OCR A level music

Eugh.....actually I'm not stressing too much yet, but I'm sure I will be soon enough. I'm basically screwed if I don't get an A....and it sucks that I have no idea I've got in the composition and performance as they're marked by external people so I don't know how well I have to do on it.

Tbh though, I feel more prepared for it than the AS exam....the listening questions actually seem easier than last year for some strange reason. The essays I quite enjoy actually and they normally give you a broad enough choice that there's 2 that you can do.

However though, the thing that I'm most worried about is getting the paper finished. I find it really hard to do the listening extracts quickly, and I have a fear that I'm going to run out of the time by I get to the synoptic essay because I have a tendancy to write far too much and waffle.

What topic are you doing the first essay on? We've studied topic 4 so hopefully there will be a question where I can blabble on about Bernstein and West Side Story because that's fairly easy for me.

Reply 2

I'm doing it too. I am preeeetttty worried about it, really...our teacher for the historical topic had a stroke over Christmas (he's fine, but not back in school yet) so we've basically just been piled with sheets and told to hope for the best. And if I don't get an A I'm screwed too.

The thing is, I just don't know how many works I need to know for the historical bit (I'm doing Aspects of Romanticism which is just the WORST, I can't stand romanticism...literally ANY of the other topics would have been better, and I especially wish we were doing topic 4 since it's covered so well in the ********* book). I've got a *kind of* overview of the basic ideas Wagner was working to, a bit on Rossini, a bit on Sullivan, and I'll be self-teaching some Berlioz this week. I know Schubert and Schumann in more detail, can quote some bits of their lieder, and I can ramble about the influence of Goethe.

But it's SO HARD to learn ANY musical quotations from Wagner. Partly because it's SO rambly (baaaaahhh, just CADENCE already) but also because there's just so damn much of it. I don't know which bits are and which aren't important. And I'm not quite sure how well I need to know it musically, or whether the historical/context side is more important.

Paniiiiiiiiic.

I'm also really hoping I won't just completely freeze up in the synoptic question. I'm good at the general ones (please, PLEASE let 'Is Tonality Dead?' come up again...) but not so good at the ones focusing on socio-political stuff. Gah.

Reply 3

For the synoptic question, I'm hoping either for one on advantages/disadavantages of live vs recorded music because that's a fairly easy argument with clear points on either side, or one on nationalism/music of a certain country because for that I'd choose American music and go on about Copland/Gershwin/Bernstein because I know quite a bit about that and it's quite simple to link ideas about music being brought in from all sorts of cultures to form a true American musical identity.

Reply 4

How did you pick up the information about nationalism, for example? It's not the sort of thing we've ever covered at school and I wonder if I just have such a lousy grasp of background because I'm rubbish :frown:

Reply 5

Satine

Doing practice essays really. Our teacher has been quite good through the year and we've done quite a lot where we'd prepare them with notes and everything in class and then have a couple of weeks to do them. As a result we've basically done enough practice essays that we'll be able to do at least one. My background knowledge isn't that great really.....I'd only be able to do about nationalism if I was writing about American music.

Reply 6

The perfect questions would be in section B:

Describe some of the techniques used by Bernstein in West Side Story ( That was on last year though :frown:

)

And in section C:

Describe how advances in technology have contributed to composing.

Although I think I'm going to chose one which is just based on my own opinion, e.g. How have pieces of music you have heard affected your composition?

We've been given no notes on section C, our teachers are dead nice but they know **** all. Will they mark you down if you use modern music quotations like bands/music you're into and stuff, if it's relevant to the question?

Has anyone got that ********* book? I think it's pants. Although the music extracts are really quite nice so I just listen to them and forget about the questions :smile:

Reply 7

The green listening test book? Yeah we've been doing those....I think they're a bit harder than the actual listening bits of the papers, although compared to last year, I'm stressing far less about the listening than for AS.

They don't mind modern quotations at all. If you're doing an essay on modern technology in composition, or dissemination of music or effect on society or anything, relevant quotes from bands on that technology or about the effect of myspace or whatever is appropriate. Examiners can't be expected to know everything, so if you structure your answer well and make a coherent argument, it really doesn't matter where quotes come from if you want to stick them in.

Reply 8

Has anyone got any notes on musicals that influenced West Side Story?

Do we even have to know that? O God.

Reply 9

lyrical_maze

I'm doing the new topic... Britten and The Beatles and that and i have no idea what i'm doing. I'm currently trying to learn the text book word for word and then 'regurgitate' it in the exam but apply it to the question... fingers crossed because our teachers don't have a clue.

Reply 10

chelsea_bluebird

I'm doing the Romantic music topic. German and Italian Opera. I'm screwed too if I don't get an A which is looking likely =S I'm kinda stressing about the essays. Hopefully something will come up about the nationalism/folk music in the Section C.

Reply 11

chelsea_bluebird

I'm doing that too, only my 'specialism' is Lieder, I'm not so good on the opera (I have no notes on Verdi and the textbook is RUBBISH, AARGH). How much are we actually supposed to know about the opera? I've got a basic tonal structure of Tristan Und Isolde, I'm learning leitmotifs, I'll be brushing up on gesamtkunstwerk tomorrow (which admittedly I don't really understand), and I'm not really sure what else to do, if there is anything.

I have nothing for Verdi, though, apart from a plot of Aida. If ANYONE can furnish me with any decent information armfuls of love and rep will be winging your way.

The problem is that our music teacher had a stroke in December, so the three of us doing music have pretty much self-taught from notes. The problem is that there are some gaps in the notes, and Verdi is a Very Big Gap.

The one good thing about this course is that I thought I really hated Romantic music, and now I really like Schumann (I like Schubert too, but he, in my humble opinion, is pwned by Schumann).

Reply 12

lyrical_maze

im scared about this whole paper.... our teachers have not taught us. What could come up in section c?

Reply 13

^^^ Anything and everything. We were so badly taught :frown:

I'm going to be sick on this paper, and not in a good way.

Reply 14

Oh my God. OH MY GOD.

If Lieder doesn't come up in the Romanticism questions I AM SCREWED. OH MY GOD.

I could probably get by on a question comparing Italian and German opera but THAT IS IT.

If it's instrumental music, English music and religious music, I am going to have NOTHING TO WRITE AT ALL.

Please PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE let lieder come up again this year *hyperventilates*

Reply 15

Eek....tomorow now.

Been going through my essays and I think I have enough to guarantee there will be at least one out of each section that I can do. The only problem is, most of them are about 3/4 pages long so I'm going to have to condense them in the exam and "NAIL THE QUESTION FROM THE START" as my teacher has been saying all year. Then again, I'm bound to forget stuff in the exam so it shouldn't be too bad.

The listening scares me because I can't do much more preparation for it as we didn't have many past papers to do. Just been going through them and looking for what words the examiners like.

Here's hoping for West side story and something on live vs recorded/technology or something that can lead me onto talking about american music.

Reply 16

What essay questions have you got? Your doing about musicals I presume?

Reply 17

coffeeaddict

You know in Section A where you have to compare the extract with another song from 1900-1945? I never have any idea what to put!

Anyone got any suggestions?

Reply 18