hey, I did music last yr, and believe it or not, my listening was always beta then performing.
What i always did was to pretend that ur describing ur response to someone who doesn't understand music, so that ur responses are clear and explain what u hear clearly.
Try and just listen to the first playing, without writing anything, so that u hear the overall piece, and then depending on the question, u can jot notes in the next 2 playings and should be able to finalise answer by the last 2 playings.
I used to sit there and hear the music in layers. If i was suppose to answer the question on texture, and expressive techniques for example, i used to litsen to all the texture bits, write everything down that i hear with texture, then concentrate on getting the expressive technique. so u kinda work out each thing seperately and have ur notes ther, and then u can repate itand write it all out properly by the last playing.
i hope that helps. it's kinda vague cos it's hard to explain how to do it- my friends always thought it was werid that i was good at theory- I just could hear it... try listening to a lot of strange music to get u used to analysing pieces. ABC radio is pretty good.
