Find a Grade 2 music theory tutor

Grade 2 music theory develops the reading and understanding of written music. It builds on earlier notation skills, adding work such as new time signatures and minor scales. It is a separate assessment from an instrumental Practical or Performance Grade.

Choose the board before choosing an exam workbook: ABRSM and Trinity do not have identical Grade 2 requirements. If you are learning without an exam, use the topics that help you understand a score, while keeping track of the foundations you need next. The comparisons below follow the ABRSM syllabus outline for Grades 1–5 and Trinity’s Theory of Music syllabus.

Try this constructed example: a bar in 2/2 contains a minim followed by two crotchets. Does it fit?

A common wrong turn is to read the top 2 and allow only two crotchet beats. The bottom 2 tells you that the beat unit is a minim, a note worth two crotchets. This bar needs two minim beats, equivalent to four crotchets.

Count in minim beats: 1 + ½ + ½ = 2. The minim occupies the first beat; the two crotchets share the second. Tap two steady beats, holding the first note through beat one and dividing beat two into two equal notes.

For a follow-up, replace the two crotchets with one minim. Two minims still fill the bar. Then compare a 2/4 bar: its two beats are crotchets, so it has only half as much written note value. A useful sign of progress is being able to name the beat unit before adding the notes, rather than judging a bar by how many note symbols it contains.

In this constructed example, start with D natural minor: D, E, F, G, A, B♭, C, D. The flat sign in B♭ means B lowered by a semitone, the smallest step between neighbouring piano keys. The key signature has one flat, B♭.

To make D harmonic minor, raise the seventh note, C, by a semitone. The result is D, E, F, G, A, B♭, C♯, D. The sharp sign in C♯ means C raised by a semitone. B♭ stays in place: raising the seventh does not turn B♭ into B natural. Write C♯ as an accidental beside that note, rather than adding it to the key signature.

For ABRSM Grade 2, use this to practise writing and recognising the harmonic form. For Trinity Grade 2, also compare the natural and harmonic forms and identify the one note that changes.

Now try A natural minor: A, B, C, D, E, F, G, A. Its key signature has no sharps or flats. The seventh note is G, so A harmonic minor becomes A, B, C, D, E, F, G♯, A. G♯ means G raised by a semitone; it is written as an accidental. You have understood the correction when you can explain both which note changes and why the key signature stays the same.

A useful lesson starts with what the learner can already read and write. Bring an attempted exercise, including the working and any crossed-out answer. This gives the tutor something more informative than a total mark. Agree a manageable routine around one difficulty at a time.

Latimer tuition is online first, with one-to-one lessons. Microsoft Teams is the default platform, with alternatives by agreement. In-person lessons depend on an individual arrangement with the tutor.