Hello all. Please help if you can. I have just completed the second of the two assoc board online free practice paper, grade 5 theory and I think there is a mistake, but am not sure if I am just completely misunderstanding intervals.

Qu. 4 (a) (i) part B asks for us to circle a diminished melodic 5th in the bassoon part, and they say 2 are present in bar 6, but I think these are perfect 5ths, and I cannot find a diminished melodic 5th in the bassoon part anywhere. Please tell me if I am right, or if these are in fact diminished, why ? What am I missing?

Thank you so much in advance

Hi Lucy-Loo

Sorry no-one answered your question. I’ve only just come across this forum and don’t know too much about music theory but I passed Grade 5 last year.

You’ve probably realised the answer yourself by now. I think you simply overlooked the fact that, although the bassoon part is shown above the piano part, it has a bass clef not a treble clef. There are no sharps or flats so the interval is simply B to F which is a difference of 6 semitones and therefore a diminished 5th. I think you wrongly assumed it was treble clef, so the interval looked to you as being from G to D which is a difference of 7 semitones and therefore a perfect 5th.

Good Luck with your Grade 5!