Growing in Two Directions
Grade 2 — Character and Voicing
Grade 2 is where the music starts to have genuine character. It's no longer enough to play the correct notes at the right time — you need to decide what each piece is about and make it audible. The critical new technique here is voicing: controlling which note the listener hears most clearly. At Grade 1, that meant keeping the right hand louder than the left. Now it extends to chords where a single hand plays both the melody and inner accompanying notes — the top note must project while the rest recede. This skill deepens at every grade above and has to be established now. Fast semiquaver passage work appears for the first time, and Baroque pieces introduce a completely different touch from the Romantic pieces.
Pieces in this plan
Light and cheerful — an accessible opener for Grade 2 that builds on the hand coordination you established in Grade 1.
The title says it all — this Baroque miniature has a cheeky, confident character. Very different in feel from anything in Grade 1.
One of the most well-known pieces from Schumann's Album for the Young. Fierce, driving, and genuinely exciting when played with commitment.
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Fast, crisp, and relentless — a tiny toccata that tests your finger independence and rhythmic precision. A benchmark piece for this plan.
Quiet, atmospheric, and slightly mysterious. Grechaninov wrote this to tell a story — your job is to decide what the story is and play it accordingly.
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