Trinity Grade 5 sight-reading
Four piano sight-reading tests written to Trinity's published rules for Grade 5. Print them, or play one at your MIDI keyboard and get every note marked, then ask for a new one.
A short piece the candidate hasn't seen, set about two grades below the exam being taken. There is half a minute to look through it and try any of it out loud before playing it for the examiner. From Initial to Grade 5 it is one of four supporting tests, of which a candidate takes two; from Grade 6 every candidate takes it.
Play one on a MIDI keyboard in Chrome, Edge or Firefox on a computer, or Chrome on an Android phone or tablet, or on the keys on screen without one. Printing needs nothing. No keyboard yet? Which keyboard to buy.
What the test can ask for
| Trinity Grade 5 | These tests | |
|---|---|---|
| Length | Not stated for Grade 5 | Our choice: 8 bars |
| Time | 2/4, 4/4, 3/4 and 6/8 | The same |
| Keys | C, G, D, F, B♭, E♭ and A major; A, D, E, B and G minor (with G♯ in A minor) | The same |
| Hands | Not stated for Grade 5 | Our choice: hands together, the right hand moving within an octave and the left in five notes, holding one or two notes a bar |
| Note values | Quarter notes (crotchets), half notes (minims), half-note rests (minim rests), whole notes (semibreves), whole-note rests (semibreve rests), dotted half notes (dotted minims), tied notes, eighth notes (quavers), quarter-note rests (crotchet rests), dotted quarter notes (dotted crotchets), eighth-note rests (quaver rests), dotted quarter-note rests (dotted crotchet rests), sixteenth notes (semiquavers) and dotted eighth notes (dotted quavers) | Quarter notes (crotchets), half notes (minims), whole notes (semibreves), dotted half notes (dotted minims), eighth notes in pairs (quavers), dotted quarter notes followed by an eighth (dotted crotchet and quaver), simple sixteenth-note patterns (semiquavers) and dotted eighth notes followed by a sixteenth (dotted quaver and semiquaver) |
| Also | P and f, the tempo word moderato, simple phrasing, mf, the tempo word allegretto, mp, the tempo word andante, slurs, cresc. and dim. hairpins, staccato and accents, a move to the dominant (in a minor key, to the dominant or the relative major), changes of speed (rit., rall., accel. and a tempo), pause signs and simple pedalling | Not in these tests |
Not in these: half-note rests (minim rests), whole-note rests (semibreve rests), tied notes, quarter-note rests (crotchet rests), eighth-note rests (quaver rests) and dotted quarter-note rests (dotted crotchet rests); p and f, the tempo word moderato, simple phrasing, mf, the tempo word allegretto, mp, the tempo word andante, slurs, cresc. and dim. hairpins, staccato and accents, a move to the dominant (in a minor key, to the dominant or the relative major), changes of speed (rit., rall., accel. and a tempo), pause signs and simple pedalling. Practise those from printed music too.
Trinity's rules from its Piano Syllabus, graded exams from 2023 (online edition, February 2026): Parameters for sight reading tests, page 81. Clefsight isn't connected with ABRSM, The Royal Conservatory or Trinity College London. Clefsight writes these tests to the rules each board publishes for its piano sight-reading test; they aren't the boards' own tests, and a board's real test may use anything its rules allow.
Test 1
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Test 2
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Test 3
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Test 4
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Play a new Trinity Grade 5 test
Trinity Grade 5 sight-reading tests from clefsight.com/sight-reading/exams/trinity-grade-5. Play any of them, or a new one, at a MIDI keyboard there and get every note marked.
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