WAITWAITWAIT.

So make around 9 illustrated points to get full marks in the 13 mark question?

And 18 for the 36 marker?

Oh and if for example, I'm comparing Miles Davies and Brahms' rhythm, will I get 2 separate marks for stating that Davies uses syncopation in the first trumpet melody and then stating that similarly, Brahms uses syncopation in the violin and viola entrance at the beginning?


Good luck everyone! Lets hope the essays save us from the horrific nightmare that is listening...

Literally, my school is so crap at teaching music A level, so I've had to basically learn the information all by myself! It is stressful, but if you blag and try and write as much as you know hopefully we'll be alright! Also, it's only 15% of our overall Music A level, so it's not that terrible if we completely flunk it!

I'm doing musicals and I have no idea what will come up. Something from the first period would be ideal!

I know the feeling, music tends to be one of those subjects which is easy to drift along in! I HATE listening!! I've pratcised but it all seems so hit and miss! Overall, pretty nervous! Just hope my essays can make up for my rubbish listening skills!

Hey!

Thought I'd start a thread about this exam... what did everyone think?
I did The Trial and A Servant to two masters. Thought it was much harder than usual! So much to write about

Ah, i'm doing Alls well that ends well and far away/a number!

How exactly are you preparing for it?

I don't think they're 100% necessary, but I guess (if this is one for the start) it would include stuff like what you're planning to explore (e.g. themes, mediums), artists you're planning to look at, initial ideas for outcomes, material's you'll experiment with...

But yeah, I think it is pointless, I never got told I "had" to one as you easily gain the marks just by showing the marker visually how you've reached the outcome of your project through your pages/ annotations... or is this more for your teacher so they can see you know where you're going?

Nice! Im comparing King Kong, some of Franz waxmans works and am considering Batman! I find Glass's music really hard to analyse, tips? oh and im revising Belshazzar's Feast by William Walton.

Im going to leeds college of art for creatie advertising too! (I know this is a late reply! :)
although im either driving there or getting the train :( so no accommodation for me.
I just want to hurry up and start now! I got a place last year and turnd it down for some stupid reason! So i guess ill see you there :)

Hey, suffragettes is a great concept. I'm doing exactly the same and went with gang culture to focus on the war aspects. I take it that you're going down the feminist route. All you need to do is make sure that you can link your choices and decisions to traditional Greek theatre and mention the similarities/differences in your exam.

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What is your staging and seating going to be like? Are you keeping it similar to the Greek amphitheatre staging? If not, why not? So, if you're choosing in the round seating, is that because you want the audience to feel more intimate or included? Make sure you have a knowledge of your staging and reasons why.

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It's also important that you cover your set and how it links to your concept. 1880's-1910 was the height of the Suffragette movement so perhaps you might choose to locate it in a city square etc. Remember that in Lysistrata, there are only two sets; outside Lysistrata and Calonice's house and in front of the Acropolis (the acropolis has to be offstage remember.# Also, how are you going to stage the erect phalli that these men seem to walk around with? Or how will you show the Baby that Myrrhine and Cinesias have? What will you use for the old men's fire pitchers or the old women's water? What about your cast? How many? Make sure you KEEP LINKING BACK TO HOW ARISTOPHANES ORIGINALLY DID IT

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When this play was first performed at the Dianysis festival, there will have been 24 choral members but only 3 or 4 principle actors #they will have multi-rolled.# Your concept is basically a way for you to tick boxes on what you've learnt so far. I made the error of focusing too much on the artistic side and what it would look like on stage and so restarted. It's really just ticking boxes for the examiner.

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Something that I definitely had to think about was: WHAT IS YOUR KEY INTENTION? Make sure you know the key themes that your interpretation includes. My intention is to highlight the devastation of war and how everyone is a loser. Also, who influences your interpretation? Brecht is one of my influential practitioners because the old comedy style that Aristophanes used is well suited to large, exaggerated characters #buffoonery et.# I also plan to have my principle characters multi-rolling #as this is what they will have done in Ancient Greece# and I will have them changing costume on stage #as part of my Brechtian influence.#

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Aristophanes' original intention wouldn't have been feminism as the entire audience #with the exception of a few slaves# will have been male. #You could say that feminism relates more to a contemporary audience.# However, he does give Lysistrata a power and respect that the other women don't display #the other women are in fact shown as quite dim-witted.# How are you going to show Lysistrata as different to other women? Also, how will you differentiate between Sparta and Athens? Perhaps through costume? Accent? Make sure you have an idea for that :#

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I hope this has been some form of help. 1. MAKE SURE YOU HAVE A PRACTITIONER OR THEATRE COMPANY TO DRAW INFLUENCE FROM #and that it's relative to your concept and the play.# 2. MAKE SURE YOU KNOW YOUR INTENTION AND HOW YOU WANT YOUR AUDIENCE TO FEEL 3. MAKE SURE YOU HAVE THOUGHT OF YOUR CONCEPT FOR ALL ASPECTS OF THE PLAY #every scene, if you're setting it suffragette, how will you direct the Myrrhine and Cinesias scene where he is trying to bed her?# Good luck with your exam and concept! :);):D

I don't know.. Tbh I really want to know grade thresholds.. 91 was the boundary for A* last year, but this paper seemed, as is the general consensus, harder than 2012.

She's from Cornwall, putting on a Lily Allen accent! Should have been about eating pasties. That's why last year's was about surfing. :D

Because it was so different to the others? The paper has changed every year >.<

@sbtrkt1

I haven't looked, because I just aim to do as well as possible in the paper - I find that seeing the "minimum" I need to get is just off putting :P
Did anyone happen to find out what their coursework mark was? My teachers refused to tell us.

Hello so we have our ensemble GCSE performances coming up and we are looking for a flute trio to play.
We've gone to our music teachers but the one who would be helpful is a string player so she always refers us to the teacher than plays woodwind instruments but she isn't really helpful and always gives us Jazzy sort of pieces.
We're after something more classical, to play composers like Mozart or just classical sounding pieces - I say classical as a whole (not just the period of classical music). We are all around grade 6 or above so we aren't looking for something incredibly easy but it's good if it's not something extremely difficult. Something lower than grade 6 is alright too as you don't need to be able to play to that high a grade for Music GCSE. Actually, preferably something that is not too challenging because we don't have long to learn it.
Also, it's ok if it's a good arrangement of a piece or even if it wasn't specifically written for flutes but has been arranged. If there's like a violin trio or something that you think would work with flutes please tell me.

Please help us, we're desperate now :-(

Thank you!!

I know! I'm going to have to wait till August! The wait 'll kill me !!!!!

Just curious :$

So for my foundation project we were given the brief about modular design. We can make a 3d piece, furniture and garment under this topic but I am not sure about what modular is supposed to be. Would modular be considered as individual pieces that can be joined together as units to creat one piece, do they all have to be the same size and shape? Please help I'm not sure what to do, I was thinking of making a garment and looking at modular origami, etc.

Im good at the practical side of this course. My coursework scored almost full marks. However the theory side really lets me down, I just get lost with the wording of questions and dont have a clue what to say. Anyone else have that problem? This year i've just categorized my revision, so hopefully when answering questions ill be able to pick out the necessary points.

On the unheard questions listen for
who is playing
what and how they play
changes in the music

look at the number of marks. I try to write more points than there are marks ( peg for 4mks ii write 5-6points) so that if one is wrong i still get the marks.

I'm not sure the actual grade boundaries. If you're getting above 90% in anything though you're generally on an A*. CCEA Music is on Friday and I know so little of it. I'm just going to hope my composition was good enough to get an A.

Hey, how did you do in the end? I've got mine tomorrow - not a fan of this exam, I must say.

Me too! Hip Hop was the worst bit for me too... SO HAPPY THAT ELVIS POPPED UP!
I want an A too! The drum sequencer thing was so hard! You doing it next year?

Dont worry, just retake it next year. Try and get a copy of textiles at the cutting edge book, that pretty much has everything you need to revise from. AS and A2 overlap a lot do just try your best :/ the spec is so broad it's just difficult to revise for :/