Grade 5 music theory - Please help!

[BBC4]

DD has attended a 3 week summer course for grade 5 music theory. She then did some lessons with her music teacher. I think she teaching bit is all covered. At the end of the 3 week course, there was a test and she barely passed - 65%. Her exam is next month. Please can someone guide us - what else can I do to help her improve? The main problem is, I don't understand anything. So I don't know how what/how I can help ! She is a bright child but only 11.

Hi BBC4 is his instrumental teacher able to help? DS is currently spending his piano lessons mainly on grade 5 theory. We’re also slowly working through the practice papers at home and then the school music teacher marks them. I think the ABRSM have some online materials but I’ve not used them myself. Hope it goes well.

Sorry her not his!!

They have resources at ABRSM
gb.abrsm.org/en/our-exams/music-theory-exams/music-theory-grade-5/

Where are the mistakes being made? Are there some easy marks she can get to compensate for the weaker areas?

Luckily DD is nowhere near ready (wasn't expecting her to be).
A friend has done some quizlets for all the musical terms and key signatures etc. So we hope those should be perfect by the Spring.

Have you looked at my music theory.com? That might help.

Essentially you should get hold of the syllabus and see which bits DD should focus on. Or see if she has a friend who sat and passed with flying colours and organise some supper dates.

Did they give you the marked papers where she was getting 65? So you can see which areas she needs help with? Also - and sorry to be even more of a pain - but the pass mark is 66 .

I would invest in some past papers from the ABRSM website. Give her 2 - ask her teacher to mark them or you can also get the answers to go with them. After 2 papers see if there is any consistency in weak areas. You still have about a month, right?

I would get the ABRSM Music theory app work through it for confidence, but don't rely on it.

Amazon have both practice papers and model answer papers. (Be careful which you are getting.) A copy of each might be useful.

Make sure you get Grade 5 exam papers for 2018. There have been a few changes from 2018. It hasn't made it any harder at all.

Get as many practice papers as you can and ask her teacher to mark them and then set aside some time to go over weak areas.
Really the teacher shouldn’t need prodding to do this, but it looks as though you might have to.

Rather than just getting her to sit down and go through a past paper, get her to sit and talk you through it. See which questions she is confident answering and which areas she doesn't know.

It can seem overwhelming for DC. However if you show them how much they do know it makes it easier for them to focus on the rest. Don't worry too much about French/Italian/German terms. They take ages to learn if you don't already know and use them and not that many marks. Otoh they really need to know and understand all the stuff on scales, chords, transposition and notation.

Teacher and musician here 🖐

Past papers are a godsend. Buy them all. The more practice the better.

Try Eric Taylor's Theory Grades 1-5 book. Back in the day it used to be two separate books, a pink and a blue one. Now it's one titchy little orange A5 book.

Are there any specific areas you're aware she needs help with? I can give some more suggestions if you do know.

Also, there's alot to be said for practising in real settings. As in... listen to music on the radio, what cadence does the song end on or whilst practising her instrument can she work out the chords each bar is in, where does it move to, does it modulate, what cadence does it end in etc.

I remember I found transporting pretty hard too at grade 5. Again... all practice.

Oh and also ABRSM have a couple of apps to help I think. I'm sure theure available for Android and Apple.

Try this webpage
www.musictheoryhelp.co.uk/practice-papers/
Has papers to practise for free... concentrate on mastering each section and gaining the full marks. Best of luck!

Is there any reason why she HAS to sit the exam next month? If not, can you postpone to take the pressure off her until she's confident she'll pass? If ABRSM won't let you postpone could she ask to do eg G3 instead to see how she gets on with it? This also gives the advantage of doing a practice run with no pressure before the G5. And she'd be familiar with the set up etc as doing a theory exam is very different to doing a practical.

I thought a pass was 40%- so 65% is pretty good! Or is that only some exam boards?

As Noodling said the pass mark is 66 for ABRSM and it's 60 for Trinity.

There are residential weekend courses at a place in Hertfordshire somewhere, I will ask my friend where they went. Small course and super 1-1 time apparently.

It's in Hitchin, Benslow Music Trust. My DS used it for Grade 8 and it was very good.

When I did my Grade 5 theory, I liked Music Matters on Youtube, which is by an ABRSM examiner and also Victoria Williams on www.mymusictheory.com. I think you can do some of the theory online or buy a print book. She also does some video courses through Udemy and on her website, which I found helpful. They have questions in them that test your understanding of each part.

Lots of flash cards for the music terminology helped me and lots of practice at the composition bit because it has lots of marks and you need to get the cadences right.

Lots of practice writing/reading the less used clefs (alto, tenor) helped me too.

I didn't have a problem with the transposition question (already play transposing instruments) but I think that can trip people up easily. It's well worth using the scrap paper they give you to draw out a piano keyboard as soon as the exam starts, just so you can visualise counting up/down notes without worrying about missing any.

I took the exam a couple of years ago and got 97% (lost 2 marks on composition and didn't know what the portato symbol was)

can anyone on this thread tell me how long the actual exam is? My daughter is taking the online exam and they have up to 2 hours to do it - is it really likely to take that long?

In the days when it was a paper exam DS (9) arrived home before the end of the exam via public transport. Big brother was chaperoning.
Astonishingly DS did pass!
How many times had I told him to keep checking and stay in the room for the whole 2 hours?!

I think my daughter managed to finish the exam within an hour and then spent 15 minutes checking (though she sat it when she was 12 and is used to exams).

Which reminds me....I must get the school to send us her certificates at some point (sat this and grade 5 a fortnight before lockdown)!