Moderato - 1st movement from Sonatina in G - Grade 2 Piano

Teaching Notes

As seen by the footnote in the ABRSM edition, a lot of the articulation and dynamic markings are editorial. This is hardly surprising considering the legibility of Beethoven's musical handwriting such as below.

In any case, a certain amount of musical maturity is needed when "interpreting a score" rather than religiously sticking to everything you see in front of you. For example, the first two quavers of bar 8 are slurred, but it is reasonable to add a slur to the next set of quavers finishing on the first note of the next bar. The same can be added in bars 12, 13 and 14 (slurring from 2nd beat quaver runs over to next bar). 

On the subject of slurs; the slurred pair groups in bar 2 should be performed with care. It is common to hear students stab at the 2nd note in such a pair as they jump off the end of the slur. However the opposite effect is desired in this case, with a slight lean on the first note of the two and a gentle lift on the second note. Notice also the rests in the LH in this (and similar) bars. 

Going back to the first bar, try to play the acciaccatura (grace note) on the beat, that is the RH "B" with the LH chord. You will often hear this note played before the beat and quite lazily at that. Another name for this kind of ornament is a crush note and this descriptive word gives us a clue as to how to perform it, literally crush it against the main note that follows. 

In bar 17 the main theme returns and it would be quite stylistic to ease off the tempo just beforehand with a poco rit in bar 16. 

Finally, referring back to our artistic licence, you will notice in the video performance above that there is an "echo effect" in bar 29. Again this is a stylistic thing to do when a melody is repeated (compare bar 25).