Hello,
My grade 8 piano exam is in a month's time. I am awful at identifying chords. Please give me advice on how to improve myself. I can manage the cadence so thats 2 chords but I just can't seem identify the first 2.
I also need help with the modulations. I'm not very confident about these two tests.
Please help.

Hi,

Have you got a copy of any of the grade 8 aural test books available? Aural tests were always a strong point of mine for one reason. Being a pianist, I bought some of these bookand played through the tests. So, I would play the chord, identify it, close my eyes and really listen to what it sounded like, etc. A good book is the Associated Board's Aural test book for grades 6-8, the one the is volume three out of three, NOT the book which is blue all over, but has a horizontal dark sky blue band across the centre of the book. You can also get the accompanying CD if you need to.

My advice is to play through them and begin to understand the chord and their inversions in question.

Sorry....I am always bad at aurul. I can't really help. I am improving in sight-reading and aurul(only a bit in aurul). I am sitting for Grade 8 next year. Tell us how your exam was like after you sit for it. Good luck!

QUOTE (tzl_tzl @ Aug 11 2004, 10:11 AM)

Sorry....I am always bad at aurul.

me too...but i work hard on parts B, C and D...as i think they are easier...

hi!
wen i tuk grade 8 on th violin i found using th cd 4 aural tests really useful, espesh 4 identifying chords.
think about it, if u can identify th cadence, then all u hav 2 do is memorise th different chord possibilities 4 each type of cadence (thts wt i did nd it really helped). also, playin different chords on a piano helps 2. r u havin aural lessons?

gud luk on ur exam

I'm taking my grade 8 next march i think and i havent even looked at the aural tests yet!! Im totally terrified of them!! I mean i find grade 4 difficult so i've got NO chance!!

But on a different note ... what exactly is the point of aural tests?? Being a pianist when in real life would i ever need to sing the bass line of a piece of music, and when exactly would i need to identify stupid chords!!

Sight reading - yeah i see the point of that, to be a good musician you need to be able to read from sight!

Scales - they help you develop your techinique, which is also an extremelly important part of playing a musical instrument. But aural tests?? what on earth is the point?????????

QUOTE (Trisha @ Aug 15 2004, 10:07 PM)

I'm taking my grade 8 next march i think and i havent even looked at the aural tests yet!! Im totally terrified of them!! I mean i find grade 4 difficult so i've got NO chance!!

meeeee toooooo!!!!

Thanks everyone.
I'll listen to the CD and try and memorise the chord sequences. My exam is on the 8th of September
I'll let you know how I did.

There are a few helpful books on musicroom.com They are a little pricey at around £10, but I think they are great value. I'm sitting mine in Easter, and I'm becoming gradually more terrified but at least I can prepare at home, at a pace I'm comfortable with. It's reassuring as we don't cover much aural stuff in lessons what with a trillion scales, sight reading, etc. to do too!

You've probably done the exam by now, but when i did it my teacher taught me this system whereby you listen to the bass note in the chord. Remeber the pitch of the first one, compare it to the bass note in the last chord. From this, as you should know the "number", or degree of the scale of the last chord, you can work out how far apart they are, and hence work out what the number if the chords are. There are however (i hate that however), some chords which have the same bass note. I think it goes like this:
If the tonic (so "number"1) is in the bass then it is chord 1.
If the supertonic is in the bass then it is chord 2 or 5c.
" 3rd :chord 1b
" 4th :chord 4 or 2b
" 5th :chord 5, 1c or 5with7th
" 6th :chord 6 or 4b
" 7th :chord 5b
I'm not sure though; that's all i can remember. When there are a number of possibilities to choose from you just have to know the sound of the chords. They DO sound slighly dissimilar, although it can be hard to tell sometimes. Of course, this may not work for you; there could well be another method which i havn't heard of or tried.