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Musical Elements and Analysis (Appraising)

3 dot points across 3 inquiry questions. Click any dot point for a focused answer with worked past exam questions where available.

How do you describe melody and harmony accurately in the WJEC Appraising listening exam, across any style of music?

Melody and harmony: describing melodic features (conjunct and disjunct motion, range, sequence, ornamentation, phrasing, motif), chords and progressions, consonance and dissonance, and the difference between diatonic, chromatic and modal harmony, applied to listening extracts in any style.
A WJEC A-Level Music study of melody and harmony for the Appraising listening exam: melodic features (conjunct and disjunct motion, range, sequence, ornamentation, motif), chords and progressions, consonance and dissonance, and diatonic, chromatic and modal harmony, applied to any style of music.
14 min answer →

How do you describe rhythm, metre, texture and sonority in the WJEC Appraising listening exam, across any style of music?

Rhythm, texture and sonority: describing rhythm and metre (note values, syncopation, dotted rhythms, hemiola, time signatures), texture (monophonic, homophonic, polyphonic, heterophonic, antiphonal), and sonority and dynamics (instrumental and vocal timbre, articulation, tempo), applied to listening extracts in any style.
A WJEC A-Level Music study of rhythm, texture and sonority for the Appraising listening exam: rhythm and metre (syncopation, dotted rhythms, hemiola, time signatures), texture (monophonic, homophonic, polyphonic, heterophonic), and sonority, dynamics and tempo, applied to any style of music.
14 min answer →

How do you describe tonality and structure in the WJEC Appraising listening exam, across any style of music?

Tonality and structure: identifying major, minor, modal and atonal tonality, key relationships and modulation, and recognising musical structures (binary, ternary, rondo, sonata, variations, verse-chorus, head-solos-head, strophic, through-composed), applied to listening extracts in any style.
A WJEC A-Level Music study of tonality and structure for the Appraising listening exam: major, minor, modal and atonal tonality, key relationships and modulation, and the main musical structures (binary, ternary, rondo, sonata, variations, verse-chorus, head-solos-head, strophic, through-composed), applied to any style.
14 min answer →