Preparing for Essays (1 Viewer)

[soulshine]

How does everyone prepare for the extended response last bit thing in Aural/Musicology Exams...?

 

[soulshine]

Ok so this has gone unanswered for a while... I'll try again.
What preparation do you guys do for Question 4 of the Music 2 paper??

 

[ujuphleg]

You'll need to have a good look at at least two pieces (my recommendation). One should be Aust. Music of the last 25 years and the other can be something else, probably representing your additional topic.

Make notes and analyse them under the concept headings:
*Duration
*Pitch
*Dynamics and Expressive techniques
*Tonecolour
*Texture
*Structure

And learn relevant quotes from the score to support anything you say.

Then when it comes to writing an essay, structure it in the same way you would a history or english essay with the quotes and info coming from the notes you made as relevant to the question.

Hope that helps.

 

[soulshine]

it often says that your pieces should represent the Mandatory Topic and/or the Additional topic. Does this essentially mean that both pieces can represent the Mandatory Topic? Do you have to specify anywhere what your additional topic has been?

 

[demosthenes]

You'll need to have a good look at at least two pieces (my recommendation). One should be Aust. Music of the last 25 years and the other can be something else, probably representing your additional topic.

Make notes and analyse them under the concept headings:
*Duration
*Pitch
*Dynamics and Expressive techniques
*Tonecolour
*Texture
*Structure

And learn relevant quotes from the score to support anything you say.

Then when it comes to writing an essay, structure it in the same way you would a history or english essay with the quotes and info coming from the notes you made as relevant to the question.

Hope that helps.

ok im doin what good old ujuphleg says, but with 4 pieces.....2 mandatory and 2 additional, coz apparantly they can specify 2 from either topic. Definately use musical "quotes" and im pretty sure you write them on the manuscript provided and refer to them as "quote 1", am I right?
As for your q, soulshine , i dont think that you have to say what your add. topic was, but i think it helps you back up the argument. For example:

"while composers in the baroque period used compositional devices of _______________, Australian composers of the last 25 years have expanded these devices, employing_____________ to reflect the idea that___________"

 

[soulshine]

i just find that kinda difficult to do with my additional topic... which is 1945 +... i focused on jazz. What the heck would i say for that...

 

[b0b444]

just analyse in terms of the concepts then its easy to see common ground or contrasts between any pieces of any style.

 

[Perfect Element]

i just find that kinda difficult to do with my additional topic... which is 1945 +... i focused on jazz. What the heck would i say for that...

I'm also doing 1945 - 1980 focusing on jazz and it doesn't suit the essay well. My advice would be to try and find some orchestral pieces from this period to analyse. If the question talks about how the composer uses structure, how would you talk about a jazz piece? You're going to have to say more than "it's a 16 bar head structured as head - 8 heads worth of soloing and head out". Likewise with pitch, rhythm, timbre, dynamics and texture - it's all improvised. You're not going to hvae an easy time talking about that in an essay.

 

[demosthenes]

laz, what are your aust. pieces? coz if theyre jazz you can talk about the unique "melting pot" of australian jazz, where all elements (especially latin) come into play, vs. the relatively focused and static nature of other jazz composers in your elective (eg. charlie parker=bop, duke=swing etc etc)

 

[soulshine]

my australian pieces are completely unjazz....
i mean, i suppose if i needed to i could pick a jazz tune and say that the pitch material consists of a melody which is varied through 'improvisation' using techniques such as syncopation, embellishment raa raa... and the basic harmonic structure is then used as a scaffold or basic framework for this improvisation....and so on... or something...


unless i do what you are doing Perfect Element. but to be completely honest with you all... my teacher never ever taught me anything from the additional topic :S which is beginning to concern me... the only thing i ever did for it was my composition, which i did completely without any aid or guidance from her...i dont think we ever studied the topic in class at all... something tells me thats... bad...

 

[demosthenes]

yeh but everythings not lost. You did a jazz composition for Aust. didnt you? you could compare your additional to that maybe?

 

[b0b444]

You'll need to have a good look at at least two pieces (my recommendation). One should be Aust. Music of the last 25 years and the other can be something else, probably representing your additional topic.

Make notes and analyse them under the concept headings:
*Duration
*Pitch
*Dynamics and Expressive techniques
*Tonecolour
*Texture
*Structure

And learn relevant quotes from the score to support anything you say.

Then when it comes to writing an essay, structure it in the same way you would a history or english essay with the quotes and info coming from the notes you made as relevant to the question.

Hope that helps.

i'd add to that something relating the two pieces, similarities differences etc.

 

[ujuphleg]

Exactly. What you said about that is correct - 2 is the bare minimum (ie, anyone reading this tommorow morning just do two) but for those of you who have prepared, 4 is best 2 from each mandatory and additional.

b0b is right too - comparisons between the pieces in the topic are excellent too, and if you can talk about how they create moods etc. IN RELATION TO THE QUESTION then you are laughing.

If you are stuck for pieces, do the ones you did for your performance. There are many benefits to this - you are very familiar the piece, so you can write out quotes and it makes it easy to make quick study notes within the concept headings.

soulshine - naming basic jazz techniques like use of 7th and 9th chords, syncopation, improvisation, scatting, comping etc is good - its not simplistic at all, it actually lets the marker know that you know what jazz is about. If you can talk about techniques specific to the style of jazz you are analysing too like extreme syncopation in swing or use of traditional orchestral instruments in cool jazz eg. flute or whatever this is good too.



You guys all sound like a bright bunch so I'm sure you you'll do fine tommorow. Best of Luck!!

 

[sambo_rambo]

I don't know if anyone will read this b4 the exam, but all the exemplar answers I've seen from the musicology section have used direct quotes from the score, mostly written on the piece of manuscript they give us. So I suppose learning a few direct quotes or examples of graphic notation would not go astray.