I'm preparing for G6 - imminent!

Working through the ABRSM sight reading book, none of the pieces have more than 3 flats or sharps. But in an older book some passed on to me, and in the Paul Harris Improve Your Sight Reading book for this grade, there are pieces with up to FIVE sharps or flats.

So, can anyone tell me with confidence - am I likely to be presented with a piece that has 4 or 5 sharps/flats? I can't find any guidance on this on the ABRSM website, so their green book is all I have to go on!

Thanks,

The official ruling is that they can give you sight reading within the key and range of scales you will know. Which in theory means that Grade 6 sight reading could include any key. In practice they do seem to be a maximum of four flats/sharps at the higher grades, and usually no more than three. At least, that is what pupils of mine who can remember tell me!

Thanks Andante, that puts my mind at rest. I really don't think I could tackle a blizzard of sharps of flats, along with all the accidentals, weird rhythms etc that are usually scattered around in sight-reading tests!

Practice 5/8, 5/4 and 7/8 time!! Don't be thrown by it. I think it's as likely as a tricky key signature. There's bound to be accidentals and tied notes too.

7/8?? Oooh, nasty! Thanks for the warning.

One time signature I had a few years ago for Grade 5 violin was 8/8, and full of split quaver beats. It threw me as I'd never played in 8/8 before. My tutor said afterwards that this would be played 123 123 12. Perhaps another one to be prepared for.

That's a rash generalisation! 123 123 12 is rumba rhythm, but I think you'll find that e.g. Eastern European dance rhythms can be grouped differently, and there's certainly no rule that says it will be like that. With all the x/8 rhythms you just need to decide how fast to play the quavers (1/8ths) and think about how many of them to count during any longer notes. Quavers or shorter notes will normally be grouped into longer beats in whatever way the composer chooses, and won't necessarily keep the same grouping for a whole piece especially if it isn't actually a dance. For exam sight-reading I guess you are more likely than not to get consistent grouping, but don't rely on it.

The best advice I ever had for weird time sigs was to count in 1s. I think that's the same as what you're saying.

I'm not sure it's helpful to simplify it quite that far. If you have e.g. a crotchet (quarter) in 5/8 or a minim (half) in 5/4 I think it's more helpful to think 1 2 than 1 1.