Preparing for grade 5 aural Options

[PatC]

I've just decided to do grade 5 in the autumn term. I've been learning the pieces for a while so it's now or never - Fiocco's trills are losing their charm (not that they have ever had much, the way I play them!). The last exam I took was grade 3, 2 years ago, and I got 16 for aural then, but I was probably lucky (very nice examiner). Anyway I haven't done anything on aural since then. Can anyone recommend books / CDs - eg. Improve Your Aural, Aural Time ...? (If it's anything like last exam, my teacher will probably run through a few tests with me each lesson for about 4 weeks before the exam, but with not much focus on it).

Thanks in advance

PatC

[Seer_Green]

(If it's anything like last exam, my teacher will probably run through a few tests with me each lesson for about 4 weeks before the exam, but with not much focus on it).

Gosh, that sort of thing makes me so cross (IMG:style_emoticons/default/mad.gif) You need someone who's going to teach *how* to do the aural tests; just doing a few tests here and there isn't the same thing at all.

Anyway...rant over...in answer to your question, if you're going to be doing most of the work yourself, I'd recommend three books to start with:

Improve Your Aural Grade 5 - with CD
Specimen Aural Tests Grades 4 & 5 - with CD
Aural Training in Practice Grades 4 & 5 - with CD

If you're not sure how you'll do in the Test B sight-singing, I'd recommend either of these books:

Ear Without Fear Book 1 - there are further volumes in the series, and it comes with a CD
Improve Your Sight-Singing Elementary

If you want some more guidance for the Test C questions, these two books are useful:

General Musicianship
History of Music

Of course, you may already have some of these books and I expect you're teacher has and will use some of them. You can always do more practise online at Hofnote.