ABRSM Grade 5 aural tests: what to expect and how to practise

A melody is played twice; sing it back (or play it).

As at Grade 4, the examiner plays the key-chord and starting note, counts in two bars and plays a melody twice — within an octave, major or minor, with up to three sharps or flats. You sing it back, or play it if your instrument is pitched in C, B♭, E♭ or F. The examiner listens for accurate pitch and rhythm and a shapely phrase. A further playing with a second attempt is possible but may affect the mark. Tip: notice the highest note and the ending — most melodies close on the key note.

Sing six notes from notation in your own time (major key, up to two sharps or flats).

You sing six notes from a score in your own time, in treble or bass clef, in a major key with up to two sharps or flats; the examiner names and plays the key-chord and starting note first. The notes begin and end on the key note, reach up to a fifth above and a fourth below it, and move by no more than a third — apart from a rising fourth from soh up to doh. Accurate pitch is the aim. Tip: before you start, find soh both above and below doh; those two notes frame the whole test.

Talk about one feature, then the style and period.

The examiner names two features, then plays a piece. The first question is on one of dynamics, articulation, tempo, tonality or character; the second always asks about style and period — roughly when the music was written, and why you think so. Name a period (Baroque, Classical, Romantic or 20th century) and give reasons you can hear, such as ornaments, an Alberti bass or rich, chromatic harmony. Tip: listen to short pieces from each period until their sound is familiar. More on the Grade 5 musical features page.

Clap the rhythm of an extract from the same piece, then say the time.

The examiner then plays an extract from the same piece twice, as a single line without harmony. You clap its rhythm back and say whether it is in two, three or four time. The examiner listens for the exact pattern of long and short notes, rests left silent and a steady sense of beat, followed by the right answer about the time. Tip: dotted rhythms and tied notes are the usual trouble spots; practise clapping them against a beat you keep in your head.