We are delighted that pianists preparing for their Grade 2 and 3 exams in 2017-2018 can choose to include pieces from our own publications among their set works.

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Grade 2 candidates will find 'The Stowaway' by Stanley Wilson (1899-1953) printed as piece B:3 in the ABRSM's selection of Piano Exam Pieces 2017 & 2018, Grade 2. Evidently anxious to remain hidden below deck, the stowaway tiptoes around sempre pianissimo and sempre staccato, often at the very depths of the piano's range. But perhaps he is being over-cautious: Wilson's music plays on the melody of the traditional drinking song 'Down among the dead men' – a reference to empty bottles rather than corpses – suggesting the drunken sailors are oblivious to his presence for now.Players wondering what becomes of the stowaway can enjoy the rest of Wilson's nautical series of pieces in Ship Ahoy! In this volume, published by Forsyth, 'The Stowaway' (No.7) is ominously followed by 'Davy Jones' Locker' (No.8) - perhaps a dark hint that the stowaway is eventually discovered by the sailors and cast to the bottom of the sea.

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At Grade 3, players have the opportunity to present a piece by Forsyth's signature composer, Walter Carroll (1869-1955), dubbed the Beatrix Potter of piano music. Manchester-born Carroll was head of composition at the Royal Northern College of Music for many years and specialised in music for children, regularly working with teachers at some 400 schools. Having chosen a piece from Carroll's In Southern Seas for their 2015-2016 syllabus (Grade 3, piece B:1), the ABRSM has turned this time to his volume of Forest Fantasies, selecting 'Dwarfs of the Mist' (No.8) as piece B:5. The nine 'tone-pictures' that make up the Forest Fantasies are populated by elves, fairies and other mythological beings, including the 'Dwarfs', who are introduced by this couplet from Sir Walter Scott:

Dimly seen through twilight bending,

Lo, what varied shapes attending!

In place of a tempo marking, Carroll simply adds the instruction 'Grotesque', inviting players to make the most of the frequent bursts of noise that increasingly interrupt the tranquility of the dusky scene.

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Meanwhile, ABRSM also continues to recognise the importance of Forsyth's recorder publications, which provide 16 pieces on the current 2014-2017 syllabus. These range from Sasha Johnson Manning's 'A Tale', from A Birthday Garland for Descant Recorder, at Grade 3 (descant) to Christopher Brown's Caprice Op. 68, from Recital Pieces for Treble Recorder, Vol. 1, at Grade 8 (treble).All set works for ABRSM exams are among the 100,000+ titles available through the sheet music department in person, by phone and via this website.