Music Melodies >:(.

Dillon34

Ugh Music is quite possibly my worst subject along with Physics.


I find the things people in my class find the easiest, the hardest.
I have a hard time learning the set works and differentiating which section is which in all the set works (minus Queen).

But the thing the literally makes me want to cry are MELODIES OMG.

Can someone please help me? I have dara Black's notes and Rapid revision but I still can't grasp how to do the '' CONTINUATION OF A GIVEN OPENING'' Question.
I know I should probably be doing pass but I just can't drop.

Is there any other revision books that going into detail on question 1 and 5 of the composition paper?
I've heard this textbook is good (http://www.leavingcertmusic.com/) But it seems far too expensive (38 euro) for me atleast..

So my questions are:

• How do I know if it's a Major or a minor melody?
• How the Fook do I do an Upbeat melody?
• Can anyone give me a layout that will for sure work every time? (for both minor and major)
• Is there any other notes I can buy that will get me through this horrible exam??

Any help will be much appreciated, thank you so much!

curly135

I would consider Music to be one of my best subjects (one of my two HL A's in JC ), although I did absolutely awful in my Physics pre, so don't feel too bad about that one

Okay, firstly, for the set works, simply listening to the pieces while looking at the score will be of some benefit. Try and identify some of the features present in one section and not present in another, it should help a bit by listening very carefully to the pieces. Apart from Barry, they are not actually that difficult, Tchaikovsky has 3 main sections and Bach has the 7 pieces...

So listen! I know it seems like it won't work, but once you know have a general idea of how each section sounds you're halfway there to distinguishing them from each other. I'd also highly recommend doing past listening papers and correcting them with the marking schemes, it's actually pretty helpful and you learn a lot about the style of answering

Melodies

If the melody is major, then the majority of the time there are no accidentals (sharps, flats or naturals). So if you just look at the melody and you see accidentals, you know its going to be minor. The majority of the time this is a solid way to identify whether it's major or minor, I'm not saying it's full proof, but its what most people rely on and what works most of the time.

For the upbeat, it's really important that you know the note values and time signatures... all you basically have to do is take away the upbeat from the end of each line, so that for example if there's an upbeat of a crotchet then the last bar of each line will be around 3 crotchets before the new phrase starts... kinda hard to explain, sorry if I made it too complicated xD

I can scan and send on some past ones I've done with the layout written above them if that helps The only difference between major and minor ones is that you modulate to the dominant for major melodies, while you just put in an imperfect cadence (i-V) for minors :pac:

I have the Less Stress More Success book, I found it really helpful, but having said that, don't be relying on revision books too much, when it's the past papers and marking schemes which will really help you.

Hope this helps, let me know if you need some sample melodies sent on

Acciaccatura

Also, they never ask for a modulation in a minor key, even if you may have been taught to. So if they do ask for one, it's definitely a major key, but if there's no mention of a modulation and the given phrase has accidentals, you're 98% guaranteed it's a minor. If you've been taught how to modulate in a minor key (it's different from major), there's no harm in throwing it in

Dillon34

curly135 wrote: »

I would consider Music to be one of my best subjects (one of my two HL A's in JC ), although I did absolutely awful in my Physics pre, so don't feel too bad about that one

Okay, firstly, for the set works, simply listening to the pieces while looking at the score will be of some benefit. Try and identify some of the features present in one section and not present in another, it should help a bit by listening very carefully to the pieces. Apart from Barry, they are not actually that difficult, Tchaikovsky has 3 main sections and Bach has the 7 pieces...

So listen! I know it seems like it won't work, but once you know have a general idea of how each section sounds you're halfway there to distinguishing them from each other. I'd also highly recommend doing past listening papers and correcting them with the marking schemes, it's actually pretty helpful and you learn a lot about the style of answering

Melodies

If the melody is major, then the majority of the time there are no accidentals (sharps, flats or naturals). So if you just look at the melody and you see accidentals, you know its going to be minor. The majority of the time this is a solid way to identify whether it's major or minor, I'm not saying it's full proof, but its what most people rely on and what works most of the time.

For the upbeat, it's really important that you know the note values and time signatures... all you basically have to do is take away the upbeat from the end of each line, so that for example if there's an upbeat of a crotchet then the last bar of each line will be around 3 crotchets before the new phrase starts... kinda hard to explain, sorry if I made it too complicated xD

I can scan and send on some past ones I've done with the layout written above them if that helps The only difference between major and minor ones is that you modulate to the dominant for major melodies, while you just put in an imperfect cadence (i-V) for minors :pac:

I have the Less Stress More Success book, I found it really helpful, but having said that, don't be relying on revision books too much, when it's the past papers and marking schemes which will really help you.

Hope this helps, let me know if you need some sample melodies sent on

Thank you so much! . And if you could send me some sample melodies I would literally worship the ground you walk on!

I_ENJOY_BATHS

Dillon34 wrote: »

Thank you so much! . And if you could send me some sample melodies I would literally worship the ground you walk on!

I would also be unbelievably grateful for some sample melodies, can't find any, anywhere!

curly135

Dillon34 wrote: »

Thank you so much! . And if you could send me some sample melodies I would literally worship the ground you walk on!

I_ENJOY_BATHS wrote: »

I would also be unbelievably grateful for some sample melodies, can't find any, anywhere!

No problem, PM me an email address and I can send on sample Major and Minor ones