Personally i can't stand aural tests and really dont see the point of having them!!

What are your views and which part of the exam do you find most challanging and least pleasant??

join the club, i cant stand aural tests either!!

thats the part i dread the most!

Aural!! arrgh ..

then g5 sight reading i did a pratice earlier on this month n i was cmompletely stuck..

Well i can see the point of them, i mean, i suppose they make you a better musician, but i still find them hard! And so confusing?! I have been known to be asked the pulse and say quite slow, then realising he meant the time signature - oops!

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

Personally i can't stand aural tests and really dont see the point of having them!! What are your views and which part of the exam do you find most challanging and least pleasant??

aaah u don't see the point of them????!?!
aural skills are SUCH an important part of being a musician!


I detest scales. i just don't have the energy to do them! i always get really high marks in peices but my scales let me down, they stress me out!

Love peices and scales

Hate arual especially sight-singing because i cannt sing at all!

I can't stand aurals either! I can see the point in having them but they make so nervous!

QUOTE (clarinetlover @ Aug 16 2004, 10:45 AM)

join the club, i cant stand aural tests either!!

me too...especially grade 8 aural... but i find the sight-reading past is the most challanging

aural tests always help me... my scales are not so good, since i am lazy

QUOTE (socks @ Aug 16 2004, 06:29 PM)

aural tests always help me... my scales are not so good, since i am lazy

God ur like me i was lazy before but then i added clairnetlover aka nat on my list i think and she helps me wif thoery ( which is gr8 n handy) and like she tells me to play so i do lol she keeping me on ma toes

Hi Trisha,
Long time no see. Well I can't agree with you on the Aurals tests. I admit it's not my forte either but c'mon it's sooo important in making a musician.
Rupayan.

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

Personally i can't stand aural tests and really dont see the point of having them!!

COME ON, ASSOCIATED BOARD - CAN'T YOU SEE HOW DESPERATE THE SITUATION IS IN THIS COUNTRY REGARDING AURAL TRAINING (or rather, the lack of it)???????

Something has GOT to be done...*despair*

Aural Tests may be difficult for those who dont practice. Truly speaking it is easy and very useful to make you a musician. Without Aural sense you cannot call yourself a musician. Please bear with me those who find it hard. Listen to songs and try to follow the pulse. Try to recollect and sing. Really it is easy. Good Luck

the aural test used to be easier... i could do the grade 8 aural with the syllabus in 1993....easy...as i understand...the ABRSM love changing the syllabus...as they can earn more money after reprinitng everything...coz everyone has to get new ones...

well this might sound weird but i like aural tests! i think theyre fun
i dont hate any of it really, i just am worst at scales.

I find sight-reading hard most of the time. Aural IS important, but I find that my second hardest part of the exam!
Scales are easy for me on the piano......... just finger patterns.........

Edited: (after Grade 7 exam) Now aural is my worst part like most of you! I did everything so well all until my aural!!

--------------------
~tremolololo~
Just done Grade 7 Piano (22nd Sept.) (done well except aurals!)

pieces ar easier in singing...memory.... i'm quite good at that....

I can't vote as I think that all of them are not difficult. The only thing that I can't do well in the exam is that maybe I feel nervous when I was taking the exams. As a result, my performance is not very good.
Aural is important as tremolololo said! However, all of them are equal in their importances because they can show how much musical sense you have or how hard you practise!

I can't sing either - its when they ask you to sing the notes - and i try - and they say 'Would you like to try that again?' I'd love to say 'No thanks'.

I think that the training for Aural tests is done as an afterthought and have seriously thought of having singing lessons 'cos i'm sure that would help.

scales & sight reading are more enjoyable - if thats the right word!

QUOTE

well this might sound weird but i like aural tests! i think theyre fun

I liked the aural tests too. How old are people taking their grade 8s? I simply ask because I think there has to be some level of musical maturity in doing the higher grade aural tests especially at grade 8 where the whole thing become totally involved. It is a comment I often read in younger grade 8 pupils marking sheet. I also liked scales.

Sight-reading needs plenty of practice. I never used to like it but now like it too.

I find sight reading easy nd scales r sumit 1nce uve learnt thn u never 4get.The pieces r jus fun-wot wud b the pint in playing music if u h8d playing pieces?
Aurals r a different story-i find thm easy gttin full marks rite up2 grade7-thn thy got hard.I hava memoery like a sive so id meorise the beginning of the test A singing bak a melody nd 4get the ending or vice versa.thn the site singing is jus interesting-sumtimes im really gud nd get it rite thn other times ill jus gt it horribly wrong.!nce the singing part is over thn ther not 2 bad.Ive never failed aurals so i cant b too bad bt ther defo the hardest part.

QUOTE (cellogirlie @ Aug 19 2004, 05:26 PM)

well this might sound weird but i like aural tests! i think theyre fun i dont hate any of it really, i just am worst at scales.

I find the aural tests fun too (although I've never done a higher grade than 3 so far).

i very love peices because i always get very high mark on pieces

i very hate arual because it is very hard to remember and then sing it out...

the sight-reading is ok...it is not difficult in the exam~~

Hate the scale the most~~very boring and hard to play it well!!**

scale isn't that hard and boring by the way if u have a method to practise them...

According to some teacher, and I quote:

QUOTE

If you can't hear a modulation and have trouble recognising cadences then there are big holes in your musical understanding that NEED to be patched up

This refers to someone taking their grade 7 piano exam. Do you agree with this statement I found? I have always believed that whilst there are a handful of people who find aural tests straight forward, there will always be a large majority who don't. I believe that that a key way of getting round this problem is through practice, and experiencing them first had, whatever the instrument is. Your thoughts anyone?

QUOTE (welmar @ Aug 22 2004, 08:00 AM)

I can't sing either - its when they ask you to sing the notes - and i try - and they say 'Would you like to try that again?' I'd love to say 'No thanks'.

id love to say that as well LOL

thing is, im not confident when it comes to aurals so when they ask me to do it again, i know ive got it wrong, so i just sing randomly, anything thats in my head at the time!! coz i know im going to get it wrong again!

i think that aural test is the most difficult.
but i will try my best 2 do it.
Wish all of u can get more higher marks in ur exam.

i think its very close between sight reading and aural. the pieces and scales aren't to bad because you no what you're doing. the sight reading you kind of no wat to expect because of the practise ones....but my teacher left the aural practice to the day before my exam...even though im rubbish and could have done with alot more practice!!!! why do they leave it so late to train people for it?

The aural is definately the worst bit and all the rest are about the same. I don't really enjoy any of the sections because I'm too worried about it. I don't mind sight reading because I find that easy, and I know my scales, although they won't be perfect, will show that I have some idea of what I'm doing and so I'll be OK on that. The pieces because they are prepared and you definately know what you are doing are easier in that respect.

QUOTE

I can't sing either - its when they ask you to sing the notes - and i try - and they say 'Would you like to try that again?' I'd love to say 'No thanks'.

Haha... my friend did that in her grade 8 piano... the examiner asked her if she would like to try singing the phrase from memory again... and she said no!!! When she came out of the exam room she hadn't a clue why she had said that but she still got 16 for aural so it can't have been THAT bad!!!

QUOTE (ethnomusicologist @ Aug 25 2004, 12:01 AM)

How old are people taking their grade 8s? I simply ask because I think there has to be some level of musical maturity in doing the higher grade aural tests especially at grade 8 where the whole thing become totally involved.

i did my grade 8 when i was 16. well it was only 2 months ago but im 17 now. and in the aurals i was only 1 mark off full marks. altogether, i was 3 marks from a distinction.

erm.....for me , it seems that sight reading the hardest, dunno why.maybe i'm still a new piano students.just started last year.i get only 16/21for sight reading.oh..........what a terrible nightmare i've had

i LOVE aurals! and i also love sightreading. scales and pieces i'm not so fond of... i'm a bit of a slacker, and don't like working hard at the same things for ages... but i must say it's very satisfying once you've got a piece to a good standard!

I'm going to be 15 when I take grade 8... not too early, not too late! (sorry, just wanted to make a rhyme!)

u love aurals???????!!!! are you mad!

QUOTE (clarinetlover @ Sep 22 2004, 07:04 PM)

u love aurals???????!!!! are you mad!

of course i'm mad! i'm a musician!

i think u ar too "mad" in a way.... i have always hated aurals

Each to their own remember Natalie. Maybe if you are actually good at them, they could become likable?!

Hi everyone!

Well seems as if the aural tests are what we like least... personally, I had nothing against them until grade 8! I have a bad souvenir of my grade 8 aural tests... Just seemed impossible to recognise these modulations!!! The singing by memory of the cadential progression were a real headache too.. I've done my grade 8 in piano three years back, but am still not comfortable with that aural bit!! was helping my brother the other day for his grade 8 aurals, and hopefully, he seems to go through it easier than i did.

My favorite component is the sight-reading. I'm good at it and see it as a real challenge for a musician. I nearly topped in my sight-reading in grade 8 and was greatly pleased by that.

The pieces are usually the interesting and most enjoyable part, especially in the higher grades.

Well good luck to everyone for their exams, especially for the aural..

i find the G8 piano scales on 3rd and 6th apart, and chromatic double 3rd are most irrelevant. i don't understand the reason behind testing them (except check your fingers independence)

aural is not easy, but it's one essential part of musicianship.

QUOTE (cheeble @ Sep 23 2004, 01:39 AM)

i LOVE aurals! and i also love sightreading. scales and pieces i'm not so fond of... i'm a bit of a slacker, and don't like working hard at the same things for ages...

I totally agree!!

i cant stand scales cos they r just 2 much 2 learn off by heart!!!

i dont think aurals r 2 bad cos i ve got full marks twice!! ( so obviously i don think they r 2 bad )

pieces 4 great fun cos u get 2 choose which pieces u r gonna do so tht bits up 2 u n u can choose which 1 s like the most i dont kno which 1 i like best this time

i cant do sight readin 2 save ma life tho - i cant read the notes very well at speed lol

QUOTE (tamsin @ Sep 25 2004, 10:17 AM)

Each to their own remember Natalie. Maybe if you are actually good at them, they could become likable?!

suppose so! ill just never like them then will i?!

QUOTE (ethnomusicologist @ Aug 25 2004, 12:01 AM)

[How old are people taking their grade 8s? I simply ask because I think there has to be some level of musical maturity in doing the higher grade aural tests especially at grade 8 where the whole thing become totally involved. It is a comment I often read in younger grade 8 pupils marking sheet.

Grade 8 violin - day after my 13th birthday
Grade 8 singing - 15 years old
Grade 8 pianoforte - 16 years old

Before I was about 15 I never got asked questions on the period of a piece, because examiners could see that I was too young to have studied this in music classes. However, I think musical maturity comes as you learn the instrument, not as you age. I didn't find the aural tests too challenging in my violin exams... I don't find them any easier now... although it probably depends from person to person!

QUOTE (fluty tute @ Oct 10 2004, 10:41 AM)

i cant stand scales cos they r just 2 much 2 learn off by heart!!!

i ve learnt how 2 make ma scales betta

u make a game n put all of the different scales onto pieces paper

then each time u pick a different piece of paper n then get the scale i get a sweet

its great fun cos i love to play ma flute even betta when i get sweets for it!!1

good thinkin lol

Lucy

QUOTE

u make a game n put all of the different scales onto pieces paper then each time u pick a different piece of paper n then get the scale i get a sweet

I have done this game with my pupils for years, we call it "raffle tickets".

But remember, it will do the pads on your flute no good at all if you're eating sweets during your flute practice! Save them for later!

QUOTE (cellogirlie @ Sep 8 2004, 10:48 AM)

QUOTE (ethnomusicologist @ Aug 25 2004, 12:01 AM) How old are people taking their grade 8s? I simply ask because I think there has to be some level of musical maturity in doing the higher grade aural tests especially at grade 8 where the whole thing become totally involved. i did my grade 8 when i was 16. well it was only 2 months ago but im 17 now. and in the aurals i was only 1 mark off full marks. altogether, i was 3 marks from a distinction.

I'm 14 and just did grade 8, I honestly am VERY VERY bad at aural, I can identify if a cadence it's perfect, imperfect, plagal, interuppted. But then I get confused idetifying the chords. I just guess the first 2 then do the last ones!!! I can't remember all those bars (ok so there isn't that many....) and I can't sight sing. I honestly make up stuff! I don't like scales. Thats because I don't practice them. If I did, I would be good! I'm usually good at pieces and sight reading. I failed my aural but I was 4 marks off a distinction AND i got low makrs for my scales, (14)!!!

I find aural tests sooooo easy. its the scales and sight reading i cant do!!!

What a great poll!! I had to think for a moment for mine but I chose Scales. The scales are probably the thing I am best at!! I just find them annoying and boring! Good for technique though I suppose.

I don't mind the Aural tests and I can't sing too well (except in the Shower of course!)

Regards,
Craig

I don't see th epoint in aural tests as they have theory and practical musicianship tests seperate! Why make us suffer?