Learning how to read and write musical notation gives an added dimension and depth of understanding to what is essentially an aural medium. As a professional collaborative pianist sight-reading skills are essential to my success – not only understanding the individual notes/rhythms/nuances but having an idea of the overall harmonic structure and feel of the piece.
The ABRSM syllabus is recognised as a Worldwide standard for performance excellence and in order to progress beyond Grade 5 practical it is essential to pass Grade 5 theory. In some cases it might be preferable to take Grade 5 general musicianship, which is a practical face-to-face exam, but a good knowledge of theory is still required. This course covers each subject required to pass the Grade 5 exam and assumes some prior knowledge though the basics are also explained.
The Grade 5 theory exam is taken online and you are allowed 2 hours to complete all the sections.
Some questions are multiple choice but you will need a good understanding of each topic to get an overall pass – aim for a merit or distinction.
I encourage my pupils to make good use of rough paper provided in the exam so they have a reference point – this paper isn’t submitted as part of the exam so doesn’t need to be neat.. practice quickly drawing out:
Circle of 5ths
Basic keyboard of more than an octave
Chords and Inversions of keys required
This example is in the key of A major
Inversions
This example is in the key of C major
Rhythm tree
There are 7 different topics altogether:
1 Rhythm
2 Pitch
3 Keys & Scales
4 Intervals
5 Chords
6 Terms, Signs & Instruments
7 Music in context
These pages are password protected on this website
If you’d like to sign up for the course you’ll need to have a copy of the ABRSM Grade 5 Discovering Music Theory Workbook – I will provide online sessions for each topic, either individually or as part of a group and I can supply past papers for practice.
It’s easy to enter for the exam via the website and it can be taken on a PC or laptop at home with the correct monitoring (proctoring).
Please contact me directly on baxtersstudio@icloud.com for more information