The new syllabus covers an inspirational range of the finest music ever written for strings. The repertoire spans a wealth of emotions, styles and back-stories to interest and excite teachers and students. There is a fantastic selection on offer – from the Muppet Show to a Brahms Sonata!

The Muppet Show will be a fun choice for a grade 1 learner and will delight all those who know the catchy tune  – what beginner wouldn’t like know the story and be set the movie as homework? The words are printed in the helpful footnotes and would be good to sing to get just the right feel for the rhythm and tempo.

The Flower of the Quern is a beautifully slow air first published in 1884 (Grade 2). Written by James Scott Skinner, a Scottish folk fiddler, who was originally classically trained, it lies comfortably in A major and is sympathetically arranged by Edward Huws Jones. Other traditional folk tunes are Scandinavian, Greek and the ever-popular Klezmer. Si Je Ge (Song of the Four Seasons) comes from the Chinese folk tradition and is highly engaging. It has strong rhythms within a lyrical style and the fun slides are easy, with stark tonal contrasts to create just the right effect for this new ABRSM commission. The stunning arrangement by Yiu is on Grade 2.

The exciting Rojo y Negro (Red or Black) is another new addition for Grade 7.  Written by Ramiro Gallo, an up and coming talent from Argentina, the colours refer to a combination traditionally associated with tango. The piece is a milonga (a forerunner of the tango) and in this faster variety, there are fantastic effects including a ‘whip’ sound that is played by a very high and fast glissando, to delight performers. The James Bond theme, Take Five, Copland’s Hoe-Down and the amazing Full Fathom Five by Nyman (Grade 8) all depend on their rhythm, articulation and precision for their character. Definitely pieces for extrovert performers!

Vocal pieces with interesting stories include Over the Rainbow, Elgar’s Idyll, a Gershwin Prelude, Shostakovich’s Romance from the Gadfly and the Theme from the Ladies in Lavender (played so beautifully on the original movie soundtrack by Joshua Bell).

I think learners will have fun introducing ‘An Important Person’ or ‘Pig Ankle Rag’ at a concert! The former title, perhaps meaning a too pompous individual, was written by Dorothy Howell and originally commissioned by ABRSM in 1937. The character sketch has confident open string double stops with a march-like tune and rhythm. In D major, there are just a few slurs and a dramatic ending. Pig Ankle Rag is an excellent introduction to solo repertoire and will minimise valuable rehearsal time with an accompanist. A predecessor of jazz, the rhythms of ragtime are slightly swung and the catchy tune is based around easy arpeggios that will reinforce their purpose. The skills developed at this early stage of creating the whole performance confidently will be useful for the choice of Kreutzer studies or when Bach’s solo Sonatas are tackled (the glorious Adagio from the G minor is now on for Grade 8).

Gordon Kerry’s ‘Dream’ has amazing effects, which represent the salient features in an Australian aboriginal melody. There is a gripping back-story in the footnotes – diamonds and mythology will interest all learners and a controlled bow over the fingerboard (tasto) or close to the bridge (Ponticello) with added trills and harmonics help create the eerie mood. Time with a pianist will be amply rewarded with this magical and evocative sound world at Grade 5.

Music that benefits from particular focus on ensemble and texture include showpieces like ‘America’ (Bernstein) for the rhythmic shifts between 3/4 and 6/8 and Mozart’s Rondo at Grade 7. The many sonatas start early and the progression can be easily seen in the two Corelli Sonatas at Grades 2 and 6, imitating articulation and phrasing with the piano part. The joyous concertos include Kuchler, Kabalevsky, Haydn in G and the Bach A minor and are a treat for students who enjoy projecting the glorious solo passages with awareness of balance between lines.

Each violin book includes nine pieces and the listed optional pieces are also treats worth serious consideration to get exactly the right piece for each player. Several other violin books overlap the lists both within and even across grades, so the investment is well worth considering. Fiddle time Runners, Violin Star 3, The Best of Grade 4, The Young Violinist’s Repertoire, Book 4 and The Viennese Fiddler are just a few that provide the opportunity of a whole years repertoire of great music and volumes are often as welcome to parents as students! ABRSM also offer invaluable audio in CDs or online for individual tracks – fantastically useful to develop independent learning and for that supportive slow practice with ABRSM’s speed shifter app.

With such a feast on offer, there is music to inspire and excite every student. It’s time to play the music, it’s time to light the lights….

Although there are familiar composers: Colledge, Blackwell, Purcell, Paganini, Beethoven, Locatelli, Kuchler, Dancla, Schubert, Tchaikovsky and Brahms…. More gems are Vivaldi’s Preludio and Corrente from the Sonata in C minor – full of variety and drama and any musically convincing bowing style will delight an audience; wonderful treats in Tangos, Gypsy dances and Blues;