What's in the exam?
Find out about our Performance Grades and alternative route to a graded music exam.
- Three accompanied songs
- Unaccompanied song (folk song)
- Sight-singing
- Aural tests
Singing Grade 1
Key exam information
Supporting applications
Singing Practice Partner
Featuring all 66 accompaniments from the Songbook Plus series. Download the tracks you need and sing in your chosen key, at your chosen speed!
Unaccompanied song
Read our guide to the unaccompanied song.
What the examiner looks for
- Excellent communication
- Totally secure memory
- Overall pitch sustained with assurance
- Accurately controlled intervals and intonation
- A well-chosen, comfortable key for the candidate’s voice – ideally a singer will know this instinctively and not need a starting note from the piano
- Effective tempo choice and inherent sense of rhythm
- Instinct and ability for story-telling
- Facial involvement – a singer’s eyes are so important
- Expressive use of colour and dynamics
- Use of rubato where appropriate