Early Advanced to Advanced pianists are usually teens and adults who have full-sized hands and can reach impressive combinations of keys to create amazing sounds. But occasionally, younger pianists with growing hands reach this level — tweens or, rarely, even children.
Advanced pianists have accumulated many hours at the piano to reach this level (sometimes an hour or more a day) and want music that reflects their advanced technical abilities. These pianists usually know exactly what they want to play. In order to invest the time and energy into learning a piece at this level, they want to feel a personal connection to the music.
I have published a small and growing list of music at the Early Advanced level. Much of the music I’ve sketched or composed at this level remains unpublished. Pictured above is a pile of my sketch books in which I have many slumbering nuggets of music just waiting to be awakened. Someday when I have time to finish, edit and publish this music, I hope to make it available for teachers and students!
Take a look at the descriptions of levels 7 and 8 below!
- Early Advanced / Level 7 and 8
- Advanced / Level 9 and 10 [coming someday]
Free Printable
To get the most up-to-date list of pieces covered in this post, please download the following document:
PDF Listing of Rebekah Maxner’s Early to Late Advanced Piano Repertoire
Early Advanced / Level 7
- The full range of notation, both in pitch and rhythm.
Rhythm:
- Polyrhythms and complex rhythmic patterns.
Technical development:
- Moving melodic lines in both hands requiring greater technical facility.
- Melody and accompaniment in the same hand.
- Scales in octaves in both hands.
- Large leaps and broken octaves.
- Full four- to five-note chords in both hands.
Notation samples for Early Advanced / Level 7
Autumn Afternoon
Here’s the Early Advanced / Level 7 YouTube Playlist!
Early Advanced / Level 8
- Intricate melodic lines.
- Modes and whole tone scales.
Rhythm:
- Intricate rhythms.
Technical development:
- Scales in thirds, tenths and octaves.
- Four- and five-note chords spanning more than an octave.
- More melody and accompaniment lines in the same hand.
- Difficult music for smaller hands.
Notation samples for Early Advanced / Level 8
Here’s the Early Advanced / Level 8 YouTube Playlist!
Free Printable
Remember to download the most up-to-date list of my Early to Late Advanced pieces! Please go to my Printables for the following document:
PDF Listing of Rebekah Maxner’s Early Advanced Piano Repertoire
About the composer artwork
The composer artwork on silk was completed in 2010 by Nova Scotian artist, Holly Carr. She was painting a number of book covers for me at the time including Old MacDonald had the Blues, as well as the cover artwork for The Color Collection and The Color Collection Junior. She also painted a number of pieces for a planned future piano series in which a number of composers will be featured on the covers. This is one of them, as I’m one of the composers whose music is going to be in the books.
More Levels from Rebekah Maxner
Elementary piano students imagine themselves playing big sounds! For your early-level students you want pieces that give the thrill of playing great music yet teach fundamental skills…and music that can please audiences for performances. I aspire to create music that fulfills student wishes and teachers’ requirements. This post comes with a free printable to help make it easy for you to select the very best pieces for your students at the right levels. Keep reading >>
Intermediate pianists have reached a good level of proficiency and often have a clear idea of the music they’d like to learn. Pick pieces they’ll love, and you’ll keep them hooked on piano! This post comes with a free printable to help make it easy for you to select the very best pieces for your students at the right levels. Keep reading >>
Do you like this post and want more? In the side menu click “follow” to get notifications of my posts in your inbox.
I appreciate shares, comments and likes. Happy teaching! ❤
Video of the Week
For Rue (Intermediate Level 4) is based on Rue’s four-note signal, written in the Chopin-esque waltz style. From the print and eBook Madge’s Notebook, A Piano Tribute to The Hunger Games, or check out the For Rue eSheet!
Listen to a sound clip of Autumn Afternoon!
Rebekah Maxner 