Improve Your Aural! Grade 3 (Revised): Book & CD

This workbook shifts aural from test prep into everyday musical practice. Harris understands that young musicians fear aural exams because the skill feels separate from their regular playing, so he weaves listening activities with singing, clapping, improvising, and composing to prove they're all the same thing. The CD accompaniments mean you don't need to sit at a piano for every exercise, making consistent ear training actually sustainable in a busy teaching schedule.

Approachable and exploratory rather than punitive. The workbook invites students to listen actively, mark their observations, and build confidence through recognition rather than forcing transcription on demand. Each activity builds on the last, creating a sense of progression without feeling clinical.

Grade 3 pianists and instrumentalists preparing for ABRSM exams or similar graded assessments, as well as any student whose ear training has been sporadic or anxiety-laden. Teachers seeking a structured resource that doesn't feel like grinding drill work will find a complete framework here.

• Start with the activities that match what students are already playing. If your Grade 3 students are working on melody in a particular range or rhythm in a specific meter, anchor the aural work there before expanding outward.
• Use the CD as a listening scaffold, not a crutch. Play passages multiple times and encourage students to sing along or clap the rhythm before attempting to write anything down.
• Rotate between modalities every few days. The workbook deliberately mixes writing, singing, playing, and improvising so ears stay engaged and students see how interval recognition transfers from one instrument to another.

Assign one activity per lesson or practice week starting six months before exam registration, making aural development a consistent thread rather than a cramming sprint in the final weeks. The interconnected design means you can reinforce concepts your students are already learning in repertoire or technique work, so aural becomes evidence of musical growth they can hear in their own playing.

• Identifying melodic intervals by ear
• Recognizing rhythm patterns and time signatures
• Distinguishing major and minor tonalities
• Notating short melodies from listening
• Singing intervals and pitch patterns accurately
• Understanding cadence types and harmonic progressions at Grade 3 level
• Transcribing simple two or four-bar phrases