A friend of mine and I are planning to resume our harmony studies together after endless attempts to tackle the Grade 6 syllabus (mind you, we both got Distinctions in every theory exam from Grade 1 to 5). Now my friend was desperate (so to speak) about a figured bass exercise she tried to do which she got almost all wrong. There must be a reason why people fail so miserably when trying to do these exercises which, by the way, are the first to be done when embarking on a harmony course. Everything seems to be extremely gradual and very carefully gauged up to Grade 5, then disaster strikes and we’re left with lots of almost insurmountable difficulties and with very little clear material to rely on. If a subject is intricate, it should be the teacher’s or the textbook writer’s job to make it accessible to common mortals. The few teachers I've contacted provided very confusing explanations and yet other sets of rules to follow and were not much help.
Well, I’m afraid ABRSM (and/or perhaps teachers, too) use the wrong methodology for harmony. There isn’t enough grading and the student is set complicated tasks from the initial stages. Such an approach is definitely bound to fail or, in the best of cases, to cause trouble and much frustration for the student. Not enough room is given to the slow and gradual elaboration of concepts, thus breaking the golden rule of didactics: just one difficulty must be tackled at a time. I think ABRSM authorities might benefit from these comments from a student (and teacher, though not of music).
I'm a teacher of English and think that if I taught English this way (i.e., providing lists of rules and then catapulting students into writing short passages which besides being correct should be attractive!), I think very few students would manage to learn much.
However, I’m gradually trying to find my way through this jungle … and sooner or later, after numberless clumsy attempts I will probably succeed but … things could be improved.
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Here are the conclusions I've come to after trying to do figured bass and other exercises related to Grade 6. Does anybody else feel this way?

I felt there was a big jump from grade 5 to 6, but lesser gaps between 6-7 and 7-8.

Have you looked at Harmony in Practice by Butterworth? I found this a very useful book, and there is a set of answers in a separate book that are very helpful. This covers everything up to grade 8 level, so you don't need to swallow it whole, but it does provide lots of examples and clear explanations.
See here

Yes, but I couldn't explain it as well as you do. I would just say that after mastering the grade 5 material I have found , despite enthusiasm and persistence, that studying for grade 6 is like staring at an endless 12ft high brick wall. I dont even feel as if I have chiseled away any of the mortar round just one brick in the past two years.

Me too, but I have come to realize that it is the study material that is lacking not myself. I have moved on to studying grade 6 and above with Trinity as their books are friendlier and much easier to work through. I made sure though that I understood how to check for consecutives, but once I got my head around having to check them in a chart with each voice listed I quickly got the hang of it.

From a quick look on Amazon, it seems there is general enthusiasm for Harmony in Practice + the HiP answer book, both by Anna Butterworth, but a thumbs down for Music Theory in Practice Grade 6, which is a pity as I found the MTiP series (the new ones with integral answers) very useful up to Grade 5. After passing Grade 5, I got the ABRSM Theory workbook for Grade 6, but it seems to be about testing what you have learnt, and maybe helping you to focus on what's required in the exam, not as a learning tool in inself, which was disappointing, as I don't have a teacher for theory, and the group classes in London eg City Lit, Working Men's College, stop at Grade 5 level.

My problem with the HiP books is they cover harmony right up to grade 8 and consequently look quite daunting (and expensive).

PatC

Juan Carlos, and your friend, you are not alone! Yes, I feel the same. I have done G1-G5 like you, but with my daughter. She had some theory lessons from her piano teacher, and I needed to know a bit about theory to do home work with her. So I decided I might as well study myself along with her. We now have both finished all the theory exams up to G5, and my child claims she won't do any more (yet). While she is having a break, here is my chance to get ahead of her, I thought. In fact, I have enjoyed studying theory. I have got a few G6 workbooks such as Harmony in practice, its answer book, etc. I feel that all these books/references are written for those who already have theory lessons elsewhere, certainly not for self-studying person like me. I would like to have "Theory is Fun" Grade 6 version. It is getting to the point that I have to get my hands on any harmony theory books I may come across, and to find which book can give me explanation that I actually can understand. Yesterday I picked up a book in my local library called " Read Music in 10 Lessons" by Terry Burrows, and there is a chapter "Harmonic Theory" (20pages worth). I doubt that many people can read music in 10 lessons as the book claims, but I personally have found that this is good reference for me to revises what I have learnt so far, and I hope Harmonic theory chapter might help me . I know that Trinity's syllabus is different but I wonder if their Theory of Music Workbook Grade 6 will be any better. I have found that some of their earlier grades workbooks are well written and easier to understand than Theory in Practice.

Let us not give up!

I think that one thing that helps when it comes to grade 6 and above theory is having a broad musical background. Unfortunately for non pianists I think that understanding harmony probably comes a lot more easily to keyboard player because they are actively using harmony all the time. That said even for pianists it needs you to have been taking notice of what you are playing to a great extent for you to capitalise on this advantage. As with the earlier theory grades if you can relate the theory to the practical in some way it does help with understanding.
The harmony workbooks can be a way of breaking things down into steps and a lot of people find these useful to use before starting on the grade workbooks. I didn't use them as I'd already done a little basic harmony.
I found Dorothy Pilling's Harmonization of Melodies at the Keyboard a useful introduction to harmony generally, especially when it came to having a supply of harmonic progressions which I knew worked and could see where to use them.
Some people do successfully study later theory grades without a teacher but I know I wouldn't have been on of those people. Apart from the analysis questions there is not one right answer to the questions.

OH, thank you, thank you!!!!! I will try to get them !

I would not panic because when I did grade six I thought figured bass was impossible, but after a while it sinks in and I actually did rather well in that section in the exam.
So don't worry, it will come!

Well, we are not really worried in the true sense of the word but what I mean is that if things were presented, taught and explained more gradually, even in the many harmony books available, the student would save himself so much trouble and slowly tackle one difficulty at a time. For example, the student could be made to realise figured bass of isolated chords first and then , when he's become thoroughly familiar with abbreviations, numerals, etc pass on to writing sequences of two or three chords to then, at the final stage (for Question 2, I mean) try to compose sequences. At that point it'd be more likely for him to be able to create attractive and coherent lines for all 4 voices. Indeed, this is the method my friend and I are planning to apply, but it took me a long time to realise something was wrong in the way the material was presented.
I could try and write a harmony book for idiots, sort of!

I agree too, the jump from grade 5 to 6 is rather large. Strangely though I found figured bass pretty easy to get my head around, it's the 'finish this piece of music' questions that I'm terrible at. Unfortunately that's what most of the grade 8 questions are. I'm seriously considering doing Trinity grade 8. I'm doing ABRSM grade 7 next month though, so we shall see.

Do you know if this is the case right through the Trinity workbooks? I have formerly given children above a certain age MTiP workbooks, and some of them do tend to struggle.

I agree that the ABRSM theory publications are not very good. Even the Butterworth book, which many forum members recommend, is quite poor in its organization. Furthermore, many concepts are explained too briefly. Students who are not studying with good teachers would surely encounter problems when tackling the exercises.

I have also found some typos and inconsistencies in the book.

IMHO, a good textbook ought to teach students HOW to do things, not just to show a bunch of examples and exercises without sufficient, consistent explanations.

Having said all that, I think the ABRSM theory publications should not take all the blame. As a music theory teacher, I feel that the crux of the problem is the ABRSM's approach to music theory. I would love to see the board revising its theory syllabus in the near future.

Absolutely - but given AB's reluctance to admit that there might ever be any problems with their exams, I won't be holding my breath. There are things at Grade 5 like the long list of French & German terms and short score - open score that I have no idea why they are in there. Neither is of any real practical use to most people after the exam. And before anyone says anything about the French/German thing, Einstein said not to bother memorising anything that can be looked up in less than two minutes ... and given their relative rarity in day-to-day practical music making, and the fact that if you're reading this you must be sitting in fron a computer equipped with Google, the memorisation feat in this case is a waste of time & brain cells.

That's why I decided to do the OU A214 Understanding Music -

not because I want 1/2 a diploma but because I want to use it as a tool to help me gain the knowledge to then take the AB grades 6 - 8, quite an expensive way around it all I admit but from what I've heard/read I should have alot of fun along the way !!

When I first looked at the ABRSM grade 6 theory book I was absolutely flummoxed and actually gave up entirely on the whole idea for about a year. This summer I found a theory tutor who recommended I try the Trinity syllabus, which I did. I worked through the grade 6 and 7 books and was aiming to take my grade 7 this term - but when I contacted the local centre they said they weren't running theory exams this term. Not one to be deterred from my exam furor, I decided to take another look at the grade 6 ABRSM papers and was amazed to find it made sense! Having looked through the books from grade 6-8 I've found that a lot of the same subjects are covered in the Trinity books but in a far more approachable way. If you want to do the ABRSM exams for any specific reason (prerequisite for teaching diplomas for example) then try working through the Trinity grade 6-8 books and see if it makes more sense after that. I got a distinction on the last ABRSM grade 6 past paper I sent to my tutor, and my exam is three and a half weeks away so I'm feeling confident. My last violin teacher always told me to aim for a merit, because then if you get a pass you won't be terribly disappointed and if you get a distinction it's an added bonus, so that's what I'm doing.

NB: If you're looking at the ABRSM teaching diplomas, grade 8 Trinity is considered equivalent to grade 6 (for DipABRSM) and AMusTCL is considered equivalent to grade 8 (for LRSM). Make of that what you will, but that's what's on the syllabus. I'm planning to do up to grade 8 ABRSM and then switch to Trinity for theory diplomas - though I might consider doing ABRSM theory diplomas if they were offered!

Finally, I have got hold of the Harmony is Fun book 1, 2, 3. It is really comforting to read these books written in simple, easy to understand language after tackling with Harmony in Practice & alike. These HiF books do not cover all you need for G6 above, and they cover many subjects already learnt by the time you have finished the AB's theory G5, and some may find them "too easy" but they are good reference books for me as I can revise and learn something new about harmonisation. Even for my daughter who now shows her interest in doing further theory. (It's the drawings in those workbooks!) I now wish I had had the " Harmony is Fun" books along with other workbooks while we were studying G1 theory through to G5. Oh, better late than never!