GCSE Music Listening and Appraising Guide

Sections A and B

In their responses to the questions in both sections, students will need to demonstrate an understanding of the following in relation to the set works within the Areas of Study:

• the musical elements (pitch, duration, dynamics, tempo, timbre, texture, structure)
• identifying how resources are used in different combinations (identifying instruments and groups of instruments)
• identifying key musical features
• identifying musical and melodic devices (ornamentation, ostinati, riffs, use of imitation, pedal point and sequence)
• identifying rhythmic devices (syncopation, swung rhythms, dotted rhythms and triplets)
• identifying and discriminating between major, minor, modal, pentatonic, chromatic and atonal tonalities
• relating music to the context in which it was created
• identifying conventions used in different times and places
• using appropriate musical vocabulary

expressing and justifying opinions and preferences.

Section A

Students should study the set works for each Area of Study, aurally identifying the key musical features in each work. They should understand the context within which the set works were composed and their place within the Area of Study as a whole. In this section of the examination, students will also be expected to express and justify opinions on the set work extracts and complete short musical dictation and staff notation questions.

Student should be encouraged to listen to music in a discriminating way, developing their skills of aural perception.

Section B

In Section B, students write in more detail about the set works that they have studied and this extended response will be assessed for QWC as well as the quality of the musical information conveyed. Questions may concentrate on one or more set works and could ask for a comparison between two works (within the same Area of Study or from two different Areas of Study). Students should be prepared to demonstrate that they are able to write about:

• how the musical elements such as pitch, duration, dynamics, tempo, timbre, texture and structure have been used by the composer
• how the instruments and groups of instruments are used
• how any other key musical features have been used in the set work(s).

  They could also be asked to:

  • place the music in its musical, social and historical context • express and justify opinions on the set work(s) in question.

  Some knowledge of related works within the Area of Study will be given credit but is not required. However students will need to know how the work fits within the context of other pieces written in similar genres around the same time.

  Students should be encouraged to express their ideas about the set works using correct musical vocabulary, as this is a key element of the grade descriptions on page 72 and the mark scheme for Section B.