Appraising music (listening and analysis)

A listening question says: 'Describe the texture and tonality of this extract (4 marks).' How should you approach it?

1. 01Identify the elements asked for

   The question names two elements - texture and tonality - so the answer must address both, not just describe the music generally.

2. 02Listen for texture

   Decide whether the extract is monophonic, homophonic, polyphonic or heterophonic, and note any change, e.g. 'begins homophonic, then a countermelody makes it polyphonic'.

3. 03Listen for tonality

   Decide major or minor, and whether it stays in one key or modulates; listen for a clear cadence or a shift of tonal centre.

4. 04Match detail to the marks

   Four marks usually rewards two secure points per element, so give a precise term plus a brief justification for each - 'homophonic (melody and chordal accompaniment)', 'minor key, modulating to the relative major'.

Result: The answer is planned by decoding the elements the question names, listening specifically for each, and supplying enough justified detail to match the marks - the core habit of every Appraising response.

Show how to build a full description of a short orchestral passage using the elements.

1. 01Start with the temporal elements

   Fix the metre and tempo first - 'a moderate quadruple metre (4/4), allegro' - because they are usually the easiest to hear and anchor everything else.

2. 02Add the tonal elements

   State the tonality and any harmonic feature - 'major key, largely diatonic, ending with a perfect cadence' - and describe the melody's contour and any sequence.

3. 03Describe the sound and texture

   Name the instrumentation and sonority and the texture - 'strings and woodwind, homophonic, with the melody in the violins over a chordal accompaniment' - noting dynamics such as a crescendo.

4. 04Locate it in the structure

   Say where the passage sits - 'this is the opening theme, later restated, suggesting a ternary or rondo design' - so the description reaches from detail to whole.

Result: A complete description moves systematically through the elements - temporal, then tonal, then sonic and textural, then structural - so nothing is missed and each observation uses the correct technical term.

An extract ends on a chord that sounds unfinished, as if asking a question. Work out and justify the cadence.

1. 01Describe the effect

   The phrase does not sound resolved or complete - it hangs, inviting a continuation - which rules out the finished-sounding perfect and plagal cadences.

2. 02Match the effect to a type

   An open, questioning ending is characteristic of an imperfect cadence, which ends on the dominant chord (V) rather than resolving to the tonic.

3. 03Check against the alternative

   It is not an interrupted cadence, which gives a sudden surprise (V to vi) rather than a simple sense of pause - the effect here is unfinished, not startling.

4. 04State and justify

   Answer 'imperfect cadence', justified by the unresolved, questioning quality of the ending on the dominant, which is exactly what the marks want.

Result: The cadence is identified by first describing the aural effect, then matching that effect to the correct named type and ruling out the near neighbour - the reliable route to secure cadence marks.

At a given beat the score shows, from the bottom up, the pitches G, B and D in a passage in C major. Identify the chord and its function.

1. 01Read the pitches bottom-up

   The sounding notes are G (bass), B and D - three different letter names stacked in thirds, so this is a triad.

2. 02Find the root and quality

   Built in thirds the notes spell G-B-D, a G major triad with G as the root; the intervals G-B (major third) and B-D (minor third) confirm major quality.

3. 03Relate to the key

   In C major, G is the fifth degree (the dominant), so a G major triad is chord V - the dominant chord.

4. 04State the function

   This is chord V (the dominant) in C major; if the next chord is C major (I) at a phrase-end, the two together form a perfect cadence.

Result: The chord is identified by reading the stacked pitches, spelling the triad to find its root and quality, and relating it to the key as chord V - the exact, evidenced answer Section B rewards.

A student writes: 'The Baroque concerto is exciting and full of contrast.' Develop it into essay-standard argument.

1. 01Keep the claim, demand the evidence

   The claim (excitement through contrast) is fine as a topic sentence - but it must now be evidenced with specific elements the music uses to create that contrast.

2. 02Supply the musical detail

   Name the features: the alternation of full tutti ritornellos with lighter solo episodes, terraced dynamics, and the drive of the basso continuo and steady quaver motion.

3. 03Explain how they create the effect

   Explain the mechanism - the sudden textural and dynamic shifts between tutti and solo create the sense of contrast and dialogue that makes the music feel dramatic.

4. 04Add context and a judgement

   Relate it to the Baroque concerto principle of opposition (concertare) and judge its effectiveness: the recurring ritornello also unifies the movement, so the contrast is exciting yet coherent.

Result: The vague sentence becomes argument by keeping the claim as a topic sentence, evidencing it with named elements, explaining the mechanism, and adding context and a judgement - the pattern every essay paragraph should follow.