Trinity College: Traditional Graded Music Exams

Hi everyone,

In this post I'm going to talk about the traditional graded music exams offered by Trinity College.

These exams differ slightly from the ABRSM graded music exams.

These exams consist of :-

- Three Pieces

- Technical Work

- Supporting Tests

Three Pieces

These three pieces can be chosen out of the pieces book that are supplied by Trinity, or you can choose pieces from different sources that have been chosen by Trinity College for that grade, as they have an extended pieces/ book list.

Technical Work

For the technical work you have two options

- Exercises/ Orchestral Excerpts

- Scales & Arpeggios

Both of these options can be found in the Trinity Scales, Arpeggios and Studies book for your chosen instrument.

Exercises

You pick three exercises, and each of these exercises focuses on a different aspect of playing. The Orchestral Excerpts is an option for grades 6-8, and these have a similar aim to the exercises at the lower grades.

Scales & Arpeggios

The Scales & Arpeggios have be performed from memory for your required grade. A similar aspects between the Trinity and ABRSM is that they may ask for scales and arpeggios from previous grades.

Supporting Tests

These are number tests that are on offer from Trinity, and you choose two to do before the exam.

They are :-

- Sight Reading

- Aural 

- Music Knowledge ( up to Grade 5)

- Improvisation ( up to Grade 5)

Sight Reading

The examiner will place a piece of sheet music in front of you, and they will give 30 seconds to look over and have a go at playing the piece of music. After the 30 seconds is up, you will then attempt to play fully to the best of your ability.

Aural

The examiner will play a piece of music to you a couple of times, and then ask you questions about the piece that they have just played. The aural element of the exam is to test your pitch, and how much it has developed throughout your musical journey.

Music Knowledge

These are series of questions around one of the pieces that you have played as part of your exam. They could be questions around the era that the piece was composed in, time signature, key signature, the composer, musical direction.

Improvisation

I'm not completely sure how this element of the exam works, and if the examiner will give you are chosen key signature and time signature and you work around it to create a short piece of music on the spot.