Music Theory brings the various musical elements together in an organised way and gives your child a clear understanding of what you see on a page of music.

Some violin teachers do a few minutes of music theory at the end of a violin lesson. This is not ideal as it doesn't allow enough time to explain or demonstrate any of the theoretical elements in enough depth. Your child needs to do several written exercises to ensure each topic is understood clearly. 

I have several pupils who alternate lessons, one week violin the next week theory. This gives the child time (2 weeks) to do any theory homework I set along with the violin practice. This works well for older children, say 11yrs plus. For younger children 2 weeks can be too long between violin/theory lessons so I recommend weekly violin and theory lessons.

You may not be aware that your child cannot progress beyond ABRSM Grade 5 on the violin (or any instrument) without having achieved Grade 5 theory. 

In my experience it takes a child approximately 12 weekly theory lessons (30 mins each lesson) along with weekly homework tasks to complete each theory grade. That equates to 60 weeks - to reach grade 5 theory. If you take 37 weeks as the average number of teaching weeks in a school year you are looking at 18 months to achieve grade 5 theory.

Music theory can be a dry subject, but taught in the right way it can bring music alive and give your child the confidence he/she needs to interpret the music on the page. 

Click on the image below for some simple, fun interactive music games. They are great!

For the graded exams and Trinity Colleges Initial Test your child will be required to perform 3 pieces (with piano accompaniment). Play scales and arpeggios (finger exercises), sight read (play a short piece your child has never seen before), and demonstrate his/her listening skills, known as Aural tests. 

Trinity College London allow your child to choose two skills from the following four - Sight Reading, Aural, Improvisation and Musical Knowledge.

Each of these sections are marked separately and totalled up at the end. It's important that your child achieves in each of these sections to gain a good overall mark. Although a poor mark in one section can be saved by a particularly good mark in another section. 

Both the ABRSM and Trinity College have a pre Grade 1 exam designed to give your child an introduction to the Graded exams. 

The ABRSM however call this exam the Prep Test and do not use any marking system. It's not a pass/fail exam and hence puts no pressure on your child. There is still a certificate given on the day with constructive comments from the examiner.

If he/she is on the cusp between exam periods you should consider whether it's best to push your child on a little and take the exam earlier or give your child that bit of extra time to perfect all the requirements, this runs the risk of your child getting bored of the pieces etc. 

It's an important decision and one which shouldn't be taken lightly. Discuss it with your child's violin teacher. Do take in to account any other exams your child might be taking at the same time to avoid your child feeling overwhelmed.

Exams will either take place at your child's school or at a local exam center. The violin teacher usually enters pupils for music exams.

Here are the essential Sight Reading Top Tips to help get your child in shape before the exam date

Grade 1 ABRSM - D or A major. This means that the 4 bar sight reading will be based on the finger shape of either D or A major Scales. 2 #'s (two sharps) = D major, 3#'s (three sharps) = A major

Grade 1 Trinity College - Same as ABRSM but with the addition of G major 1# (one sharp)

Grade 2 ABRSM - G, D, A major or E natural minor Scales. Sight Reading 4 bars long.

 1 # (one sharp) = G major, 2 #'s (two sharps) = D major, 3 #'s (three sharps) = A major. E natural minor

 will have 1 # in the key signature but will show some D #'s as accidentals in the piece.

Grade 2 Trinity College - Same as ABRSM excluding the E natural minor key

Grade 3 ABRSM - G, D, A C, F, B flat majors and A, D G minor Scales. Sight Reading 8 bars long.

I have listed the #'s for G, D and A major Scales in the Grade 2 section above. Here are the keys which are additional for Grade 3:

A minor = no sharps or flats in key signature but G# will appear as an accidental

D minor = B flats. Note that C#'s will appear as accidentals

G minor = B flats and E flats. Note that F#'s will appear as accidentals.

Grade 3 Trinity College - Same as ABRSM but excludes G minor, F major and B flat major

These scales along with their sharps and flats need to be memorised.

Your Child needs to know how to match the key signature with the scale.

This gives your child the finger shape needed to play the sight reading piece correctly.

Check the time signature...know how many beats there are in a bar?

The only way to make commit these steps to memory is by practising them as often as you can during practice sessions. 

Take some time if you can to encourage your child to follow and learn the above steps. It will make a huge difference to the mark gained for the Sight Reading element.

These tests are all about listening skills. For example:

Being able to listen to a short melody played on the piano and sing it back.

Being able listen to a short piece of music and decide what the time signature is.

Some children find it very hard to sing in tune. They just can't hear the notes and pitch them. If this is the case with your child it's a good idea to just focus on 1 note and ask him/her to sing it back. Once this improves then move to 2 notes. You can use the D or A strings to start off with. Try to build them up to being able to sing 4 or 5 notes one after the other correctly.

Both the ABRSM and Trinity College publish an Aural Test CD. It's worth buying them to help improve your child's Aural skills. 

You can also click on the image below to get online help with aural tests.