto in B minor, Op. 35(Leipzig: Bosworth &Co, 1909).

2019 byThe Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music

AB 3938
 9

24

mf

rit.

a tempoo
37

mt

P
mf

molto rit.

AB 3938
0
yfa1tfi"nr

C1 Singin' in the Rain rrisi

Music by NH Brown 7/-1964,

Nikki lles Lyrics by Arthur Freed (1994-1972,
Arranged by

c.108 (d=J.
Gently swinging.
=

mp

mf

1p mf

mp

pizz.

e-

mf mp
mt'

Singin' in the Rain' is a song with words by Arthur Freed and music by Nacio Herb Brown, probably first performed in the film The Holywoou
Revue of 1929. Jt became well known through its use in the 1952 filn which took its name, set in the late 1920s when silent films were giving way
to 'talking pictures. In that, it was a song-and-dance number for Gene
Kelly, cheerlully splashing his way through heavy rain and deep puddies.
This arrangement is by the British jazz pianist and educator Nikki lles.
O Copyrigh1 1929 EMI Robbins Catalog Inc. and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer lne.
EMI United Partnership Linited.
This arrangement Copyright 2018 EMI Robbins Catalog Inc.
All rights reserved. International copyright secured. Used by permission of Hal Leonard Europe Limited for Europe, Australia and New Zealand and Alfred Musie
for rest of world,

AB 3938
 Itis
ilegal
o make
unauthorised
copies of this
copyright
Shadow Wizard C
usl

Parrel Stot

Andante misterioso. = 69

mp

E mp PP

2 0

mp mf f sub.

27

mp mf

sul tasto estremo LH pizz.

34 sul tasto

PP PPp

Hachel Stott is a composer, violist and teacher based in London. She says about this piece, specially written for ABRSM: 'Shadow Wizard was
nspired by the fantasy novel A Wizard ofEurthsea by Ursula K,. Le Guin. Written years before the Harry Potter books, it is the story of an orphaned
oy,Ged, who goes to a school for wizardry and does battle with the dark forces of evil. The 'shadow' which pursues Ged throughout the book is
nally vanquished when he addresses it by his own name. The sul tasto effect at the end of the piece should suggest the disappearing of the evil
Snadow, sul tasto estremo-playing with the bow a long way over the fingerboard - produces a sound like blowing over a milk bottle
9 2019 byThe Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music

AB 3938
12
illegal
to mae
unauthorised
Copies of this

C:3 Relaxing in Rio Copyright

nusic.

No. 3 from Violin Globetrotters

Ros Stephen
(born 1972)

Medium bossa nova = 120

mi

4
4

mp

10

15

20

1 pizz.

Ros Stephen is a volinist, composer and arranger based in London. She describes her Globetrotters series as a collection of piecesintend nd
be'technically accessible, fun to play, and an introduction to different styles of music from around the world. This piece takes ustoBrazuhle
tothe seaside city ofRio de Janeiro, where in the late 1950s young musicians formulated he style called bossa nova' (new wave), with ts su

syncopated rhythm.
Oxford University Press 2010
reserved.
Reproduced by permission. All rights

AB 3938
Scales and arpeggios
You will be asked for at least one of each type of scale and arpeggio, which should be
and examples, please see the syllabus.
played from memory. For full details

RANGE REQUIREMENTS
SCALES
Ab, E>, E majors I oct.
B, D majors separate bows or slurred (2 quavers to a bow), at
examiner's choice;
A, D minors 2 oct.
even notes or long tonic, at candidate's choice
(harmonic or melodic, at candidate's choice)
ARPEGGIOS

Ab, Eb, E majors 1 oct.

separate bows or slurred (3 notes to a bow), at
Bb, D majors examiner's choice;
2 oct.
A, D minors even notes

CHROMATIC SCALE
starting on D open string Oct. separate bows;
even notes
Violin Exam Pieces
Violin syllabus for 2020-2023,
nine pieces from ABRSM's Grade 3
This book contains
B and C. The pieces have been carefully
three pieces chosen
from each of Lists A, a collection that
and varied range of styles, creating
selected to offer an attractive The book also contains
excellent source of repertoire to suit every performer.
provides an useful syllabus information
helpful footnotes and, for those preparing for exams,

accompaniment
the nine pieces featured in this book, plus piano
Inspiring recordings of Violin Exam Pieces with CD
can be purchased as part of the
tracks, are available. These for more details).
(see www.abrsmdownloads.org
package or as audio downloads

Violin exams
upport material for ABRSM

3 1-3
Violin Specimen
Exam Pieces
Aural Tests

2070-2013

1-5 3 ABRSAM

Violin Violin
Scales& Arpeggios
Specimen ABRSM Grade 3
Sight-Reading
lests
ASGrds

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