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Music College Applications
There will be a short meeting about applying to music college onTuesday 8th July at 12.45 in the Music Room. If you are considering an application you MUST come to this meeting or let me know in advance because the application procedure separate from and much earlier than UCAS.
Have a look at the www.cukas.ac.uk website for more info
Welcome to New AS Students
Welcome to our new students. You will find information on this blog about most things
Over the summer you were set some tasks:
- Complete AS Performance initial proposals for Thursday 5th September
- Complete the Short History of Music task for your first music lesson
- Brush up on your basic theory (Keys, Chords and Cadences in particular)
- Buy a ring binder and a pack of dividers
- Make sure your instrument is in good working order
- Go through the list of key dates with your parents and make sure they are in diaries
[PS: don’t worry about the stuff below this post in our archive – it is all from the current AS year]
Getting a good mark in Bach chorales
These are the things that will make a difference and, unsurprisingly, they are hard work. Practice doing them now and you will do them better in the exam
- be systematic, starting with cadences then modulations, then fingerprints, then simple primary chord bass line and then refining before putting in inner parts (in other words, follow the method on ChoraleGUIDE)
- make sure your bass line has plenty of passing notes and is, as far as possible, a nice shape and that there are NO PARALLELS WITH THE SOPRANO
- use Fingerprints as often as possible
- add Bells and Whistles where you can, but don’t go too bonkers
- check it all very thoroughly, including the bass against the soprano again for parallels and be prepared to make radical changes if necessary
- check for ACCIDENTALS and where you put them in late, check they don’t create augmented intervals or mess up pivot chords
- play through each line separately to check for problems and if possible play them in pairs too, particularly the soprano and the bass
Christmas Homework (D Group)
Instrumental
Updating anthologies: the revision notes for the Holborne and the Debussy have now both been issued (find them in the Unit 3 Resources folders on Moodle). Please ensure that your anthologies are clearly annotated with all the relevant features from here and elsewhere in your notes.
Explorations in Music Lecture
F minor’s groans of misery: keys and moods
FRIDAY 13th December 12.50 – 13.10 (common time)
music room (biscuits provided)
Why do composers bother with writing in different keys? Is there a real
difference between E major and Ab major? A brief look at composers’
attitudes to different keys and some possible reasons for them.
Explorations in Music
What is Classical Music For?
FRIDAY 8th November 12.50 – 13.10 (common time)
in the Music Room (biscuits provided)
This is the first in a series of mini lectures to amuse, stimulate discussion and to help prepare you for interviews and for university. The idea of which is to introduce some interesting and provocative ideas that you might encounter at University and that go beyond the A level syllabus. If you want to study music at Uni you should come – interviews often give an opportunity to talk more generally about your views on music.
In this lecture I am going to make four different (and contradictory) arguments as to what Classical Music is for and leave you to make up your own minds.
A2 (F) Homework set w/c 14th Oct.
Composition
Not yet set – see last week
Chorale (due in Wednesday 23rd Oct.)
Complete Worksheet 09a.
Applied (due in Thursday 24th Oct.)
Write an essay on the following title: “Identify features of the prelude to Wagner’s Tristan and Isolde that help to convey the tension and yearning of the opera’s love story”
You should make sure that you read through your notes from class, in the source book and also the Edexcel notes (available on Moodle). You must please address the central topics that we have covered: 1) Endless melody and Leitmotif; 2) Yearning, unresolved harmonies and 3) the idea of the structure that is ‘one long-articulated impulse’. You need to decide which are more relevant to this particular question, aiming to make ten main points each of which should be illustrated with an example. You must submit a Submission Sheet with this essay please.
Instrumental (due in Wednesday 16th)
Not yet set – see last week
A2 (F) Homework set w/c 7th Oct.
Composition
Working closely with your chosen models, revise your initial idea and email it to Iain on Friday. You will then get feedback in next week’s lesson.
Chorale (due in Tuesday 15th Oct.)
Complete Worksheet 06 (FP2) in the Fingerprints Workbook.
Applied (due in Thursday 17th Oct.)
Copy up all your Wagner notes into the anthology and complete the orchestration questions on Wagner Worksheet 3.
Instrumental (due in Wednesday 16th)
Not yet set – see last week’s homework
Performance Assessment Reminder (both AS groups)
Your performance mock assessments are in the week beginning Monday 18th November.
You need to return a AS Mock Programme Submission form signed by your teacher by Friday October 25th along with the relevant photocopies of solo and acccompaniment parts (for exact requirements look on p. 7 of the Course Handbook)
If you have any worries, please come and see Tom or Iain asap.