Keyboard for Trinity Grade 4 by Jebakumar Benjamin Durairaj

This 36-hour intermediate online course offers one class per week, led by our highly experienced and skilled instructors. Enhance your skills with personalized guidance and take the next step in your certification journey with confidence!

1. Music Notation & Theory

• Reading and interpreting advanced musical notation with accidentals, key signatures, and rhythmic patterns.
• Understanding ties, slurs, dotted rhythms, and syncopation with more complex rhythmic values.
• Recognizing dynamic markings, articulation symbols, and expressive terms.
• Identifying chord inversions, seventh chords, and harmonic progressions.

 

2. Keyboard Exercises

• Students should play one of the following scales in the right hand (RH), accompanied by chords I, IV, V7, and VI in the left hand (LH):
• Ab major
• E major
• C harmonic minor

 

3. Scales & Chord Knowledge
 

Scales (hands separately):

• Ab major
• E major
• C minor (candidate’s choice of harmonic, melodic, or natural minor)
• Lydian scale on Ab
• Mixolydian scale on E
• Ab major pentatonic
• C minor pentatonic
• Blues scale on E


Chromatic scales:

• In similar motion starting on Ab and E


Chords in root position:

• Ab°
• E°
• Eb°7
• B°7


Chords in root position, first, second, and third inversions:

• Eb7
• B7

 

Chord progression I-VI-IV-V7-I in the following keys:

• Ab major
• E major
• C minor

 

4. Repertoire

• Perform three contrasting pieces from the Trinity Grade 4 syllabus, focusing on:
• Accurate rhythm, tempo, and articulation.
• Expressive phrasing with dynamics and musical sensitivity.
• Demonstrating appropriate style and character of each piece.

 

5. Sight Reading

• Candidates will be given 30 seconds of preparation time.
• Perform a previously unseen musical extract at a level approximately two grades lower than the exam being taken.

 

6. Aural Skills

• Answer questions based on a single musical example played by the examiner.
• Identify:
• Changes in pitch, rhythm, and dynamics.
• Recognition of melodic and rhythmic patterns.
• Basic harmonic and interval recognition.
• Distinguishing between major and minor chords.

 

7. Hanon Exercises

• Hanon Exercise No. 7 or 8:
• Develop finger strength, dexterity, and independence.
• Practice with both legato and staccato articulation.


8. Practice Tips

• Isolate difficult passages and practice them slowly with consistent fingering.
• Work on smooth chord transitions and accurate inversions.
• Pay attention to dynamics and articulation for expressive performance.
• Use a metronome to maintain steady tempo and rhythm.
• Practice hands separately before combining for complex sections.

 

9. Assessment Methods

• Performance evaluation based on repertoire, sight-reading, and aural skills.
• Graded on accuracy, musicality, and technical proficiency.
• Assessed on fluency, expression, and confidence during the exam.