WJEC/Eduqas GCSE Music Revision Guide Sample

48 SECTION 1 APPRAISING AURAL DICTATION What Do I Need To Know? One of the questions in the Appraising paper will be presented along with an outline score of the melody heard in the extract. In this question, you will be asked to complete the rhythm or pitch of a short section of the music. Pitch dictation will always be within the major scale. Pitch dictation could be in the treble or bass clef. Rhythm and pitch dictation will always be in simple time. Recognition of musical patterns could be in simple or compound time. Other parts of the question will require you to identify other musical features (e.g. keys, cadences, time signatures, recognition of instruments/voices, any signs or terms used in the given outline score) . Many GCSE Music students find musical dictation a challenging skill – so the quicker you embrace this and do everything you can to improve your reading and writing skills in music, the better. This question could be found in any area of study, and will be based on an unprepared musical extract. You will be given an outline score as part of the question – and you will be required, at some point, to ‘fill in the gaps’ as it were. Confidence in being able to answer this question will come from knowing and recognising: • key signatures • time signatures • stepwise (conjunct) movement • intervals (disjunct/angular) movement • patterns in pitch and rhythm. Don’t avoid musical notation just because it seems complicated. Music is a language, and the more you use notation the better and more fluent you will be at reading and writing it. You need to complete lots of theoretical exercises and learn to sight-read; take it slowly, one step at a time. Relating the sound to the symbol is what is important. Some suggested activities are given in the final section of the WJEC/Eduqas GCSE Music textbook. The best method is to build your memory skills slowly but steadily. As a young child, you learned how to speak and write by copying and repeating phrases CHAPTER 4: AURAL DICTATION • Simple time – 2/4, 3/4, 4/4 • Compound time – 6/8 Remember Make sure you know: • the time signatures (2/4, 3/4, 4/4 and 6/8) • all the different types of note-values • key signatures up to four flats and four sharps (major and minor). Get the Grade B K LINK: pages 248–253