Taster Activities 2021 Music Subject level A-level Teacher Beth Williams Deadline First lesson of the Autumn Term (September 2021) Estimated time required to complete activity 2 hours Resources required Audio files to accompany tasks available here: https://tinyurl.com/WQEMusic Assignment details Below you will find a booklet with a number of exercises for you to work through. Feel free to complete it digitally and email it to beth.williams@wqe.ac.uk Or you could print the relevant pages and fill it in by hand, or even just write out the answers to the exercises on paper. Copies of these tasks are available online at wqe.ac.uk/taster-activities Taster Activities 2021 Music Listening Task 1: Graphic Scores Aural analysis is very important in A Level Music: this means picking out shapes and patterns as well as identifying musical elements by ear. This quick task (borrowed from BBC Bitesize) uses Graphic Scores - a representation of various elements of music of a piece of music, using pictures/graphics rather than traditional staff notation. Listen to the Tracks 1-5 in the ‘A Level Music Taster 2021’ folder and match each one with the corresponding Graphic Score. Put the letter of the Graphic Score in the right-hand column. No. Title 1 Shawshank Redemption – Thomas Newman 2 For a Few Dollars More – Ennio Morricone 3 Vertigo – Bernard Herrmann 4 Beyarrmak – Yothu Yindi 5 Jaws – John Williams Graphic Score (A-E) Copies of these tasks are available online at wqe.ac.uk/taster-activities Taster Activities 2021 Music Task 2: Musical Elements We will be using the following headings to describe musical elements: Melody Rhythm/Metre/Tempo Tonality (keys) Harmony (chords; the effect of more than one pitch heard at the same time) Sonority (Instruments, Dynamics, Articulation) Texture Structure Look back at the Graphic Scores above, and for each one, describe which musical elements are depicted in the graphics. I have done A for you. Graphic Score Letter Description of how/which musical elements are shown in the graphic A Melody/pitch: eg. the red and blue blobs show the shape of the melody lines Texture: the ‘layers’ of the music are shown in different colours, particularly highlighting the ‘contrary motion’ of the 2 melody lines (one going down then up, the other going up then down) Rhythm: duration of notes shown by different size/lengths of graphics –(the yellow lines being the longest notes) B C D E Copies of these tasks are available online at wqe.ac.uk/taster-activities Taster Activities 2021 Music Task 3: Listening - An Introduction to Set Works You will hear short extracts from 6 set works – one from each Area of Study. Choose a description from each box to identify the extracts. No . 1 Title Composer Era/style 2 3 4 5 6 Composer Title W. A. Mozart Antonio Vivaldi Danny Elfman The Beatles Claude Debussy Kaija Saariaho Batman Returns Main Theme ‘Hm hm hm’ from The Magic Flute Estampes - Pagodes Petals for Violoncello and Live Electronics Tomorrow Never Knows Concerto in D Minor Era/Style Baroque (1600-1750) Classical (1750-1825) 20th Century – film 20th Century – impressionism 20th Century – experimental rock/pop Contemporary ‘classical’ Copies of these tasks are available online at wqe.ac.uk/taster-activities Taster Activities 2021 Music Task 4: Listening Film Music, Psycho – Bernard Herrmann You had an excerpt from the score to Vertigo by Herrman in Question 1. Some of the cues from Psycho by the same composer are A Level Set Works. Listen to ‘Task 4 Prelude’, and follow the score which you should find in the same folder. Think about how the composer creates an atmosphere of tension and violence. Write your points in the box below. Give bar numbers for examples if you can. You should think about:       Rhythm/Metre (time signature)/Tempo Harmony (chords) Tonality (key) Melody Sonority - use of Instruments, Dynamics and Articulation Texture (relationship between parts) Copies of these tasks are available online at wqe.ac.uk/taster-activities Taster Activities 2021 Music Is A Level Music right for me? It is important that you aware of what the course entails before you enrol in August. You will get a chance to chat with me before you make your final decision, but take the time to get informed!  Start by looking at the Course Outline on page 9 to familiarise yourself with what you’ll be studying.  Then read ‘Why Study A Level Music?’ on page 10 to