Music Paper 2?

Memories

Hello Everyone,
In summary, I done music in first year and got A's throughout. Dropped it and didn't do it for my Junior Cert as I wished to carry forward Business.
TY I was convinced by the music teacher in my school to take it for Leaving Cert, so I did.

I couldn't read music, nor do I play a proper instrument. I play guitar but I don't know the theory element. I taught myself how to play. But I can sing, that's why she told me to do it, along with the promise that she'd do afterschool classes with me for the first few weeks of fifth year to catch up with bits and pieces. Those classes never happened, even with my parents contacting the school. It was an empty promise needless to say.

Here I am, Weeks away from my Leaving Cert, doing honours as I have to, and completely unable to do Paper Two of Music in the slightest. I'm clueless. I don't know anything about notes etc. I quite literally am unable to write a thing. Nobody in my area does grinds, only one person and her prices are mad so my family can't afford it.

We are doing the practical elective so that'll count for 50%, but still.

I'm so worried i'm going to fail it considering paper two will probably be blank. I've tried getting her to help me, but she's the type of teacher who if you don't understand it, she'll scream. She doesn't understand the concept that I can't read music within the space of two minutes that I had at the beginning of fifth year. I have tried to make sense of it all myself but to no avail. My parents have spoken to her, and the principal and she made the same promise to them again and it didn't materialise. She's more focusing on the students that she knows will get A's, i'm just an empty promise.

Any advice?
Thanks in advance.

spurious

I'm not clear on whether you are taking classes in school for Music or not.
I understand she didn't do the promised extra classes, but have you been in a regular Music class in school for two years?

If you have seven other subjects, or even six, then just don't go in for the practicals and don't sit the exam in June and nothing about Music will appear on your results.

maedhbh_mac

For the music theory aspect, use this website: http://www.musictheory.net/lessons. It's an excellent introduction to the basics of music notation, which you've probably encountered elsewhere on the course - by paper two, I take it that you mean the composition paper but if you're alright for paper one/the listening paper, you must have at least a basic understanding of music notation.

You answer two questions on the composition paper - one melody and one harmony. Because they're actually quite formulaic in what they want you to do, there's nothing stopping you being able to learn to write a decent melody and basic harmony between now and the exams. There's a particular structure that you can follow for melody composition in that the first two bars of the second phrase/line can mirror the first two bars of the first phrase/line (though watch out for things like going to ti without going to doh after or not starting on doh etc.). The second two bars of the second phrase is where the modulation to the dominant goes - this is usually specified as required in the question and is a little bit difficult to explain in writing though there are some good web resources available.

The third phrase is where you get to introduce a little originality. Usually the done thing is to pick an element of the first phrase and put it in sequence i.e. repeat in an upward or downward stepping motion. You can do this for three bars and then end on a non-complete cadence i.e. IV to I etc. Musictheory.net have a good section on this too. Then the fourth phrase harkens back to the first but usually slightly different - maybe with your sequence influencing it - and you end on V to I. Harmony is trickier to explain in writing but really what you need to be able to do is recognise the key, know the chords, know the cadences and know which chord progressions sound icky - your teacher can advise or, failing that, there's a good section on harmony in the less stress more success music book.

Your teacher will probably have been drilling you on this melody structure for two years - as far as I know, almost everyone uses it. Given that you're doing 50% practical and you seem to be a good musician, there's no reason why you shouldn't put some work in using web resources and maybe a revise wise music between now and the exams to maximise your marks. It's very do-able or, also, you could just drop to pass music, though you've said that you can't for whatever reason.

whiteandlight

Can you still not read music? This would be a huge concern at this stage and to be fair to your teacher, even without a teacher at all you should have picked this up! I second musictheory.net however from the tone of your post you sound like you can't do any of the basics so constructing a melody is beyond you?

First focus on reading the treble and bass clef. You cannot proceed without this. There are tons of games, apps and websites which will allow you to practise. You need to be able to do this fluently and quickly. Try this link

Next you need to learn your key signatures. You do not need to worry too much about the theory behind them since time is an issue, just practise them until you can instantly say the key signature when you see it. Again there are multiple apps, games and websites to help. Try this link

The next step is constructing a chord box. There are 8 letters in the music alphabet A-G. You must know the key signatures before you try this. I'll do the major key first

Example
Key is C Major
1. The scale is the 8 letters of the music alphabet in alphabetical order, starting from the key note
C D E F G A B C is the scale.
2. You need the 3rd and 5th note of this scale, IE E and G to create the chords
Set it up like this
G
E
C D E F G A B C
3. Continue the patterns using the alphabetical music scale
G A B C D E F G
E F G A B C D E
C D E F G A B C
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
4. In a Major Key, the 2nd, 3rd and 6th are always minor. The 7th is diminished and the 8th is a repeat so can be left out. The final box is thus:
G A B C D E F
E F G A B C D
C Dm Em F G Am B
1 2 3 4 5 6 7


If you get the hang of all of this, let me know and I'll give you some more instruction. I teach music in secondary school

Maybe you could look for a piano teacher in your area and talk to him/her? When I took piano lessons, I went for 30 minutes a week for about €10 or €12 at a time. You could see if you could do this too, but instead of learning "pieces" you'll start with the really basic notes and timings and key signatures.

My music teacher never went through and explained note values or composition either, it was something we were expected to know, which was unfair. I was just lucky I could already play piano and read notes. Don't let your teacher get away with it, though. Keep at her until she does something, but look for your own solution outside of school too!

Trebleclef1990

Where are you based???