Musical detectives
Music Grade exams start to include questions related to musical style and period at Grade 5. At this stage, you may describe the period of the music in quite general terms. Your teacher will help you to plan your listening around key periods of musical history:- medieval
- baroque
- classical
- romantic
- 20th century
- contemporary
- jazz
Your job, as a detective of musical history, is to think about the what and the how of what you are hearing. For example:
What pictures or mood does this music bring to my imagination/
How does the composer make this happen?
In your detective work, it may be useful to relate the music to a composer you know well:
If is sounds like............. It's probably............
- Purcell, Bach, Handel Baroque
- Mozart, Beethoven Classical
- Chopin, Tchaikovsky Romantic
- Debussy, Bartók Modern
Get into the habit of reading the footnotes to your exam pieces, or researching the composer for yourself, so that you develop you music general knowledge and can relate that to what you are playing.
At later grades, you will be expected to describe certain dance and rhythmic styles, and relate them to the instrument and period. By then you should be able to use a variety of features to recognise or "typecast" a piece as being of a particular era.
You should also be able to contrast the work of particular composers with others from the same period.
You can find more information on these in the pages in this section, but the very best thing you can do is to listen widely and critically and to explore new pieces in your own playing.
At later grades, you will be expected to describe certain dance and rhythmic styles, and relate them to the instrument and period. By then you should be able to use a variety of features to recognise or "typecast" a piece as being of a particular era.
You should also be able to contrast the work of particular composers with others from the same period.
You can find more information on these in the pages in this section, but the very best thing you can do is to listen widely and critically and to explore new pieces in your own playing.
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