THE MAESTRO ONLINE
Grade 3 Piano Exam
Play rock & pop songs on the piano the way that you want to.
Ofqual Accredited (EQF Level 2) Award £49.00 GBP
GCSE Grades D-G Equivalent
Rockschool equivalent costs £74.00 GBP (£25.00 GBP saving)
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Grade 3 Popular Piano Songs
For this exam you need to play four pieces.
- One Traditional Rock & Pop from the syllabus list (one verse and chorus),
- Two from after 2000 from the syllabus list (one verse and chorus),
- One of your choice (film and game themes also acceptable).
Songs can be transposed during the purchase process to utilise an appropriate key for this grade.
Traditional Rock & Pop
Three Lions (Football’s coming home)
Knock on Wood (Eddie Floyd)
Whole Lotta Love (Led Zeppelin)
Yellow Submarine (Beatles)
Eleanor Rigby (Beatles)
Man I feel like a Woman (Shania Twain)
Hit the Road Jack (Ray Charles) (original key was G# minor and The Maestro Online Song track is in that key, but you can play in any key)
Green Onions (Booker T)
When She Loved Me Sarah McLachlan (Toy Story 2)
Star Wars Imperial March
Every Breath You Take (The Police)
Wellerman (Nathan Evans/New Zealand Sea Shanty)
Mama (Matthew Rowbottom, Spice Girls)
Angel (Sarah McLachlan)
Genie in a Bottle (Christina Aguelira/Dove Cameron - movie Genie in a Bottle)
Stand By Your Man (Tammy Wynette/Dolly Parton)
Scarborough Fair (Simon & Garfunkel)
Man on the Moon (REM)
Human Nature (Michael Jackson)
Can’t Live Without You (Harry Nilsson)
Better be Good to Me (Tina Turner)
Simply The Best (Tina Turner)
2000 Onwards
Titanium (David Guetta)
Diamonds in the Sky (Rihanna)
Can't Stop the Feeling (Justin Timberlake)
Baby (Justin Bieber)
Rolling in the Deep (Adele)
About You Now (Sugarbabes)
Believer (Imagine Dragons)
Count on Me (Bruno Mars)
Somewhere only we know (Keane/Lilly Allen)
Golden Hour (JVKE)
Sunday Best Surfaces
Treat People with Kindness (Harry Styles)
Impossible (James Arthur)
What Was I Made For? (Billie Eilish, also in Barbie Movie)
One in a Million (Ne-Yo)
Head and Heart (Joel Corry)
Blinding Lights (Weeknd)
Crazy in Love (Beyonce)
Stop Crying Your Heart Out (Oasis)
Love not War (Jason Derulo)
Read All About It (Emeli Sande)
Because of You (Kelly Clarkson)
Let it Go (Idina Minzel, movie Frozen)
Dancin with a Stranger (Sam Smith)
Own Choice
Own choice pieces should be of a similar level of difficult. The Grade Parameters can be found below. It's not expected that your piece will meet every aspect within the table, but it serves as a general guide as to the standard required.
Trad Rock & Pop Playlist
2000 Onwards Playlist
How to choose your Own Choice Piece
How Your Pieces are Marked
Learn piano, refine & shine
Excel with Our
Celebrity Grade 3
Piano Practice Toolkit
We want all pianists who love popular music to progress and achieve and be recognised by offering access to high quality and affordable music exams with international level supporting materials on our innovative online platform.
In order to really succeed in piano exams, we need to practice. Practising can seem boring, but NOT HERE! Here you will find a range of resources that will help you become the pop musician that you’ve always wanted to be.
Rhythm Backing Tracks
Support your fluency, improvise in time in 3/4 and 4/4 with tracks created by our Masterclass Tutors Marcus Brown (Madonna and more) and Nicky Brown (legendary producer & BBC).
Tracks:
- 4/4 Rock
- 3/4 Time
- 6/8 Time
- New York Loop
- Slow Funky Loop
- Slow Drive Loop
- Pop Loop
- Detroit Loop
- Ballad Loop
Scale & Key Fun
Scales are not a requirement in the exam, but they are great for understanding keys and improvisation. We do them in a really fun way!
At Debut level C, F and G Majors were your priority. At Grade 1 level, D and Bb Majors are also a key focus. At Grade 2, A and Eb Majors are added, along with relative minor keys too.
Grade 3, E and Ab Majors are added, along with their relative minors.
These tracks have been created exclusively by Andrew Sparham, our Guitar Tutor.
The Maestro Online “We Will Rock You” scale method.
Interactive step-by-step tracks in C, F, G, D, A Bb, Eb, E and Ab Majors helping you start with just one note per key, then 2 notes, “add it and nail it” without feeling overwhelmed.
Bonus Masterclass – Add it and Nail It method by Mick Donnelly (Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston, Robbie Williams & more)
Multi-style backing tracks in C, F, G, D, A, Bb, Eb, E and Ab Majors (plus Mixolydian, and relative natural minors and harmonic minor in Am, Dm, Em, Bm, F#m, Gm, Cm, C#m and Fm) in different styles to support your concept of key and improvisation. There are also tracks with the bass removed so that you can develop your LH and RH separately:
- Pop (Pentatonic/Major)
- Soft Rock (Mixolydian)
- Reggae (harmonic minor)
- Funk (natural minor)
Song Style Backing Tracks
These are chord progression tracks inspired by songs from the Grade 3 syllabus to help develop your improvisation.
- Man I Feel Like a Woman
- Hit the Road Jack
- Can’t Stop the Feeling
- Knock on Wood
- Whole Lotta Love
Exclusive Pro Tips
EXCLUSIVE Improvisation lessons, tips, tracks, teaching techniques from World-Class Masterclass Tutors, including pianists who played on some of the original pop songs, interesting anecdotes, professional piano player insights, and session musician perspectives. For Grade 3 tracks by international level pianists include:
- Move to the Groove
- 1 Note Improv
- 1 Chord Improv
- Establishing 4/4 time
- Beats 1 & 3
- The 3 Note Groove
- What Goes Up Must Go Down
- Shift the Lick
- Same Progression, Different Grooves
- Rhythm as Your Hook
- Additional “Can’t Stop The Feeling” short improv tutorial tracks on counterpoint, added 6th chords, chord progression and sample improvisation from The Maestro Online Piano Courses.
- Extract from “Knock On Wood” Maestro Online course to support your learning riffs and the pentatonic scale with interactive score.
Self-Study piano curriculum
Pop Piano Courses & Masterclasses
There’s a wide range of supporting resources on The Maestro Online platform to help you learn and polish your performances.
- The Maestro Online Curriculum Self-Study Courses enable you to play by ear, take you through all keys, use famous melodic snippets, teach you harmony and help you develop piano textures.
- Celebrity Self-Study Masterclasses enable you to truly polish your piano playing by learning with musicians who have performed and toured globally that you simply won’t find local to you.
What to expect
Grade 3 Popular Piano Exam
There is no requirement to play from the notation, but links are provided as an indication of the level of difficulty required.
All Piano Students
At Grade 3 the full natural minor and major scales will often occur. There might be more complex rhythms including quaver 3s against 2s, emerging syncopations. There will be increased RH/LH independence. Players are encouraged to create their own introductions and endings as well as embellishing the piece in order to gain extra marks.
There are likely to be more chord inversions and a wider range of dynamics.
Players might even consider a small section of improvisation should they wish. At least one main chorus and verse need to be performed; multiple verses can be cut as necessary because candidates are encouraged to ensure that pieces stay within the grade duration length specified.
Piano Students who Read Notation
Scores will typically include up to three sharps or flats in the key signature. Pieces will demonstrate a range of note lengths up to sixteenth notes and equivalent rests and more frequent elementary left hand syncopation, typical of rock-pop styles, will occur.
Songs may be performed in any key and can be transposed during the purchase process to be appropriate for a learner at this grade.
Piano Students who Play by Ear
Ready to Shine?
Time to Take Your
Pop Piano Exam
Relax, breathe and let it all flow!
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