Hey
I'm moving on to grade 6 theory after the summer is over and i'm wondering what books I need. I noticed with grade 5, alot of books cover that like "first steps in music theory" then stops when you get too grade 6? What books are helpful for guiding you through grade 6?
Also what is the difference between the grade 6 workbook and the Music in Practice grade 6 book?
Thanks alot everyone! And also for those who sat theory exams well done!
Thanks psl
PS. Now that I am starting grade 6 expect ALOT of posts on the theory forums after summer from me!

For reference books you might want both the pink and blue AB theory books.
The difference between the 2 workbooks is that the 'Theory Workbook' has questions in the style of the current papers (the change was around 2000) and Music Theory in Practice is how it used to be before that. The main changes are in the way questions are answered and the minimum length for composition.
There are other workbooks on the market too. Josephine Koh's are generally fairly popular.

If you've not done Harmony before you might want something like Harmony in Practice befroe starting on the workbook(s).
I also found it useful that my teacher had me working on keyboard harmony using Dorothy Pilling's Harmonization of melodies at the keyboard. I think I got about half way through that.
My teacher also used to give me extracts from orchestral scores as extra material to look at and answer questions on.
Good luck.

There are a lot of books that you can use in order to prepare for the higher grades theory exam. But those I will discuss later are the books that I have used, and I feel they are pretty much better, therefore I will recommend to you. However, it is still depends on yourself to choose the book that you like to read!

To start your grade 6 theory, of course you have to learn the Harmony. The understanding of harmony is needed in order for you to answer questions 1 and several parts in question 4 and 5. However, you also need the knowledge of harmony for question 2 as well. Question 2 only covers the basic figures realisation (you need to harmony rules to draw your SATB!!!).

You can try on "Guidelines on Harmony Grade 6-8", by Lee Fee Khoon, published by Rhythm MP. The "Workbook on Harmony" is published separately, by own grades. However, there are some 'confusing' and 'misleading' facts in the book, therefore, you have to cross-refer with other book as well.

Those other books that you can try on are:
1) Harmony in Practice, by Anna Butterworth, published by ABRSM Publishing. This book covers the harmony for higher grades, A level and as well as diploma uses.
2) The AB Guide to Music Theory, Part II, by Eric Taylor, published by ABRSM Publishing as well. If you study this book carefully, the chapters 15/1 till 15/5, 16/1 till 16/4 and 16/6 are some parts of the grade 6 harmony. It can well explain several topics, which "Guidelines on Harmony Grade 6-8" unable to do so. And of course, other chapters not only for grade 7 and 8, but you may need to read chapter 19 till the end, for your instruments and orchestra knowledge, in order to handling question 4 and 5 in the exam.

In my opinion, or I might be wrong, Theory Wookbook (TW) and Theory Music in Practice (TMiP) are not much differences in the exercises. However, TW will able to tell you how to tackle the exam questions. I used TMiP for my Grade 5 for once, but for higher grades, I prefer TW.

You may try to have a look for "In Preparation for Theory Exam" by Lee Ching Ching, published by Rhythm MP. It is a blue-purple colour book. It covers the majority musical knowledge that in question 4 and 5. You are not necessary to read the whole book, but you may refer it when you are working on the question 4 and 5 in past year papers.

Well, it may sound that a lot of books that you need to have, however, try one in the market that you prefer to read. Have a glance before you buy! Or may ask from your teacher or friends to have a look first.

Good luck!

I've been told Butterworth's "Harmony In Practise" isn't very helpful, and there are better books on Harmony out there. Does anybody know any better Harmony books?

So, aswell as the AB Guides, the workbook, the past papers, and a harmony book - is there anything else I need to get?

Thank you,

Sam94.

Hi piano*singing*lover

I'm only just starting to study G6 myself, and I asked about G6 books earlier this year. I've copied across some quotes from the thread I started at that time....



=====================================



The following are the books which forum teachers recommended to me when I asked about G6 books. The good thing about the Butterworths book is that there is a separate answer book as well. I gather it covers a lot more than G6 though and it's not clear which bits are G6 and which are later grades. You would need to look at the syllabus to see what G6 covers (available via the main ABRSM site).



This is what I thought were the differences between Music Theory in Practice for G6 and the "Big 6" book:



Hope all this is clear!

I found Anna Butterworth to be comprehensive, almost to the point of being indigestible. It's everything you need to know up to grade 8 and then some.......

The MTiP series, although it covered a lot of ground, I found fairly dry.


The Josephine Koh books, and the Theory Workbooks (big 6,7,8) are much more geared to working examples, and the later are focused on the current exam syllabus, so very good as first-stage revision.


Another series I found useful, which hasn't been mentioned here, is the ABC of Harmony books by Roy Wilkinson.


And of course, practice doing past papers is invaluable.


Good luck

I am working on my Grade 6 and I have found Harmony In Practise very good. I have been able to tackle te questions on my own without my teacher as I found that it was well explained. When I showed my teacher, she agreed it was a great book.

It looks like there are quite a few of us now working towards Grade 6, maybe it is worth us doing a thread to see who is and then we can support eachother.

ET

Thanks for that.

I may have to wait a while before I buy all these books. They can be very expensive. But I'm sure I'll be fine for the June exam.

Thanks again,

Sam94.

I saw these mentioned in a post an age ago, I haven't seen any in real life to look at though of course book A is on my musicroom wishlist But just a question, if anyone knows - are A, B and C useful for 6, 7 and 8 respectively, or do you need bits from each book? Basically, is it spend lots of money in one go, or as you progress?

Ta muchly!

Edited to add: It seems they also make an "ABC of Theory" series of books, for 6 7 and 8. Not that this actually answers whether the ABC of Harmony series is suitable gradedish

I think they pretty much correlate.