Lesson 40: Lower Intermediate Review and Next Steps

Play and record a four-piece recital covering Renaissance, Baroque, folk, and one own choice.
Identify the area you most want to develop at the next level.

Lessons 21–39 — the lower-intermediate arc.

Level review.
Self-assessment.
Choosing your next focus.

You finish a level when you can play a programme from it.

Lower intermediate ends with a four-piece recital. The pieces should represent the breadth of the level: one Renaissance, one Baroque, one folk, one of your own choosing. No new technique — the work is to consolidate what is already there.

The programme — choose one from each

Renaissance

Pavane: Belle qui tiens ma vie: Arbeau pavane.
Tourdion: Renaissance galliard.
Canarios: Spanish Renaissance dance.

Baroque

Telemann: Sonata in C major, TWV 41:C5: Accessible Baroque sonata movement.
Bach: Minuet in G: Canonical Baroque dance.
Vivaldi: Concerto RV 443 (Largo): Lyrical Vivaldi.

Folk

Greensleeves: English air.
Danny Boy: Irish ballad.
Sakura Sakura: Japanese folk melody.

Your choice

Any piece from the songs library or from your own collection that you want to play and that fits your current level. Pick one you love — the goal of the level is for you to want to keep playing.

Warm-up before the recital

On your alto staff these read as F major, C major (the alto's home key), and Bb major — the transposed reading of soprano's C, G, F. The fingerings are unchanged.

Looking ahead

Upper intermediate goes deeper into Baroque style, introduces the alto recorder, and asks for complete movements rather than excerpts. The pieces become longer; the ornamentation more elaborate; the demands on the player higher.

If you have one area you want to focus on — double tonguing, trills, alto recorder, sonata-form pieces — the upper-intermediate level has a lesson for it. Pick a strength to build on as you move up.

When you have a recording of four contrasting pieces, played end-to-end, you have completed lower intermediate. Move on to Upper Intermediate.