Music- Melody Composition

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Hello!

I'm sitting my Music Composition Paper tomorrow and would like to get high marks in my Melody Composition. We got out listening test back on Friday and I managed 82% (B1) :O, much to my surprise! I got 89% in my Practical. I would love to get an A2 in my Mock overall but to achieve this i'll need to do a good melody.

So back to the question at hand, does anyone that do Music know if you get any marks for completing the following in a melody, or are you just docked marks if you don't complete them?

• Choosing an appropriate instrument
• Adding dynamics/phrasing to the melody
• Adding a modulation to the dominant key

Thanks a million for any replies received in advance guys!

whistlin_boy

You're docked marks for all three afaik...That what we were always told anyway!! It's not that hard anyway to tick the box for the instrument...just pick something with a good wide range like violin and piano.....use phrases marks where appropriate in your opinion...it only becomes very important if an anacrusis melody is given....only include 3 or 4 dynamics at most... remember the melody itself is only 12 bars long!! As for the modulation (major key only), try your best and remember soh in the original key becomes doh in the dominant and fah is raised to become ti in the new key!!

Hopes that helps!!

leaveiton

whistlin_boy wrote: »

You're docked marks for all three afaik...That what we were always told anyway!! It's not that hard anyway to tick the box for the instrument...just pick something with a good wide range like violin and piano.....use phrases marks where appropriate in your opinion...it only becomes very important if an anacrusis melody is given....only include 3 or 4 dynamics at most... remember the melody itself is only 12 bars long!! As for the modulation (major key only), try your best and remember soh in the original key becomes doh in the dominant and fah is raised to become ti in the new key!!

Hopes that helps!!

Don't pick piano! It reads from the treble clef and the bass clef, you'd be docked marks for picking it! Violin is grand though, as is flute, at least one of those is practically always an option

whiteandlight

Remember you can't go below middle c if you pick flute

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Thanks guys! Ended up being a 3/4 Anacrusis Melody! Picked the Clarinet, highest I went was an octave and two semitones up from the original key! Think the clarinet has a huge range so it should be ok! It went very well! Was delighted with it overall, when we finished it our whole class just looked at eachother in silence as the last 4/5 melodies we got for homework were 6/8 minor so it was a lot simplier than the normal!

Just keep the fingers crossed I did well, and them crossed on the other hand for an A1 in June!

Thanks a million for the help, any advice on how to achieve that A1 in the Leaving?

whiteandlight

Good work. Clarinet is defo the best choice. Nail your practical, do plenty of 'mock' ones for friends/family-personally I found them harder to play for than the stranger examiner! After that lots of learning of notes/Irish music essays etc