GCSE Music Revision Guide

GCSE Music Re Revision vision Guide

+ame the musical instrument. In the exam you will be asked to name diferent instruments that you can hear playing. I you do not play one o these instruments it can sometimes be quite dicult to pick out what each one sounds like. You will need to know what the diferent instruments o the orchestra sound like, what popular musical instruments sound like and what some world instruments sound like (sitar. It is worth you !isiting www.dsokids.com or www.compositionlab.co.uk where you will be able to hear these instruments indi!idually.

escribing musical sounds. "or some questions in the exam you will need to describe what is happening in the music, in detail# I you are asked to comment on what is happening in the music you may need to describe what a particular instrument is doing, or example$ %&he let hand o the piano is playing ascending arpeggios'. &he more detail you can pro!ide, the better#

-elodic mo!ement.  You may be asked to describe what is happening in the melody o a song. emember, this means the main tune. In popular music this is oten the !ocal line or in instrumental music it can be described as the instrument that has the main tune (the bit that you could whistle. It could mo!e by STEP; this means it mo!es to the note next to it. It could mo!e by LEAP; this means that the melody )umps rom one note to another but misses some notes out in between. &his could be a low note  )umping to a high note or !ice !ersa. * melody line could also ASCEND, which means getting higher note by note, or DESCEND, going down note by note.

-usical e!ices uring the exam you will be asked to identiy diferent musical de!ices that you can hear. emember, a musical de!ice is NOT an instrument. It is something that the instrument is playingusingdoing that is o signi/cance. •

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Imitation$ this is when a melody is played and then another instrument %copies' it. "or example, a 0ute may play a small tune and then it is copied by an oboe. Pedal: &his is when a note is sustained (held on, usually in the bass. &his can oten be used by a piano or an organ. It can normally be ound in classical music or Indian music. Drone: * drone is a bass note that is held throughout a  passage o music. Modulation: this is when a piece o music changes key. Rif/Ostinato: &his is a repeated pattern o music. &he term ostinato is used in classical music, a rif is used in popular music (but they mean the same thing#. *ny instrument can play a rif but this will most likely eature in the guitar or bass part o popular music.

 &exture It is crucial that you understand the diference between the diferent types o texture that will appear in the exam# emember, texture means how many instruments are playing at once and what are they doing#

MONOPONIC is when there is only one instrument or sound playing. +ot two, or three, or our, but one!

OMOPONIC is when there is a single melody but there is an accompaniment. &his can mean that someone is singing (the melody to block chords (the accompaniment. It can also mean that there is one instrument playing a melody with lots o other

instruments, but the other instruments are playing the same rhythm (an example o this could be a pop band with a singer.

POL!PONIC is when there are lots o diferent rhythms all playing together at the same time. * good example o this is 1te!e eich's third mo!ement o electric counterpoint. I something is polyphonic it is usually dicult to work out which instrument is playing the melody line.

ANTIPON! means call and response. &his is where an instrument plays and another instrument %answers' the /rst. It is also called call and response and sounds like a question and answer session between two instruments or diferent groups o instruments.

CANON: &his is when two or more !oicesinstruments sing or play the same music but at diferent times. * RO"ND is a type o canon but each !oice, when it is /nished, can then begin playing again (so it goes round and round.

 &his is an example o a canon. You can see how the diferent parts come in at diferent times, yet they are playing the same notes and rhythms.

-usical ormsstructure  You will also be asked to work out the structure o diferent songs that you listen to. iferent sections o music are normally described by a letter, or example section *, section 2 etc. 3ere are the most common orms o structure$

#INAR! $ORM % &his type o structure has two sections, section A ollowed by section #& 2oth o these sections can be repeated. ances rom the #ARO'"E S"ITE are in #inar( $orm.

TERNAR! $ORM % &his type o structure has three sections, A#A& &his means that you will hear section A, ollowed by section #, and the section A is repeated. * good example o  &ernary "orm is &winkle &winkle 4ittle 1tar.

RONDO $ORM % In ondo orm section * is always repeated. 1o the song will begin with section *, then there will be a new section called 2, then section * is repeated, then a new section called 5 etc. ondo orm can be written like this$ A % # % A % C % A % D % A . . . It can be longer or shorter than this.

TEME AND )ARIATION %  &his is when there is a theme (melodic ostinato played and it keeps on returning but in diferent orms.

5adences

* cadence is a term used to describe how complete a piece o music sounds. 5adences can be ound at the END o a song or at the end o a section o the song. &he most likely ones you will hear are PER$ECT and IMPER$ECT cadences but you should also know what a PLA*AL cadence is and how to identiy it. •

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PER$ECT CADENCE % this is when the music sounds complete. &his will typically be ound at the end o a song or section o a song and normally means the last note played is the root note.

IMPER$ECT CADENCE % this is when the music DOES NOT  sound complete and it sounds like something needs to be added to /nish the music of. PLA*AL CADENCE % * plagal cadence is oten used in hymns or religious music. * plagal cadence is oten described as the %a6men' part o a song (usually ound at the end o a song. 7lagal cadences should also sound %/nished'.

 &onality  You will be oten asked to name the TONALIT! o an excerpt.  &his is a word to describe the type o key the song is in. 8e oten describe sounds in two ways9 either happy or sad. MA+OR means the music sounds happy, MINOR means the music sounds sad. I you are answering a question and you are not sure o the TONALIT! , then you NEED to write down either MA+OR or MINOR&  &onality can also be described as ATONAL. &his is where the music does not ha!e a de/nite key. &he best way to remember this is that almost all horror music is ATONAL. :xperimental

music is oten ATONAL too (it can oten like someone is playing any old random thing.

PER$ORMANCE TECNI'"ES are the way in which diferent

7erormance &echniques instruments can be played. -ake sure that you DO NOT get this mixed up with E$$ECTS, as they are two completely diferent things# 3ere are some common perormance techniques that you will come across$

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;uitar$ ;uitars can be STR"MMED , this is oten a technique used to play chords. &hey can also be $IN*ER PIC-ED/PIC-ED, where indi!idual notes are played either with a plectrum or the perormer's /ngers. *nother technique you may hear is a PALM M"TE, where the palm o the hand is used to stop the sound o the guitar. &his is oten used in 2lues music. ;uitars can also be played with a PITC#END. &his is where the note being played is literally bent by the perormer, to create a !ery slight change in pitch. 1trings (this includes !iolins, !iolas, cellos and double basses$ 1trings are oten either played ARCO .it0 a #O12 or PI33ICATO .PL"C-ED2 . I you hear a double bass being played in popular music, such as )auiet PIANISSIMO % =ery quiet S$OR3ANDO % 1uddenly loud (sometimes this can sound like an accent $ORTE4PIANO % 4oud then suddenly sot

 &empo  You will also be asked to use the correct term when talking about the TEMPO o a song. TEMPO means how ast or how slow the song is being played. • • •

PRESTO:  &his means !ery ast ALLE*RO: &his means ast MODERATO: &his means relati!ely ast, but not as ast as ALLE*RO.

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LAR*O: &his means slowly

:fects :fects are the diferent things that ha!e been added to instruments to change or manipulate the sound. &hese oten appear in popular music#

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DISTORTION:  &his is usually ound on guitars in rock or hea!y metal music. It makes the guitars sounds hea!y and not !ery clear. RE)ER#: &his is usually added to !ocals to make them %ring out'. RE)ER# is when the sound is bouncing slightly. Imagine being in a multi6storey carpark and shouting. DELA!: &his is when the thing you play is repeated. It may be straight away or ater a short period o time. It will oten get quieter as well. 1A: &his is when there is a %wah' sound added to an instrument. * good example o this is on the keyboard part o 1uperstition by 1te!ie 8onder.

 &ime 1ignature  You will oten be asked to comment on the time signature o a piece. &his will usually be 5/5 but it could also be 6/5 or 7/8& It is !ery unlikely to be anything else. I you are unsure o the time signature, always write down 5/5