I love the series of books called improve your aural skills, because they are full of exercises and come with a CD as well, and are not over expensive. Very readable and easy to use. They are written by Paul Harris. They are written for grades 1-8.

Lots of fun!

I agree - these are great. The sight reading books are also very good and confidence-building.

I use these books all the time

Hofnote is not a teacher of aural training - it offers practise in the tests which appear in exams and therefore it inevitably has its limitations. The best investment you could make is to find a teacher willing to teach aural and musicianship skills on a general basis (i.e. not just for exams).

I think this is good advice, but, for me, i am not really over interested in singing etc, but only for the exams, but yes it is an advantage to have good aural skills.

Well, aural/musicianship training does not necessarily mean singing? I think it's sad to see these skills as just for exams.

Suppose it comes down to how interested the teacher is in delivering aural skills as to whether anything other than practise for exams happens.

You have to keep in mind that parents have very little control over the amount of aural covered in the lessons.

I also, think, that a parent does or is entitled to have some say over aural covered in the lesson. All they simply have to do is explain from the onset that they would like aural to be a part of the lesson as they feel it is important aspect. I am sure most teachers could not disagree with this. That's not to say they might not like it!

Many parents have no musical background themselves and are not really in a position to know what should be taught in lessons.

And at another level, there's nothing anywhere which says what should be taught in lessons anyway.

I actually don't know how non-musical parents would know where to start with regard to deciding which teacher is 'best'. There is so much to think about before even getting as far as assessing aural training skills, if they know what that is at all - and if they have any idea how best it should be taught...even teachers disagree... parents really must be shooting in the dark a lot.

I still don't think I could judge good or bad aural training to any degree.

It is very difficult - on the most part, parents don't generally care what's taught, and few, if any are engaged in the learning process enough to check up on it. I find it a tricky balance to strike between what I feel as a professional I should be teaching, and what people actually want (and in many cases, they have no idea what they want so long as the child is occupied for 30 minutes a week so they can go to Tesco).

It is very difficult - on the most part, parents don't generally care what's taught, and few, if any are engaged in the learning process enough to check up on it. I find it a tricky balance to strike between what I feel as a professional I should be teaching, and what people actually want (and in many cases, they have no idea what they want so long as the child is occupied for 30 minutes a week so they can go to Tesco).

I'm afraid I am deeply cynical these days because I encounter the same kinds of parents over and over again. I do however realise that this isn't always the case. That said in just over 10 years teaching, I can count on the fingers of one hand those parents who showed any interest other than dropping them off and picking them up.

I often find it hard to recognise the kind of parents that teachers describe on these fora, because they are not the kind that I have met over almost 10 years now of daughter having music lessons. If parents over your way are really like this then that's very sad, and must be disheartening for you. However, sometimes we parents behave in the way we think a music teacher expects, especially if, like me, we've had our fingers burnt when we did show an interest (or "interfere").

I often find it hard to recognise the kind of parents that teachers describe on these fora, because they are not the kind that I have met over almost 10 years now of daughter having music lessons. If parents over your way are really like this then that's very sad, and must be disheartening for you. However, sometimes we parents behave in the way we think a music teacher expects, especially if, like me, we've had our fingers burnt when we did show an interest (or "interfere").

I think there's a lot of mystery surrounding 'aural' which (although I hate the dumbing down of the English language) would possibly disappear if teachers and examiners called it 'listening skills' like they do at school.

There's a lot that parents (even nonmusical ones like myself) can do to help their child develop listening skills. (My twopennoth coming up -)

Make sure they hear a variety of different music - mine love hunting for stuff on youtube - and then let them talk about it in their own words (easier to remember Italian terms when you already know roughly what you want to say).

Get them singing - singing back a line or two from an unfamiliar song is easier than the 'singing back' test because the words help them recall the notes.

Dance, clap and tap your way around the kitchen (do not do this on the bus stop - you never know who's driving past) - make picking up a rhythm a natual thing to do - hesitation costs marks in a test so confidence will take them a long way.

I suspect that the reason why parents often think aural isn't being taught is because a good teacher will slip a lot of listening skills into a lesson without the child noticing. First the musicless mother hears is when, a month before the exam, the teacher does practice tests and the child comes home shouting "We started aural today!" and mother promptly starts to panic. (Been there - done that - daughter's aural was fine.)

I do sympathise with teachers who have uninvolved parents - there are two extremes where I live, super pushy and completely disinterested (my theory is this is because we are a grammar school county - but don't get me started ) but maybe a little printed handout of 'help your child with listening skills' that could be stuck in the back cover of a practice diary would go a long way to showing parents who want to help how to start helping right from the start.

Otherwise nonmusical parents have to rely on a lot of trial and error (so recognise notmusimum's account of multiple exams with steadily improving aural skills! Grade 3 results were poles apart because of the difference in supporting tests.)

Oh - and remember a poor aural mark isn't the end of the world. Some children test well on aural and others, equally musical, seem to struggle - as I said, confidence is a big issue.

Yes, I thought so too, a very good post.

And forgetting to listen - I realised a short while back that it often seemed to be that first test that went badly - then the act somehow started to come together. (at the time, this was in lessons, doing mock exams.)

I came to the conclusion that it takes the first (rubbish) test to focus, and then the listening kicks in. I don't think this happens only in actual exams. But I definitely think it is a factor.

And it's not only with children. I've done a fair few exams myself in the last few years, and I sometimes catch myself wool-gathering during the aural.

I don't, as a teacher, leave aside x minutes for pigeon-holing 'aural skills', so if a parent asked one of my pupils "Does your teacher spend time on aural training?" the answer might well be "Not much." So it might be wrong to assume that a teacher is not spending time on aural skills just because you don't see particular evidence of it.

I don't view time spent on exam aural tests particularly as aural training; this is time spent making sure the pupil is familiar with the exam requirements and is able to answer the questions posed. Proper aural training, however, is an integral part of learning to play, and, as such, I cover this as an integral part of every lesson. (In the early stages I treat theory in the same way; we don't write much down, but they will know and understand things none the less, so that when the time comes to formalise on paper they find it easy.) We talk about cadence points in relation to phrasing and how to deal with them musically in performance, and it is a natural part of this process to distinguish between different types of cadences and learn what they sound like and how they are written. Modulations, time signatures, etc, are dealt with in much the same way - musically and with regard to performance, with explanations naturally included - but my pupils are not particularly informed that "This constitutes aural training." So I would argue that it is not always the teacher who 'sets time aside for aural' who is necessarily giving the best aural training. We only need to look at the results of the poll thread about aural and scales to see that many view aural as an unpopular separate issue. It is more useful, more relevant, and more enjoyed, if we integrate aural training into everything else, but it may not be particularly clear to either pupil or parent that the teacher is doing things this way. So be careful that you don't turn away from a good teacher in favour of one who only teaches exam requirements!

Sorry but I don't think it's that simple.

Many parents have no musical background themselves and are not really in a position to know what should be taught in lessons. Whether the teacher liked my input it or not, I don't feel that I've ever been in a position to dictate how aural should be delivered.

When children are taught in 20 minute slots via a Peri then there probably isn't enough time to deliver aural for exams and the training will end up being done in a group close to the exam session.

I see Aural for exams and on going aural development as two different things. Someone who can't gain a high score on ABRSM aural tests isn't always weak at aural or musicianship generally. If exam aural is taught adequately at the early grades and built upon then I'm sure most people can cope with it.

You can break AB aural down in two sections one is the learning and knowledge and the most important one practice. I have to say daughters dodgy aural has been as much about lack of practice as lack of understanding.