10 Leaving Cert Music Tips

Special contributor: Shannon Boyle, LC Music teacher, breaks down the Leaving Cert Music (Higher Level) exam into 10 clear tips for a better grade.

Set A and Set B Music Notes are now available to purchase

Listening Paper

The listening paper examines your knowledge of the four set works, Irish traditional music and general music theory.

1. Ensure that you are adequately prepped for these questions, knowing your definitions for each section – e.g. for Bach be able to define things like cantata, figured bass, ritornello and for Barry know all your techniques such as retrograde, inversion, polymetre etc.

2. If a question asks you to describe, a one word answer will not receive full marks. For example if it asks you to describe the rhythm of the piece and you say ‘syncopation’, you must display that you know what that word means and how it affects the music. Eg. The rhythm here is syncopated as the rhythm of the violin emphasises the weaker beats, the second and fourth beat of each bar.

3. Know the difference between a melodic, compositional, rhythmic and instrumental technique. A melodic technique only concerns the melody and cannot refer to rhythm. This may appear obvious but people lose marks for this every year. A melodic technique includes wide leaps, wide range, repeated notes, whereas a rhythmic technique can be syncopation or dotted rhythm. Compositional techniques are things like retrograde, inversion, canon – things the composer has done to the melody. Instrumental techniques can include pizzicato, arco, senza vibrato. If it doesn’t specify which type of technique it is looking for then you are more free in your answer but if it states give a compositional technique then repeated notes will not receive marks.

4. Question five concerns Irish Traditional Music and will include three listening excerpts and an essay. The listening section is quite predictable and usually examines the dance types, sean nos singing and fusion. You need to know traditional and non-traditional features of ITM and features of the traditional sean nós singing. The most common dance types to come up are reel, hornpipe, jig, slip jig. You need to know their time signature and a typical bar of rhythm.

5. The trad essay often suffers due to students providing answers that aren’t detailed enough. The examiner is looking for facts about the topic not a general, vague synopsis. Four options come up for the essay so be tactical in what you study. You can get away with not knowing every topic but do not leave yourself short on the day. Many topics overlap slightly – you can mention Sean O Riada briefly in a céilí band essay, he is an example of a composer who uses fusion and he can come up in his own right. You need a knowledge of sean nós and the dance tradition for the listening so these can also be handy answers to prepare.

6. Question six is completely unprepared and the only thing you can do is practice past papers. There is often an element of dictation to this, a comment on the style of the piece, identification of instruments and features. You need to show the examiner that you can analyse music here. Again if it says describe, do not give one word as an answer. If it asks you to describe Brahm’s use of dynamics simply saying loud will not get full marks.

Composing Paper

The composing paper features some choice but I will be discussing question 1 and question 5 as they are most common and do overlap with the other options.

7. It is incredibly difficult to obtain full marks in the melody question but there are steps you can take to avoid unnecessary deductions.

a) You must pick an instrument for your melody

b) You must have enough beats in a bar (have the correct amount for each phrase if it has an upbeat)

c) It must have barlines

d) It must include dynamics which make sense

e) It must have phrasing

f) It has to modulate to the dominant if in a major key

8. The Q1 option of the composing section is development of a given opening, so you must analyse the phrase they give you. Do they use any interesting leaps? What type of rhythm do they use? What chord is bar 1 and 2 based on?

You can develop the opening by using retrograde, inversion, putting it up/down the octave, omitting/altering passing notes, changing the rhythm. There are plenty of ways to alter it but ensure you show the examiner that you understand that this is a development of the existing phrase.

9. The backing chord question (Q5) is worth sixty marks so give it plenty of practice and allow enough time to check over it in the exam.

Pick the chord that best fits the bar – if you’re in the key of D and there is a D, G, B in the treble clef then the chord of D is weaker than the chord of G because the bar includes all notes of the G chord. Remember you cannot repeat chords but you can use inversions.

10. Use and develop the bass pattern provided but also make your bassline interesting by adding your own ideas in places and including a falling bass where possible.

Finally – Bring a pencil, a rubber, a topper – no one wants to read a melody scribbled in pen! Highlight key words of the listening paper and make sure your answer makes sense.