Discovering

Music Theory
THE ABRSM GRADE 1 WORKBOOK

Design by Kate Benjamin

Music origination for workbook by Moira Roach
Music origination for practice exam paper by Pete Readman
Cover and inside illustration by Andy Potts
First published in 2020 by ABRSM (Publishing) Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of ABRSM
© 2020 by The Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music
ISBN 978 1 78601 345 3
AB 4010
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system,
or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording,
or otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright owner.
Printed in England by Page Bros (Norwich) Ltd, on materials from sustainable sources
P14810
CONTENTS

Introduction
The Basics: Rhythm & Pitch 1
Chapter 1: Rhythm (Part 1) 2
Time values (notes); bars and metre; time signatures
Chapter 2: Pitch (Part 1) 8
Notes in the treble clef; notes in the bass clef;
minims, crotchets and quavers on the stave
Chapter 3: Rhythm (Part 2) 13
The semiquaver; grouping notes; rests
Chapter 4: Pitch (Part 2) 19
Accidentals; semitones and tones
Chapter 5: Rhythm (Part 3) 24
Ties; dotted notes; grouping dotted notes
Chapter 6: Scales 29
The scale of C major; the degrees of the scale;
tones and semitones in scales; the scales of G, D and F major
Chapter 7: Keys & Key Signatures 35
The keys of C, G, D and F major; key signatures
Chapter 8: Intervals 40
Intervals in C, G, D and F major
Chapter 9: Tonic Triads 44
The tonic triads of C, G, D and F major
Chapter 10: Terms & Signs 46
Chapter 11: Music in Context 51
Practice Exam Paper 55

Music examples are written by the author unless otherwise stated. Some music examples have been adapted to suit learning requirements.
1 RHYTHM In this chapter you will learn about
Time values (notes)
Bars and metre Exercise 3 Answer each musical ‘sum’ with one note. Smart tip
(PART 1) Time signatures
Use this note tree to
a + = help you with your
musical maths.

Time values b + =
Semibreve 4 counts
• Time values show how many counts a
note lasts. Four common time values are Minim 2 counts c + =
semibreves, minims, crotchets and quavers.
Crotchet 1 count
• Pairs of quavers add up to one count. d + + =
They are joined together with a beam: Quaver ½ a count
becomes e + + =

Exercise 1 Complete this table. Theory f + + =

in sound Smart tip
Name of note Looks like How many counts? Try clapping gf + = Watch out for the subtraction
different time sums in h and i .
values while your
Semibreve 4 teacher or a friend b
h – =
taps a steady
pulse. Count the
pulse out loud as bi – =
you clap.

Crotchet
Bars and metre
• Rhythm is the arrangement of notes of different time values over a pulse.
½
• The pulse is organised into bars containing a certain number of counts, or
beats. This organisation is called metre.
• We use bar-lines to make it easy to see where each bar starts and ends.
Exercise 2 Circle the correct answer for each question. • At Grade 1, we will explore bars containing two, three and four beats.

a Which of these notes has the shortest duration?

Bar
double bar-line
Did you know?
Double bar-lines are used at
b Which of these notes has the longest duration? œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ the end of sections of music.
Beats: 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4
c Which of these lasts longer than a minim? crotchet quaver semibreve bar-line

d How many counts is worth? 2 counts 1 count 4 counts

e How many counts is worth? 3 counts 2 counts 1 count

2 | Discovering Music Theory: Grade 1 Chapter 1: Rhythm (Part 1) | 3

 Time signatures: 2
Smart tip A time signature tells us how many beats there are 4œ œ
The following rhythms are made up of bars in each bar. At Grade 1 we will encounter the time 1 2
containing two, three or four beats. signatures used for music containing two, three or
3
four beats in a bar. 4œ œ œ
• The top number of the time signature shows you the 1 2 3
Exercise 4 Mark the beats in the following rhythms by adding numbers. number of beats in each bar.
4
• The bottom number shows you what the time value 4œ œ œ œ
a œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ ˙ of the beat is. At Grade 1, this number is always ‘4’, 1 2 3 4
which means that the beat is always measured in
1 2
crotchets (  ).
Beats:

Exercise 5 Circle TRUE or FALSE for each of these statements about time signatures.
b œ œ œ œ œ œ œ ˙ œ
a The top number tells you how many beats there are in each bar. true false
Beats:

b The bottom number tells you how many bars there are in each piece. true false
c œ œ œ œ œ œ œ ˙ w
c tells you there are three crotchet beats in each bar. true false
Beats:

d The time signature is written at the end of a piece of music. true false

d œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ ˙
e The number at the bottom tells you to count in crotchet beats. true false
Beats:

Common time: Theory in sound

is sometimes called common time. Try clapping the rhythms in
Challenge! When you see at the start of a
Exercises 4 and 6 while you
count or tap the beat.
Can you change the order of the notes in Exercise 4 b to create your own three-bar rhythm? piece, this means there are four
Write it down below, then see if you or your teacher can clap it while you count ‘1, 2, 3’ to the beat. beats in a bar, just as there are in .
c
Rhythm:

Beats: 1 2 3 1 2 3 1 2 3

4 | Discovering Music Theory: Grade 1 Chapter 1: Rhythm (Part 1) | 5

8 INTERVALS In this chapter you will learn about
Intervals in C, G, D and F major Exercise 2 Write one note after each tonic to form the named interval. The key is D major.
D major

? ## w w w w w w w
Intervals
• An interval measures the difference in pitch between two notes. 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8ve

• We can use the degrees of the scale to measure the intervals between the tonic of a key and
every other note in that key. Here are the intervals above the tonic in C major:
Theory in sound Smart tip
Sing or play (or ask someone to play) some of the intervals In Exercises 2 and 3, your
& ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙
˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙ ˙
written above. Try to get used to how they sound – some note should be higher than
intervals sound relaxing and others sound quite tense. the given note.

Degrees: 1 2 1 3 1 4 1 5 1 6 1 7 1 8
Interval: 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th/8ve
Exercise 3 Write one note after each tonic to form the named interval.
Remember to add accidentals where they are needed.

Did you know? C major D major

w
& w
We can use the term octave (8ve) or 8th
w
a
? w b
to describe the interval from C to C. w w
6th 3rd 5th
8ve 4th 3rd
F major G major
Exercise 1 Write the missing numbers to identify these intervals above the tonic.
w
& w w
c
? w
F major d

w w
w w
w
a &b w w w w w w w w w w w 7th 6th 2nd 3rd 8ve 7th

2nd 5th 8ve

Did you know?
G major Intervals can be written in two ways. Sometimes they will be
?# w w written one note after the other, as in a melody, and sometimes
b
w they will be written one note above the other, as a chord. In the
w w w w w w w w w w w
Grade 1 exam, intervals are written one note after the other.

w w
& w w
3rd 4th 6th
&
3rd 3rd

40 | Discovering Music Theory: Grade 1 Chapter 8: Intervals | 41