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Grade 4 Piano Exam

Play rock & pop songs on the piano the way that you want to.

Ofqual Accredited (EQF Level 3) Award £57.00 GBP

GCSE Grades A*-C Equivalent

Rockschool equivalent costs £81.00 GBP (£24.00 GBP saving)

Grade 4 Popular Piano Exam

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Grade 4 Popular Piano Songs

For this exam you need to play four pieces

At this level, there’s a minimum of 1 verse, 1 chorus & a creative final section.

The creative final section might include melodic embellishments, licks or similar.  There might be some harmonic development too if the candidate wishes.

  • One Traditional Rock & Pop piece from the syllabus list,
  • Two pieces from after 2000 from the syllabus list,
  • One of your choice.
 
Video Game and Movie themes are also included.
Songs can be transposed during the purchase process to utilise an appropriate key for this grade.
Candidates are welcome to improvise their own introductions and endings.  
They may also embellish the piece as they choose.
Piano Syllabus

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

Grade 4 Piano Pieces

How Your Pieces are Marked

Learn piano, refine & shine

Excel with Our
Celebrity Grade 4
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 Tracks for your Piano Groove
Rhythm Tracks to Find Your Groove

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
 
Bonus: Establishing 4 beats per bar Masterclass Lesson by Nicky Brown.
Piano Scales Step by Step
Learn Your Keys & Scales Step by Step

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.

At Grade 3 and Grade 4, E and Ab Majors are added, along with their relative minors.

These tracks have been created exclusively by Andrew Sparham, our Guitar Tutor.

Interactive step-by-step tracks in C, F, G, D, E, A, Bb, Eb, 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, E, Bb, Eb 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)

Pentatonic and Major are very common in pop songs.
Mixolydian is really common in rock guitar solos.
Natural minor is also particular common in guitar solos.
Free Piano Courses
Song Style Backing Tracks

Song Style Backing Tracks 

These are chord progression tracks inspired by songs from the Grade 4 syllabus to help develop your improvisation. 

  • YMCA
  • Walking on Sunshine
  • Summer of 69
  • I Can See Clearly Now
  • Love Me Like You Do
  • Mamma Mia
  • Bad Habits
 
These tracks have been created exclusively by Andrew Sparham, our Guitar Tutor.
Improv tips for the Pop Art improv
Pro Tips: Pop Art of Improv on the Piano

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 4 tracks by international level pianists include:

  • Move to the Groove (Richard Michael BEM)
  • 1 Note Improv 
  • 1 Chord Improv
  • Establishing 4/4 time (Nicky Brown, Legendary Producer)
  • Beats 1 & 3 (Nicky Brown)
  • The 3 Note Groove (Richard Michael BEM)
  • What Goes Up Must Go Down (Richard Michael BEM)
  • Shift the Lick (Richard Michael BEM)
  • Same Progression, Different Grooves (Nicky Brown)
  • Rhythm as Your Hook (Nicky Brown)
  • House of the Rising Sun” LH arpeggio lesson
  • YMCA” pentatonic scale connections lesson
  • Pretty Woman” 7th chords demo
  • Stand by Me” Shift the Lick lesson
  • Stand by Me” The Maestro Online improv
  • Stand by Me” chord progression (Amelia Coburn)
  • Stand by Me” advanced improv (Bazil Meade MBE)
  • Don’t Play that Song for Me” (Bazil Meade MBE)
  • I Can See Clearly Now” ending demonstration (Bazil Meade MBE)
  • I Can See Clearly Now” complete (Bazil Meade MBE)
  • Clocks” exploration (Marcus Brown)
  • Original Artist: 17 minute exclusive on “Undiscovered” (James Morrison) by Marcus Brown who created & played the original piano track for this song

£29.99 GBP one-off payment

All Grade 4 Toolkit Areas

£29.99 pcm including 

All Courses & Masterclasses

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.

PIano grades Pop Songs

wHAT TO eXPECT

Grade 4 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 4, the textures required are more pianistic, such as more developed LH arpeggios, crotchet 3s against 2s, and LH syncopation developing. Players are encouraged to create their own introductions and endings as well as embellishing the piece in order to gain extra marks.  Players are encouraged to play a final section in their own way if they feel comfortable doing so. 

A full range of major, minor and pentatonic scales might influence melodic decorations as introducing licks will become more common, as well as a great variety in dynamics.

Chords with notes outside of the key will occur such as secondary dominants or chromatic chords.

The structure will be minimum of one verse, one chorus and a creative final section.

Piano Students who Read Notation

Scores will typically include up to four sharps or flats in the key signature. All note lengths are possible including triplets and duplets, with syncopation becoming more common.

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

There are many students who will find that notation is not for them. They may find it too difficult, be dyslexic or neurodivergent. That’s totally okay! The links to scores of pieces on the syllabus give you a good idea of the standard and technique required.

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Pop Piano Exam

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