Discovering

Music Theory
THE ABRSM GRADE 5 WORKBOOK

Design by Kate BenjaminMusic origination for workbook by Moira RoachMusic origination for practice exam paper by Pete Readman
Cover and inside illustration by Andy Potts
First published in 2020 by ABRSM (Publishing) Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of ABRSM© 2020 by The Associated Board of the Royal Schools of MusicISBN 978 1 78601 349 1AB 4014
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system,or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording,or otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright owner.
Printed in England by Page Bros (Norwich) Ltd, on materials from sustainable sources
P14813

CONTENTS
Introduction
Chapter 1: Rhythm

1

Rewriting in simple and compound time (revision);
irregular time signatures:    ;grouping in irregular time signatures; quintuplets and sextuplets
Chapter 2: Pitch (Part 1)

10

The tenor clef; octave transposition between clefs
Chapter 3: Pitch (Part 2)

17

Transposing by a major 2nd, minor 3rd and perfect 5th;
finding the new key signature; transposing melodies with accidentals;
transposing instruments
Chapter 4: Keys & Scales

27

F#/Gb major and D#/Eb minor; all keys and scales for Grade 5;
helpful patterns: the circle of 5ths
Chapter 5: Intervals

35

Intervals with or without a key signature;
chromatic intervals; compound intervals
Chapter 6: Chords

44

The supertonic chord (II); cadences; choosing suitablechords for a melody; inversions
Chapter 7: Terms, Signs & Instruments (Part 1)

61

New instruments at Grade 5; transposing instruments;
voice types and their ranges
Chapter 8: Terms, Signs & Instruments (Part 2)

68

Written-out ornaments; new Italian terms and German terms;
the piano: terms and signs
Chapter 9: Music in Context

76

Practice Exam Paper

85

Music examples are written by the author unless otherwise stated. Some music examples have been adapted to suit learning requirements.

Quintuplets and sextuplets• At Grade 2, we discovered that a triplet is a group of three notes played in the same amountof time as two non-triplet notes of the same time value.
• Quintuplets and sextuplets are groups of five and six notes that are played in the sameamount of time as a group of four notes of the same time value.
• Just like duplets and triplets, quintuplets and sextuplets can be any time value, and they canalso contain a combination of time values.

Did you know?
is equal in time value toor

is equal in time value toor

The word ‘tuplet’ is often used
as a general word to describe
notes like duplets, quintuplets
and sextuplets.

Exercise 9 Add the missing bar-lines to each of these melodies.

œœ œœ
œœœ™
œbj3œœœœœœ™
œ œ ‰ œ œ œ nœœ bœ& b 4 œ nœ œ œ J
3a5b? ### 43 ˙

6œ œ ˙œ œ œ œ œ œœœœœ œ œ jœœœŒœœ ‰ œœœ
563 œ œ œ œ œœœœœœ œ œ œ œ&8œœ œœœœœœ
5c

6Exercise 8 Number the beats and then complete the time signature for each of these rhythms.
6aBeats: 1d2

3

jœ œ œœœœœœ ‰bBeats:

46e? bb b C œ œ œ œ œ œ ˙ ˙ ˙bb3c˙œ œœœ œ™ œ œœœÓœ
555œœœœœœ œdBeats:œœ œ œ œ œThe next two exercises draw together the time signatures learnt so far.

Beats:

Exercise 10 Complete these sentences by adding a number to each.
6e5œ œœœœœœœ œ œ
Beats:f˙˙œœœœœœ œ

Beats:

Challenge!
Write a two-bar rhythm inthat contains either quintuplets or sextuplets in the space below.

Chapter 1: Rhythm | 7jœ˙™ œ œ œ œ œ œœ4bœ˙œb
Bb b 2 ˙ ˙ œ œœ ˙ ˙ ˙ Ó55œ œ œœœœœœœ œ Œœ œaInthere arecrotchet beats in a bar.

bIn

there arequaver beats in a bar.

cIn

there aredotted-quaver beats in a bar.

dIn

there aredotted-crotchet beats in a bar.

eIn

there areminim beats in a bar.

8 | Discovering Music Theory: Grade 5

PITCHIn this chapter you will learn about
Transposing by a major 2nd, minor 3rd and perfect 5th
Finding the new key signature
Transposing melodies with accidentals
Transposing instruments(PART 2)

3

Finding the new key signature• If we transpose the note C up a major 2nd, it
becomes the note D.

Transposing by a major 2nd, minor 3rd and perfect 5th• In the same way, if we transpose notes in thekey of C major up a major 2nd, they become notesin the key of D major.

At Grade 3 we learnt how to transpose music up or down an octave. Let’s explore
how to transpose notes so that they sound:• The key signature of D major – the new key – is used
so that we do not have to write lots of accidentals.

• a major 2nd higher or lower• a minor 3rd higher or lower• a perfect 5th higher or lower

perfect 5thminor 3rdmajor 2nd(7 semitones) (3 semitones) (2 semitones)& w

w

bw

w

original note

LOWER

major 2ndminor 3rd(2 semitones) (3 semitones) (7 semitones)bww

w

HIGHER

Smart tip• major 2nd = 2 semitones (1 tone)• minor 3rd = 3 semitones• perfect 5th = 7 semitones

C

Exercise 1 Transpose these notes by the named intervals.

w

major 2ndlower?

w
major 2ndhigher##4w&# 4œœœœ

transposed up aminor 3rd becomesœ œ w
4&4 œ œ#4w
& 4œ œ œ œtransposed up aperfect 5th becomes## 4 œ œ œ œ w& 4

Exercise 2 Circle TRUE or FALSE for each statement.

You can work out intervals by counting up ordown in semitones from the starting note.

& w## 4 œ œ œ œ w& 4

Similarly:

perfect 5th

The major or minor tonality
stays the same when a
melody is transposed.

transposed up amajor 2nd becomes4œ œ œ œ w&4This diagram shows how to transpose the note C up or down by the intervals shown.

Did you know?

ww

major 2nd
higherminor 3rd
lower

w

w

minor 3rdlower

minor 3rdhigherwperfect 5thhigher#wperfect 5thloweraThe key of C major transposed up a major 2nd becomes the key of D major.

truefalsebThe key of C minor transposed down a minor 3rd becomes the key of A minor.

truefalsecThe key of C major transposed up a perfect 5th becomes the key of F major.

truefalse

dThe key of C major transposed down a major 2nd becomes the key of B major.

truefalsee

The key of C major transposed up a minor 3rd becomes the key of Eb major.

truefalsefThe key of C minor transposed down a perfect 5th becomes the key of G minor.

truefalseww

perfect 5thhigher

perfect 5thlower

Chapter 3: Pitch (Part 2) | 17

18 | Discovering Music Theory: Grade 5

TERMS, SIGNS &INSTRUMENTS (PART 1)

In this chapter you will learn about
New instruments at Grade 5
Transposing instruments
Voice types and their ranges

7

More about the new instruments
Strings
HarpNew instruments at Grade 5
At Grade 4 we met instruments in the four families of the orchestra: strings, woodwind,brass and percussion.

&{?

Woodwind

Strings: Instruments with strings that are
played with a bow or plucked

PercussionWoodwind: Instruments that are blown using
a reed or a hole in a mouthpiece

Woodwind

Brass: Instruments that are blown byvibrating the lips in a mouthpiecePlays from music arranged on two staves, like piano music.
The strings on the harp are plucked and pedals or levers areused to change the pitch of the strings

PiccoloA small type of flute. It uses the treble clef and sounds an octave higher than its
written notes

Cor anglais

Also known as the English horn, it is closely related to the oboe. It uses thetreble clef and is a transposing instrument – we will look at this in more detaillater in this chapter

Brass
Strings

Percussion: Instruments that are struck
Percussion
Here are all the instruments you need to know at Grade 5, including some new ones (in red):

Along with the timpani, the following instruments play notes of definite pitch. This means thatthey can play specific pitches (e.g. C, D, etc.).

Strings

Woodwind

Brass

Percussion

Tubular bells

Vertical metal bars struck with one or two small hammers

ViolinViola
Cello
Double bass
HarpPiccolo
FluteOboe
Cor anglais
ClarinetBassoon

TrumpetHorn
Trombone
Tuba

TimpaniTubular bells
Xylophone
Marimba
Glockenspiel
Vibraphone
Celesta

Xylophone

Horizontal wooden bars arranged like a piano keyboard and usually struck
with hard beaters

Marimba

Like the xylophone but larger with a more mellow sound – usually struck withsofter beaters

Glockenspiel

Horizontal metal bars arranged like a piano and struck by beaters

Vibraphone

Similar to a glockenspiel, it produces a softer sound when the metal bars arestruck. It contains a motor to add vibration to the soundCelestaLooks like a piano but contains metal bars rather than strings. It produces abell-like soundSide drumBass drum
Cymbals
Tambourine
Castanets
Tam-tam
Triangle

Theory in sound
Listen to recordings of pieces that contain some of these new instruments, then describe the qualityof the sound they produce (sharp, soft, high, smooth, sharp, etc.) Here are some suggestions:

Along with the side drum, bass drum and cymbals, the following instruments play notes ofindefinite pitch. This means they make sounds that are not at a specific pitch.

• Mozart, Flute and Harp Concerto in C major, K. 299/297c: 2nd movement (harp)• Saint-Saëns, Carnival of the Animals: ‘Fossils’ (xylophone), ‘Aquarium’ (glockenspiel)• Dvořák, Symphony No. 9 (‘From the New World’), Op. 95: 2nd movement (cor anglais)• Tchaikovsky, The Nutcracker, Op. 71, ‘Chinese Dance’ (piccolo)

Tambourine

Hit or shaken by the hand, with small cymbal-like discs around its outer edge.
Sometimes has a ‘skin’ or membrane

Castanets

Two small discs of wood hit together with the fingers. Originates from SpainTam-tamA large gong hit with a beater

Triangle

Triangular metal instrument hit with a metal beater

Chapter 7: Terms, Signs & Instruments (Part 1) | 61

62 | Discovering Music Theory: Grade 5