I'm just on study leave now (exams start next week!!), and my music teacher decided that it would be a good idea for us to have classes for all the people that are going to do A level Music next year. It's all harmony stuff at the moment, and it's interesting, but then we started on all the rules and about things you can and can't do (consectutive 5th, octaves etc), and when writing parts for 4 part choirs (SATB), there are so many things you can't do! I was all ready to throw in the towel now! I understood it in the lesson, but I'll have forgotten it by next week. How do people remember all this?
Thanks!
Jess

What syllabus are you doing? I'm on Edexcel, and the Bach chorale is optional and worth only a small percentage of the marks, so don't worry too much about it. These 'rules' are more stylistic guidelines, and you'll get used to them. Don't give up, it's not too bad! Good luck with your exams - I have GCSE Music on tuesday.....

I'm doing Edexcel too. It's only worth a small percentage of marks? *Breathes a sigh of relief* I have my GCSE Music Tuesday too-yikes! Our teacher has drummed into us all the characteristics of the styles we have to know so hopefully it should be ok! Good luck with your exams too, you'll be fine. What board are you doing GCSE with?

Eeep...sounds hard. We aren't going to even 1/2 complete this GCSE Music syllabus. Not good when my exam is on Tues as well

QUOTE (nicki_flute @ May 19 2005, 03:49 PM)

Eeep...sounds hard. We aren't going to even 1/2 complete this GCSE Music syllabus. Not good when my exam is on Tues as well

That's really unfair on you! Good luck though, you said you'd done ok on your mocks so hopefully it'll go well. Anything you need help with?

How to remember all the rules? Practice! Once you've done a few chorale harmonisations, you soon start remembering to avoid consecutive fourths, fifths and octaves, avoiding second inversion chords (except where it's a passing chord or at a cadence), how to resolve your suspensions, making sure parts don't cross...

Just to add insult to injury, sing or play through a few of JSB's harmonisations. He had the audacity to break the rules occasionally. Still, if you're Bach you can do that I suppose.

You get the hang of it with practice! Though having said that I don't remember ANY of it now!

Don't talk to me about A level music! hehe Some of you will remember my recent post with the composition mishap! lol. Yeah the harmonisation stuff is a right pain in the arse! I'm looking forward to A2 tho, I'm doing OCR and we get to compose a film score! WOO! do all the other exam boards do that?

QUOTE (nutter @ May 19 2005, 03:31 PM)

I'm doing Edexcel too. It's only worth a small percentage of marks? *Breathes a sigh of relief* I have my GCSE Music Tuesday too-yikes! Our teacher has drummed into us all the characteristics of the styles we have to know so hopefully it should be ok! Good luck with your exams too, you'll be fine. What board are you doing GCSE with?

I'm in Wales, so we do WJEC, which I think is a bit pants. If you really struggle with Bach chorales, you can always choose not to do them. I find them ok, but the one in our exam was slightly awkward, so I did figured bass and 32-bar pop song instead. The harmony stuff is really coursework, as you get about 6 weeks to complete 2 questions. If you don't like one question it's no problem to try a different one.
I don't think most people here need to worry about GCSE Music - you'll all do really well, so don't stress! I haven't done any revision for it lol - much better for me to spend the time practising...

We did it at AS (there wasn't any on our exam though) and I can't see the stupid executive fifths when I put them in. If I could see them, I'd avoid them, but to me they're not there!

It annoys me sometimes, but you develop ways to deal with it. I try looking at the chord you have just written, and look for where the fifth or octave is, then watch those voices specifically moving to the next chord. Also, 3rds and 6ths are acceptable, so sometimes I deliberately do this. One of my teachers adovacted writing parts in opposite directions, to reduce chances of parllel 5ths or octaves. Do watch for doubling the 3rd as well.

I always had masses of doubled thirds! I did write them with parts going opposite directions, but still managed to sneak a parrallel 8ve/5th in or had too many double thirds!!

Hopefully I'll get it by the time I get to uni!

QUOTE (country_bumpkin @ May 19 2005, 06:30 PM)

Don't talk to me about A level music! hehe Some of you will remember my recent post with the composition mishap! lol. Yeah the harmonisation stuff is a right pain in the arse! I'm looking forward to A2 tho, I'm doing OCR and we get to compose a film score! WOO! do all the other exam boards do that?

Nope we dont!!
what are you all talking about!?!? If you choose to do bach chorales in the compostional techniques A2paper edexcel, that is your mark for compostion!!isnt it?! I dont have a tacher, so I tried to fathom the syllabus myself.................
I have an exam in less than a week now and stupid as this is, I have never actualy harmonised a bach chorale until this morning. I've done grade 6-8 theory though so its okayish, though I can't remember anything.
Now I come to think about it I am ####scared. Oh my lord I will actually fail.
HEEEEEEEEEEEEELLLLLLLLLLLP, no joke. I am going to die.

If you choose Bach in A2 (having chosen it from the two options you did for AS) then it wouldn't be worth a full composition mark, ie a third. I doubt its more than 15%. Check the syllabus online for a breakdown of the marks: www.edexcel.org.uk

QUOTE (country_bumpkin @ May 19 2005, 07:30 PM)

Don't talk to me about A level music!

Don't talk to me about it either. Judging by the mark from my mock, i think its a certainity i will be failing that listening exam

i've done last year's paper.... i got an A...high A...very happy...i hope i will excel in my exam..

QUOTE (liebe_klavier @ May 21 2005, 01:22 PM)

i've done last year's paper.... i got an A...high A...very happy...i hope i will excel in my exam..

oh well thats absolutely spiffinlgy marvellous

Yes, it's alright for some...

I've got my AS exam in 12 days' time and am procrastinating over my revision so crazily that I think I might actually fail. Then again, that's probably just Cecilia blowing things wildly out of proportion as usual...

As for the Bach chorales, I found those okay... and I think that as far as Edexcel are concerned, that particular exercise for the Compositional Techniques paper in Units 2 and 5 is worth only half of the total for the unit and therefore if you do it at both AS and A2 will only be worth about 8% of the entire A2 qualification... I think. It's late and my brain's not working properly!

Awww, good luck Cecilia, I am sure you will do really well I believe in you. So your exam is on the 7th June?



(Hope to talk to you on MSN soon)

Don't give up i hated it a first but then it all comes together and it's def worth it. Anyone got any ideas for revising the AS exam.

If it's AQA with the set works, I learned bar numbers for absolutely everything. Like " bar 47 was the start of the second subject and 202 was the melody in the clarinet". I don't know if they're right now, but we got a question which was: describe the recapitulation and the coda of the Hebrides overture, so I just wrote everything I knew.

And listening to them lots helped too.
Good luck

QUOTE (nicki_flute @ May 26 2005, 06:49 AM)

Awww, good luck Cecilia, I am sure you will do really well I believe in you. So your exam is on the 7th June? (Hope to talk to you on MSN soon)

Thanks sooooo much Nicki I'm sure you've got your predicted A* for your GCSE and I hope the rest are going well! The exam is the Monday after next- on June 6th.

(Hope to talk to you on MSN soon- yes, if I can get it to work, it hasn't been the same since about January!)

Ooooh, I'll think of you. I have my Science GCSE on the same day.
I saw my teacher (Music) yesterday, and asked whether she had this music I had left on her desk and she said I had a very high A* (I think that was about coursework), so hopefully I will have done enough on my listening test.

(I miss talking to you and Geoffrey, maybe you could re-install MSN)