Grade 5 Theory Exam

For piano students of Tony O’Brien Home. Exam Structure. Learning Pathway. Exam Topics.

There could be questions that really probe your understanding of the differences between simple and compound time.


One question might ask you to add bar-lines and re-beam* quavers etc for a given time signature.


* “Beams” are the connecting horizontal lines across quavers, semi-quavers etc










5

Compound vs. Simple Time




Add bar-lines and the correct beaming for this passage in  P . The extract begins on the first beat of the bar.



Not surprisingly the beaming of quavers and semiquavers groups them together into q beats, when they should be grouped into  j  - i.e. beamed across 3 quavers worth of time giving two beam groups per bar reflecting the “2 in a bar” metre










Add bar-lines and the correct beaming for this passage in  # . The extract begins on the first beat of the bar.



Not surprisingly the beaming of quavers and semiquavers groups them together into j beats, when they need to be grouped into  q  - i.e. beamed across a crotchet’s worth of time giving three beam groups per bar reflecting the “3 in a bar” metre










Another question could probe your understanding of the equivalence in metre between time signatures in compound and simple time  -e.g. that  2/4 in simple time equates to 6/8 in compound time as both have a metre of “2 in a bar”.









Rewrite the following extract in compound time. Add the new time signature.

The  extract is “2” metre and the equivalent “2” metre compound time is 6/8.  Crochets convert to dotted crotchers, triplet quavers become “straight” quavers, while “straight” quavers become “duplets” and the final minim converts to a dotted minim (two lots of dotted crotchets).