The question we get most often from parents at the moment is one we did not get this time last year. "Is Billie Eilish really on the syllabus?" "Did you see Taylor Swift's piece?" "What about the one from Wicked?" The new ABRSM 2027 and 2028 piano books published on 4 June 2026 are heavier on contemporary songs than any syllabus we can remember, and parents are right to be asking which of those pieces are actually worth picking.
This is the piece-by-piece guide. If you are still deciding whether to switch syllabuses at all, our earlier post on when to make the change answers that first. This post assumes you have decided to use the new books and you want to know which pieces to pick for your child or for yourself.
The headline facts in twenty seconds
- New books published: 4 June 2026.
- First valid exam date: 1 January 2027.
- Old 2025-26 syllabus valid until: 31 December 2027.
- You cannot mix syllabuses within a single exam. All three pieces must come from the same book.
- Each grade book contains nine pieces (three from List A, three from List B, three from List C). You play three pieces in the exam, one from each list.
- Confirmed pop, film and musical theatre highlights: Hans Zimmer at Initial Grade, Billie Eilish at Grade 1, Taylor Swift at Grade 3, Stephen Schwartz at Grade 5.
- Scales, sight reading and aural are unchanged. Whatever your child has done on those carries over.
The pop, film and musical theatre pieces by grade, at a glance
| Grade | Piece | From | Composer |
|---|---|---|---|
| Initial | Day One | Interstellar (2014 film) | Hans Zimmer, arr. Joseph Atkins |
| 1 | What Was I Made For? | Barbie (2023 film) | Billie Eilish & Finneas O'Connell, arr. Atkins |
| 1 | Roo's Blues | Piano Tales for Winnie-the-Pooh | Nikki Iles |
| 3 | Enchanted | Taylor Swift studio album | Taylor Swift, arr. Atkins |
| 5 | Popular | Wicked (musical) | Stephen Schwartz, arr. Atkins |
| 5 | The Witch | The Secret Garden (musical) | Jakub Metelka |
| 7 | Wildcat | Rock Preludes (collection) | Christopher Norton |
| 8 | Footprints in the Sand | Dreamland (album) | Alexis Ffrench |
Sources: ABRSM Shop product pages for each grade, cross-checked against the ABRSM news release of 4 June 2026.
Initial Grade: Hans Zimmer for absolute beginners
The piece to pick: Day One from Interstellar
Hans Zimmer wrote Day One as the closing-credits cue for Christopher Nolan's Interstellar. Joseph Atkins has arranged it for the very first ABRSM grade, which means it sits at the same difficulty calibration as everything else at Initial Grade. The melody is the kind a beginner can hum after one hearing. The texture is open and slow, which is exactly what a child who has been playing for six months needs.
Who it suits
Six to eight year olds who already enjoy film music, or any beginner who loves a big slow melody. If your child wants to play something they recognise, this is the strongest hook in the Initial book.
One alternative if Interstellar is not their thing
The Manta Ray by Louise Drewett is the other standout at this grade, pictorial and gentle, with a hand-over-hand pattern that teaches an important early skill.
Grade 1: Billie Eilish, finally on the syllabus
The piece to pick: What Was I Made For?
This is the headline news of the whole 2027 syllabus. What Was I Made For?, the Oscar-winning Billie Eilish and Finneas O'Connell song from the 2023 Barbie film, sits at Grade 1 List B in Joseph Atkins' arrangement. For ten years of teaching we have been steered toward telling young students they could "do their grades and learn the fun stuff on the side". For Grade 1 in 2027, the fun stuff is the grade.
The Atkins arrangement keeps the song's contour and most of its harmonic colour. It simplifies the rhythmic feel from the recorded version and the right-hand range stays within an octave for most of the piece. Honest difficulty note: it is calibrated at the same standard as the rest of the Grade 1 book. It is not easier or harder for being a pop song.
Pairing the three pieces
The cleanest Grade 1 programme we would suggest:
- List A (classical foundation): Haydn's Andante from Symphony No. 94 "Surprise", arranged by Alan Bullard. Teaches phrasing and a small classical sense of drama.
- List B (lyrical): What Was I Made For? The melodic instinct in your child gets to lead.
- List C (contemporary): Roo's Blues by Nikki Iles, from her Piano Tales for Winnie-the-Pooh. Teaches a swung feel and a different kind of musical attention.
Choosing the right Grade 1 programme often takes a parent and a teacher five minutes of conversation. If you would like that conversation, we offer a £10 thirty-minute trial lesson in our Harrow studio or online. You can book it here.
Grade 2: no pop this time, what we would pick
The Grade 2 book is a strong list with no pop, film or musical theatre pieces in the printed nine. Our two recommendations: Tarantella by Pam Wedgwood, which gives a child the satisfaction of fast-feeling music with manageable hand positions, and Circling Gulls by Joan Last for a quieter, evocative contrast. For a Baroque pick, Purcell's The Queen's Dolour is the sensible List A choice.
If your child has just done Grade 1 with the Billie Eilish piece, manage their expectations for Grade 2. The pop will come back at Grade 3.
Grade 3: the Taylor Swift moment
The piece to pick: Enchanted, arranged by Joseph Atkins
Taylor Swift's Enchanted, from the 2010 album Speak Now, arrives at Grade 3 List C in 2027. It is the second-biggest news of the new syllabus after the Eilish piece, and it is the one we are getting the most questions about from parents of nine to twelve year olds.
The arrangement keeps the song's lyrical centre and most of its harmonic motion. The right hand carries the tune throughout, and the left hand is a steady, rolling accompaniment pattern that any student finishing Grade 2 will be ready to learn. Pianodao's review flagged one specific bar (bar 10) as a hand-coordination test, which we would agree with. It is worth slow practice from the start.
A safer companion piece
For the List A pick at Grade 3 we would suggest Mozart's Minuet in F (K. 5), a piece many of our students enjoy and which builds the classical instincts every grade benefits from.
One thing to watch out for
If your child has heard Taylor's re-recorded "Taylor's Version" of Enchanted in a different key, do not try to play along. The ABRSM arrangement is in a fixed key for the exam and trying to learn the song from a YouTube recording in a different key creates avoidable confusion. Stick to the printed score and the ABRSM audio recording, which you access through the QR code on the page.
If your child is between grades and you want a quick read on which one is right, WhatsApp Norbert directly or book a £10 thirty-minute trial lesson. We teach from our Harrow studio (HA2), in your home across HA1 to HA8, or online from anywhere in the UK.
Grade 4: a quiet but strong year
No confirmed pop or film pieces in the printed Grade 4 nine. The two pieces we would build a programme around are Wade in the Water arranged by Önaç, which gives a student a real connection to an African American spiritual and a strong rhythmic feel, and Shostakovich's Clockwork Doll, which is a wonderful introduction to twentieth-century writing without the difficulty climbing. The List A is Domenico Scarlatti's Minuet from the Sonata in A, Kp. 83, which is the dependable classical pick.
Grade 5: Wicked is on the syllabus
The piece to pick: Popular, arranged by Joseph Atkins
Popular, from the original 2003 musical of Wicked by Stephen Schwartz, sits at Grade 5 List C. With the 2024 and 2025 film adaptations driving a new generation of Wicked fans, this piece is going to be one of the most-asked-about Grade 5 pieces of the whole 2027 cycle. The arrangement is generous in its range, gives the student room to lean into the song's character, and rewards a confident sense of timing.
List A and List B picks to pair it with
For List A, the most accessible piece in the Grade 5 List A is Diabelli's Rondo from the Sonatina Op. 168 No. 1. For List B, Florence Price's Absence is the standout. Price is one of the most important American composers of the twentieth century, and getting her into Grade 5 syllabuses is a long-overdue piece of music education work that ABRSM should be commended for.
Grades 6, 7 and 8 in brief
The pop and film angle thins out at the upper grades and the syllabus rebalances toward the classical canon. Two pieces worth flagging:
- Grade 7, Wildcat by Christopher Norton from his Rock Preludes collection. A propulsive, jazz-rock-influenced piece for a student who wants something with an edge at this level.
- Grade 8, Footprints in the Sand by Alexis Ffrench, from his Dreamland album. Crossover-classical with a strong emotional centre, useful for a student who wants something at the Grade 8 level that feels closer to film score than to nineteenth-century repertoire.
At Grade 8 the rest of the book leans hard into the canon: a movement from Bach's Italian Concerto, the Rondo from Beethoven's Pathétique, a Chopin Nocturne, and Ravel's Fugue from Le tombeau de Couperin. This is properly serious repertoire, and if your child is at Grade 8 you should be talking to your teacher about which pieces play to their strengths.
What about Rihanna, Studio Ghibli and Porco Rosso?
Several of the press articles that covered the syllabus launch flagged Rihanna's Lift Me Up from Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, Joe Hisaishi's Always With Me from Spirited Away, and Hisaishi's Porco Rosso theme as being on the new syllabus. We want to be honest about what we have been able to confirm at the time of writing.
- Rihanna's Lift Me Up: referenced as Initial Grade by Classic FM and Music Teacher Magazine. It does not appear among the nine printed Initial Grade pieces on the ABRSM Shop product page. It may be in the wider syllabus PDF as an alternative repertoire option that is not in the printed book. We are not yet able to confirm this from official sources. If you would like your child to play it as their fourth own-choice piece, ask us in the next lesson and we will confirm before you commit.
- Joe Hisaishi's Always With Me (from Spirited Away): was on the 2025-26 Grade 3 syllabus. Several press articles have referenced it in the 2027-28 coverage, which may be coverage churn rather than a fresh listing. We have not been able to confirm a 2027-28 inclusion on the official Grade 3 product page.
- Joe Hisaishi's Porco Rosso theme: referenced for Grade 8. Again, not in the nine printed pieces on the Grade 8 product page. May be in the wider syllabus PDF.
We will update this article once the full syllabus PDF has been parsed against the printed nine, which we will do next week.
How we would actually choose, in the studio
Three principles we use with every Harrow family choosing pieces for an upcoming grade:
- Pick the piece that gets practised. The Eilish, the Swift and the Schwartz arrangements are not free marks. They are pieces that get practised, because your child wants to play them. A piece that gets thirty minutes of practice a day will sound better in the exam than a piece that gets ten.
- Balance the loved with the stretching. One of the three pieces should be the one your child cannot wait to play. One should be the one that gently stretches a technical or interpretive skill they need. The third can be a teacher's choice.
- Leave the own-choice fourth piece for last. ABRSM exam rules allow a fourth piece from a wider list. Most students do not need one. If your child is exceptional and you want to add one, decide after you have heard the three core pieces settle.
Frequently asked questions
What pop, film and musical theatre pieces are in the ABRSM 2027 syllabus?
Hans Zimmer's Day One from Interstellar at Initial Grade, Billie Eilish and Finneas O'Connell's What Was I Made For? from Barbie at Grade 1, Nikki Iles' Roo's Blues from her Piano Tales for Winnie-the-Pooh at Grade 1, Taylor Swift's Enchanted at Grade 3, Stephen Schwartz's Popular from Wicked at Grade 5, Jakub Metelka's The Witch from The Secret Garden at Grade 5, Christopher Norton's Wildcat from his Rock Preludes at Grade 7, and Alexis Ffrench's Footprints in the Sand from Dreamland at Grade 8.
Is What Was I Made For? really in ABRSM Grade 1?
Yes. It is in the Grade 1 book, List B, arranged for solo piano by Joseph Atkins. The arrangement is calibrated at the same standard as the rest of the Grade 1 book.
Which Taylor Swift song is in ABRSM 2027?
Enchanted, from her 2010 Speak Now album. It is in the Grade 3 book, List C, arranged by Joseph Atkins. The arrangement is in the printed book's key, which may differ from the recorded version your child has heard.
When can my child play the 2027 pieces in a real exam?
From 1 January 2027 onwards. The previous 2025-26 syllabus stays valid until 31 December 2027 alongside the new one, but you cannot mix syllabuses within a single exam.
Is the 2027 syllabus harder than the 2025 one?
No. ABRSM calibrates each new syllabus to the same difficulty standards as the previous one. A 2027 Grade 1 piece sits at the same level as a 2025 Grade 1 piece. Individual pieces feel different but the overall standard is unchanged.
Try a thirty-minute trial lesson with us, in Harrow or online
If you have read this far, you are probably the kind of parent or adult learner who likes to make a careful decision. Choosing pieces is a careful decision, and the right answer for your child depends on where they are now, what they enjoy, and what they are ready to stretch toward.
We offer a thirty-minute trial lesson for £10. Half an hour at a real piano with a conservatoire-trained teacher. We will listen to where your child is, talk through the syllabus options, and give an honest read on which pieces would suit them best. You can do the trial at our Harrow studio (65 Dorchester Avenue, HA2 7AX), in your home anywhere across HA1 to HA8, or online from anywhere in the UK.
It is fully refundable if it is not the right fit, and there is no commitment to ongoing lessons afterwards. You can book it here, or message Norbert directly on WhatsApp at 07896 003916.
Over 90 per cent of our students pass ABRSM with merit or distinction. The pieces matter. The teaching matters more.
Ready to put this into practice? Book a trial piano lesson with a conservatoire-trained teacher.
Written by
Norbert Steczkowski
Trinity Laban-trained pianist and piano teacher at Piano with Norbert. Active performer across London. Serving Harrow, Pinner, Stanmore and surrounding areas. More about the team →
