Hi, I haven't posted in a while so hope this is ok. I was wondering if anyone could offer some advice? I have a grade 5 piano exam this weekend and have had the past few lessons cancelled due to unfortunate circumstances. So I haven't really had any sightreading or aural practise in lessons for this exam. My pieces are fine and scales mainly secure. I've done grade 6 on flute, so with a bit of reminding the aural should (hopefully) be ok, although I'm worried about the sightreading as this is one of my weakest areas on piano.

I'm practising doing unseen pieces at home, with a minute (?) prep time before I play it through. I'm not really sure what to watch for though, or how to improve. In the aural, is the sight singing accompanied? What other areas do they assess at this level? Also, would it be ok to play the pieces before scales but asking to try the piano quickly first? And if some scales are more secure than others, would it be best to play the known ones faster, or all at an in between tempo? If you've got any other advice for the exam it would be much appreciated, thanks.

jenflute, this is by no means an exhaustive list, but, in sightreading, you will want to see how much of the

dynamics
musical phrasing
articulation

you can play the first time round. After you've done a sightreading, go back over the piece and ask yourself what you struggled with the most. Then keep that in mind as you tackle the next piece.

I would suggest playing all your scales at the same tempo as this would appear more 'prepared and confident' then blazing thru some and crawling on others. Set an appropriate tempo of grade 5 scales and try to keep them all there... at least not any slower than the minimum for your grade!

All the best on that exam!

As far as the sight reading goes, keep the pulse rock steady and be sure to remain in the correct key throughout. I managed to get 17 in my piano Grade 7 sight reading following this method even though I knew I was playing fistfuls of wrong notes.

The aural has changed slightly since the beginning of the year. For Grade 5 you have to sing back a short phrase after you have heard it twice. The sight singing is six unaccompanied notes in free time, with intervals restricted to seconds and thirds plus a rising perfect 4th. The final question consists of answering two questions about a short piece played to you, with the second question being about style and period and which features of the music suggest the period to you. The first question will be about tempo, dynamics, articulation, tonality or character. You then hear a short extract of the piece twice and have to clap back the rhythm and say whether it has 2, 3 or 4 beats in the bar.

Hope this helps, and good luck.

Eeeek! Not much time before exam! Do you practice sight-reading regularly anyway? Thats the only way to really get good at it. For the exam, some stress so much about the notes they forget the rhythm and the dynamics. Keep these in mind. Never correct mistakes...just move on. You get a good bulk of marks for just attemtping to get all the way through it so even if you only manage to finish it and you think it sounded rubbish I wouldn't worry too much. There have been times in lessons when I have sightread stuff and thought it was appalling, but my teacher said it was worth 17/21 or 18/21 in an exam.

Just play through a load of pieces, focussing on patterns, rhythm and dynamics. Test yourself each day with the specimen tests if you have them...always look for where you will be shifting your hands and prepare for it in the minute practice time.

No, I don't really practise it specifically, with specimen tests/exercises but do play through new pieces quite a lot, mainly ones I know the tune of though (like disney books.. when I get bored of the exam pieces ), not sure if this counts, although it has helped me find notes faster.

Thanks a lot for all the info and help everyone, I really hope I get through this exam