Is there anyone besides me who just can't do aural tests?

There is no such word as 'can't' lol! Can you not do it because you don't how to answer the questions etc...? Or is it a matter of confidence?
Sometimes i think that i 'can't' do it only because i feel embarrassed but then i think to myself that im probably never going to see this person (the examiner) again so just go for it!

My daughter is 7 and takes her Grade 1 Violin, after playing for 18 months, she too finds the aurals hard work. We have tears, she finds them boring and has no interest in them so does not try.
She started playing piano at christmas, which has helped a little.

Keep at it, I am sure it will come to you.
Good luck.

probably.

But some practice with your teacher can help.
The other thing is...... sometimes you get so used to thinking 'can't' that it becomes so however much effort you put in

They can be hard. If practicing them doesn't help, then all you can do on the day is guess the answer.

Can you do any bits of it? I seem to be okay at the 'singing echo' one (although this morning, ironically, the examiner had to repeat it because my mind went blank), but I find the one where you have to comment on tempo, major/minor, forte/piano, etc hard - there's so much to listen out for.

I'm only on Grade 3 though - what grade are you?

Hi,
I'm ok with most of the aural test but the one bit that i can't do to save my life is the singing, i hate singing anyway, and can't sing, but can't get out of it, i also see no reason why I should be examined on my singing, when I play the flute, as if i wanted to be examined in singing, I would take a singing exam .
Ok, I'm gonna stop ranting now.

I'm the same as Meg Lili. I haven't taken any aural tests yet but I have done practice Aural tests with my teacher. The one part that I cant do is 'singing echo'. I cant sing, and I cant see what singing has got to do with how well I play piano.

Hi

I know what you mean I also just can't do aural tests even though I try really hard at them!!!

To meg_lili

I agree that we shouldn't get examined on our singing! I don't think your ranting coz as you say if we wanted to be examined in singing we would take the exams!!
I think the echo test should maybe be included coz then they know that you undrestand pitch etc. But the sight singing tests for grade 4 onwards really stresses me out!! Arent the echo tests enough!! the sight singing part just inflicts more pain on me after my failure in the echo test!!
Im doing my grade 5 clarinet on monday so I will let you all know how the singing part went!lol!

Nat

I am currently working on Grade 5 piano repetoire and I also find the aural test part of the exam quite difficult. Last November I took Grade 4 piano and I found the sight-singing part the hardest. When I look at the notes I just really panick and sing really flat. In the end I got 13 out of 18 for the aural test which I was quite suprised at because I did make quite a lot of errors. However, don't worry about the aural tests too much because they are only a small percentage of the exam. I know of somebody who got ALL their tests incorrect and got 11 out of 18!! If you do well on your pieces and scales etc this will easily bring up your mark to a reasonable level!

Good Luck!

i do sympthasise - remember its not your actual singing voice that is being judged. I'm doing grade 8 piano in 3 weeks time and my teacher was helping me. I couldn't hear/remember the second part of the tune to sing. On the day shall I just sing anything or say pass please?

Can you say pass if you don't want to do a particular part of the aural?

lol when i recently did my grade 4 exam, The phrase i was supposed to sing came out like the alton towers theme tune! it was so embarrasin. And then i accidentally said for me to sing the treble cleff even though my voice is breaking lol. I barely passed

Hi one and all

I cant sing either, I also agree with those that say instrumentaslist should not have to sing Vocalists are not asked to play an instrument, I'm told the voice is an insturment

I'm doing grade 4 violin this year and I'm told that I can play back the echo, which I might do. I don't mind stating whether it was a rythmic or a melodic change, it's having to sing the change back that's upsetting.

As you can see by the the replies your not alone Subatomic star, just feel the fear and do it anyway.

Actually, in many of the aural tests (particularly the echo singing ones, although obviously sight singing would have to be excepted from this) you're allowed to play the part back on your instrument (if your pitch awareness is good enough for this...) so technically, if you think playing it back is harder, they're actually being nice to you letting you sing instead of forcing you to play it on your instrument

Also in sight singing, if it's just the singing that you don't like you are allowed to 'sing, whistle or hum' so if you prefer the other options you could take those...

Most of all just remember, as many people have said, that they're not marking the quality of your singing voice; all they care about is whether or not the notes are correct.

Just out of interest: if anyone does singing (I don't; I'm, just wondering...)-do they still make you do the aural test in sight singing even though the sight reading (which is sight singing...) must be done and surely must be far harder ?

Hello

I CAN'T SING!! That is a fact. My music teacher at school said that I should start going to the choir at school. She says that singing is a "therapy!" Hmmmmm! So now I am going to choir every week. I suppose it is useful to be able to sing but i TOTALLY agree with anybody who says we should play instead of sing in the aural tests. Has anybody had to do sight singing? It is awful!! I have perfect pitch but still I am absolutely rubbish at pitching notes. Also in the aural tests, sometimes the notes are really high but I have an alto voice so I end up screeching instead of singing. - la la la!!

Ping-lee

Just remember everyone is at different places on the lines between totally tone deaf and having absolute perfect pitch. Aural tests are the hardest of all musically subjects, performing, scales and in the classroom analysis, harmony etc. Its a lot easier to improve on evreything else than it is to improve at aural. As every teacher will tell you, the key is to listen to lots of different music from montreverdi all the way through to Westlife (reluctantly, ha ha). Exams are meant to indicate the level of musicianship you are at and if you fail that means you're not at that level. That doesn't mean to sound harsh it means when you DO pass you have achieved a higher goal and the certificate means so much more.

I totally agree with the general vibe here. Aural pretty much sucks!

I've got my grade 8 exam next friday and I'm having probs with the aural tests. Does anyone have any tips, because i know that i'll fail the aural- which will probably cause me to fail the whole thing

You can actually play the melody instead of sing it i read out of an arual book once, of course the music is taken away...post back if that has changed, interesting to know!

I done my aural tests in a room with a squeaking fan and two mental dogs with my piano teacher's hubby mowing the lawn and can just do it! When i get to the exam it is extremely quiet and i am extremely relaxed. I have got full marks in aural for my past 4 exams somehow, and examiners say i must be a singer by the way i stand

Playing out the melodies on my fingers helps, just a technique if anybody is in need of one!

Stewart-

Even If you fail the aural it doesn't mean that you cant pass the exam!! I did my grade 8 2 years ago and I failed the aural and still came out with a distinction! Everyone can do some part of the aural. I could never do the sight singing/ echo singing, but was ok with the chord progressions and descriptive questions. At the end of the day, you can just guess most of it and if it isny right then it is just bad luck. Try getting hold of the ABRSM aural book and tape, thats quite useful for practice, but you can be really good at aural and then have a bad day in the exam, it just depends on the daY!!

Good luck though...

Okay, having read in 'These Music Exams' how the aural tests are marked it seems that they consider 'promptness' and confidence very important in judging the quality of your answers; hence, my advice would be whatever you decide your answer is say(/sing/whatever the question involves) it confidently and as soon as possible (although don't panic and rush into things if you're feeling that you may be able to get it correct) even if you're not sure it is correct. That way if you are correct you'll get more marks for being prompt and confident (even if you're just guessing!) and if you're wrong you haven't lost anything

Another point that I would make is struggling with aural may be a result of not wanting to/just not doing as much practice as you do on other things:

The aural tests are worth 3/5 of the number of marks of one piece: think whether you spend more than half as much time on aural as you do on practicing one piece.

Between exams we play different pieces not related to the exams to improve our standard of playing, if we're feeling well behaved we do sightreading and maybe scales; how many of us do aural exercises to improve that ?

QUOTE

I have perfect pitch but still I am absolutely rubbish at pitching notes.

Let me give you an example of perfect pitch.

The examiner hands you a sight-singing test.

You not only find it easy to pitch the notes relative to each other,
but you can find the first note without being given either a keynote or a starting note on the piano.

Sorry if this sounds harsh, but if you find pitching notes difficult, you don't have perfect pitch.

Being in a choir will help a lot. The more you practise the better you will get. Very few people enjoy the sight-singing tests, so you are not alone !

Good luck
Maggie