Grade 5 Pieces

What exactly is Grade 5? Is this a UK thing? I have heard that music is taught in stages, much like school grades, that you pass through as you get better. If so, we have nothing like that here. Can any one explain the system?

What exactly is Grade 5? Is this a UK thing?

Yes - it's a UK and British Commonwealth thing. Grades 1 to 8 are a series of exams for guitar, piano, orchestral instruments, voice and music theory. They are offered by various recognised examining bodies, such as the Associated Board of the Royal schools of music. They used to be purely for classical students, but now some include separate pop/ rock exams too.

Grade 1 is for beginners and grade 8 is around the level required for entry to full time study at a music college such as The Royal Academy of Music.

In Jakeman's case, he's talking about his GCSE (General certificate of Secondary Education) exam in music which is the final high school exam - and he's required to play a piece at the level of difficulty equivalent to grade 5.

Jakeman I don't know about current syllabuses but grade 5 pieces in the past have included:
Prelude in D minor - JS Bach
Allemande in D minor - Robert de Visee
Serenade by Stephen Dodgson
Preambulo by F. Moreno Torroba
Alman by Robert Johnson (NO blues guys! - No relation as far as I know :lol: )

Grade 5 the hardest.... I been in band long enough to know this one. Music is done on Grade Levels 1-5. Its the difficulty of the piece of music, Mary had a little lamb is for example a grade 1... where as Beethovens Symphony No.9 is a grade 3. Where as Micheal W. Smiths The Accension is Grade 5 (i've played that one its fun and hard).. All music is rated this way go to any music store and ask them for a grade 5 piece of music and u'll see. This pertains to sheet music by the way.

To answer your original question try Fur Elise, old standard i think it may be a 5 if not i knwo its a 4.

My son is doing GcsE Music.
to get the highest mark in the solo performance exam you must play a peice of music of grade 3 or above.your total mark is calculated by multiplying your performance score by 2 for a grade 1 peice,2 1/2 for a grade 2 peice and by 3 for a peice of music graded 3 or above. They use what i think is standard GME (graded music examinations) grades.
Follow this link to find some examples of grade 3 peices.

Hope this helps. http://www.abrsm.org/resources/guitarGr3_0506.pdf

P.S. If anyone knows where I can get hold of some this music on the net could you please let me know.