Leaving Cert Music- Composition Paper

ChemHickey · 18-05-2013 5:52pm #1

So a good few of you have been PMing me about melody composing tips and layouts and I thought it might be handy to throw up some notes I made out to help. I have a sample melody included (I think it sounds well enough, it was only a quick 16 bar composition based on the 2011 q1, it took ~10mins).

I have some notes on the Major Melody questions below, apologies I can't put them in some neat form or anything, they're hand written so I could only take pictures and upload them and some might repeat other material from other pictures so sorry in advance.

I'll upload some minor melody ones soon (tomorrow or the next day), it would be unlikely for it to appear but just incase.

ChemHickey · 18-05-2013 5:54pm

Part 9 is the sample layout btw.

hfallada · 18-05-2013 7:11pm

Those notes are really good. How did you study for the listening section? Cos I not really sure how to approach it.

ChemHickey · 18-05-2013 7:47pm

hfallada wrote: »

Those notes are really good. How did you study for the listening section? Cos I not really sure how to approach it.

For the listening section I just practiced. Practice from the OL papers after the HL for q1-4 because they give you answers and a summary really of the pieces so do all the past papers really! For Irish music, be able to differentiate between the different types of dance and between a slide, slip jig etc. Know the aspects of fusion, the different features of Irish music in general too and ornamentation too.
And for the unheard section it is just practice. Listen to loads of different types of classical and different genres of music on YouTube too. Dictation is a part as well so practice identifying intervals on a piano or on some instrument. Also know your rhythmic details, they usually have a question asking you to pick out which rhythmic feature is present.

But practice is the best thing. Listen to your pieces ALL the time. I think I listened to mine everyday of May/June at least once so I knew them inside out and had them playing in the background sometimes when on FB or Boards.

Any other questions feel free to ask! I did q4 in the Composition paper as well so I can make notes on that too if you want

hfallada · 18-05-2013 11:26pm

ChemHickey wrote: »

For the listening section I just practiced. Practice from the OL papers after the HL for q1-4 because they give you answers and a summary really of the pieces so do all the past papers really! For Irish music, be able to differentiate between the different types of dance and between a slide, slip jig etc. Know the aspects of fusion, the different features of Irish music in general too and ornamentation too.
And for the unheard section it is just practice. Listen to loads of different types of classical and different genres of music on YouTube too. Dictation is a part as well so practice identifying intervals on a piano or on some instrument. Also know your rhythmic details, they usually have a question asking you to pick out which rhythmic feature is present.

But practice is the best thing. Listen to your pieces ALL the time. I think I listened to mine everyday of May/June at least once so I knew them inside out and had them playing in the background sometimes when on FB or Boards.

Any other questions feel free to ask! I did q4 in the Composition paper as well so I can make notes on that too if you want

Thanks so much for the advice. My teacher hasnt given us any guidance on how to study for the listening. Thanks for the offer but I do question 5 in the composition section.

richardh330 · 19-05-2013 12:22am

Thanks again!

ChemHickey · 19-05-2013 12:26am

In general if anyone is doing q4 for the composition paper ill make some notes because it is definitely the easiest question imo (if you've practiced it).

spurious · 19-05-2013 9:48am

OP - I would remove your name from the first image, if you can.
The internet can come back and bite people in the future.

ChemHickey · 19-05-2013 10:33am

spurious wrote: »

OP - I would remove your name from the first image, if you can.
The internet can come back and bite people in the future.

No problem Ill try and do that when I get to my laptop. Thanks Spurious.

ChemHickey · 19-05-2013 7:56pm

Here is the layout/tips for a minor melody. Use these with the tips for the major melody too but there is a specific layout for the minor melody really.

More to come in subsequent post.

ChemHickey · 19-05-2013 8:00pm

If anyone has any specific problems just post here really, I remember almost all of the course (it was one of my favourite courses tbh!) and I'm willing to help wherever I can.

edit: I did the 2012 HL Q1 melody (I wrote 2013 by mistake on it, sorry

) I was scribbling down a melody really quickly (~5mins) and made a slip up there, sorry :L Also, I intended to have the Bb in the last bar as a B natural (for a g major ending but I left out the Natural sign. I prefer the Picardy third arpeggio ending in minor pieces because it just sounds so much happier really! :pac: )

Undeadfred · 23-05-2013 11:06pm

ChemHickey wrote: »

But practice is the best thing. Listen to your pieces ALL the time. I think I listened to mine everyday of May/June at least once so I knew them inside out and had them playing in the background sometimes when on FB or Boards.

I was thinking of doing this but I didn't see much point in it since you'd know all the pieces really well but you wouldn't really be mindfully listening to it as if you were studying it. I'm thinking you'd also get sick of them from listening to them so much

MusicChick94Xx · 24-05-2013 8:32am

I actually love you. These notes are amazing. Thank you

ChemHickey · 24-05-2013 10:45am

Undeadfred wrote: »

I was thinking of doing this but I didn't see much point in it since you'd know all the pieces really well but you wouldn't really be mindfully listening to it as if you were studying it. I'm thinking you'd also get sick of them from listening to them so much

I found that it gives you a feeling (especially for the Tchaikovsky and Barry) of where each section comes in relation to the next. And for me anyways I didn't bore of them at all, and still don't! (They're on my iPod still!). But whichever works best for you, I'd still recommend going through each with your score and notes at least once a week, of not more.

MightyMandarin · 24-05-2013 5:26pm

I thought you could only leap between notes in that chord eg. In chord of E maj like your sample you can only leap between E,G and B Or is that completely wrong?

ChemHickey · 24-05-2013 6:52pm

MightyMandarin wrote: »

I thought you could only leap between notes in that chord eg. In chord of E maj like your sample you can only leap between E,G and B Or is that completely wrong?

Generally it's better if you do stick to notes in the chord (the chord of that bar) but you're allowed leap so long as it sounds musical. Often perfect 4ths and major 6ths sound nice too but a safe bet is using the chord notes.

Any questions on any other parts of the course at all feel free to ask away, I'm not doing much tbh!

MightyMandarin · 24-05-2013 7:04pm

ChemHickey wrote: »

Generally it's better if you do stick to notes in the chord (the chord of that bar) but you're allowed leap so long as it sounds musical. Often perfect 4ths and major 6ths sound nice too but a safe bet is using the chord notes.

Any questions on any other parts of the course at all feel free to ask away, I'm not doing much tbh!

Does that apply to the Harmony question too?

ChemHickey · 24-05-2013 7:21pm

MightyMandarin wrote: »

Does that apply to the Harmony question too?

Well, with the harmony it's a lot more difficult because you have to use certain chords. I'd you don't have a note from
a certain chord on the beat, you won't get that chord really. It's ok to leap around if the note isn't on the beat but always try to keep the notes on the beat as the notes in the chord

Which question are you doing for harmony can I ask?

MightyMandarin · 24-05-2013 7:51pm

ChemHickey wrote: »

Well, with the harmony it's a lot more difficult because you have to use certain chords. I'd you don't have a note from
a certain chord on the beat, you won't get that chord really. It's ok to leap around if the note isn't on the beat but always try to keep the notes on the beat as the notes in the chord Which question are you doing for harmony can I ask?

Q5, i think thats the one like 99% of people do anyway. I know all the rules of progression and cadences but still struggle with the question, should you maintain the bass line identical to whats given?

ChemHickey · 24-05-2013 8:13pm

MightyMandarin wrote: »

Q5, i think thats the one like 99% of people do anyway. I know all the rules of progression and cadences but still struggle with the question, should you maintain the bass line identical to whats given?

Yea? Darn! Everyone seems to be doing that! :P I did q4. But yeah, variation on what's given is usually the best thing to do. Movement in the bass when there are held/long notes in the upper/treble part is great and so is when you use contrary motion, upper voice rises/falls while the lower voice falls/rises. Usually using the same vary bars 1/2/3/4 in Bars 5/6/7/8 and then varying bars 1/2 in bars 13/14 is probably the best. But keep it musical and fluid. No awkward harmony clashes (minor/major 2nds , augmented 4ths, minor/major 7ths). Keep the bass moving though and make sure the piece doesn't slow down too much (don't overuse long held notes). Best bet is just to analyse bars 1-4 for a good few minutes and then use that style for the rest of the piece

MightyMandarin · 24-05-2013 8:17pm

ChemHickey wrote: »

Yea? Darn! Everyone seems to be doing that! :P I did q4. But yeah, variation on what's given is usually the best thing to do. Movement in the bass when there are held/long notes in the upper/treble part is great and so is when you use contrary motion, upper voice rises/falls while the lower voice falls/rises. Usually using the same vary bars 1/2/3/4 in Bars 5/6/7/8 and then varying bars 1/2 in bars 13/14 is probably the best. But keep it musical and fluid. No awkward harmony clashes (minor/major 2nds , augmented 4ths, minor/major 7ths). Keep the bass moving though and make sure the piece doesn't slow down too much (don't overuse long held notes). Best bet is just to analyse bars 1-4 for a good few minutes and then use that style for the rest of the piece

Do you know what 'Doubled Major 3rds' are, I keep getting marked down for them and haven't a notion what they are.

ChemHickey · 24-05-2013 8:23pm

MightyMandarin wrote: »

Do you know what 'Doubled Major 3rds' are, I keep getting marked down for them and haven't a notion what they are.

Yep, that's when you are doubling the third of a chord in the upper and lower part! (When you use the third in both the treble and bass part on the same beat/chord) When you double the third, you don't really get the overall feel for that specific chord as the third is the weakest note of the chord and is only there for harmonic effect. It's better to double the tonic, dominant or just use a mixture of 1-1, 1-3 , 3-5 , 1-5 or 5-5 between the treble bass parts on the beat as it really gives us the feeling for the chord then! (where 1 is the tonic, 3 is the 3rd and 5 is the dominant)

I recommend having the tonic of the chord in the bass as well tbh, it really is a foolproof way to establish the specific chord in a bar.

MightyMandarin · 24-05-2013 8:34pm

ChemHickey wrote: »

Yep, that's when you are doubling the third of a chord in the upper and lower part! (When you use the third in both the treble and bass part on the same beat/chord) When you double the third, you don't really get the overall feel for that specific chord as the third is the weakest note of the chord and is only there for harmonic effect. It's better to double the tonic, dominant or just use a mixture of 1-1, 1-3 , 3-5 , 1-5 or 5-5 between the treble bass parts on the beat as it really gives us the feeling for the chord then! (where 1 is the tonic, 3 is the 3rd and 5 is the dominant)

I recommend having the tonic of the chord in the bass as well tbh, it really is a foolproof way to establish the specific chord in a bar.

So is Doubled Major 3rds the only thing to refrain from in the question aside from the bad progressions in chords?
Whats a full chord btw?

ChemHickey · 24-05-2013 8:38pm

MightyMandarin wrote: »

So is Doubled Major 3rds the only thing to refrain from in the question aside from the bad progressions in chords?

Another bad thing is
Consecutive octaves and consecutive 5ths too. That's when the treble and bass parts move between notes without any change in harmony (e.g A->B in treble and an A->B in bass would be consecutive octaves and then A->B in one part while the other is E->F# would be consecutive 5ths).

Also, avoid dissonance unless you are able to resolve it.

Be careful with Dominant 7ths, I might through up a note on those tomorrow as well as what to avoid in the Harmony question

MightyMandarin · 24-05-2013 8:48pm

ChemHickey wrote: »

Another bad thing is
Consecutive octaves and consecutive 5ths too. That's when the treble and bass parts move between notes without any change in harmony (e.g A->B in treble and an A->B in bass would be consecutive octaves and then A->B in one part while the other is E->F# would be consecutive 5ths).

Also, avoid dissonance unless you are able to resolve it.

Be careful with Dominant 7ths, I might through up a note on those tomorrow as well as what to avoid in the Harmony question

Better than my music teacher...

ChemHickey · 24-05-2013 9:00pm

MightyMandarin wrote: »

Better than my music teacher...

Haha I doubt that but I love the course and music in general so if anyone has any questions on any part I'll be more than happy to help!

ChemHickey · 25-05-2013 5:41pm

Hey guys, didn't have much time to make really in depth notes but here are two things which could help ye study.

Consecutive 8ves/5ths: Don't do it, it doesn't sound musical and is penalised quite a bit because it shows little competence and musicality. The best way to avoid it is by using the contrary motion I mentioned to someone beforehand.

V7 Resolving: It's not necessary to use, you can easily leave out the 7th but it is a lot more musical and is looked highly upon if used correctly. You could get a good lot of marks for harmonic and melodic use if you can master it. The main thing is preparing the V7th and allowing it to fall down to the 3rd of the tonic chord. It always has to fall though, nothing else. And let the bassline contain the root of the chords too, it makes the chord progression and resolution more powerful.

Also, I just made up the examples really quickly so sorry if they aren't really "musical" or whatever, they get the point across well enough I think.