LC Irish Music Essays

ChemHickey

Hey guys, Just wondering what are the types of questions that are possible to be asked on the Irish Music essay Question? My teacher isn't great, and she's not even from Ireland and she doesn't know much about it either. We have nothing done on this section, and she just gave us a booklet of notes and said "learn these" without explaining what to do or anything at all!!

So I ask, Does anyone have any tips, questions, notes or guidelines to follow for this question? Thanks in advance, mes amis... :pac:

JonnyMcNamee

The essay titles I'm studying are:
-Fusion
-Harp and Uilleann Pipes
-Influence of Irish music on North America and Canada
-Sean-Nós Singing
-The preservation of Irish Music
-Development of Irish music in the 20th Century

These are the titles our teacher gave us anyway. We're also studying the Harp and Uilleann Pipes as separate essays!

ChemHickey

The essay titles I'm studying are:
-Fusion
-Harp and Uilleann Pipes
-Influence of Irish music on North America and Canada
-Sean-Nós Singing
-The preservation of Irish Music
-Development of Irish music in the 20th Century

These are the titles our teacher gave us anyway. We're also studying the Harp and Uilleann Pipes as separate essays!

Cool thanks!! That's great! Do you have any tips on how to approach the question? Start straight in, talk a bit and then say some performers/songs?
Thank you though!!

JonnyMcNamee

I really don't know, haven't approached the essays yet. I presume you just have an introduction with a bit of background info, have two or three paragraphs with strong points, discuss important players and/or groups and then conclude? Shouldn't be anything too complicated I wouldn't think?

Luno

They're only worth 1% of the listening paper which is nothing so I wouldn't worry a whole pile. A few other essays that come up are composers, collectors, dances and groups! For any title you pick you should have plenty of examples!

PictureFrame

M&S* wrote: »

They're only worth 1% of the listening paper which is nothing so I wouldn't worry a whole pile. A few other essays that come up are composers, collectors, dances and groups! For any title you pick you should have plenty of examples!

They're actually worth 10% of the Listening Paper. 10 Marks out of 100. The same as the Q.2/3/4.

Overall though, if you're looking for an A1/A2 you have to know them. They're worth 2.5%. In fairness though, I understand they're worth basically nothing.

leaveiton

Not completely sure because we haven't done too much on them yet (too busy with practical) but we've done a couple. If you look through past exam papers you should have an idea of what they can ask. I think there's only a set amount of topics they can ask you on, but I'm open to correction on that.

They don't have to be particularly long, my teacher said the space they give you on the paper should be fine, but there are extra lines if you go over a little bit. She also said that it doesn't actually have to be in essay format, that you can bullet point the important points and you'll still get the marks. Also something she keeps stressing is musical examples. I thought this meant something like saying "X and Y are examples of songs in the sean nos style" or along those lines, but according to her you should give little examples of the actual music. It doesn't have to be anything mad though, for example she gave us out a sheet with the music of a sean nos song and said that if we could just write out the first 2 bars of it in an essay it'd be plenty.

I wouldn't worry about them too much though. If you even know the basics you'll be able to pick up a lot of marks. It is a good idea to prepare them though, could be a lifesaver if one of your other questions goes wrong!

ChemHickey

Wow, cool guys, that's great!! I'll prepare most of the essays, (maybe not the ones that came up last year) but at least I know now what is expected! I really really want the A1, so I really don't mind how miniscule the marks are!

Anyone have any tips on playing pieces for practical either? Or should i start a new thread?

I'll be playing on violin,
1) Danse Espagne , Grandos/kreisler
2) Canon in , Pachebel
3) Vivaldi Spring1
4) Schindler's List-Williams
5) Preludio & Allemanda - Corelli
6) Danse Macabre -Saint Saens

Is this ok/good enough/ too much? Any opinions really appreciated..

Also, (finally I hear ye gasp! :P) is it ok to cut down your piece if it is too long, eg, the danse macabre is like 8/9 minutes on its own, so i was thinking of stopping after 5/6 minutes? Would that be ok? Sorry for all the questions but our teacher isn't very good, and I only have music once a week (outside school)

Merci beaucoup, mes potes...

PictureFrame

ChemHickey wrote: »

Wow, cool guys, that's great!! I'll prepare most of the essays, (maybe not the ones that came up last year) but at least I know now what is expected! I really really want the A1, so I really don't mind how miniscule the marks are!

Anyone have any tips on playing pieces for practical either? Or should i start a new thread?

I'll be playing on violin,
1) Danse Espagne , Grandos/kreisler
2) Canon in , Pachebel
3) Vivaldi Spring1
4) Schindler's List-Williams
5) Preludio & Allemanda - Corelli
6) Danse Macabre -Saint Saens

Is this ok/good enough/ too much? Any opinions really appreciated..

Also, (finally I hear ye gasp! :P) is it ok to cut down your piece if it is too long, eg, the danse macabre is like 8/9 minutes on its own, so i was thinking of stopping after 5/6 minutes? Would that be ok? Sorry for all the questions but our teacher isn't very good, and I only have music once a week (outside school)

Merci beaucoup, mes potes...

You probably will have to cut them down slightly, to give you time for your unprepared test! My Practical is gonna be sooo short. My longest piece is only 2 minutes, with my shortest being 30 seconds (Piano). I can do the Music Technology in 5 Minutes and the unprepared test only takes 1 minute!

So i'm looking at around 15 minutes for my Practical and it'll all be over! :O

leaveiton

PictureFrame wrote: »

You probably will have to cut them down slightly, to give you time for your unprepared test! My Practical is gonna be sooo short. My longest piece is only 2 minutes, with my shortest being 30 seconds (Piano). I can do the Music Technology in 5 Minutes and the unprepared test only takes 1 minute!

So i'm looking at around 15 minutes for my Practical and it'll all be over! :O

:eek: That's crazily short! I didn't even know your pieces could be that short, what are you playing?

ChemHickey

PictureFrame wrote: »

ChemHickey wrote: »

Wow, cool guys, that's great!! I'll prepare most of the essays, (maybe not the ones that came up last year) but at least I know now what is expected! I really really want the A1, so I really don't mind how miniscule the marks are!

Anyone have any tips on playing pieces for practical either? Or should i start a new thread?

I'll be playing on violin,
1) Danse Espagne , Grandos/kreisler
2) Canon in , Pachebel
3) Vivaldi Spring1
4) Schindler's List-Williams
5) Preludio & Allemanda - Corelli
6) Danse Macabre -Saint Saens

Is this ok/good enough/ too much? Any opinions really appreciated..

Also, (finally I hear ye gasp! :P) is it ok to cut down your piece if it is too long, eg, the danse macabre is like 8/9 minutes on its own, so i was thinking of stopping after 5/6 minutes? Would that be ok? Sorry for all the questions but our teacher isn't very good, and I only have music once a week (outside school)

Merci beaucoup, mes potes...

You probably will have to cut them down slightly, to give you time for your unprepared test! My Practical is gonna be sooo short. My longest piece is only 2 minutes, with my shortest being 30 seconds (Piano). I can do the Music Technology in 5 Minutes and the unprepared test only takes 1 minute!

So i'm looking at around 15 minutes for my Practical and it'll all be over! :O

15 minutes? That's short enough. but, that means less time to make mistakes too! Are the unprepared sightreading tests the same difficulty each year? i hope so, they're the best question! I feel a bit more relieved that it CAn be cut down! the hardest parts are at the end! :-P

PictureFrame

leaveiton wrote: »

:eek: That's crazily short! I didn't even know your pieces could be that short, what are you playing?

Yeah, I timed it today and I think it's approximately 31 Seconds! :eek:

I'm playing

• Étude Op 47 No.15- Heller
• Sonata in E Major- Mozart
• Gigue in D Minor (From Suite HWV 537)- Handel
• Adagio Cantabile- Baldassare Galuppi

All Piano. The Gigue is super-duper fast, hence it's only 31 seconds in length

Luno

PictureFrame wrote: »

They're actually worth 10% of the Listening Paper. 10 Marks out of 100. The same as the Q.2/3/4.

Overall though, if you're looking for an A1/A2 you have to know them. They're worth 2.5%. In fairness though, I understand they're worth basically nothing.

Oh sorry. I was getting confused with the overall and started miscalculating things (going to fail maths). I don't see the point in learning off that many essays (although most people have a decent chunk before music, they're not exactly difficult just from your knowledge of music you should be alright. Giving examples is one thing people don't do enough of apparently.

Rhiannon Cremins

hi guys, does anybody have an essays on the influence of irish music on north american music they could post up please, would be an amazing help to me.

ChemHickey

BUMP

Sorry, but it'd be more beneficial to bump.. (it is my thread :L )


Any predictions for this year?

I think 4 of

Sean Nós
Ornamentation in Instruments
North america influences
Harping
Irish music over 20th century
Fusion?

JonnyMcNamee

ChemHickey wrote: »

BUMP

Sorry, but it'd be more beneficial to bump.. (it is my thread :L )


Any predictions for this year?

I think 4 of

Sean Nós
Ornamentation in Instruments
North america influences
Harping
Irish music over 20th century
Fusion?

+1
I hope :L

Undeadfred

My teacher says that for the essay all you have to do is mention 10 points with reference to examples and performers to get the marks. No personal response needed.
But then at the PPMTA revision course they said you only need 3-4 points and include a lot of personal response.

I don't know who to believe >.<

spurious

Go with whatever the marking scheme says.

Undeadfred

It says nothing about personal response. All it says is that an A answer is an 'Excellent awareness and detailed knowledge of musical features of topic.'.

spurious

Undeadfred wrote: »

It says nothing about personal response. All it says is that an A answer is an 'Excellent awareness and detailed knowledge of musical features of topic.'.

I'd follow that then. No harm throw in a few sentences of a personal response at the end to cover all the bases, but what the marking scheme says is what they are looking for.

ChemHickey

Hey, it's funny seeing my thread from last year!

For my exam last year, I think the topic I chose was on regional styles and players. I had barely anything learned on it and didn't expect it to come up but I powered through :P

The layout I took for my essay was:

Introduction- explain the key words in the question
Break the answer into 3~4 points, each with an example/player or something.
Summary/Conclusion.

I didn't have a teacher who did these essays (I took music outside school) so I just wrote loads. I wrote 2 A4 pages. You have a lot of time so use it to your advantage!

Also, I am pretty sure I made up a name or two of the players and a few songs to bulk up the answer! And if at all possible, give a musical notated answer. :pac:

People say "only" 10 marks but they're important to get! I didn't get to view my music paper, it didn't come back , so I don't know my mark distribution but I got an A1 in the end (so happy!) and don't take the essay lightly. I probably have notes but I think they're in my student accommodation so if I find them I'll post them up for some people to see or else PM them to whoever.

Undeadfred

Lol yeah it must be nostalgic :L

I don't even consider layout i just try and regurgitate as much information as i can, i dont even use paragraphs or anything although i probably should.

I'd say its not a good idea to make up names of people and songs, like the examiner would probably know :L

That's so good you got your A1. I've found Its fairly hard to get an A1 in Music

ChemHickey

Undeadfred wrote: »

Lol yeah it must be nostalgic :L

I don't even consider layout i just try and regurgitate as much information as i can, i dont even use paragraphs or anything although i probably should.

I'd say its not a good idea to make up names of people and songs, like the examiner would probably know :L

That's so good you got your A1. I've found Its fairly hard to get an A1 in Music

Well it's not awful to make up names. I am pretty sure I made up one or two (I knew their surnames but not the first) and then I added some local traditional musicians (ones from Sligo) who the examiner definitely wouldn't have known unless they were from Sligo, or, into very trad music.

But thanks! It was my proudest A1, I was chuffed

Undeadfred

ChemHickey wrote: »

Well it's not awful to make up names. I am pretty sure I made up one or two (I knew their surnames but not the first) and then I added some local traditional musicians (ones from Sligo) who the examiner definitely wouldn't have known unless they were from Sligo, or, into very trad music.

But thanks! It was my proudest A1, I was chuffed

Oh well that's not so bad then.

Yeah well done!

Acciaccatura

If the harping tradition doesn't come up, I'll eat my sombrero, it hasn't come up in years. Also, I'd say ornamentation, either on instruments or sean-nós, will come up. And I've a feeling they might throw in a curveball like céilí band tradition, but I'd like it if a composer involved with fusion came up, I've become an expert on Bill Whelan and Riverdance :P

Undeadfred

I'm not really covering specific artists as i think there's less of a chance of your artist coming up.

So far I've covered...
Harping tradition
Sean Nos
Dance Music
Influence on America
Developments in the 20th Century

And i plan on covering Songs, Collectors and Features of Irish Music

I'd say that's enough to guarantee one of them to come up. I'm still unsure of the personal response though

sophiiieee

I have all the notes i had from doing leaving cert music up on my blog and there are lots of sample essays there so check it out if you want, hope it can help http://leaving-cert-helpnotes.blogspot.ie/2012/06/leaving-cert-irish-traditional-music.html

It also has a table of each essay that has ever come up and the years they have come up so you can work out the likelyhood of it coming up