Im in the midst of playing all 9 pieces from the new exam pieces of ABRSM 2027-2028 and I will also give a review on whether to pick each piece by ranking its difficulty and musicality.

Overall: I will only recommend this piece if the student has a strong sense of musical shaping and phrasing.

It is not the easiest List B pieces in the book.

Difficulty : 3/5

Main Technical Challenges

The notes themselves are not particularly difficult. The challenge is that everything is exposed.

Voicing

The melody is often embedded inside textures.

You need to:

* bring out the melodic line

* keep accompaniment soft

* avoid striking all notes equally

Pedalling and rubato can be also an issue at the moderate tempo if not well controlled.

But it is still a good piece to practice musicality.

Musicality 4/5

It is easily one of the better sounding pieces in the book. It features many modulation and pitch registers. Making it a fairly pleasing performance piece.

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Website: www.hermanpianostudio.com

Difficulty is ranked relative to its grade

Musicality is ranked by its general appeal

And through this new series, I hope to use my background in Psychology to break down and document every single thought process that shaped my own journey in preparing for this exam as a normal human being — not a child prodigy with 8 hours to spare.

If this type of content interests you, do consider liking, commenting, and subscribing.

This is work that I have spent my whole adult life researching, refining, and living through personally.

Today’s topic is: Mental Health and Tempo Choice. Let’s begin.

Like many adults working towards this level of piano playing, you may find yourself aspiring to perform everything perfectly from memory, from beginning to end, just like the competition winners you see on YouTube.

But sooner or later, you begin to realise just how unbelievably difficult that task truly is — especially as a working adult balancing responsibilities, work, and family.

And at some stage, you must learn to tell yourself:

“This performance is good enough for now.”

Do not let the perfectionist in you burn you out.

You can be strict with yourself. But you must also realise that it is unrealistic to play perfectly 24/7.

You are bound to make mistakes, and it is okay. After all, you are playing some of the most difficult works in music history.

You must remember: it is better to consistently play at 60% speed with good control than to risk burning out chasing perfection at 100% speed.

Because if you are burnt out, you will give up.

And Rule #1 is:

Do not give up.

Over the years of preparing for my Licentiate Piano Exam, I have made many discoveries and experimentation at the piano. I have looked through many piano pedagogy literature to help myself to be where i am today.

and in this new series, I wish to use my Psychology background to break down and document

every single thought process that I had thus far. Things that are not often talked enough about... for example You are not a child prodigy , you do not graduate from a conservatory, how exactly do you put together a 42mins programme at a high level? A common response is " Just practice.." but what exactly do you do moment to moment during practice?

This are some of the questions that i have spent considerable braincells to ponder about

and i wish to share some of my findings to democratize this process.

if you like this type of content, please do like , comment and subscribe. This is work that i have

spent my whole adult life researching.