My son is taking his Grade 5 violin exam this year and, while I have no worries about his pieces, sightreading and scales, I don't know how to prepare him for the aural. I gather there are quite tricky sections on intervals, etc, but he hasn't even done his Grade 1 theory yet and is very vague about the whole business. I should be grateful for any advice on how to help him prepare, eg good materials to buy or access online, hire a piano teacher to work with him... Thanks !

I like the Paul Harris 'Improve Your Aural' Books - they come with a CD and lots of exercises and there is one per grade. I think they would be fine for an 8 year old, with a bit of supervision.

A few sessions with an experienced teacher (of any instrument, as long as they like teaching aural skills to 8 year olds!) would be a good idea. If he is good at aural and sight-reading you might want to consider Practical Musicianship as an alternative to grade 5 theory before his next practical exam.

We've tried all of those methods

There are books and CD's to help practice but they don't really teach how to do it. There's also hofnote that might be useful for the more theoretical parts of the exam.

My daughter liked "Paul Harris 'Improve Your Aural' Books", too. I also got her books called "Aural Test Survival Book" from Grade 4 onwards. She enjoyed reading the Survival guide G5,too.
I think the key to prepare a child for aural tests is .... easier said than done... do not leave it till late, and have some sort of aural training regularly. One of my favourite aural exercises is to play a 3 note chord, and sing the lowest, middle and highest note. If you have a piano, this is highly recommended - you can play the piano and challenge your child, and s/he can play a chord and ask you. You can extend this to naming intervals, too. I have also found that Trinity's Aural book I (covers G1-G5), which comes with a CD. Although Trinity's syllubus is different, the book & CD give you good aural training that you can do with your son.
Wishing your boy good luck with his G5!

Which exam board will your son be taking? AB and Trinity aurals are significantly different from each other so to give any specific suggestions about exam preparation it would really help to know.

Thanks for your offer of advice. He will be taking the ABRSM exam.

OK - here goes!

Test 5A - Melodic memory

The requirement is to sing or play from memory a short phrase played by the examiner. The examiner plays and names the keychord and starting note. The phrase is played twice.

This test builds on the echo singing tests from earlier grades. First need to check that your son is can comfortably and accurately sing back a note played to him on the piano (I'm assuming that you're going for the singing option - if not, ignore this) Then build up memory skills by starting with short phrases and gradually moving to longer ones. Practice materials could be Ronald Smith - Aural Training in Practice (one book covers Gr 1-3, then another for Gr 4 & 5 - there are CDs that go with them) or the Paul Harris books that have already been mentioned. Talk about listening to the shape of the phrase -is it a scale, an arpeggio, a 'wiggly line' etc? Some of mine like to draw the shape of the phrase in the air as they listen.

Test 5B - Sightsinging

No playing option this time! The test is to sing six notes from score in free time, within the range of a 5th above and a 4th below the tonic.

This builds on the Gr4 sightsinging, which covers a range of a 3rd above and below the tonic. These would make a good starting point. Practice singing up and down the first part of the scale - then down from the tonic and up again. Also sing arpeggio patterns and practice the doh - lah minor third 'calling' interval. The introductions to 4B and 5B in the Ronald Smith book have quite a lot of detailed suggestions for this type of work.

Test 5C - Listening with understanding

Identifying features of a piece played by the examiner - specifically, dynamics (incl cresc and dim); staccato/ legato; rall/accel; major/minor and 'general perception of texture, form, style and period'. Examiner should tell the candidate before playing what he is going to ask about. The form style and period bit is the hardest with young candidates because they don't always have the vocabulary. Really good idea is to listen to music together (e.g. Classic FM) and discuss - who might have written it? Was it like a dance? Was it sad or happy? Were there lots of instruments playing? Were all the parts playing the same rhythm?

Also can use the radio to practice the next bit of this test -have to state whether the piece is in 2, 3 or 4 time and clap back the rhythm of a short section played by the examiner.

This is the one where I find the CDs really useful as my piano playing isn't up to much!


Hope this is helpful - if it doesn't make sense I'm happy to try and explain further. Just a bit concerned that you feel that it's your responsibility to prepare the aural? For my pupils, I would normally expect to be teaching exam aural as part of the exam prep. and setting aural practice as part of the practice routine.