I’ve been busy working away behind the scenes developing a full suite of Trinity music theory video courses and PDFs which I’m happy to announce are now available for enrolment.
Please see https://mymusictheory.newzenler.com/courses/category/trinity-syllabus for the new courses.
If you are interested in discovering more before making any purchase, I invite you to take a look at some of the new Trinity material free-of-charge:
https://mymusictheory.newzenler.com/courses/mymusictheory-free-sample-videos
If you then wish to sign up for a course, each individual grade can be purchased as a stand-alone course, or there are various bundle options available too.
The Trinity PDFs can be purchased (without videos) here: https://payhip.com/mymusictheory/collection/music-theory-courses-trinity
About the Trinity Exams
Since the ABRSM switched to online, multiple-choice exams for grades 1-5, there has been growing interest in the exams offered by Trinity College London. Trinity’s exams continue to be paper-based, and they also cover composition (which is now sadly missing from the ABRSM lower grades).
The Trinity syllabus at grade 1 is very similar to the ABRSM’s, but as the grades continue the boards diverge quite a lot. The main difference is that, for the early grades, the Trinity exams focus on developing skills (such as harmony, analysis and composition) whereas the ABRSM syllabus adds fewer skills but increases the complexity of keys and time signatures. Trinity’s later grades (6-8) are broader, including some topics which are outside of the major/minor system, such as the modes, whole tone scales, the blues, and eventually atonalism) whereas ABRSMs are narrower and more academic/traditional, focussed primarily on classical harmony and figured bass.
Theory students tend to fall into one of two camps: those who fascinated by how music works, and those who are simply happy to pass grade 5 so that they can continue with their higher practical grades, but have no other particular interest in the subject. If you fall into the latter group, the ABRSM grade 5 exam is a good option – you can take it online as soon as you are ready, and the questions are fairly easy to revise for. If on the other hand, you are interested in really developing your knowledge of theory, and applying it to composition, analysis and a deeper understanding of the music you are learning how to play, then Trinity’s syllabus might appeal to you more. Take a look at the sample videos for a taster!
Two other important points: Trinity grade 5 theory is an acceptable as an alternative prerequisite for ABRSM practical/performance grades 6-8.
Trinity also offers two music theory diplomas (AmusTCL and LmusTCL) which follow on logically from the topics learned at Trinity grades 6-8.
As always, any questions, give me a shout!
Victoria Williams
NB: If you already have a COMPLETE MEMBERSHIP package, you will find the Trinity courses are already included. Just log in to find them!