Grade 4 is the level where compound time arrives. Up to and including Grade 3 the rhythmic world is mostly simple: two, three or four beats in a bar, each beat divisible by two. From Grade 4, 6/8 enters the catalogue, and with it the difference between counting six quavers and feeling two dotted-crotchet beats. Candidates who learn to feel 6/8 sail through the rest of the syllabus. Candidates who don’t spend Grade 4, 6 and 8 struggling with the same problem in different costumes.
Grade 4 adds no new keys, which sounds like a reprieve until you notice what it adds instead: anacruses, chromatic passing notes, pause signs, tenuto markings, and the expectation that you read all of them at sight. Examiners are looking for musical shape now, not just correct notes. Grade 4 is the first grade where dynamic shape and articulation are properly tested.
This guide covers what the main examination boards expect at Grade 4, how to prepare for the test, and which pieces in Sight Reader sit at the right level for practice.
What examiners expect at Grade 4
The piano grade boards used around the world agree on more than they disagree at this level. Whichever board you are sitting under, the Grade 4 sight-reading test is short, played with both hands together, sits outside the 5-finger position, and now uses compound time signatures in addition to the simple ones. The rhythmic vocabulary carries forward all earlier patterns and adds chromatic passing notes, anacrusis, pause signs (U or fermata) and tenuto markings. The key catalogue is the same as Grade 3. Where the boards differ is mainly in length, what they emphasise, and whether the test is compulsory.
| Board | Length | Keys (cumulative) | Time signatures (cumulative) | Prep | Compulsory at Grade 4? |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ABRSM (UK) | c. 8 bars | C, G, F, D, A, B♭, E♭ major; A, D, E, G, B minor | 2/4, 3/4, 4/4, 3/8, 6/8 | 30 seconds | Yes |
| Trinity (UK) | ~8 bars | Up to 3 sharps or 3 flats | Simple and compound | 30 seconds | No, one of four chosen supporting tests |
| LCM (UK) | Short | Up to 3 sharps or 3 flats | Simple and compound | 60 seconds | Yes |
| RCM (Canada & USA) | Short | Up to 3 sharps or 3 flats | Simple and compound | Brief look | Optional at Levels 1–5 (one of four chosen supporting tests); required at 6+ |
| MTAC Certificate of Merit (USA) | Short | Up to 3 sharps or 3 flats | Simple and compound | Brief look | Yes |
| AMEB (Australia) | Short | Up to 3 sharps or 3 flats | Simple and compound | Brief look | Yes in Comprehensive; choose with aural in Piano for Leisure |
A few differences are worth knowing. Trinity, RCM and AMEB’s Piano for Leisure stream all let you avoid sight reading at Grade 4 by choosing a different supporting test. LCM gives a full minute of preparation, useful at a level where 6/8 has just arrived and the candidate has to choose between counting in two and counting in six before they play. ABRSM publishes the most explicit Grade 4 specifications, and the data in the ABRSM row is drawn directly from the published syllabus.
The shape of the test has been stable for decades, but the exact bar lengths and rhythmic vocabularies are revised from syllabus cycle to syllabus cycle inside small bounds. Check the current syllabus from your board before you sit the exam.
How to practise sight reading at Grade 4
The Grade 3 advice still applies: scan the key signature first, read intervals as shapes, plan the hand-position shifts. The Grade 4 additions are below.
Feel 6/8 in two, not in six. This is the single most important habit to install at Grade 4. The bar contains six quavers but the pulse is two dotted crotchets. If you count “one two three four five six” the music will feel heavy and the tempo will collapse on the trickiest bar. Conduct in two while you practise. Most pieces at Grade 4 in 6/8 are at a moving tempo, and the two-per-bar feel is how you achieve it.
Look for the anacrusis. A piece that begins with an anacrusis (an upbeat or pickup) gives you a partial bar before the first downbeat. If you count from “1” instead of from the anacrusis, the whole piece will be a beat out. Check the first bar. If it has fewer beats than the time signature suggests, you have an anacrusis. Count yourself in including the upbeat.
Read chromatic passing notes as contour, not letters. Grade 4 introduces chromatic notes between two stable notes. Reading them as letter names is too slow. Reading them as a “filling in” of the gap between two notes is fast and accurate. Train this by playing chromatic scales until the visual shape of a chromatic step is instant.
Pre-decide what to do at a pause sign. A pause sign (U or fermata) means “hold longer than written”. How much longer is a judgement call you cannot make at performance tempo. Pre-decide: roughly one extra beat of silence, unless the context strongly suggests otherwise. Examiners want to hear a confident pause, not a confused one.
Watch dynamics actively. Grade 4 examiners expect dynamic shape, not just correct notes. The candidate who reads the music at one flat volume and ignores the markings is missing the point of the test. Mark the loudest and softest bars in your scan and aim for them deliberately.
Prepare for the exam by playing the Grade 4 levels in Sight Reader
Sight Reader’s Grade 4 is a path built around the same constraints the examiners use, with 6/8 introduced methodically through pieces that move in a clear two-per-bar pulse. The levels also drill anacrusis, chromatic passing tones, pause signs and the wider dynamic shape expected at this level.
The most concrete exam-preparation milestone we can recommend is this: play every Grade 4 level at 90% accuracy or higher before you sit the exam. ABRSM keys and rhythmic vocabulary are cumulative, so once you have made the Grade 4 levels reliable, run back through the earlier grades to keep them current.
A second milestone, for candidates aiming for distinction: finish at least one full pass through the levels without dropping below 75% on any of them. Consistency across the simple and compound time signatures is the most reliable predictor of a distinction at Grade 4.
Pieces from the Sight Reader library to read at this level
Browse the difficulty 4 library for the catalogue at this level. The composers you will see most often:
- Béla Bartók. Mikrokosmos Books 2 and 3. Bartók’s writing is particularly good Grade 4 training because of the mixed simple and compound meters and the modal accidentals that prepare the ear for Grade 5.
- Dmitri Kabalevsky. Pieces from Op. 27 and Op. 39. Twentieth-century classroom writing, friendly to read, and rhythmically varied.
- Friedrich Burgmüller. Middle-difficulty numbers from Op. 100, the 25 Easy and Progressive Studies. The character pieces give your sight reading a tune to follow.
- Muzio Clementi. Easier sonatinas from Op. 36. Classical phrasing, gentle modulations, clear two-hand writing.
- J. S. Bach. The simpler two-part inventions and selections from the Notebook for Anna Magdalena Bach. Two-voice baroque writing is ideal for the eye-discipline Grade 4 expects.
These are Pro-tier in our library at this difficulty. The library’s difficulty filter shows what is available; pieces marked with a lock require a Pro membership to play.
Common pitfalls at Grade 4
Three mistakes account for most of the lost marks at this level.
The first is ignoring the dynamic shifts altogether. Candidates who read accurately at one flat volume often come away thinking they have done well. They have not. Grade 4 is the first grade where examiners are listening for dynamic shape as part of the mark scheme, and a piece with no dynamic variation will score in the middle band even if every note is correct.
The second is counting 6/8 as six quavers. The piece sounds heavy and pedestrian, and the candidate usually runs out of time on the more flowing bars. The fix is to internalise the two-per-bar feel of compound duple before you read any 6/8 piece in earnest.
The third is missing the anacrusis and starting on a downbeat. The piece is then a beat out of phase with itself for the rest of the test, and the candidate either hears it and panics or carries on unaware. Either way the mark is lost.
Before this, and up next
- Before this: How to practise piano sight reading at Grade 3.
- Up next: How to practise piano sight reading at Grade 5.
FAQ
How long should I practise sight reading at Grade 4?
Ten minutes a day, every day. Grade 4 is the first grade where the rhythmic vocabulary requires real practice time to internalise, and shorter sessions struggle to cover both simple and compound meters in a single sitting.
What is the equivalent of Grade 4 in other exam boards?
Grade 4 maps closely to Trinity Grade 4, LCM Grade 4, AMEB Grade 4 and RCM Level 4. MTAC Certificate of Merit Level 4 is at a comparable difficulty.
What is new at Grade 4 compared to Grade 3?
The headline change is 6/8, the first compound time signature in the syllabus. The supporting changes are anacrusis, chromatic passing notes, pause signs and tenuto markings. No new keys at Grade 4.
How do I learn to feel 6/8?
Conduct in two while you play 6/8 pieces: one beat on the first quaver of each group of three, another on the fourth quaver. Practise this with the metronome set to two clicks per bar, not six. After a week of this the feel becomes automatic.
How long before I am ready for Grade 5?
Play through all of the Grade 4 levels in Sight Reader. If you can complete each level at 90% accuracy or higher without stopping, and your 6/8 feels as natural as your 4/4, Grade 5 material starts to be useful. Grade 5 adds four new keys and 4-part chord textures, which is a bigger step than Grade 4 was.
Sources
- ABRSM Piano Practical Grades Syllabus, sight-reading specifications. https://www.abrsm.org/sites/default/files/2023-09/piano-2023-2024-practical-grades-syllabus-may-2022.pdf
- Trinity College London, Grade 4 supporting tests guidance. https://www.trinitycollege.com/qualifications/music/grade-exams/piano/piano-grade-4
- LCM Examinations, Music Grades Specification. https://lcme.uwl.ac.uk/media/jeelt5f4/music-grades-specification.pdf
