Writing Essays in the GCSE Music Exam A guide to how to get your best mark

Choosing the essay The essay question is worth 12 of the total 80 marks which is 6% of your total grade There is always a choice of 2 essay questions and you have approximately 30 minutes Here is an example of 2 questions. Which one would you choose?

Choice 1 MOBY WHY DOES MY HEART In what year was this released? What style is this? (2) Write an essay showing how MOBY uses the following musical elements in this track Tempo & Rhythm Structure Melody Use of Technology Melody (10)

Choice 2 HANDEL : And the Glory of the Lord When was this composed? What sort of large scale work is this chorus from? Write an essay showing how HANDEL uses the following musical elements in this chorus Tempo & Rhythm Tonality Instrumentation and voices Melody Texture

SO WHAT WILL GET ME A GOOD MARK? No time-wasting!! Make a decision early on to give yourself enough time to answer. Read the first questions carefully and answer the first two points then plan your essay. Now look carefully at the elements you have to comment on. If you can make rough notes by each about what you will say

Making notes about the elements HANDEL : And the Glory of the Lord Tempo & Rhythm- 3/4 Allegro Hemiola Tonality A major ends on plagal cadence Instrumentation and voices SATB Strings and basso continuo- cello & organ Melody Syllabic, sequences, melismas at some points 4 main themes Texture A mixture of homophonic,polyphonic with some imitation and ends homophonically.

NOW you are ready to write your essay! To get a good mark have a short simple introduction e.g Handel’s chorus And the Glory of the Lord is a chorus from the Messiah which he composed in 1742. The tempo of this chorus is ……..

Concluding the essay When you have written about each element (AND DON’T WRITE ABOUT ELEMENTS WHICH YOU ARE NOT ASKED TO WRITE ABOUT!!!) end with a simple conclusion Handel’s Messiah is still a very popular work today and this chorus is a good example of Baroque style, creating a joyful mood.

HELPFUL HINTS- maximise your mark ! Use the answers to the two questions at the start of the essay question in your essay introduction or conclusion- e.g. when it was composed, the style of music ! Always allow enough time to read through what you have written and correct where needed

More helpful hints! Write neatly and have paragraphs. DO NOT WRITE IN BULLET POINTS-you must use FULL sentences and aim to SPELL CORRECTLY. Make sure for example that the title and composer’s names are correctly spelt as they will be given in the question. Many people get this wrong and lose marks

NEATNESS WRITE NEATLY FROM THE START. If you choose to make some rough notes on another page just cross through them. Do not cross out harshly as this can lose you marks. You just need to put a line through any mistake once. Some people may have time left to write the essay out neatly but most don’t ! Plan in rough first as quickly as possible then write

And the good news is… Once you have finished the essay your exam is nearly over! Just check through your paper in any spare time