Software for ABRSMpiano practice.

What the software covers — and what it doesn't

Xascada's exercise library is ABRSM technical work: scales, arpeggios, broken chords and contrary motion, Grade 1 to Grade 8. Each exercise is tagged by hand, octaves and tempo, so the list you work from is the list your grade asks for.

Pieces can be drilled too if you have them as MIDI files — open one and load it into a drill. Sight-reading and aural tests are outside what Xascada does.

Xascada is independent software. It is not affiliated with or endorsed by ABRSM.

A practice routine built on the score

Scales improve when you can see them improve. This is the loop the scoring is built for:

1. 1 Filter the exercise list to your grade and pick the exercise that's weakest.
2. 2 Run it in step-mode first. The drill waits on each note, so you're learning the fingering, not racing the tempo.
3. 3 Play a scored run. Read the accuracy and the perfect / good / miss split, not just the stars.
4. 4 Check the trouble spots Xascada detected and drill those notes on their own.
5. 5 Come back tomorrow and run it again. The star rating is against your personal best, so the only person you're measured against is you.

What a score tells you

“That sounded better” is hard to act on. A run that moved from 78% to 86% accuracy, with the misses clustered in the same two notes of the descent, tells you exactly where tonight's ten minutes should go.

Every run is kept in your history with its score, streak and personal best, so a week of practice before an exam is something you can look at rather than guess about.

What you need

A computer running Windows 10 or 11, 64-bit, or macOS 12 or later, Apple Silicon and Intel, and a MIDI keyboard. Any standard MIDI keyboard or controller — 25 keys to 88, weighted or not. A wider keyboard covers the multi-octave exercises at the higher grades.