New publications from ABRSM

Aural Training in Practice

The third volume in our Aural Training in Practice series (covering Grades 6–8) has now been released.

Aural Training in Practice offers valuable support to teachers preparing students for ABRSM Practical exams. The three volumes, covering Grades 1–3, Grades 4 & 5 and Grades 6–8, provide:

• information on what each test involves and what the examiner is looking for
• teaching hints and strategies, including warm-up material and ideas for integrating aural into lessons
• many practice exercises to prepare students for the exam
• CD recordings of all practice exercises, and examples in two or more parts, presented by an ABRSM examiner
• answers, both recorded and printed where appropriate, as a guide to the sort of responses that would be successful in the exam

Joining the Dots for Guitar

Following the success of the award-winning series for piano, ABRSM has published five new volumes for guitar.

Joining the Dots offers guitarists lots of material to help build confidence and skill in sight-reading. The series brings together a range of activities to help students improve their sense of fingerboard geography, helping them to read new music more quickly and easily.

The five books cover the requirements for ABRSM's sight-reading tests at each of Grades 1 to 5, and include:

• warm-up and technical exercises, to establish basic hand shapes and finger patterns within each key
• simple improvisation exercises in which students can explore musical ideas and familiarize themselves further with the 'feel' of each key
• short, characterful pieces to sight-read, in a range of approachable musical styles
• longer solo pieces and some duets and trios, for additional sight-reading practice or to learn quickly and play through for fun

This is an excellent resource for guitar teachers to help develop general musicianship and, at the same time, develop their students' sight-reading ability. The books are an ideal way to integrate sight-reading practice into the lesson when time is of the essence, and they follow the guidelines for the sight-reading element of ABRSM guitar exams.