Selected and Reviewed by ANDREW EALES
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Whether or not one takes or teaches the ABRSM grade exams, the biennial release of the board’s new syllabus publications remains an important event in the piano education calendar.
Every two years, their new suite of graded books both offers a barometer of current repertoire trends, and acts as an important influencer for the music that will be played and performed over the next few years. Like them or not, these pieces will regularly appear in concerts, festivals, practice rooms, online, and will be much-discussed by teachers, the subject of many questions and opinions.
The popular interest in this syllabus is always evidenced by the tens of thousands who read my reviews of them on Pianodao. In recent years, I have praised ABRSM for breathing fresh life into their music selections, and in my experience the 2023-24 publications reviewed here have proven especially popular with players.
The new 2025-26 books have now arrived, the updated syllabus coming into effect from January 2025 (for those taking exams, the previous syllabus will also remain valid for a one-year overlap period).
So how will they compare, and can they live up to the very high musical bar ABRSM have been setting in their recent repertoire selections? As usual, I will try to answer that question with sufficient detail and depth, but without getting bogged down in prescriptive pedagogic material about which pieces to pick or how to play them…
The Syllabus Releases
We’ll begin, as always, with an overview of exactly what ABRSM are releasing alongside the grade exam syllabus document (which can be downloaded from their website, where readers can access full details of all the pieces included in the books, the alternative choices available, and formal assessment options).
Alongside their new syllabus for piano grades, the board have also released an updated and expanded repertoire list for their ARSM Performance Diploma, details also available from their website.
None of the support test materials or requirements for the Practical Grades have changed, so all existing publications for those remain valid. While a relief for the purse, this is disappointing. The current scales syllabus is pedagogically problematic as explained here, while the inclusion of voice tests as a means to assessing aural is a continuing concern.
Lastly, ABRSM have also announced a new Prep Test book, which is an interesting and somewhat unexpected move. I have given this its own separate review here.
The new grade exam publications and resources are as follows:
EXAM PIECES BOOKS
There’s one per grade from Initial to Grade 8, each featuring a selection of nine pieces (three from each list, a format that remains unchanged). These are as excellent as ever, including superbly presented notation, outstanding editing (very commendably now including footnotes that identify editorial intervention where appropriate), clearly explained syllabus information, and lists of all alternative choice pieces and scales requirements.
The actual scales themselves are not included, remaining a separate set of rather overpriced publications. Personally I recommend learners rather invest in the far superior Piano Trainer Scales Workbook by Karen Marshall, which I have reviewed here.
It is notable, though probably not significant, that the 2025-6 ABRSM Grade 8 book is much thinner than its 2023-4 equivalent (down from 56 pages to 40, largely due to shorter pieces), but in most cases it’s fair to say the books are comparable in size and quality to previous years. And it’s noteworthy that the prices for the basic books have increased.
TEACHING NOTES BOOKLET
This disappointingly remains a separate (and again, in my opinion, highly overpriced) publication. The slim 68-page book only covers the nine pieces from each of ABRSM’s Exam Piece books, and none of the alternatives.
Other major boards all include this material freely within their exam piece books. It is often the learners, parents, and especially adult players who find this material most helpful, rather than professional educators.
The advice here is written by Sharon Gould, Julian Hellaby, Jill Morton and Anthony Williams, and is consistently solid if not always (as we shall see) sufficiently directional. Teachers who lack confidence teaching the exam pieces may find this material helpful, but I would prefer to think most professionals won’t need it.
AUDIO RECORDINGS
Significant news here: these are no longer included within the commercial product range, but are instead available to stream on all major platforms. And not just the nine pieces from each book, but the many dozens of alternative pieces from across the whole syllabus. Amazing!
Most music lovers subscribe to one or more streaming platforms, giving them instant access to professionally performed and recorded performances on any device, wherever they are, without the need for a physical CD. ABRSM have confirmed to me that they will not be selling the recordings digitally in the MP3 format any more either.
And having listened to the recordings, they are as superb as ever, professional studio recordings featuring the usual roster of top pianists, including Yulia Chaplina, Mei Yi Foo, Nikki Iles, Dinara Clinton, Robert Thompson, Richard Uttley, Anthony Williams, Vanessa Latarche and Robin Bigwood.
For those who would typically buy the exam pieces books with audio, this is an incredibly generous move, instantly halving the overall cost of the resource. Similarly, it makes the ABRSM complete offering significantly cheaper than those of rival exam boards.
Musical Trends and Direction
In each grade, ABRSM continue with their construct of three Lists, A, B and C. Precisely what defines each list seems, however, to become more opaque with each syllabus, and chronology certainly no longer seems to play any part.
List A pieces tend to be fairly traditional and technical, List B pieces lean towards expressive lyricism, and List C pieces mostly showcase contemporary styles, but none of this is written in stone and exceptions to the general rule abound.
Each List now has 16 pieces, up from 13 in the previous syllabus, adding up to 48 pieces per grade as follows:
- The nine pieces, three per list, included in the new books. I will explore these in some detail below.
- The ten Alternative pieces per list that are carried over from 2023-24. Some of these have now appeared for more than a few years, and are developing into a growing bank of ongoing, benchmarked repertoire per grade. I wonder whether ABRSM are taking their cue from Trinity College London’s concept of an evolving cumulative syllabus, but on balance rather hope not.
- Three new Alternative pieces per List are also available for those wanting still further options. These include a mix of returning favourites, new discoveries and compositions, and pop song arrangements drawn from ABRSM’s recent Pop Performer series, reviewed here.
On balance, I think that the slim Exam Piece books provide a very focussed resource for those who value a limited range of superb exam choices. Meanwhile, the new Alternative Pieces seem to me a more random addition, but I will leave readers to make up their minds whether they add value.
Turning to the music included in ABRSM’s fresh set of repertoire books, these also include an eclectic mix of established classics, new discoveries and commissions, as well as a striking number of arrangements of music not originally written for piano, thereby introducing music from shows, films, anime and contemporary pop songs to the syllabus.
In contrast with Trinity College London, whose recent syllabus reviewed here seemed to chase popularity and innovation for its own sake, ABRSM’s inclusion of this wider range of music seems a more measured effort at experimentation, perhaps testing the water to see whether a more pop-based syllabus will land well with their (often quite conservative) core user base.
To summarise, the 2025-26 syllabus mostly provides for those who would like to exclusively explore the core classical repertoire, while also now offering plenty of scope for those whose interest is particularly the music of our time, and across a wide variety of genres.
Authentic Musicality
This inevitably raises the thorny problem of how pop song arrangements will be assessed. Specifically, if an exam candidate plays these songs with the rhythm of the original recordings, rather than the sometimes adapted, quantised versions on offer, will they receive more marks, or in fact fewer?
Unfortunately the Teaching Notes booklet doesn’t answer this question. In the case of Lift Me Up (Initial Grade), which has been simplified to a point where the timing in ABRSM’s arrangement is perplexingly at odds with the original song, we are simply told:
“A useful point of reference is the video by Rihanna in which she performs the song on a beach at twilight. While it is impossible to copy all the inflections and colours of her voice on the piano, they are worth bearing in mind when learning the music.”
The lack of specificity in this guidance is frustrating. Nor do we learn more from the advice offered for Remember Me (Grade 1):
“Before working at the notes, it is worth discussing how the speech-like pacing conveys the meaning and influences the choice of tempo and dynamic shading.”
But what about the impact on the actual rhythm? Similarly, here’s the tip for Always With Me (Grade 3):
“The song Always with Me tells its own story, accompanying the climax of the film Spirited Away, so the best way to understand the atmosphere and meaning of this piece would be to watch the film. If that’s unavailable, the song is easy to find online. The singing on the soundtrack includes variations of articulation and shaping additional to those in the score, giving sweetness and delicacy.”
Again, will examiners give more or less credit to players who divert from the published score in their pursuit of “sweetness and delicacy”?
Also in Grade 3, there’s the Wallace and Gromit Theme, about which we read:
“Listening online to the soundtrack of this popular and comic theme tune will give your student a feel for its brassy nature, which isn’t quite conveyed by the notated score.”
Meanwhile, the following advice is offered to those teaching Lewis Capaldi’s Someone You Loved (Grade 5):
“Listening to the recording of this song by Lewis Capaldi will be instructive. The words are full of pain and the delivery is hard-hitting. While it is impossible to realise these qualities when playing a solo piano transcription, students should not hold back when conveying the emotion of the song.”
The common thread in all these comments seems to be that those writing the Teaching Notes are not, themselves, entirely convinced that these arrangements work as solo piano pieces, while simultaneously offering artistically authentic versions of the source material. And I suspect that is a view that will be quite widely shared.
ABRSM certainly have some ingenious arrangers on hand, but while these songs are great for light relief between grades, there are good reasons to doubt that they are suitable for globally-lauded musical assessment.
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Grade by Grade
Having considered these various trends, let’s now turn to each Exam Pieces book in its own right, grade by grade.
Starting with Initial Grade, I have already mentioned the problematic arrangement of Lift Me Up from the movie Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. Happily, the rest of the pieces in the book offer strong, pedagogically rich choices, including music by such leading voices as Sarah Watts, June Armstrong, Ben Crosland, Alan Haughton and Pam Wedgwood.
The standard of these pieces is incrementally but not significantly easier than Grade 1, but it is clear that Initial Grade is carving out a niche for itself. I have already mentioned that there is a new Prep Test on its way too, and it will be interesting to compare further at that point, in particular to see whether these assessments form a logical pathway for early elementary players.
Over the years, the Grade 1 exam pieces books have often suffered from a dull List A, and this year’s offering is sadly not that great. I am not a fan of arrangements which split a simple melody line between the hands midway through a phrase (Handel’s Fireworks Minuet); nor did I find the other pieces particularly engaging.
Happily, List B revisits the lyrically brilliant A Song of Erin by Thomas Dunhill, while List C kicks off with Cyberspace Detective, a jazzy commission composed by Amit Anand, also giving us Chee-Hwa Tan’s The Wind, and Nikki Yeoh’s Berry’s Smoothie, all of which are likely to prove popular with players.
The Grade 2 book includes a mixture of returning favourites (Beethoven’s Sonatina in G, Kabalevsky’s A Little Song and Chris Norton’s Cloudy Day), and new discoveries. Among the latter, highlights include Barbara Arens’ evocative Sparkling Splashes and Smooth Water and Heather Hammond’s Spooky Wood Hollow.
Uniquely among the early grades, this collection doesn’t include any pop song arrangements. With a core suite of pieces originally composed for the piano, the overall feel is a little more traditional, highlighting the point that the tone of this syllabus is somewhat inconsistent from one grade to the next.
The Grade 3 book is among the most varied, offering music by Köhler, Mozart and Victoria Proudler on List A, and three pop arrangements strewn across Lists B and C: Where is Love? from Oliver!, The Muppet Show Theme and the aforementioned Always With Me. This may be “sweet”, but it offers minimal musical engagement, and is too easy for Grade 3.
Shruthi Rajasekar’s beautiful rāga-based The Quiet of the Night is significantly more challenging, highlighting some inconsistent benchmarking, but what a find! This is another new commission by the board, and I certainly anticipate that we will be hearing much more from this talented young composer.
There’s another tonal shift as we turn to the Grade 4 book, one of the most traditional in years. Old chestnuts from Benda, Cimarosa, and Haydn make up the List A selection, while List B combines Grieg’s Waltz with more recent pedagogic pieces by Randall Hartnell and Ailbhe McDonagh.
From List C, the book includes Ibert’s Danse du cocher and the newly composed, jazz-infused Canzonetta by Raymond Yiu, along with the lighter relief of Julian Nott’s Wallace and Gromit Theme.
Take another hand-brake turn to check out the Grade 5 book, in which variety rules. For classical lovers, List A offers Burgmüller and Clementi, List B delivers Schubert’s lovely Waltz in B minor, and List C gives us Prokofiev’s La plume et l’arc-en-ciel.
List A also includes Nikki Iles’ Hook’s Hornpipe from the excellent Piano Tales for Peter Pan (reviewed here), List B the aforementioned Lewis Capaldi song, and Foggy Blues from Naoko Ikeda: The Graded Collection (find out more here), and List C resurrects Martha Mier’s popular Jackson Street Blues and introduces Joe Hisaishi’s The Village in May.
The higher grades have a more serious tone in general, as one would expect.
Grade 6 highlights include Bach’s sublime Invention No.14 in B flat and Bartók’s familiar Stamping Dance from Mikrokosmos 5. There are several intriguing finds, but few that immediately stand out. Shushuiki by Komitas Vardapet is certainly appealing, and I very much like Alexis Ffrench’s Last Song.
Grade 7 brings us Beethoven. Schumann, Mendelssohn, Ginastera, Shostakovich and Daquin’s popular Le coucou. Joanna MacGregor’s Lowside Blues also makes a welcome reappearance. But the runaway favourite may prove to be the delicious Pop Corn by Japanese composer Akira Yuyama. I sometimes wonder whether many players take Grade 7 before going straight to 8; those who do will find plenty to enjoy in the new syllabus!
Which brings us neatly and inevitably to Grade 8. The repertoire selections here have been the most susceptible to accusations of dumbing down in recent years, and I doubt the new syllabus will change that.
Those buying the Exam Pieces book will immediately clock that it includes no Bach Prelude and Fugue, nor the first movement of a classical Sonata. Instead, List A offers Mozart’s more popular Rondo alla Turca, some Scarlatti, and Mélanie Bonis’s impressionistic Il pleut.
Joe Hisaishi reappears in List B, this time rubbing shoulders with Debussy (La fille aux cheveux de Lin) and Liszt’s second Consolation. Completing the book, List C brings us atonality from Cheryl Frances-Hoad, Scott Joplin’s Maple Leaf Rag and Nikki Iles’ excellent arrangement of A Nightingale Sang in Berkley Square.
Closing Thoughts
We live in challenging and changing times. In some respects, it can be argued that with their 2025-26 syllabus, ABRSM have channelled that zeitgeist. Certainly, I have yet to come across a syllabus that seems, at one and the same time so assured, and yet so uncertain of its own identity.
On the one hand, ABRSM have delivered a smart, balanced experiment in recasting their core piano offering, and a resource which commands respect. Each Exam Piece book includes an interesting and attractive assortment of music that, while not perfect, is certainly inspiring.
Then again, this has the air of a syllabus that is undergoing a transition, unsure whether to retain classical music and established pedagogy at its core, or whether to sideline them in favour of populism and a quick sell.
ABRSM have been canny in providing a catch-all that enables users to make up their own mind about what matters most to them in piano education. And in the final analysis, we must congratulate them for embracing the current, for giving obvious consideration both to changing fashion, and to the challenges today’s music educators face.
In doing so, they have delivered a superb resource that will speak to the musical curiosity of players everywhere.
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