I'm taking Grade 5 Theory at some point soon and would like to go straight from that to grade 8. [I'm planning on making applications to Uni to study music, it'd be a nice string to my bow.] My first thought was to buy Music Theory In Practice: Grade 8 but reading the reviews it seems like this isn't the best thing to use. I could also use this. What are peoples opinions on either?

I would also probably be doing this over the course of the summer Holidays coming up, so would recieve little tuition, is it plausible that I could teach myself? I'm also hoping to prepare for Grade 8 Piano over the summer as well, would any tution be required for that as well? Also where do I find out where I could take the exam. They were usually organised by my piano teacher.

Thanks for any response, Martin.

I'll be going from one to the other in about 6 months. :|

Just how much of a difference is there between the two?

A HUGE amount. I did grade 5 this time lastyear - I'm now feeling comfortable with the grade 7 stuff, and theory is my forte. How are you with part writing? Are you doing A level music? You need to know about different teachniques on various instruments as well. Theres an awful lot to it that you may well have never seen before, unlike grade 5.

I have all the theory books for Grade 6 and without a doubt the Josephine Koh one is best - it goes way beyond Big6 at explaining what a good chord progression is (and is the most valuable resource I've found for composition so far). For the higher theory grades I won't bother buying other books than Koh's G7 & 8.

I wouldn't recommend just buying grade 8 - you need to work through 6 & 7 first, even if you don't take the exams.

This is the link for the Grade 8 syllabus Grade 8 theory syllabus . I mainly use the Big 8 book (the second link in your posting), and a book called ABC of theory Grade 8 by Roy Wilkinson. The big 8 book will advise you on how to approach all the questions in Grade 8, giving worked exercises followed by exercises for you to do. I also do loads of past papers.

As others have said there's a big difference between Grade 5 and the higher grades. You'll need to be familiar with all types of chords (I've just reacquainted myself with chords of the Augmented 6th), figured bass, and have a good general knowledge of instruments, their intervals of transposition (if any), their names in French, German, Italian and English, etc.

As to whether you can do it, I can't say. It depends entirely on how much you know already. I've just done Grade 7 and am now working towards Grade 8. I've done it on my own but I already teach theory up to Grade 5 so have a very thorough basic knowledge, and I did cover a large amount of the higher grade material very many years ago in college, so for me it's partly a question of revisiting all the stuff I was sure I'd forgotten. If I was starting from scratch I'd want a teacher I think.

I went straight from grade 5 to 8, but I did do a bit of work on the grade 7 stuff to gently move onto grade 8. There is soooo much you need to know about. You dont have to have a teacher nor do a course on it but it is useful to have someone check your work and explain where you have gone wrong. You need to have a good eye for spotting chords and progressions. Then writing a melody that makes musical sense for at least 12 bars. And the piano writing part. I think if grade8 is worth doing, its worth doing it WELL - which is why I'm doing it again to see if I can do better than just a pass. The theory workbook is definitely worth every penny, its what I've used and the A and B books of the ABC books of harmony are good too. And part one and two of the AB theory books.

You might be able to pull off the practical with no teacher, but be careful as you cant as easily spot your mistakes. Record yourself often to watch out for this. Even recording your fingerings. I find that having a teacher really makes me practice regularly in order to prepare for the next lesson but if you have the disipline to do it yourself then good luck with it!

Technically I have gone from grade 5 to 8 as well

I took grade 5 theory in March last year and then attempted grade 7 in june but failed by 8 marks. I then took grade 8 theory this March and passed!

Annetta

So basically I'm setting myself up for quite a challenge, that's ok I may as well have a go. This is like when I decided to do grade 5 piano 3ish weeks before the exam. I'll order a few of those books then, is there any general theory book that someone would recommend?

*cough* *cough* *COUGH*

Sorry, I think it must be an allergy to trolls that I have here...

That cough medicine you had doesn't seem to have done you any good There's some nice tripe and banana on the poll thread, that might work



Sorry , just trying to get Cyrilla back to health ...

I'm not a troll. What made you think I was a troll?

Edit: This is a genuine question, I'm curious.

Thank you, skylark *goes off to hunt for tripe and banana*

It would be better to work through the grade 6 and 7 workbooks first as for grade 8 it is assumed that you know everything that came before too (as with all theory grades.

What mark did you get for grade 5 and how long since you did it?

Ahahah I'm about to do it. I'm assuming I'll pass :thumbsup:

i'll add my 2 pence worth.
it would be good to work through the stuff for Grade 6 and 7 before you attempt Grade 8.
The gap from G5 to G6 is pretty wide.
You need a pretty solid foundation for the preceding grades as well.

I passed G6, waiting for G7 results...and am contemplating taking Grade 8 .
Even so I'm not so confident I would be able to attempt the Grade 8 anytime soon.

(Am i rambling..haa)

in a nutshell, best to take the Grade 8 after you have looked over all the studying you need to do for it.
Get someone experienced to look over what you might have missed.

Iris