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How to get full makes on the ABRSM grade 5 music theory exam, writing a melody?

So I'm taking my grade 5 theory music exam in exactly one week.... Eeek!

I'm alright with all of the paper as I've done quite a bit of practising and my teacher has helped e through some things, however I have never got full marks (15/15) on the question that asks you to compose a short melody.

I compose for the melody and not the words. Say you're given 2 whole bars without an anarchists, my teacher told me to write the dominant in the 4th bar, repeated the first two bars in the 5th and 6th bars, write the tonic in the 8th bar and fill in the gaps as simply as possible in bars 3 and 7. By doing this I get 12 marks. Every. Single. Time.

How do I get more marks? Do I have to change the structure completely? My teacher isn't very good at explaining things and I don't want to trouble her with something that I won't understand.

So any advice?

Thanks in advance!

P.S. What did you get in your grade 5 theory?

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Reply 1

hatcs001

Friendly bump :smile:

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Reply 2

iceflyier

I got 92 in total, but this was 8 years ago. As for the melody, I don't remember going by any particular scheme in general (I prepped for the theory exam on my own since my teacher was out of the country at the time), but I ended up with 14, which I was very proud of. Vague as it may sound, you might want to try putting down whatever melody happens to float into your head, as it were?

Good luck!

(edited 9 years ago)

Reply 3

hatcs001

Thank you

I think I see what you mean by the floating melody in your head. I'll give that a shot in another paper.

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Reply 4

Xphoenix

If you can sing intervals in your head it is very useful...

E.g singing a fourth is the same as singing the first two notes of Away in a Manger..

If you know what your melody sounds like, you can make changes easily. And it doesn't matter what note you start on, as long as your "Do" note is the same throughout when you're "singing"

I don't think i wrote it clearly, but any more questions, feel free to ask.

Btw, My teacher always told me to go with the melody without the words, due to the fact you only have to focus on one thing, The melody. With the words, you also have to write the Lyrics correctly underneath.

Reply 5

hatcs001

Thank you xphoenix, that helped a lot. My exams tomorrow and I'm a bit nervous. I've given up on the melody part now, I'm just going to go with the flow... I can't grasp the words though! It doesn't help that they're in German, French or itallian :frown: