GCSE Music Study Group 2023-2024

cellist2015-now

Hiya! I'm cellist2015-now and I've made this study group for GCSE Music. If you need help, tag me e.g @cellist2015-now. It would also be good say which exam board you're doing - I'm doing Eduqas. Hopefully you can see this @Pwca!

Original post by cellist2015-now

Hiya! I'm cellist2015-now and I've made this study group for GCSE Music. If you need help, tag me e.g @cellist2015-now. It would also be good say which exam board you're doing - I'm doing Eduqas. Hopefully you can see this @Pwca!

Yep, I've added this to the directory of GCSE study groups :smile:

Thanks for making it!

Reply 2

kaduff08

Hi, I need help with my overall GCSE music theory. I just can’t grasp the general part of who makes it and all the technical words. If anyone at all can help, that would be amazing. My exam board is OCR. Thank you!! @cellist2015-now

Reply 3

Harry776

4

Hey, im doing my gcses this summer, i am an indian classical musician (playing sitar since i was 6). My exam board is OCR but being a sitarist i have no idea how to read sheet music and because of that i scored low in my mocks (grade 5 compared to my G9 performances and compositions) making my overall grade a 6. I’ve been having to guess the sheet music, key, etc. due to just having no clue. Any help would be appreciated @cellist2015-now

(edited 3 months ago)

Reply 4

cellist2015-now

OP

9

Original post by Harry776

Hey, im doing my gcses this summer, i am an indian classical musician (playing sitar since i was 6). My exam board is OCR but being a sitarist i have no idea how to read sheet music and because of that i scored low in my mocks (grade 5 compared to my G9 performances and compositions) making my overall grade a 6. I’ve been having to guess the sheet music, key, etc. due to just having no clue. Any help would be appreciated @cellist2015-now

Hi there! The first step to knowing sheet music is knowing your clefs. There are 4 standard clefs to know for GCSE Music in general - these are treble, bass, alto and tenor. I'd recommend you get the OCR CGP revision guide - it will help with appraisal, composition and performance. Can you tell me how you learn music on the sitar?

Reply 5

Harry776

4

Original post by cellist2015-now

Hi there! The first step to knowing sheet music is knowing your clefs. There are 4 standard clefs to know for GCSE Music in general - these are treble, bass, alto and tenor. I'd recommend you get the OCR CGP revision guide - it will help with appraisal, composition and performance. Can you tell me how you learn music on the sitar?

Well most of it is learnt by ear and memory so as you can imagine im quite good at remembering musical phrases. The sitar is not set in scales but rather raags (or ragas) which are melodic frameworks. Some raags have the exact same notes but are played with different rules (eg. Cant play this note on the way up - aroh - but can play it on the way down - avroh - ). The sitar is almost always accompanied by the tabla however the tanpura is an optional instrument it can be played with. The tanpura is a drone with plays according to the key and raag. Eg. My sitar is tuned to D and i will play a raag like Yaman so the tanpura will play in D and play a drone specific to Yaman. The sitar has sympathetic strings which resonate with each note being played. A lot of sitar music is improvised and it is normally split into 3 parts - alaap, ghat and jhalla sections. The alaap is without rhythm or taal and is a virtuosic opening to the piece. They are improvised and introduce you to the raag with some of the common phrases, they also introduce you to the style of the composition they will play - happy sad etc. the ghat is the actual composition and the tabla often add variations and fills that are improvised. The sitar also improvises taans - which are like fills. The sitar can also bend the notes - this is called meend - and it makes uses of microtones. The composition will end with a jhalla section which is a very fast end to the piece with virtuosic playing

Obviously theres so much i could tell you about the sitar and this is just the basics, if you want any more info just ask. Sorry if this was a bit too much but i hope it helps

Reply 6

Annabellesyz

1

Original post by cellist2015-now

Hiya! I'm cellist2015-now and I've made this study group for GCSE Music. If you need help, tag me e.g @cellist2015-now. It would also be good say which exam board you're doing - I'm doing Eduqas. Hopefully you can see this @Pwca!

Hey,I’ll do my GCSE Music two years later,I just start studying music theory and composing. Really NEED HELP on composing 😭Do u have any advice how can I improve these or the video on YouTube that I can watch, thank you!

Reply 7

cellist2015-now

OP

9

Original post by Annabellesyz

Hey,I’ll do my GCSE Music two years later,I just start studying music theory and composing. Really NEED HELP on composing 😭Do u have any advice how can I improve these or the video on YouTube that I can watch, thank you!

Hi, I'm assuming you are in Year 9. With music theory, I'd recommend using the Victoria Williams music theory website for general music theory that is applicable to your set works - https://mymusictheory.com/about-us/. On top of that, subscribe to her YouTube channel - although she does abrsm and trinity videos, the abrsm grade 5 music theory exam is a rough equivalent to the gcse exam. For composing, I am a special educational needs pupil, so I kinda struggle with the patience aspect. Think of some gibberish melodies and record them somewhere. With the chords, think of your favourite key to hear a song in - if you don't know those, do what I have said for music theory. Your compositions need to be coherent and make sense - it may be better to have a brilliant composition that seems simple but is creative than a complex one that has loads of countermelodies and other stuff but does not sound coherent.

(edited 2 months ago)

GCSE Music Study Group 2023-2024

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