Grade 5

At Grade 5, you can learn to play chromatic chords and demisemiquaver passages. You’ll perform three songs and build on your Grade 4 Session skills.

Choose your songs from our song list, including one of the Technical focus songs that develop particular skills. There’s an option for you to play your own cover version of a song or, if you’re a songwriter, one of your own songs.

You’ll find more information about how the exam works in the downloadable syllabus.

Grade 5 Keyboards song list

The Grade 5 Keyboards songbook includes everything you need for the exam – sheet music for six songs, performance tips, technical support and guidance on Session skills, together with a CD of demo and backing tracks. If you want to buy individual songs, choose them from the list below.

• Hold Your Head Up (Technical focus) The Zombies
• Life On Mars (Technical focus) David Bowie
• Nobody Does it Better Carly Simon
• Promise Me Beverley Craven
• The Raggle Taggle Gypsies Traditional
• Waterloo Sunset The Kinks

Grade 5 Keyboards demo video

Session Skills

Players choose Playback or Improvising.

Playback

You’ll perform some music you haven’t seen or heard before – you can sight-read from a song chart or play by ear from an audio track, or both.

Improvising

You’ll be given a song chart with chord symbols and song style and will improvise over a backing track.

Songs:  Hold Your Head Up, Life On Mars, Nobody Does it Better, Promise Me, The Raggle Taggle Gypsies, Waterloo Sunset,

• Download keyboards syllabus

• Tweet