anyone started grade 7 theory yet? i have started yesterday, it is fun and much more interesting than grade 6. we should have a grade 7 theory challenge for next term(17th June) and we have tons of time.

I bought the 'Big 7' book on my way to the Grade 6 exam, and started looking at it the following day. There's stuff in it that I need to learn and I think I'll have to work hard at it. It does seem more interesting though. If I do okay in Grade 6 and am reasonably confident in Grade 7 by the time the entries are due in I'll probably do it.

i think the gap between grade 6 and grade 7 are not very big and i am getting the big 7 book soon.

It is on Are you going to join in? YAP and I are awaiting the arrival of our big 7 book....

I'd be up for it if it happens, having been forced out of the G6 challenge. Would be fun, right in the middle of my GCSEs! Will go and inspect the syllabus right now.

i really like to join it

it would be good if there is a Viva Theory Forum

Having discovered I did have a 'big 7' book after all (and after ordering another one - I'll bring it to Leicester), I took it away with me this weekend. (Visiting the in-laws.)

I'm really pleased to say that I found it much easier than expected, to the extent that I could follow the worked examples and try out my own for Q1, and Q4 and Q5 were fine as well. I need to check a few terms and learn my horn transpositions, but the examples in the book were generally OK.

I'll have to do a bit of work on Bach Chorales for Q2, though.

I started out by finding it nice and easy to follow - it was all really logical and I understood all the worked examples in the book. But then when I came to do an exercise on my own I found it really hard. I'm hoping that it's only because I'm really tired at the moment and once I've had a couple of good nights of sleep it'll all be a bit easier. Also had to find out about Neapolitan 6ths - I'm sure I must have learned about these in the dim and distant past, but couldn't remember what they were. Am happy with these now - I think. Will also need to revise the figurings for 7th chords and their inversions.

I'll be doing the Grade 7 theory in April.
But I think my teacher will only let me take the exam when next March rolls around.

is it really possible to cover the Grade 7 syllabus in 3 months'?
judging from the posts, the G7 looks interesting.
I'll be getting the book soon:)
Nothing motivates like a group doing the same grade together:)

cheers!
Iris

Absolutely!!!! I'd never have got round to sitting Grade 6 if it hadn't been for the challenge on these forums.

Let's blame Deborah. She started it!

Twas true mistress D.. you befuddled me and I ended up somehow entering myself for the exam online. The rest as they say is theory...

Hopefully, we'll let you know in June . (or maybe July when the results are out ).

bouffy, nicht so! I recall an evening of late-night conversation under the mistletoe lubricated by some of grand choeur's rum punch, and then the following day you announced that you'd "accidentally" entered yourself for Grade 6 theory on 1st March, but I haven't yet quite worked out how it's my fault. Was Grade 6 theory the only option left available to you after conversation and rum punch.

If, as it appears, I really can play Jedi mind tricks, don't forget to bring back my Eb clarinet at your next lesson

AP, I would have thought it was possible. Obviously, it depends on how much you already know and how much you work towards it, but I have every confidence in both your and YAP's ability.

I think we should increase the fun of the challenge by saying that no one is allowed to study until one week before the exam

Why stop there? How about only letting people complete the exam paper in permanent marker as well?

Bach chorale harmonisation bring back memories of A level music

At least you did A-level music; I didn't even do GCSE .

Neither did I. Wasn't allowed to do 'O' level music because we didn't possess a piano.

It's not chorale harmonisation, though, is it? It's elaboration of the parts from a harmonic outline which is supplied.

I think it was shown, in a past conversation on this topic, that the guilty party was in fact Katyjay .


All we already know is basically what we did for grade 6: ABC of harmony (A and a little B ) plus the grade 6 workbook (although they are still noticably quite sparsely filled in ), seems quite similar though . Neither of us have A-level music or any formal harmony teaching: I have GCSE (which had no harmony on it whatsoever). We've been okay so far (not that we've started grade 7 yet ) because we're quite good at learning the abstract knowledge and then applying it to other situations: it seems that most of the questions are just testing the same knowledge but in different disguises . We're confident enough that it can be done to give it a go though .


. Did you actually do any preparation in the end ?

We didn't even have a music teacher.......

Yes! (I should really wait to answer that question for the results to come out...)

Anyone attempting the Grade 7 on their own??
am pondering if I'd be motivated enough,
and also is it possible without some tutelage...

Would appreciate your opinions!!:)

Iris

Yes I hopefully will doing it, without any formal teaching, but of course any one embarking on it in the next session will probably get to share the trials and tribulations with a number on this forum..

I may well be up for this one especially as its something I have a) never done and am prepared to teach.

I didn't do GCSE music either... I did O level instead (she says revealing her age)

I have got a music degree and two A levels in music though!

I like harmonising Bach Chorales... its fun!

I'm doing it on my own. I'm motivated but getting a bit frustrated with the book I'm using (Practice in Music Theory by Josephine Koh) I decided to start with this and then move on to the BIg 7 book, and use the Roy Wilkinson one too if there's time. My frustration lies in that quite a few of the exercises in the Koh book have specific answers (like naming chords in an extract of music), but there are no answers, so I don't know if I've got them right!!! So far I've covered secondary 7ths, diminished 7ths, Neapolitan 6ths and am now tackling something called, intriguingly, Tonicization, which is secondary dominant chords. Still not sure if I'll enter for it. Would like to see a teacher for a couple of sessions but I don't know anyone round here who teaches Grade 7 theory, so I plough on hoping for the best. Still, as I do some of it in bed before I go to sleep it's a wonderful cure for insomnia!!!

I'm going to start grade 7 theory as soon as the big book arrives. I will be self-teaching, as I intented to do last term (knee is still causing me grief), but before I enter myself, can anyone give me the date, in case it clashes/is the night before an important GCSE/A2?

The theory exams are on Saturday the 17th of June.

Did your knee op. get done in the end?

17th is perfect - the day after my only day with 2 exams, and no more exams for 4 days afterwards. I'm in, certainly. My knee op did get done thanks YAP - unfortunately it was a bit messy, not what was expected, and I didn't react well to the anasthetic, so it has taken a while (too long) to be back in school, and I'm still not walking unassisted...

Can't do it this session then. I'm attending a workshop on Hymn selection and composition that day.

I'm really looking forward to it. It sounds really good.

Hi everyone, i have seen and followed your grade 6 challenge, but i never really started... my friend and i after grade 5 decided that we wanted to do 6 but never really got around to actually starting the book.... anyway, is this big book that you talk about the official ABRSM one or another?

The one I used (with the big number 6 on the front) is an ABRSM publication. Assuming I pass, I'm happy to send you mine if you like

Thank you very much for the offer but i already have one - it is sitting in my locker at school waiting to be done... my friend and i have decided that we will study it after the GCSE exams in the summer holidays and sit it in the November sitting!

Good luck!
If you have reached more than 75 on your G6 theory exam, G7 is nothing to worry about. The "BIG GAP" is between G5 and G6.

Anyone received their G6 theory results yet??
How did everyone who sat for the exams do?
I 'll prolly get mine in June/July..a.rgghh..

I'm about to get started on the Grade 7...

Iris

Look here for results starting to come in.