A2 2

Topics of study for the A2 unit Responding to Music 2 are outlined in the table below:

A2 2: Responding to Music 2
Music for Orchestra in the Twentieth Century Students develop knowledge and understanding of:
  • twentieth century musical styles: impressionism, neoclassicalism, nationalism and jazz influences;
  • forms – ternary, fugue and variation; and
  • the development of the orchestra and of individual instruments.
Students study:
  • Debussy: Prélude à “L’après-midi d’un faune”;
  • Stravinsky: Overture, Gavotte and Vivo from Pulcinella Suite (1949 revised version);
  • Bartok: Concerto for Orchestra, fourth movement; and
  • Bernstein: Cha-cha, Meeting Scene and Cool from Symphonic Dances from West Side Story .
Compulsory
English Secular Music, 1580 to 1600 Students develop knowledge and understanding of the emergence and development of English secular music in the period through studying:
  • the influence of Italian style, models and texts;
  • the range and nature of the literary texts and lyrics set to music, including pastoral, ethical and religious subjects;
  • the demand for and content of anthologies, including Musica Transalpina and The Triumphes of Oriana;
  • types of secular music – the ballet, canzonet, light madrigal, serious madrigal, consort song and ayre;
  • setting of texts, use of musical devices and word painting;
  • structures including through-composed and strophic and the use of refrain; and
  • the contributions of Morley, Byrd, Wilbye, Weelkes, Kirbye, Bennet, Farmer, Gibbons and Dowland.
Optional – students must study one additional unit from a choice of three.
New Directions in Twentieth Century Music Students develop knowledge and understanding of new directions in twentieth century music through studying:
  • the development of electronic music and electronic instruments;
  • the use of electronically produced or manipulated sounds and the use of technology;
  • the rise of electronic studios and new means of creating and disseminating music;
  • minimalism;
  • total serialism and the definition and control of every aspect of musical sound, including register, articulation and tone colour;
  • the complete control by the composer, interaction between the composer and the performer(s), the role of the performer and improvisation, and the combination of live and recorded music in performances;
  • new approaches to the treatment of sound and exploration of new musical resources, materials, techniques and forms;
  • the emergence of percussion instruments in their own right;
  • new vocal sounds, new string sonorities, the ‘prepared piano’, and new extremes of range and virtuosity;
  • new uses of conventional instruments; and
  • the contributions of Karl Stockhausen, Pierre Boulez and Steve Reich to twentieth century music.
 
Jazz in the USA , 1930 to 1960 Students develop knowledge and understanding of jazz in the period through studying:  
  • the swing era – big bands, small groups and soloists;
  • the 1940s revival of New Orleans-style jazz;
  • 1940s modern jazz (bop/bebop) – new ideas about harmonic substitutions, rhythmic vocabulary and melodic construction;
  • 1950s jazz – synthesis and consolidation of swing and bop, cool jazz and progressive jazz;
  • ensemble and solo styles, arrangement and improvisation, and the rise of virtuosity;
  • developing approaches to harmony, melody and rhythm; and
  • the contributions of Benny Goodman, Billie Holiday, Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Dizzy Gillespie, Thelonious Monk, Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, John Coltrane and Ornette Coleman.