I finally got my hands on the Specimen Aural exams and looked through Grade 1. Yikes.

It appears tougher than I somehow imagined. Looks to me like the hardest part of the Grade 1 piano practical. Even harder than the sight-reading part. Anyone with insight on this from experience?

Cheers,
Ezra

Hi Ezra

Grade 1 aural is really pretty straight forward. It's really just testing if you can listen and then repeat or describe what you hear.

So, the examiner plays some music and, in test one, you start clapping the main beat (pulse) in the bar. You need to identify if it's in 2 or 3 beats per bar. You can get started on this by trying to tap the beat for any music you hear on TV, radio ... anywhere. Identifying the time is a bit harder but, basically, if it seems like a march or you can move your feet (left, right, left right etc) evenly, it's probably two. If it sounds more like a dance (waltz etc) it's three.

Singing back the echoes: each is very short. Again, try singing back just a bar of a tune you've heard. The tests are not long at Grade 1.

The most difficult test is working out the difference in the rhythm. My students can hear the change usually but do struggle to explain what's happened. I think, so long as you can give some description what happened (ie you made the first note longer) you'll be on the way to getting through this section.

Listening out for features in music, the final test, is again easily rehearsed by thinking about music you are listening too. At Grade 1 you've only got to spot two aspects of the music (loud/soft and smooth/detached).

I'm not sure if you have a teacher? They should be able to help you with these tests. I'm not sure if it's available across the world but lots of people recommend http://www.hofnote.co.uk/ to help people prepare for their tests.

Whatever, don't panic. Have a look at the assessment criteria here and you will see that you don't have to get everything right to get reasonable marks. Start working on these well ahead of taking your Grade 1 and I'm sure you'll be fine.

Good Luck!

Excellent advice from oboist.

Just to add a couple of things: in working out the rhythmic change (3rd test) I think it is sufficient for young children just to raise their hand when they hear it, so it will give you some credit at least if you can say where it happened (first half, middle, second half, etc). If you really don't know, you can ask to hear both examples again. And if you still really don't know, a guess will do no harm.

Listening for features: the examiner will tell you what he wants you to listen for before he plays the extract. Just concentrate on those two things.

You will probably find that doing it is easier than trying to understand what it's all about when you read the requirements. The entire aural part of the exam is only a tiny percentage of the marks. If all does not go well on the day, you still have every chance of passing, and passing well. Candidates do not usually fail by doing badly on one section, and we all have our weak points.

Do ask your teacher, if you have one, to run through them with you. Good luck!

Great advice, all.

I'm going to check out the Hofnote site....

As a teacher I might take this as a starting point.
A run through would tell me what needed teaching in order to be ready for testing.

In the part where you have to recognise changes in dynamics, what I do is draw a picture in my head as the piece is played... I think of rolling hills. As the piece gets louder, the hill rises, as it gets quieter, it drops. For silent parts, I imagine ditches or chasms

For stacatto parts, I imagine tall blades of grass, or fence posts. When it comes to the end of the piece, I have a picture in my head to refer to.

I know this is *really* abstract but it works perfectly for me and I got full marks in my G1 Aural