All Students preparing for Grade exams are recommended to use the Hofnotes on-line training pages to practise for the aural tests. 

At higher grades  you must be able to discuss with the examiner musical features such as texture, form, style, and period of a piece of music.  My own  web pages to help with these parts of the test at Grade 5+ and at GCSE are available here!

Theory is cool - theory exams are not!  But here are some tips on getting the most points for your knowledge.

Writing out scales

There are three really important things to remember:

1. follow instructions - use the correct clef You are often asked to write more than one scale separately in different clefs.  If so, this is the easy bit - put all the clefs in straight away for a point each!

2. follow instructions - use a key signature if they tell you to, and if they don't - don't! You'd be surprised....

3. follow instructions - are you asked for an ascending or descending scale- Up or down?

Before thinking about which sharps and flats you are going to need, write out the scale on your rough paper in well-spaced semibreves with room for accidentals if need be.  Check:

• that you have used every line and space, ie a note of each letter name appears in the scale once and once only
• that you start and finish on the right notes
• that you go the right way - ascending or descending
• that you have the right clef

If you are asked for a key signature, ensure that you put the sharps and flats on the correct lines and spaces for the clef, as well as in the right order.  Check these against the scale circle.  If asked for accidentals, place these carefully before each note.

Writing out intervals

Important things to remember:

1. Position the note head correctly Check the clef and identify the root note, then simply count through the letters to get the correct basic interval.  Don't think about semitones at this stage. Put all the notes in neatly and unambiguously!

2. Harmonic means write it on top, like a chord: melodic means write it afterwards, like in a melody

3. Check which of the notes you now have in front of you are effected by the key signature if there is one. But don't panic! Write down the two notes as letters.  For example, you have an exercise to create a perfect fifth with a C as the starting note, the key signature given is two sharps (D major), and by following the previous steps you will be looking at C# and G natural

4. If you are struggling, think of an easier interval that uses one of the notes - in this case C natural to G would be a perfect 5th, so to C# we would need to add G#

Writing out triads

Important things to remember:

1. follow instructions - use the correct clef  You are often asked to write several intervals separately in different clefs.  If so, this is the easy bit - put all the clefs in straight away for a point each!

2. follow instructions - use a key signature if they tell you to, and if they don't - don't! Think about the scale that would rise from the root - which notes from the triad will be affected by sharps or flats?

3. Check your answers by thinking about intervals All triads at Grade 5 level will have a perfect 5th from root to top note.  Major triads need a major third above the root (4 semitones), minor triads need a minor third (three semitones)

Note: 2 and 3 above can be done either way round - but do use both methods for safety's sake!

Adding bar lines and beams

In music notation, as in engineering, the rule of thumb is that if it looks right, it probably is!

In common time, while this bar adds up to 4 crotchet beats, something has gone wrong somewhere: 

..... E YH GFDSAZXXXX E |\ .....etc

You should always be able to see clearly where the whole beats are, where the middle of the bar is. 

Dotted notes are very likely to be beamed together with the smaller-value notes (or rests) that 'complete' the dot. 

The most likely explanation is that you have simply lost count along the way.  Go back and check whether you need to move a bar line along (in the example above the bar line needs to move to just after the first quaver).  It may be necessary to start on an upbeat or with an anacrusis - ie. the first bar is incomplete.

Last updated on: 03/01/2012