A Guide to the ABRSM Syllabus (2023 - 2024)


David Önaç - A Distant Star in the Stillness

ABRSM Grade 5 - C3

David Önaç’s cosmic soundscape is an ideal piece to stimulate the imagination. It will help to read the composer’s programme note at the foot of the page, where he describes how he found inspiration from the vastness of space, how “gigantic stars…appear as tiny dots in our night sky”. Using jazz-influenced chords, this piece uses the high and low registers of the piano to conjure up vast distances, blending sounds together using the pedal.

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Resources & links

  • This piece is available for digital download individually from the ABRSM shop here or in print as part of the Piano Exam Pieces 2023 & 2024 Grade 5 publication here.

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