The music has been carefully selected, arranged and adapted, and incorporates relevant finger patterns, position changes and bowing techniques in order to meet the technical challenges of specific exam levels (Volume 1: Grades 1 & 2, Volume 2: Grades 3 & 4, Volume 3: Grades 5 & 6). The piano accompaniments have been kept quite simple and idiomatic.

The symphonic themes are presented in chronological order and each collection includes examples from the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries. There is an opportunity to become familiar with the works of the great masters – Mozart, Haydn, Beethoven, Brahms, Mahler, Schubert, Elgar – and also experience the music of some less familiar composers such as Mysliveček, Vanhal and Salieri.

The symphony is often regarded as the pinnacle of orchestral composition, and undoubtedly it is a musical form used by composers to write some of their most famous and best-loved melodies.