I've just enrolled for Hofnote and been trying some exercises. There's one where you have to identify the type of music, eg march, waltz, minuet, dance etc. The first time I said it was a minuet but the answer was waltz. The second time I put minuet again but the answer was march. There's no way it was a march!!! And I'm pretty certain it wasn't a waltz the first time! I know my aural skills aren't brilliant (that's why I've enrolled ) but honestly - they're not that bad! I'm sure I would know a march from a minuet and recognise a waltz when I heard it! Has anyone else used Hofnote and disagreed with the answers?

Most definitely! And what's a waltz if it isn't a dance?

I found that the singing back bit was difficult in that all the clips were too high for my adult voice. I raised this with them and they had to admit that it hadn't ocurred to them at all. I think they were going to look at it, but I've not been back to the site for a while.

Having said that, I think it is a useful site.


A

Yes, I have found anomolies too, at grade 4 level. In fact, I have compiled a list to send them - such things as how it is possible to have a ritardando or accelerando at the start of a piece, and one of the "like a march" pieces was much too fast. Some of the answers would fall into more than one category. I found the singing back ones good as you can stop the clip and just do part of it if you can't manage to remember it all. However, I have found a good way to do these by myself by making my own up and recording them on my digital piano - it's surprising how much you don't remember having only just played them! I think I was lucky in the exam on the singing back - it seemed remarkably easy after what I had been practising.

Exactly! Same with a minuet!


Yes I wondered that!

I haven't done the other exercises yet, but apart from the march/minuet/waltz anomalies, the other general exercises have been quite easy - major/minor, changes in tempo/dynamics.

Does the examiner give you a clue like Hofnote does - ie would an examiner simply ask you to identify tempo/dynamic changes with no clues, or would s/he spell it out like Hofnote does (does it start loud and then get quieter in the middle...)? I'm wondering if it might be better not to look at the Hofnote reply options until I've listened to the piece blindfold, as it were, and decided what the change is if any without any clues


Edit: Suepea - it's Grade 4 that I'm doing, I wonder if it's just this grade where the anomalies are?

I'd say to email them, they've always been really helpful when I've contacted them.

The examiner tells you what you have to listen for, but you describe it in your own words, not from a list of possibilities! I was asked about articulation and the mood of the piece, which led on to a question about tonality.

Yes I think they're very helpful too I'll try a few more of the other exercises to see if any other anomalies come to light and then I'll contact them.



Yes I rather think Hofnote "leads" you too much with the options it gives you, but I guess that's the only way the software can enable you to select an answer. I don't think it's a problem, I'll just stop reading the options before listening to the clip

I noticed that at one point it described 9/8 as 'the main beat is two to the bar for these' - I did mail them, and they said that the site had been audited by a ABRSM examiner, but that they would be revising it later this year.

nick

Could you not start really slow, but get faster right at the beginning?



I havent used Hofnote before, so i might have understood this wrong...if so, feel free to ignore this completely!

It could be said that its being helpful, teaching the questions that you should be asking yourself. An open-ended question is all very well if you already know what your doing, but if you did, then you wouldnt really need Hofnote. It's not much good being asked about changes in dynamics if you don't know what to look for in the first place.

I used Hofnote to prepare for Grade 4 too and gave up on it as I thought it had mistakes. Also the examples seemed much more difficult than those in the abrsm books and, ultimately, in the exam itself.

The exam singing back seemed dead easy after hofnote!

I have emailed them and had a very prompt reply - they are aware of the problems and are in the process of a major re-design with a more flexible approach. There are also teaching resources (interactive e-books) in preparation "for students let loose on the website by themselves". They are having to change their web provider to do this and it is taking longer than anticipated. Hopefully their problems will be resolved before the next exam session.

Low male voices...a question!

In the G. 8 section, there is a "sing lower part from sight while examiner [software] plays upper part". When son tries this, it comes back "n/a", as if he had made no attempt.

He just thought that maybe Hofnote didn't/couldn't grade that section....but from what I'm reading, maybe it's just that his voice is too low for the software to pick up? (He's definitely on the low side of baritone, can sing bass, and being young, hasn't yet "regained" the higher register reliably).

Would love to hear other experiences with the sightsinging/sing back questions before enquiring about possible problems from Hofnote!

I have used Grade 8 on Hofnote and got the impression that it does not have the facility to record/recognise what you sang therefore it does not grade your attempts.

Would be great if it did though!

Karen

Sure would, but thanks for that information - good to know that it's working as it should.

Plenty to keep him busy without the sightsinging, in fact .

I've been wondering whether to register for Hofnote again but has anyone had experience of it lately? According to this thread, they were revising the site - does anyone know if the anomalies and/or errors have been sorted?

There's a few mistakes I've noticed in the grades 7 and 8 cadences. I've never known what to say if I wanted to tell them about it though, given as the examples aren't numbered so the best I could have done would have been 'somewhere in the cadences there's one that's meant to be imperfect but is actually perfect'. That didn't seem very helpful so I didn't bother saying anything. What I find most annoying is that they put my scores down.

I didn't get on with it at all, and instead bought a CD "Aural Tests for the Associated Board practical examinations" presented by Ida Carroll, which I found to be much better than Hofnote.

I used hofnote for G5 and didn't find the questions were very representiive of the exam. The sight singing and sing-back sections were OK but there are unmarked by hofnote so I didn't know if I was right or not, and in the end for sight singing a digital tuner was a much better option for me and the question on music styles was nothing like the exam.

I agree the Ida Carroll CD is better as is the ABRSM one - although you have to do some work with that one to find the correct answers to check if you are right - but that may not be a bad thing.

The downloads on http://www.music-online.org.uk/ were good too - I would use them again.

Thanks for all the comments - I think I'll give Hofnote a miss and look at some of the other suggestions