Have just been looking over the aural requirements for Grade 6. The bit about where they play a piece of music and you answer questions on it! What sort of thing will they ask and how detailed does your answer have to be?

I've got visions of me going "Mmm yes that was a nice piece of music" and then grinning like an idiot

It depends on what the examiner asks. They usually ask what period it came from - to which I never have any idea so I guess!

In my grade 6 piano he asked me to describe the dynamics so I waffled about them...just told him as much as I could remember!

i cant actually remember what he asked me...i think....period, dynamis, key, time...i think i was too mortified at how badly i was doing.
NEVER do what i did in sightreading for my grade 5 drama exam with guildhall. i had to read wind in the willows and id never read it before and didnt know what the characters were waffling on about so when he asked me what i thought of it...i said it was INTERESTING.
i know...lamest answer ever in the history of the universe...
still passed though!

Here are a couple of things to think about:

4 main periods -
Baroque (steady tempo, no pedal, elaborate polyphonic melodies). Charcterised by Bach, Handel
Classical (elegant melodies, regular harmoies). Characterised by Mozart, Haydn.
Romantic (lots of dynamics, pedal, big slushy tunes, rubato). Liszt, Chopin, Rachmanninov
Modern (choppy melody, irregular harmonies, syncopation) Bartok, Stravinsky
(a small but very distinctive modern style was ragtime - syncopated but simple tunes - eg Joplin)

Dynamics - were there any? Did it start quiet, end loud, fade away? etc.

Rhythm - use of dotted notes, syncopation. Simple or compound time?

General - Does it sound like a song? A dance? (extra brownie points if you know the name of the dance - minuet, gavotte etc). Was the melody in the left hand? Was it fugal? Did any part repeat? Length of phrases?

If they ask for a possible composer at the end don't get too hung up of you don't know. What they are basically after is that you recognise the period the music is from and can name a composer of the right era. Just make sure you have a few likely names to hand.

Remember that the musical discussion is only one part of the aural, which in itself is only 18 out of the total 150 marks. They will only ask about 3 questions, and won't be expecting a long detailed discussion, since the whole exam will be over in less than half an hour.

Hope this helps!

"NEVER do what i did in sightreading for my grade 5 drama exam with guildhall. i had to read wind in the willows and id never read it before and didnt know what the characters were waffling on about so when he asked me what i thought of it...i said it was INTERESTING.
i know...lamest answer ever in the history of the universe...
still passed though! "


That sounds exactly like the sort of thing I'd do!!!! Why is it that you're mind just goes blank in an exam situation. The minute you leave the room beautifully formed, intelligent sentences pop straight into your head but while you're in the exam all you can think of is errr, uummmm etc etc!!