Music Paper I

[Mashley310]

Our IB Music teacher has done very little in the way of preparing us to actual take the exam this year, and I'm starting to freak out a bit (or a lot) about how to write an adequate response on paper I. What sorts of things are examiners looking for in the responses? How specific are we supposed to get? What is an average length for high scoring responses? That kind of thing. We haven't done any writing all year, so I don't really know how to start preparing, and when I asked, I got very vague responses. :-( Thanks in advance!

[yii yann]

I'd say at most 2 sides per question. You don't have a lot of time, so it's fine to write less. However your points should make sense.

Write down everything you hear (this includes stuff like key signature, time sig, tempo, "mood", where could it be from, texture, etc..). These are all basic things that you should write at the beginning of your essay. Then go on to develop some ideas (eg the effect of rubato) or something. Use diagrams now and then. Justify anything you say, especially with regards to which period. I'm sure there's more stuff to say, but I can't think of it right now.

[Leaf]

Each question is worth 20 marks. You'll get four pieces to listen to (on a CD player), and you'll have to analyse each piece. They mark you out of 5 in 4 sections, resulting in a total of 20. Two of them were context and structure, but I forgot the other two criteria.

For example, if I were given Lullaby of Birdland (IB LOVE old jazz or rock songs), I might get some marks for context by mentioning that it is 1950's jazz song. I would mention that some musical features (eg. plucked double bass) of the song (give specific timings) are typical of jazz songs at the time. I would mention that it takes a verse/chorus/verse/chorus form. I probably would mention that the instrumentation is brass, piano, double bass, drums, and vocals. The style is important as well - I would say that the piano ad libs in an improvisational way throughout the piece while the double bass is plucked rather than bowed.

Musical features are very important as well. Describing the harmony might be good - is it a single line melody? Is it a drone? Is it polyphonic?

[phoebejasper]

My teacher taught us something called SMITH RD.

So, we go through the elements like this

S - Structure. This is worth 5/20 marks so is super important.

M - Melody.

I - Instrumentation

T - Texture

H - Harmony

R - Rhythm

D - Dynamics

If you go through that you should be fine.

Also, you get 5 marks for context, so talk about what you hear in terms of time period etc.

5 marks for terminology so use music words.

5 marks for elements (listed above)

Hope this helps