Author: SunnyDaze
Date: 2023-10-29 00:55
Hi,
I've managed to fight my way up from grade 1 to distinction in the grade 5 music theory exam in the last few years, just working from books.
The thing that I found is that there are a lot of books and youtube videos and websites and whatnot, but a lot of them really make no sense, and make the learning harder rather than easier.
I also asked people who knew a lot about music and it seemed that they found it very hard to explain, even though they knew it themselves.
In the end I figured out that there is one series of books that makes sense, if you are learning alone, without a teacher.
This is the good set:
https://shop.abrsm.org/shop/ucat/Music-Theory-in-Practice/1164
There are also answer books to buy, which are really important, because without the answer books there is no way to know if you have really understood what is wanted.
One thing that I found really good about the books is that I had to do *a lot* of transposing, and spent months filing in the little notes on the stave. After I had ground through all the books, my sight reading got really a lot better and I can sight read far better in both clefs on the piano now.
The previous generation of books by ABRSM were not as accessible, and the current, later generation don't have enough examples to really make the knowledge sink in. I think that the actual set above are the good ones.
There is one question in the ABRSM grade 5 music theory paper where you have to look at a melody and make chords and cadences and write them down as roman numerals, and I couldn't find any books that explained that well, but it is explained in this video really well:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vtAwpynolz8
I also needed this book:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/AB-Guide-Music-Theory-Vol/dp/1854724460
I learned the vocabulary from this website training course:
https://app.memrise.com/course/134901/grade-1-5-music-theory-abrsm/
In order to sit the exam I also had to learn to write out the circle of fifths from memory. The trick is to notice that the letters go in alphabetical order if you go round the circle writing every second letter. The sharps and flats also just add one more each time, so if you know the order they are added in then that is easy.
This is the circle of fifths:
https://americansongwriter.com/songwriter-u-songwriting-tips-with-the-circle-of-fifths/
I also had to be able to draw a keyboard really fast on paper.
You can do the grade 5 music theory test online from anywhere in the world, and there are practise papers online here:
https://www.abrsm.org/en-gb/music-theory/about-music-theory
Once I got to grade 6 it was much harder, and I kind of got defeated. I have bought a lot of books, but I think that to do grade 6 I would need a natural gift for musical composition, and I just can't seem to get my head around it.
It helps if you have pencils that sharpen to a really sharp point and a rubber that works really well, because there is a lot of filling in tiny notes in the books.
It takes quite a long time.
Good luck!
Adult learner, Grade 3
Equipment: Yamaha Custom CX Bb, Fobes 10K CF mp,
Legere Soprano Sax American Cut #2, Vandoren Optimum German Lig.
Post Edited (2023-10-29 01:03)
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