Transcript Feedback on 2015 paper

Feedback on the June
2015 paper
Unit B354
Reminders
• The paper is marked out of 100
• The questions are based on Areas of Study 2, 3
and 4
• The questions will use words, and require
candidates to use words, from the Language
for Learning
General Points
• One candidate gained 99 marks out of 100 and
several candidates gained 98 and 97
• The grade boundaries were close to the
notional boundaries
– A was 79 (notional is 80)
– C was 58 (notional is 60)
– F was 36 (notional is 30 – so a little high)
Common Mistakes 1
• When asked for a period of composition, that
is what is required. Some candidates write
dates which even if correct are not acceptable.
• Negative answers are generally not allowed
– For example in question 4d – ‘it is not staccato’ is
not an acceptable answer – we need to know what
the music is, not what it isn’t!
Common Mistakes 2
• Students often fail to listen or read what area
of study the question is based on and do not
think through what genre they would expect
to be in each area of study
• In this paper there was confusion between
question 1B and question 2
– Q1B was Indian Classical Music – AoS 2
– Q2 was Bhangra – AoS 3
How much to write 1
• Candidates should be clear as to how many
answers they need to write
– For a 1 mark question only 1 answer is required
which will often be a single word
• Although there were not as many as in previous years
there were still some candidates who wrote multiple
answers for a 1 word answer question
• If one of the answers is wrong then marks cannot be
awarded
How much to write 2
• Where candidates are asked to give several
answers then that is what they must do
• Questions often state - Give three features, Give
two ways, Name two instruments etc
• If they do not give the required number of points then
they cannot get full marks for that question
How much to write 3
• Where an answer required the candidate to
‘describe’ then they should look at how marks
the question is worth
• Currently all of these questions are marked
‘point by point’
• Increasingly Qfqual are looking for this style of
question to be marked in a banded way
Terminology
• As always various terms from the language for
learning were used on the paper
• On this paper these specific terms were used:
• Articulation, trill, chromatic, tempo, interval,
unison, glissando and cadence
• Those that were used in multiple choice or true
/ false questions were quite well answered but
the two that were used in the score question –
trill and chromatic – were not
Knowledge 1
• There were a number of questions on this
paper where background knowledge was
essential
–
–
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–
–
–
–
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Name of style or genre
Composers
Periods of musical history
Type of ensemble
Typical instruments and
Typical rhythmic patterns
Origins of the dance styles
Dance steps
Knowledge 2
• On this paper there were 9 marks available for
questions that related to knowledge directly
– Style or genre
– Composer
– Ensemble
– Dance steps
– Country of origin
– History period
Knowledge 3
• There were at least 4 marks available for
questions that related to knowledge indirectly
– The type of drum – tabla and dohl
– Rhythmic pattern – tala and chaal
Knowledge 4
• Here are some examples of candidates who
lost out on marks because their knowledge
was weak and they had not thought about the
area of study they were dealing with or indeed
the specific style the extract of music was
Knowledge of the role of the tanpura in this style would make this an easy question
and therefore an easy mark:
•
•
•
‘Drums’ in a single word answer will never be specific enough:
‘Chaal’ was the answer here – Bhangra not Jazz:
‘No response’ will never gain credit – tell candidates to always have a go!
Examples of a few part
questions that show
problems and excellence
Not all questions will be included as some were answered very
well eg 1A and some have a number of ‘right or wrong’ answers
which candidates also manage quite well on the whole
Q1B – Indian Classical
• Many candidates had learnt the features of
this genre very well
– This candidate clearly understands the principles
of the style
• This candidate has not understood the basic
principles of the style and so has given
answers that are not detailed enough or not
relevant
Q1C – a fight scene from the film
‘The Musketeer’
• A concise answer worth 4 marks
• Two responses that gained full mark – the
candidates give reasons for the answer – this
is nice but not actually necessary
Some of the answer is good but
the rest is vague
• The 1st answer has used inappropriate
terminology and so receives no mark.
• The 2nd is an inaccurate statement,
• The 3rd is correct
• The 4th is a single word that does not give
enough detail
Q2b – a lot of very good answers
were seen:
• Many lower ability candidates scored well here:
Q2h – a lot of very vague answers were
given that might have referred to any
dance:
2h - Vague and inaccurate
Reading the question is essential:
2h - excellent
Q3 - Prose
• This year the extract of music came from The
Hobbit
– The answers were often very general
– Some started well and then fizzled out
– A few gave no links and so reduced their marks
• Only up to 5 marks are awarded to a candidate who
gives no links to the programme where they are
required
Question 3 continued
• This question is marked using 3 bands or
levels:
– 1 – 3 is a limited range of points that may lack
organisation
– 4 – 6 is several points showing some
understanding, some organisation and some links
to the programme
– 7 – 9 needs a good range of points that show
understanding and are clearly expressed
• Some attention is paid to spelling punctuation
& grammar
An example of an answer with no links
Starts really well and then has a lot of story
An answer worth full mark
A quite basic answer worth 3 marks
Q4 – notation question
• Most candidates gained some marks for the missing
notes
• As last year it was marked in the following way
– Every correct note gained 1 mark
– Every correct shape gained 1 mark
– Candidates often gained credit with a mixture of
correct notes and shapes:
8 correct notes = 8 marks
4 correct shapes and 3 correct
notes = 7
Nothing for the first bit but the last 3 notes
are clear and so gain 3 marks
Many candidates clearly did not
understand leger lines and could not write
them:
The first note is confused and assumed as an incorrect E; there is
a correct shape between notes 2 and 3 in bar 3 but the rest of
the notes, although go down, do not have the correct number of
leger lines and so are inaccurate; The last 3 notes are correct;
4 marks
Quite a lot of candidates placed
the trill too early:
The 3 chromatic notes were placed
in all sorts of places
• Completely wrong:
Some were incorrect but more
understandable
• Candidates forgot the accidental rule:
• Some just chose 3 stepwise notes:
Q5 – Comparison question
• The boxes were better answered on the whole this
year than in the past
– There was some confusion over the tempi – many
felt that B was faster than A – they did not think
about the fact that the walking bass would be
crotchets
– A number gained the marks for stating that ‘both
were steady’
It does not matter how candidates set their
answer out: Some like to split it into 2
columns
Some prefer 3
This candidate has gained 3 marks
for extract A and 1 for Extract B
Q6d – one of the few questions
that had 4 marks
• A good answer here – we do not worry if there
are wrong answers – we keep going and mark
what there is:
Some more good answers:
Some poor answers – both are very vague:
Reminders
• There are now nine past papers for you to use
with your students
• It is the musical extracts that change form
paper to paper, the questions remain quite
similar so you are able to see what is expected
• There is a mixture of questions that focus on
the specific styles and others that focus on
general musicianship
Teaching the content from the
Areas of Study
• These have remained constant over many years and
it is clear that there is some excellent teaching across
the country
• There is quite a lot of it!!
• Be economical – you do not have to spend hours and
hours on each style or genre
• Use one or two styles to cover a lot of basic principles
and then dip into the others with information sheets
and some selected listening
Creative
Task
Performance
1
Listening Paper
Group
Performance
One genre or style
Log
and
Evaluation
Composition 2
Commentary
Composition 1