ABRSM Grade 2 Online Music Theory

Explore the time value of notes in rhythm, linking crotchet (one beat), minim (two), and semibreve (four) to quaver and semiquaver, including dotted notes for grade one ABRSM.

Explore rests in music from semibreve rest (four beats) to dotted rest values, including minim, crotchet, quaver, and semiquaver rests.

Learn how tied notes join identical pitches to hold duration across notes, and compare ties with slurs by playing tied notes as one value.

Explore bars, bar lines, and double bar lines; learn that each bar contains a specified number of beats per the time signature and is separated by a bar line.

Learn how time signatures use the top number for beats per bar and the bottom number for beat type, with crotchet, minim, and quaver examples.

Explains triplets as three notes sharing the time of two, with examples using crotchets, quavers, minims, and semiquavers.

learn to answer question 1.1 by identifying the time signature for a bar, counting crotchet, minim, or quaver beats, and applying dotted crotchet and triplet ideas in 3/8 and 4/4.

Develop skills for question 1.2 by drawing bar lines that fit the time signature, using exam-style examples with quavers, rests, triplets, and beat counting per bar.

Explore question 1.3 on time value of notes and key signatures, with an example showing how a dotted minim equals three crotchets, and how three crotchets equal six quavers.

Group two four, three four, and four four time beat by beat, avoiding unnecessary ties. Learn beaming rules for quavers and semiquavers, and how rests shape correct grouping.

Explore how to group notes in 2/2, 3/2, and 4/2 time, with rules for minims, crotchets, quavers, semiquavers, semibreves, and rests.

Group notes for 3/8 time by beaming quavers and semiquavers together, while rests are split and grouped quaver beats by quaver beats.

Explore how question 1.4 tests grouping in ABRSM grade 2 theory, showing that in 3/8 time all three quaver beats should be beamed together.

Analyze how question 1.5 tests grouping and rest in three four time by checking rest values sum to the time signature and are grouped by crotchet beats.

Explore how to double or half the time in time signatures by adjusting the top and bottom numbers and changing crotchet beats, note values, tails, and dots.

Demonstrates how to double note values in a 3/4 bar, showing quavers become crotchets, semiquavers become quavers, and triplet signs stay unchanged while notes double to minims.

Identify C D E F G A B on the piano by recognizing patterns of two and three black keys, and map notes across octaves.

Master ledger lines up to two above and below treble and bass clefs to read notes from middle C to C6. Learn how ledger lines extend the staff across clefs.

Explore semitones and tones on a piano, defining a semitone as the smallest western musical interval and a tone as two semitones, with practical keyboard examples.

Explore how sharps rise a note by a semitone to the right on keyboard and how flats fall a semitone to the left, with examples for a, d, and f.

Discover how accidentals work: sharps and flats last for the bar and apply to following notes, then reset at the next bar.

Discover how key signatures sit beside the clef and make every note sharp or flat. Accidentals last only within a bar; key signatures persist until changed.

Learn how natural cancels a sharp or flat, how it applies within the same bar, and how key signatures affect notes like e, f, and b.

practice naming notes in bass clef in question 2.1, using reference notes such as middle c, c3, and c2, and apply the key signature to identify f sharp.

Determine the required clef in question 2.2 by noting that treble clef places middle C higher notes like C5 and C6, so the note is A on the treble staff.

Learn how to tackle question 2.3 by rewriting notes in the new clef while keeping the pitch the same, using middle C as reference between treble and bass clefs.

Determine whether a statement in question 2.4 is true by comparing D flat and D, and explain that flats lower and sharps raise pitch on the piano.

Learn key signatures and charts for major and minor keys, including C major, G major, D major, F major and A minor, E minor, D minor, with sharps and flats.

Analyze sample questions 3.1 and 3.2 to identify e-flat major's three-flat (b flat, e flat, a flat) and b minor's two-sharps (f sharp, c sharp) using inverted V pattern.

Explore major scales with sharps and flats, learn ascending and descending patterns, and master why the third and fourth notes and the seventh and eighth notes are semitones.

Explains harmonic minor in the grade two syllabus, showing how to sharpen the seventh scale degree for ascending and descending forms, with examples g sharp, d sharp, and c sharp.

Analyze a sample question 3.3 to determine where accidentals are needed in a D major melody by applying sharps to F and C notes in bass clef.

Explore how to identify the correct key of a melody by drawing a key signature chart, counting steps for major and minor keys, and analyzing flats and sharps.

Question 3.5 asks you to decide if a statement is true by identifying fourth degree of e-flat major, where b-flat, e-flat, a-flat shape the key and a must be flat.

This sample question 3.6 asks for the correctly written b harmonic minor descending scale, with key signature f sharp and c sharp and the sharpened seventh a sharp.

Identify semitone intervals in a major key by the third-to-fourth and seventh-to-eighth notes, or by tracing each pair on the piano using the sample question 3.7 in B flat major.

Analyze a sample from ABRSM grade 2 music theory: in e harmonic minor, sharpen the seventh (D) and apply f-sharp; identify the two incorrect notes in the given scale.

Learn to find intervals by counting upwards with the space and line method for ABRSM grades 1 and 2, using a bass clef C to C example.

Identify intervals in question four by counting note letters, showing a third between D and F and a sixth between the indicated notes in D major.

Explain tonic triads in major keys with the stack above method from the lowest note (C, G, D, F) and note sharps or flats for staff notation.

Explore grade tonic triads in major and minor keys, including a major, b-flat major, e-flat major, and a minor, e minor, d minor, d major; stack in treble and bass.

Explore questions 5.1 to 5.3 on tonic triads, identifying true/false statements, completing triads with accidentals in e-flat major, d major, b-flat major, and a major by lowest note.

Explore music in context via exam-style questions on a short music extract, covering rhythm, terms and signs, with upcoming lessons showing how to answer.