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AuralRoom

AMEB · Grade 8

AMEB Grade 8 aural tests: practice for the final grade

Grade 8 is the top of AMEB's graded aural tests. You name triads including the diminished, recognise all four main cadence types, memorise a longer printed phrase, and perform the lower part of a two-part phrase with passing notes. Each test is played twice, and as at every grade the aural tests feed into one overall grade rather than a separate mark.

Triad

Name the triad (major, minor, diminished) and its position.

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The tests at Grade 8

Triad

Name the triad (major, minor, diminished) and its position.

A triad is played twice: major or minor in root position or an inversion, or diminished in root position. You name the type and, for major and minor, the position. The diminished triad, two minor thirds stacked, sounds tight and tense. One small difference: our trainer asks for the position of diminished triads too — the answer is always root position — to keep the interface simple. Decide the type first, then listen to the bass for the position.

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Cadence

After the tonic chord, name the cadence at the end of a short piece in a major key (perfect, plagal, imperfect, interrupted).

After the tonic chord, a short major-key piece is played twice, and you recognise its cadences. AMEB asks for all four main cadences without listing them; they're generally understood to be perfect (V–I), imperfect (ending on V), plagal (IV–I) and interrupted (V–VI), which is what our trainer uses. Imperfect is the new one: it pauses on V like a comma. Our cadence guide has more listening tips.

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Memory

Study a printed 3- or 4-bar phrase for about 90 seconds, then sing it from memory.

A printed phrase of three or four bars, with about a minute and a half to memorise it away from your instrument; the keynote is sounded before you start, and then you sing or play it from memory. Our trainer shows a three- or four-bar phrase for about 90 seconds, hides it, gives the key chord and first note, and listens to you sing. Memorise in layers: rhythm first, then the contour, then any leaps or accidentals.

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Lower part

Hum or sing from memory the lower part of a two-part phrase with a few passing notes.

The examiner plays a two-part phrase twice — more decorated than at Grade 7, with passing notes — and you perform the lower part from memory by humming, singing or playing. Our trainer plays a short two-part phrase twice, after the key chord and the lower part's first note, and asks you to sing the lower line. The upper part will pull at your ear, so on the second playing listen only to the bass.

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Tips for Grade 8

  • Diminished triads: listen for the narrow, pinched sound of two minor thirds.
  • Imperfect or perfect? If the last chord feels unfinished, it ends on V — imperfect.
  • Use the whole study time in the memory test: rhythm, then pitches, then two silent run-throughs.
  • Sing the bass lines of pieces you know — the left hand of a piano piece is ideal lower-part practice.
  • Sing lower parts in whatever octave suits your voice; our trainer accepts any octave.

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A full Grade 8 mock, marked

The examiner runs every test in order, plays as many times as the board does and gives an estimated result, with where you lose marks.

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Questions people ask

What are AMEB's four main cadences?

The Grade 8 requirement refers to the four principal cadences without naming them. The usual reading is perfect, imperfect, plagal and interrupted; Grades 6 and 7 already cover three of these, which leaves imperfect as the new one. Our trainer practises all four, in major keys.

Do I name the position of a diminished triad?

In the exam the diminished triad is played only in root position, so naming it as diminished is enough. Our trainer still asks the position question for diminished triads — the answer is always root position — simply to keep every triad question the same.

How is Grade 8 graded?

With one letter grade for the whole exam: A+ (High Distinction), A (Honours), B+ and B (Credit), C+ and C (Satisfactory) or D (Not Satisfactory). There are no separate aural marks, so our mock gives an indicative descriptor rather than a grade or a mark.

What comes after Grade 8?

AMEB's Certificate of Performance and the AMusA and LMusA diplomas have no aural tests — they're assessed on pieces plus general knowledge. That makes Grade 8 the last AMEB grade in which aural tests are part of the assessment, and a natural point to make your listening as secure as your playing.

Independent practice. We are not affiliated with AMEB; the tests here are generated by our engine from the published format, not taken from the board's books. Mock marks are estimates — the examiner's judgement is final.