MusicQ&A by dot point

Danny Elfman: four cues from Batman Returns (Main theme / Birth of a Penguin Part II, Birth of a Penguin Part I, Rise and Fall from Grace, Batman vs the Circus). Gothic orchestral scoring with choir, leitmotifs, and the techniques of film underscore.

Bernard Herrmann: eight cues from Psycho (A-level only): Prelude, The City, Marion, The Murder (Shower Scene), The Toys, The Cellar, Discovery, Finale. The string-only score, ostinato, dissonance and the techniques of suspense scoring.

Area of Study 3 Music for Film: the three set works (Elfman's Batman Returns, Portman's The Duchess, Herrmann's Psycho), and the techniques of film scoring (leitmotif, underscore, mickey-mousing, diegetic and non-diegetic music).

Rachel Portman: four cues from The Duchess (The Duchess and End Titles, Mistake of Your Life, Six Years Later, Never See Your Children Again). Lyrical period-flavoured orchestral underscore, melody, harmony and the techniques of film scoring.

Anoushka Shankar: two tracks from Breathing Under Water (Burn, Breathing Under Water). Indian classical music (sitar, raga, tala, tabla) fused with electronica, programming and flamenco, using drones, layered textures and looping.

Claude Debussy: Estampes, Nos. 1 (Pagodes) and 2 (La soiree dans Grenade). Impressionist piano music fusing Western harmony with Javanese gamelan and Spanish influences, using pentatonic and whole-tone scales, modality and habanera rhythm.

Familia Valera Miranda: two songs from Cana Quema (Alla va candela, Se quema la chumbambla). Cuban son fusing Spanish melody, guitar and vocal harmony with African rhythm, call and response, and percussion.

Area of Study 5 Fusions: the three set works (Debussy's Estampes, Familia Valera Miranda's Cana Quema, Anoushka Shankar's Breathing Under Water), and the concept of fusion, blending Western, Asian, African and Latin American musical traditions.

Hector Berlioz: Symphonie Fantastique, movements 1 and 2 (movement 2 at A-level only). The Romantic programme symphony, the idee fixe, the expanded orchestra and orchestration, sonata form with a slow introduction, and the waltz movement.

Clara Wieck-Schumann: Piano Trio in G minor, Op. 17, movement 1. The Romantic piano trio in sonata form, its lyrical themes, chromatic harmony, the interplay of piano, violin and cello, and the contrapuntal development.

Area of Study 2 Instrumental Music: the three set works (Vivaldi's Concerto in D minor Op. 3 No. 11, Clara Wieck-Schumann's Piano Trio in G minor Op. 17, and Berlioz's Symphonie Fantastique), the genres of concerto, piano trio and programme symphony, and the stylistic journey from Baroque ritornello to Romantic programme music.

Antonio Vivaldi: Concerto in D minor, Op. 3 No. 11 (from L'estro armonico), movements 1 and 2. The Baroque solo concerto for two violins and cello, ritornello form, the fugal and slow movements, terraced dynamics and continuo.

John Cage: Three Dances for two prepared pianos, No. 1. The prepared piano, rhythmic structure (proportional/nested rhythm), percussive altered timbres, ostinato and the influence of gamelan and percussion music.

Area of Study 6 New Directions: the three set works (Cage's Three Dances, Saariaho's Petals, Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring), and the twentieth-century techniques of prepared piano, live electronics, extended techniques, and rhythmic and harmonic innovation.

Kaija Saariaho: Petals for solo cello and optional live electronics. Extended cello techniques, the contrast of pure and noisy sounds, live electronic processing (reverb, harmonisation), spectral timbre and free form.

Igor Stravinsky: The Rite of Spring, first three sections (A-level only): Introduction, The Augurs of Spring, Ritual of Abduction. Irregular and additive rhythm, polyrhythm, ostinato, dissonance, polytonality, and huge orchestration.

Courtney Pine: three tracks from Back in the Day (Inner State (of Mind), Lady Day and (John Coltrane), Love and Affection). British jazz fused with soul, hip-hop and reggae, improvisation, riffs, sampling and groove.

Kate Bush: three tracks from Hounds of Love (Cloudbusting, And Dream of Sheep, Under Ice). Art-pop using the Fairlight sampler, drum machines, layered production, word-painting and atmospheric texture.

Area of Study 4 Popular Music and Jazz: the three set works (Courtney Pine's Back in the Day, Kate Bush's Hounds of Love, The Beatles' Revolver), the styles of jazz, art-pop and 1960s rock, and the techniques of riff, improvisation and studio production.

The Beatles: four songs from Revolver (Eleanor Rigby, Here There and Everywhere, I Want to Tell You, Tomorrow Never Knows). 1960s rock, studio production (tape loops, reverse recording, ADT), harmony, melody and structure.

J. S. Bach: Cantata Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott, BWV 80, movements 1, 2 and 8. The Lutheran chorale cantata, the chorale-fantasia and canon of movement 1, the soprano-bass duet of movement 2, and the closing four-part chorale of movement 8.

Ralph Vaughan Williams: On Wenlock Edge, Nos. 1, 3 and 5. The English song cycle for tenor, piano and string quartet, its setting of Housman's poetry, modal harmony, word-painting and through-composed structure.

Area of Study 1 Vocal Music: the two set works (Bach's Cantata Ein feste Burg BWV 80 and Vaughan Williams's On Wenlock Edge), the genres of cantata and song cycle, and the techniques of text setting and word-painting.

Component 2 Composing: the two compositions (Composition 1 to a Pearson brief or free, at least four minutes; Composition 2 a technical study, at least two minutes), the assessment criteria, and how to develop and notate ideas.

Compositional techniques and the technical study: harmony and voice-leading (Bach chorale style), melodic development, texture and structure, and the craft skills tested by Composition 2 and rewarded across the composing component.

Component 1 Performing: the requirements (a recital of at least eight minutes, solo and/or ensemble), the assessment criteria (accuracy, technical control, expression and interpretation), the role of difficulty, and how to prepare and record.

The structure of Component 3 (Appraising): Section A short-answer questions and dictation on the set works and an unfamiliar extract, the 20-mark links essay to an unfamiliar piece, and the 30-mark evaluative essay on one set work.

Harmony, tonality and melody as analytical tools: diatonic and chromatic harmony, cadences, modulation, chromatic chords (Neapolitan, augmented sixth, diminished seventh), and melodic devices across the six areas of study.

Texture, structure (form) and rhythm as analytical tools: textural types, the standard forms, metre, syncopation, hemiola, polyrhythm and additive metre across the six areas of study.

The musical elements (melody, harmony, tonality, texture, structure, rhythm, metre, tempo, dynamics, articulation, instrumentation and technology) and the analytical vocabulary the Component 3 appraising paper rewards across all six areas of study.