ABRSM Grade 5 theory advice please

[Soveryupset]

Hi, my daughter (9) is about to take grade 4 violin and my son (8) grade 3 violin, so I am thinking of starting to prepare them for grade 5 THEORY.

Unfortunately their teacher will not prepare them for this exam (no time or I think interest!) and so it's going to be down to me and them. I am musical and play the piano pretty well but never took any exams, so I think I am going to try working with them and perhaps take the exam myself as well!

Could someone give him some advice and guidance as to:

• What are the best books to use and follow?
• How long do you think it will take us? I am planning on setting aside one night a week for this purpose? Could possibly stretch to two closer to the exam date?

I was hoping we could do it by the end of next year as my DD1 will be in Y6 and I would love for this to be over and done with before she finishes primary school. Any advice hugely appreciate - bit of a daunting journey!!!

Start with absolute basics and work through from grade 1 unless they're very confident, in which case maybe go in at grade 3. Trinity books are more user friendly than abrsm and cover same material up to around grade 4. After that you'd need to use AB unless you do Trinity exams. If you aren't sure of some things like cycle of fifths, get the AB guide to music theory pink book.

I did it in about a term at 10 but I had covered most by osmosis, even the Terminology.

Some music centres have music theory classes especially for this. Mine recommended the (pink at the time) ABRSM books which were perfectly adequate.

Agree that they will have picked up a lot anyway.

As they are still very young to be taking theory exams, I would use the Lina Ng books. As a teacher, I would recommend starting on My First Theory Book, working your way through 2nd and 3rd as these set out the basics needed to prepare for Grade 1 theory.

There's also another series of books called Music Theory for Young Children by Ying Ying Ng. Again, very child friendly with lots of stickers and colouring in (maybe a bit young for a 9 year old though).

All the children I teach start on one or other of the above series from lesson one and thoroughly enjoy them, and both series work up through the grades up to grade 8. The ABRSM and other exam boards' books are very dry I find, especially for children.

If they're playing at that level already, I'm not sure that starting with 'My First' is appropriate - you can jump in at the grade 1 book with Lina Ng if you want. However, they will need to be reading bass clef - and alto (tenor?) by grade 5 theory (sorry, my brain just goes 'Oh, C is on that line' these days after singing so much plainchant). So you likely need to start at 0 for bass clef. I use a lot of 'cheats' with 'emergency' theory students, so I teach as much exam technique as actual theory, but they're usually teens. Trinity uses slightly easier terminology, e.g. "Write a C major scale going up" avoiding the word "ascending" which a younger student may or may not understand. The actual theory question is the same, but the wording is easier.

My problem with the Lina Ng books is that while they are fun to do, there isn't much explanation.

Hmm, tbh I wouldn't be too impressed with a teacher who has no time or interest to teach them theory! Suppose a parent isn't musical and can't teach their children themeselves, what does the teacher expect them to do?

Theory should be taught alongside practical from the start. It's no good going up through the grades without much knowledge of the theory and then cramming it in for the Grade 5 exam.

Does this teacher only teach the lower grades?

Contact your local music hub. Ours has a theory class on a Saturday morning, alongside lots of other musical activities like steel pans and rock bands.

Dd (11) does her music theory lessons at the local music centre
She started on the abrsm 'music theory in practice grade 3 book ( Eric Taylor) and is now slowly working through the grade 4. She did her grade 5 practical exam in the summer before the move to secondary but tbh she hasn't found any of the theory books easy!
I imagine it will be a while until she's ready for the exam. I would definitely recommend starting on a lower grade book.

Oh , and I don't know if you are musical yourself or not ?
But I'm not, so I got a little pocket book by the same author called 'first steps in music theory grades1-5' . It actually has been really helpful when I need to try and understand in order to try and help her with what she is doing (although tbh she usually asks and then realises that I am rubbish and ends up explaining to ME... But you know... I like to think it helps a bit !)

I'd use the Ying Ying Ng Music Theory for Young Musicians starting at grade 1 level. They are very good and work well with youngsters up to secondary age.

I agree that the Trinity books are also much better than the ABRSM Music Theory in Practice series which are just direly dull and grimly boring. ABRSM practical exams will now accept Trinity Grade 5 as an suitable alternative to the ABRSM theory Grade 5. They cover the same ground just approach it in slightly different ways.

For absolute beginners' theory, I am using "Theory for violinists" from the Hey Presto! series at the moment. This is for three students who are 7-9yo and bronze/silver medal level (ca grades 1-2) on the instrument. The series only goes up to grade 1 theory, in six small books, but you can also buy .pdf files. It has the advantage of dealing with things like which fingers to use, bowing marks etc. while other books are more piano-oriented. We'll be doing 5/10min a week in lesson time.

(the 10min is overlap - one student comes 5min early, the other finishes 5min late, they still get a 25min practical lesson and no homework).

Hi, wow thanks for all the great advice.
I omitted that my two also play the piano, so they should be ok on the bass clef. However it sounds I should really start from book 1 of whatever system I am going to follow as I don't want to miss anything fundamental.

The dryness element of the subject just means it will take a while as they probably won't want to do too much at a time. I have the pink book but I need to get the exercise books, hopefully it will come with answers?

I understand this is quite important, but I am not massively looking forward to taking this on myself. Our local music service does run classes but you are only allowed to go if you make use of their other services...also it is a bit of a free for all, which I think will still mean I'd have to sit down and go through it with them, arrggghhhh!!!

My advice is pay for a theory tutor!
DS (10) passed gr5 violin last year, in year 5. He's done very little theory, which is all my fault as was teaching him violin myself and just couldn't put up with the arguments that always seemed to go with theory, on top of the violin playing arguments!
He's been having lessons with a musician friend since the beginning of this term and is flying through the books. (We use the Loh Phaik Kheng: Theory Of Music Made Easy series, which is great.) I fully expect it to take him at least 18 months (probably two years) to be able to pass gr5 theory, but that's fine ... think he'll go straight to gr8 and not bother with gr 6 or 7 practical.

Just wanted to give an update - thanks to all your advice on here, I purchased the "theory made easy" book grade 1 and started it with the children. They are very enthused by the book and we are already on page 14 although I guess we will slow down soon!

It's uncovered that my DD1's theory seems pretty strong whilst my DS1 is pretty shocking and is going at slower pace. I have gone him a note trainer app as it looks like his sight reading isn't great either!!!

Thanks so much for suggesting these books, they are truly fab.