Most of us instrumental teachers have needed to get our students through the Associated Board Grade 5 Theory Exam, so that they can then move on from Grade 5 Practical up to Grade 8.

There are excellent books to help pass Grade 5 Theory. The ABRSM itself has its own ‘pink’ handbook, which is an invaluable reference, and there are the Music Theory in Practice books, which ‘explain’ each topic, with one or two worked examples, and then provide opportunities for the student to practise further. Finally, of course, there are years of past papers available.

In a way my worksheets – which I’ve entitled: Pass Grade 5 Theory! are different from all of the above: I have taken some typical questions as might be encountered in the Grade 5 exam, and gone through each one in a sort of dialogue fashion, asking the same questions of the candidate as I have done for many years’ teaching during an actual lesson.

I’m certainly not saying my methods are the best, or the only ones that work, but I have honed them over many years, and they do seem to work, with students’ successes confirming this virtually each exam session.

Each similarly, and modestly-priced worksheet deals with a particular topic, although General Questions sometimes include two or three.

I have arranged the worksheets as follows:

Cadences (4) General Questions (9) Composing Melodies (4) SATB (2) Scales (4) Transposition (4) Word-setting (4)

While there will be some duplication between worksheets in various topics, I have tried to mix things up so that anyone buying all the sheets, or all those under one topic, would find sufficient new ideas to warrant the outlay. Conversely, producing separate sheets gives the student and teacher the flexibility the get hold of how much or how little help they ultimately need, incrementally, as and when they need it.

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The ABRSM has just produced a 10-point set of 'Tips for candidates' for the 'Composing a Melody' section' - Libretto - March 2014