OCR A-Level Music: the prescribed works and Section B, a complete overview

What this part of the course covers

Area of Study 1 carries a prescribed work: a single named Classical piece, studied from the score, examined in Section B of the Listening and Appraising paper. This overview explains what a prescribed work is and how Section B examines it, sets out a method for analysing it movement by movement, covers the dictation, and shows how to use the set work as a reference point for unfamiliar listening. Each topic has its own dot-point page with practice questions. The current set work is Haydn's Symphony No. 103, but always confirm the work for your year.

What a prescribed work is and why it changes

A prescribed work is set for detailed study from a published score, so the exam can ask precise questions and a dictation that would be impossible on unfamiliar music. OCR sets the work on a published cycle, so it changes; the first task each year is to confirm which work is set. Currently it is Haydn's Symphony No. 103 in E flat, the Drum Roll, a late "London" symphony.

Analysing the work movement by movement

The reliable method is a five-point summary per movement: structure with key scheme, themes, instrumentation, harmony, and distinctive devices. For Haydn's No. 103 that covers the drum-roll slow introduction and sonata-form first movement (with the introduction's striking return), the double-variation slow movement, the minuet and trio, and the monothematic sonata-form finale. Crucially, your knowledge must be audible: you should recognise which movement and theme an extract comes from.

The Section B dictation

Section B includes a dictation or score-completion: missing melody, rhythm or chords on a printed extract. The method is to anchor on given notes, hear contour and intervals for pitch, subdivide the beat and count the bar for rhythm, and use cadence knowledge for harmony, with your memory of the work to predict and check. Always commit a musical answer, because partial credit rewards correct contour, rhythm or chord.

Using the set work as a reference point

Beyond Section B, the prescribed work anchors the whole area. Separate its typical Classical features (which let you recognise and describe unfamiliar extracts) from its distinctive features (special to the work), and use it as a comparison point in Section A comparison questions and Section C essays.

How the prescribed work serves the exam

The set work pays off across the paper:

• Section B examines it directly, in detail and by ear, including the dictation.
• Section A unfamiliar Classical extracts are read through its conventions, and may be compared with it.
• Section C essays on Classical instrumental music are argued with the set work as primary evidence.

Check your knowledge

A mix of recall and applied questions on the prescribed work. Attempt them, then check against the solutions.

1. What is a prescribed work, and how does it differ from a Section A extract? (2 marks)
2. Why must you confirm the prescribed work each year? (1 mark)
3. Name the current prescribed work and its genre. (2 marks)
4. What are the five things to capture for each movement? (3 marks)
5. What is distinctive about the first movement of Haydn's No. 103? (2 marks)
6. What does the Section B dictation ask you to do? (2 marks)
7. Give two steps of a method for rhythmic dictation. (2 marks)
8. What is the difference between a typical and a distinctive feature of the set work? (2 marks)