I have been asked to take on a 16 year old boy who is taking his School Leaving Certificate in Eire next year and is behind with music theory. His mother wants me to have him for a week and coach him. I'm not too keen to do this as I feel it will be too much in too short a time.

What I, and the mother (not being a musician herself) do not know is what is actually involved in this exam. Can anyone advise me or tell me where to go for information.

Also, what are your thoughts on such concentrated study. This boy has all the other aspects of the exam apparently - he plays guitar, but he is self-taught and knows virtually no theory.

How far does she expect him to get with theory?
It depends how many hours you'd put in, and how quick he picks things up.

I would say its a bit ambitious though.

Thanks for your quick post. She expects him to get far enough along to pass the exam - and I don't know what the exam consists of. She wants him to live here for a week and work all the time on his music.

However much he needs to know does HE want to spend a week on intensive music theory?
If he doesn't then you are probably on a loser to start with.
you might find that if he's got a real interest he has picked up some of the basics without knowing.

Hi nannyjay,

this is the break down of LC music:

Listening Paper (25%)
Q1-4 are on Set works. This year it's Mozart Piano Concerto no 23 in A major, Berlioz Symphonie Fantastiuqe Mvt 2 and 4, Deane Seachanges and Beatles Sgt Pepper.
Q 5 is Irish Traditional Music and Q 6 is Aural Skills.

On this paper "theory" covers an analysis of all four works mentioned above, as well as general knowledge for aural skills question.

Composition Paper (25%)
Melody Question, choice of 3 but most people pick the one where you have to continue a melody from 4 given bars and add another 12, including a modulation to the dominant.
Harmony Question, again a choice of three, but most pick adding backing chords and bass notes to a given melody.

You can see examples of past papers on www.examinations.ie
Go to Examination Material Archive and you will find a drop down menu directing you to the papers you want to view. For the past three years (07/06/05) the set works were different, so if you want to see the tyes of questions asked for Q 1-4 go back to 2004/03/02. All other questions are the same for any year, ie harmony and melody, and ITM and Aural.

The rest of the course (which I assume you parent is talking about) is the Practical which is worth 50%!

Let me know if I can help you any more, I have all the study notes and analysis in pdfs if you want me to forward them to you.

fiddlechick
(private LC teacher - aka GRINDS!!!)

Hi,

The Leaving Cert music course is generally viewed as being much easier than A level, partly because all students take at least 7 subjects, so are less specialised.

Students can take performance for 50% of their final mark as what they call a 'higher elective'. Pupils can also choose to take music technology (which seems to be just putting a piece of music into Finale or Sibelius, not exactly rocket science!) or to do a special study.

The exam also includes an aural paper, studying set works, some melodic composition and putting guitar chords behind a melody line.

This may not be 100% of what is involved, here is a link to the full syllabus:

http://www.education.ie/servlet/blobservle...c_edited_sy.pdf

Good luck

Thankyou so much everyone for your replies. Fiddlechick and pianodub, thank you for the details of the syllabus - that is what I was particularly anxious to find out. It is so different from our exams here in the UK. I'm not sure whether it is possible to cover all that in one week, even if the boy is really keen - which I understand he is. Why has it not been covered in class I wonder. I will have another word with the mother and see if I can find out any more. Thankyou for your help.

do you mind if I ask a silly-sounding question, Nannyjay - is the mother someone you know, or has she contacted you out of the blue ? do you know the boy or the family ?

it does sound quite a lot to pull up in a week - if he has very little knowledge of theory.

It is someone I know, and I know the boy a little bit but have not seen him for some years. I know he likes music, and will probably be keen to study, but I think, judging by the posts above regarding the syllabus, that I am going to decline. I don't feel that in one week we can make enough progress, and also i feel that this is not the way to learn about music - it's too much like a crammer.

If it was a straightforward ABRSM Grade 5 exam, it would be a different matter, but how do you teach a young person to analyse great works in such a short time. I don't think the mother really understands what is required of her son.