Grade 8 aural; online tutor?

[Suki2]

DS has just go this results of his grade 7 piano, and we've been disappointed to see he failed his aural. This is no surprise as his teacher is reluctant to teach it. She it an excellent piano teacher though; he got very high marks for his pieces. I'd like him to be in a better position for grade 8. Surely nowadays it's possible to teach aural online? I'm talking about someone experienced, and a real person, not these online apps; he tried those for grade 7 and wasn't really much clearer.

[Ferguson]

Hi -

I have seen some of your earlier queries, last year. Did you ever make any progress with the on-line e-musicmaestro.com site? I have looked at some of their (free) resources, and it could be worth persevering with the site, and maybe subscribing to it:

e-musicmaestro.com/

I will see what else I can find that might be helpful, and come back sometime.

Do you have only the one child doing music, as it doesn't seem long ago you were talking about Grade 3, and now it is Grade 8 ?

[PoshPenny]

I think I'd be taking the piano teacher to task over it, it's part and parcel of preparation for the grade exam. She should be teaching it.

[Suki2]

Ferguson; yes, I have 3 children. I think I agree PoshPenny;
I get very frustrated with the aural tests; I've moved around a lot with my husband's job so seen a few piano teachers and none of the ones my DC have had seem to focus very much on aural, yet months are spent on the pieces.

[howabout]

Just been looking at aural with my 2 (grade 5 and 6). I was surprised they are not better at it. I think the explanation is that mine have not done much choral singing and so sightreading and singing lines back is not second nature.

[LilyBolero]

Common problems with aural;

Singing back - just remembering it! Often they can hear it but not recall it.
Sight singing - not letting the piano help you back in if you go wrong. Not keeping rhythm secure even if notes are a bit wrong.
Cadences/chords - you need to really really know these, and know the chords associated with each cadence - e.g. if it's a perfect cadence, don't then suggest chord V for the last chord!
Modulations - play some examples on the piano so you can correlate what they sound like with what's going on harmonically.
Musical features - have a checklist of things to talk about - i.e. Character (speed, dynamics, articulation, tonality), Texture, Structure, Style and Period to avoid the panic of not knowing what to say in the exam room.

[StompyFreckles]

My Dd (11) did grade 7 violin in the summer. She had around 6 extra lessons with a separate teacher, just for the aural part of the exam due to how difficult it is. She ended up only losing 2 marks from each part of the exam, including the aural, so it was definitely worth the extra expense in the end. I will definitely do the same for grade 8 as I know that is even harder!