Exam Technique

This page is going to contain some advice on how to approach the different types of questions in the Understanding Music question paper.

Two general bits of advice first:

• Throughout the paper, use Italian terms for Tempo and Dynamics - English equivalents will not be accepted.

 

• NEVER leave anything blank! If you have to, guess, but try to do it intelligently...

Question 8

This is the question in which you have to make rough notes under different headings and then write a brief paragraph including the concepts you have found in the music. They want you to pick out PROMINENT features, not every single thing you hear.

You have to include concepts from at least three of the headings in order to get the maximum of five marks (a maximum of two correct answers per heading are awarded marks.) You don't lose marks for writing incorrect concepts.

Here is a list of the sort of concepts you should be writing in each of the categories:

Rhythm/Tempo	Tempo markings - Allegro, Andante etc. Time signature/Beats in a Bar/ Compound or simple time Tempo changes – Accelerando/Rallentando/Rubato Syncopation Dotted rhythms (including Scotch Snap) Repetition Ostinato Accents
Melody/Harmony	Tonality – Major, Minor, Atonal Discord/Dissonance Scales – Major, Minor, Pentatonic, Whole tone, Chromatic Repetition Imitation Sequence Riff   Ostinato Syllabic/Melismatic Broken chords Arpeggio Alberti Bass Ornaments – Trills, Grace Notes Glissando Walking Bass Ground Bass Perfect/Imperfect Cadence
Instruments/Voices	Credit is normally given for naming common instrumental groupings (eg. Orchestra) and families (strings, percussion etc.) as well as prominent individual instruments. When naming individual instruments, be careful to be clear about whether it is singlular of plural – they won’t accept eg. ‘violin’ if there is more than one playing, you’d have to write ‘violins’. Credit is also normally given for naming common singing groups, eg. Backing vocals. In terms of voice types, it is normally ok to simply write male or female, although in a more classical context you should probably name the voice type (soprano etc.) just to be on the safe side. Instrumental techniques, eg. Arco, pizzicato, may also be credited
Dynamics	pp, p, mp, mf, f, ff – you don’t have to write the words out in full, you get marks for either. Crescendo, diminuendo Sfz (sforzando), Accents