Edexcel A2 Music Thread 2016/2017

Gosh this is an excellent thread! I will try and add some sources I have found useful for learning Counterpoint and SATB (for those doing technical tasks) and the aural portion/wider listening.

Reply 2

OP

Anyone else doing the "Dialogue" Composition Brief? Looking for a bit of inspiration :no:

Reply 3

Anyone doing the technical tasks (particularly counterpoint)?

Reply 4

beth.stoney

7

Original post by auburnstar

Anyone doing the technical tasks (particularly counterpoint)?

I am - the counterpoint and the Bach chorale.

How are you finding it?

Reply 5

Original post by beth.stoney

I am - the counterpoint and the Bach chorale.

How are you finding it?

Ah, doing the same two!

I'm finding them ok on principle - I've done a lot of SATB practice from last year and the fact it's more harmonic and less rhythmic is easier. The counterpoint is trickier - I know what I need to do (eg no parallels, no awkward writing, follow fingering, imitations and sequence etc) but it's when I get to applying it that it becomes hard. My teacher isn't really the best so I'm going to have to teach myself how to do it -.-

Reply 6

beth.stoney

7

Original post by auburnstar

Ah, doing the same two!

I'm finding them ok on principle - I've done a lot of SATB practice from last year and the fact it's more harmonic and less rhythmic is easier. The counterpoint is trickier - I know what I need to do (eg no parallels, no awkward writing, follow fingering, imitations and sequence etc) but it's when I get to applying it that it becomes hard. My teacher isn't really the best so I'm going to have to teach myself how to do it -.-

Yeah it's similar for me, the SATB isn't too much of a jump from last year, but the counterpoint is a lot more challenging. I've found that just practising and practising the exercises from previous years has helped. My teacher also suggested finding some original baroque counterpoint, then writing the melody from the given bass and figuring, and vice versa, then afterwards you can compare what you wrote with the original. It's a pretty good way of getting stylistic ideas.

Reply 7

OP

Had a look at all of the Past Paper Questions on this year's Set Works and these are them. Links lead to Mark Scheme which as appropriate marked content for questions. Apart from Morse, all of them have got at least one question referring to them - Stravinsky and Cage notably common

13-Marker Questions:
1. Pulcinella Suite by Igor Stravinsky is written in a neo-classical style. Identify features in the Sinfonia which recall music of the Baroque era. (SAM)
2. Stravinsky believed that in Pulcinella he succeeded in composing something which went beyond a basic eighteenth-century reproduction. How far is this assessment valid in the case of the Vivo? (2010)
3. Gabrieli's In ecclesiis was composed at a time when Venice was an extremely wealthy and powerful city state. How are both its splendour and creativity reflected in the music? (2012)
4. Passport to Pimlico was composed to accompany a fast-moving sequence of events in a comedy film. Explain how Auric creates this sense of pace and mood. (2012)
5. Describe Agbekor Dance, referring to its social context, use of rhythm, and performance practice. (2012)
6. Explain how the Sinfonia in Stravinsky’s Pulcinella Suite is a fusion of eighteenth and twentieth-century musical styles (2015)

36-Marker Questions:
1. Corelli Trio Sonata; Cage Sonatas; Schumann Kinderscenen; Examine the different uses of binary form in the three pieces listed above. (SAM)
2. Cage Sonatas; Schumann Kinderscenen; Haydn String Quartet: Compare and contrast approaches to melody and rhythm in the three works listed below. (2010)
3. Corelli Trio Sonata, Mozart Sonata, Shostakovich String Quartet; Compare and contrast the use of harmony and tonality in the three works listed below. (2012)
4. Sweelinck Pavana Lachrimae, Berlioz Harold in Italy, Narayan Rag Bhairav; Compare and contrast texture and melody in the three works listed below. (2012)
6. Sweelinck Pavana Lachrimae, Bach Brandenburg Concerto, Schumann Kinderscenen: Compare and contrast structure and tonality (2014)
7. Compare and contrast the use of rhythm (including metre) and texture in the three works listed below: Beethoven, Septet in E flat, Op. 20: movement, West End Blues, as recorded by Louis Armstrong and his Hot Five, Cage, Sonatas I-III for Prepared Piano (2015)
8. ) Compare and contrast harmony and tonality in the three works listed below: Corelli, Trio Sonata in D, Op. 3, No. 2: movement IV Haydn, String Quartet in E flat, Op. 33 No. 2: movement IV Tippett, Concerto for Double String Orchestra: movement I (2015)

Example of answers on our Set Works from Examiner's Reports (Great reading all the Examiner's Reports by the way, great advice for writing answers especially)
Pimlico 13-Marker
Agbekor 13-Marker
Stravinsky 13-Marker
Mozart, Corelli, Shostakovich 36-Marker
Sweelinck, Berlioz, Narayan 36-Marker

(edited 7 years ago)

Reply 8

Stravinsky and Cage notably common

nooooooo

Reply 9

Does anyone have any tips for the aural training/listening portion of the exam? I can get 7-8/10 on the comparison usually but the 18-mark listening question I don't get above 14 and dictation is a key weakness.

Reply 10

OP

Original post by auburnstar

Does anyone have any tips for the aural training/listening portion of the exam? I can get 7-8/10 on the comparison usually but the 18-mark listening question I don't get above 14 and dictation is a key weakness.

For the listening, I think practising Chord-guessing by getting someone to play the key chord to you and then doing another chord so you can hear what it sounds like and guessing it helps with identifying, so you can kinda have something to pin down in your own ear the difference between a Dominant / Subdominant chord for example.

For dictation, I think doing it in steps might help. Make sure you get the rhythm and the first note right first of all, so write down a "guess" on the first go by copying out a good accurate rhythm with vaguely guessed notes. Then maybe a bit of investigation, so hearing if the same idea gets played anywhere else in any form. And the next time you hear, try and think of the direction of the melody and the size of the jumps it's making from the first note, Fortunately I've got perfect pitch which makes dictation a bit unfairly simple so I sympathise with people who find it difficult because I can imagine it would be pretty challenging..

Reply 11

Original post by hogree

For the listening, I think practising Chord-guessing by getting someone to play the key chord to you and then doing another chord so you can hear what it sounds like and guessing it helps with identifying, so you can kinda have something to pin down in your own ear the difference between a Dominant / Subdominant chord for example.

For dictation, I think doing it in steps might help. Make sure you get the rhythm and the first note right first of all, so write down a "guess" on the first go by copying out a good accurate rhythm with vaguely guessed notes. Then maybe a bit of investigation, so hearing if the same idea gets played anywhere else in any form. And the next time you hear, try and think of the direction of the melody and the size of the jumps it's making from the first note, Fortunately I've got perfect pitch which makes dictation a bit unfairly simple so I sympathise with people who find it difficult because I can imagine it would be pretty challenging..

True, thank you for useful tips! I've currently been doing about 15 minutes of interval training a day but I did thirty minutes over half term every day with 10 minutes dictation which has helped. I find that I can now recognise minor 2nd, major/minor 3rd, perfect 4th, perfect 5th, tritone, major 6th and 7th - but minor 6th and minor 7th are harder (I think the dictation doesn't usually have a range greater than a 5th-6th though?) According to the training app I've progressed from 30% accuracy to 56% xD

Perfect/plagal cadences and the key centre (almost always dominant or relative minor) is easy though thankfully (Grade 5 aural skills yay). And after being drilled with SATB, iib-V7-I is hard to miss haha.

I will say, however, that I envy your perfect pitch. xD

Reply 12

OP

Just realised that the composition this year isn't worth 30% of the year but just 15% since it's accompanied by the Technical Study as well. Massive sigh of relief. Not so much riding on an examiner's taste in music D:

Reply 13

Original post by hogree

Just realised that the composition this year isn't worth 30% of the year but just 15% since it's accompanied by the Technical Study as well. Massive sigh of relief. Not so much riding on an examiner's taste in music D:

No, only their taste in Bach xDD

Joking aside, composition marking is crazy and I'm surprised they haven't done anything about it like other subjects

Reply 14

karenyim1

Original post by hogree

Anyone else doing the "Dialogue" Composition Brief? Looking for a bit of inspiration :no:

Hey, I am!
Do you know which instruments you're planning to do?
I've decided on Flute and Piano with a little idea going on.

Reply 15

OP

Original post by karenyim1

Hey, I am!
Do you know which instruments you're planning to do?
I've decided on Flute and Piano with a little idea going on.

Yeah I've gone with Flute and Bassoon. How are you planning to get across the Dialogue element of the comp, is it very obvious or quite subtle?

It's Josh btw from CYM ^^

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Reply 16

karenyim1

Hey Josh ^^
I think I'm planning to be both obvious and subtle. It would be a contrast of small remarks and then a series of the instruments clearly talking to each other :smile:

Btw, i think flute and bassoon would work really well together!
Have you started your composition?

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Reply 17

Has anyone done or started their chorale yet?

Reply 18

OP

Original post by auburnstar

Has anyone done or started their chorale yet?

Started it last Thurs, got the last two hours of assessment time next Thursday! Not too bad I don't think, any of the cadences?

Reply 19