How do I choose and study a chosen area of study, and how is it examined?
Choosing at least one of the five optional areas of study (Popular Song, Instrumental Jazz, Religious Music of the Baroque, Programme Music, Innovations) and a transferable method for learning its styles, context and signature features for Section A and Section C.
A focused answer to choosing and studying an optional area of study in OCR A-Level Music. Explains the five options, how the chosen area is examined in Section A (unfamiliar listening) and Section C (extended essays), and a transferable method for mastering a style's context, development and signature musical features.
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What this dot point is asking
Alongside the compulsory Area of Study 1, you choose at least one of five optional areas of study to learn in depth. This dot point explains the five options, how the chosen area is examined in Section A (unfamiliar listening) and Section C (extended essays), and a transferable method for mastering any chosen area: its context and development, its styles, and its signature musical features. The detail for each area is on its own dot-point page.
The five optional areas
How the chosen area is examined
A transferable method for any area
Choosing wisely
Choose an area you find rewarding and can hear confidently, and learn it thoroughly enough to both recognise its features in unfamiliar music and argue about its development. If your centre offers more than one optional area, learning two gives you a free choice of Section C essays and a fallback if one essay topic is awkward.
Try this
Q1. Name the five optional areas of study and how many you must take. [Knowledge recall]
- Cue. Popular Song; Developments in Instrumental Jazz; Religious Music of the Baroque; Programme Music 1820 to 1910; Innovations in Music 1900 to present. You must take at least one.
Q2. Why is it sensible to study more than one optional area? [Short explanation]
- Cue. Section C requires two essays from two different areas, so studying more than one gives you a free choice of essay topics and a fallback if one question is awkward.
Exam-style practice questions
Practice questions written in the style of OCR exam questions on this dot point, with worked answer explainers. The year tag is the paper they imitate, not the source.
OCR 2021 (H543/05 Section A, style)5 marksDescribe the style and musical features of the extract from your chosen area of study. (Section A, unfamiliar listening)Show worked answer →
Up to five marks. Identify the style within your chosen area and describe its signature features using the elements: for example, in jazz, swing rhythm, blue notes, improvisation, walking bass and extended chords; in programme music, descriptive orchestration, an idee fixe and chromatic harmony; in Baroque religious music, counterpoint, ground bass, continuo and word-painting. Markers reward accurate stylistic identification plus specific features tied to what is heard. They penalise generic description that could apply to any music, or features from the wrong style. The skill is hearing the characteristic devices of the area you have chosen in an extract you have not studied.
OCR 2020 (H543/05 Section C, style)20 marksDiscuss the development of your chosen area of study, with reference to specific styles or works. (Section C extended essay; on the paper this carries 25 marks)Show worked answer →
A Section C essay (the real paper tariff is 25 marks). Trace how your chosen area develops over its period, organising the argument by style or era and supporting it with named musical features and works. For jazz, move through early jazz, swing, bebop, cool, modal and fusion; for programme music, through the symphonic poem, the idee fixe and the leitmotif; for innovations, through Impressionism, atonality, serialism and minimalism. Markers reward a clear line of argument, accurate chronology and specific evidence with evaluation, not a list of names. The asterisked essays also assess the quality of extended writing.
Related dot points
- Area of Study 2, Popular Song: the blues, early jazz song, swing and big band, their context and development, and signature features (the twelve-bar blues, blue notes, swing rhythm, AABA form, big-band scoring).
A focused answer to OCR A-Level Music Area of Study 2, Popular Song. Covers the blues, early jazz song, swing and big band, their context and development, and signature features (the twelve-bar blues progression, blue notes, swing rhythm, call and response, AABA song form, and big-band instrumentation and scoring), for Section A listening and Section C essays.
- Area of Study 3, Developments in Instrumental Jazz 1910 to the present day: the evolution from early jazz through swing, bebop, cool, modal and fusion, and the signature features (improvisation, swing, extended harmony, the rhythm section) of each.
A focused answer to OCR A-Level Music Area of Study 3, Developments in Instrumental Jazz 1910 to the present. Covers the evolution from early jazz through swing, bebop, cool jazz, modal jazz and fusion, and the signature features of each (improvisation, swing rhythm, extended and modal harmony, the changing roles of soloist and rhythm section), for Section A and Section C.
- Area of Study 4, Religious Music of the Baroque: the sacred music of Bach, Purcell and Handel, its genres (cantata, oratorio, anthem, mass) and signature features (counterpoint, fugue, ground bass, continuo, word-painting, choruses and arias).
A focused answer to OCR A-Level Music Area of Study 4, Religious Music of the Baroque. Covers the sacred music of Bach, Purcell and Handel, its genres (cantata, oratorio, anthem, mass) and signature features (counterpoint and fugue, ground bass, basso continuo, word-painting, terraced dynamics, recitative, aria and chorus), for Section A and Section C.
- Area of Study 5, Programme Music 1820 to 1910: Romantic music that tells a story or paints a scene, its genres (the symphonic poem, programme symphony, concert overture) and signature features (the idee fixe and leitmotif, thematic transformation, descriptive orchestration, chromatic harmony).
A focused answer to OCR A-Level Music Area of Study 5, Programme Music 1820 to 1910. Covers Romantic music that tells a story or paints a scene, its genres (the symphonic poem, programme symphony, concert overture) and signature features (the idee fixe and leitmotif, thematic transformation, descriptive orchestration, chromatic harmony, the expanded orchestra), for Section A and Section C.
- Area of Study 6, Innovations in Music 1900 to the present day: the major twentieth- and twenty-first-century developments (Impressionism, atonality and serialism, neoclassicism, minimalism, electronic and new timbres) and their signature features.
A focused answer to OCR A-Level Music Area of Study 6, Innovations in Music 1900 to the present. Covers the major developments (Impressionism, expressionism and atonality, serialism, neoclassicism, minimalism, electronic music and new timbres and techniques) and their signature features, for Section A unfamiliar listening and Section C essays.
Sources & how we know this
- OCR A Level Music (H543) specification — OCR (2016)