What is the Musical Aptitude Test (MAT)?

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We have created a target set of training materials for the Music Aptitude Test in conjunction with music technology experts. These sample tests are created in line with the MAT syllabus and will help you prepare for the test. Our test materials Blank test sheets and answers are available to download on our dedicated Music Aptitude Test web site.

Musical Aptitude Test - Specimen test paper (answer sheet) — MAT – Specimen paper answer sheet

Our test materials, blank test sheets and answers are available to download on our dedicated Music Aptitude Test web site. The site also contains information on individual and group training lessons held at our South London piano studio in East Dulwich. Browse through our blogs for lots of video tips and hints for mastering each section.

Many students applying for secondary schools on a music scholarship will be required to take a Musical Aptitude Test (MAT). This is usually a multiple choice test with 60 questions designing to test a candidate’s sense of musicality. For state schools that use the MAT, very often (but not always) the test is sat in a room full of students and it is a listening exercise. Scroll down to the end to see the variety of MAT often found at private schools.

The group MAT assesses your understanding of Pitch, Melody, Texture and Rhythm. Some schools such as Ashmole Academy use a longer test with graphic scores. We have training materials available for download to cover these tests. Generally, I find that candidates that score highly in aural and sight-reading tests in their exams find these questions relatively easy as they have a good understanding of the following subjects:

Pitch

Higher or Lower?
This part of the test asks you to listen to two sounds. You have to decide if the second note is higher or lower than the first or the same. Ask yourself if the second note is rising (higher) or falling (lower) or staying the same.

Melody
If a student is able to sing back a short melody or play it back on their instrument, this will stand them in good stead for the Melody questions. You can help your child at home by playing their favourite songs and asking them to sing back different sections of the songs to you, just using one syllable such as “la” instead of the words.

The Melody questions will play you one extract of 5 notes in length. The second version may or may not be different and you will be tested on whether you can hear the difference in a melody line by selecting the number of the note that is different.

Texture
The Aptitude Tests play a chord and ask you to identify how many notes you can hear. A chord is two or more notes. In the tests, they will ask you to differentiate between 2, 3 or 4 notes being played at once. The more notes are in the chord, the more dense the sound appears. Here are some tips for tackling the tricky Section 3 of the Music Aptitude Test which is available from our MAT Training Web site.

Rhythm
Sense of rhythm can be developed by plenty of clapping exercises. You can help your child at home with this by playing their favourite songs to them, then asking them to clap back short sections of the song to you. Once they have mastered familiar songs, then present unknown songs to them to see how they cope with unfamiliar rhythms.

Pitch
Sing the lower, middle or higher note of a chord (nb. this is not used by all schools):

Individual MAT
This is usually conducted one-on-one with the assessor at the piano.

Common questions that can be asked are:

Listen to a scale played on the piano and sing it back
Clap back a series of rhythms as an echo
Listen to a chord and isolate one of the notes and sing it back, i.e. in a 3-note chord, sing the middle note, or in a two-note chord, sing the highest. This is a difficult exercise and may be given to choristers, not instrumentalists.
Listen to a note played on the piano and sing it back
Listen to a tune and then sing it back
Sing at sight from a score whilst accompanied on the piano
Play a piece of pre-prepared music, either prepared a few days in advance, or on the day

Read more online:

Buy the specimen Music Aptitude Tests

Schools that have used the MAT in recent years include (please check via the links below whether the school are offering the MAT for 2016 entry):