O level 6023

[theliverevolution]

er... DUDE? O lvl music ISN'T that easy as you think. I took it in 2005 and it was hell. I had to mug and practice like hell just to earn my grades

Anyway, if the syllabus hasn't changed, this is what i went thru 4 years ago:

"Listening Comprehension"
They play various pieces, then you answer questions. For example, they may play Schumann's Carnaval and then they can ask you all sorts of questions, ranging from:
"What type of composition is this?"
"State the Era that this was composed"
"Who is the composer"
"State reasons why this piece blah blah blah blah...)
"What instrument is playing the main melody line in..."

Yea. This is for western music. Then comes to the World Music. My time was 6 countries (Japan, China, Africa, India, can't remember the other two though,...) then they ask all the very sinang questions again

Paper 2 (composition)
I really liked this paper cause I always allowed my creativity to go wild, composing simple complex melodies that were the envy of my class. Basiclaly the most of the paper is testing how good you are at melodies and your basic music theory that you learned via ABRSM and all that. Even though I had only a Grade 4 in theory it didn't stop me from beating the others who had diplomas in class

Paper 3:
I hated this paper. My year we had to do Prokofiev's Classical Symphony. That was hell. They make you remember the whole freaking piece, all the highlights, unusualities, key points of the piece. The whole piece lasted 15 minutes.
For the exam, they play about a few seconds of the extract they want you to focus on, then comes all the questions.
The comes all the HISTORY ABOUT THE STUPID COMPOSER. Wah lau. I ahted that. Memorize all the history, and usually they always linked it to how this period of his life affected his music writing and style and how it affected the piece in question.

Then comes the practical. Self-explatitory

Its not easy to do it but if you're game enough then you can ask anyone of us SOFTies who been thru it and we can help

BTW
Qualifications for the course is at least a Grade 4 in ABRSM, any instrument

 

[theliverevolution]

actually certain schools allow a 2 year crash-course in it. I did the 2 year crash course. Its' not so in depth as compared to the proper MEP, but we go through pretty much the same things.

I know MGS offered the 2 year course. Went there every Friday to study. Gosh. Thank God I'm out of there. Creepy

 

[loldude333]

To be perfectly honest, Music at 'O' levels SUCKS BIG TIME. U gotta have a heck lot of interest to do well. Now the syllabus is a little different. I jus took it for 2008 so here's a rough breakdown:

Paper 1: Music Analysis

Basically, there are 3 sections: Music of the Western Tradition, Music Around The World and Prepared Listening. Music of the Western Tradition u'll have 3 questions, which are worth abt 15-20 marks each. There'll be 2 longer questions with score, skeleton or full. U gotta do things like identify keys, sections, transpose, describe ornaments and so on. There will be questions like : How did the composer add mystique into this section of the music? 3rd question will have a coupla parts, no score given. Example: 4 pieces of music played, then after each u have to answer questions like the genre ( 4 choices given ), instruments, period, reasons for choosing the above. Music around the world is similar to the 3rd question in music of western tradition, jus more pieces played. Countries wld be Indonesia, China, India, Africa, Japan. Last part is the one i hated. U will have a set piece to study, in my case it was Hadyn's Symphony No. 104. Similar questions to the ones in earlier sections, with skeleton or full score for a certain section given. Then, there's the history section. They'll ask u questions like: 'Name another 3 Hadyn symphonies composed in D major.' or 'Who was Hadyn's employer and name the 2 palaces he worked at?' And finally, a 12 mark essay question. Something along the lines of: 'State why Hadyn went to London, when, what he did there that influenced him and also who he met. Also, name 3 composers that admired him and why.' Its crazy, and no way to fleece ur way thru. Either u know ur stuff, or u don't

Paper 3: Composition

Simple enough, compose at least 16 bars of music for at least 1 harmonic instrument and 1 voice part. U can go the whole hog and compose a symphony, but u only have 24 hours to do so. I did it in 2 hour slots every week for 12 weeks from March to June.

Paper 2: 2-Part Writing

Another simpler one, fill in chords in Roman numerals under the score unless told not to do so and complete the missing sections in both the bass and treble parts. Only 2 parts, likely to be a piano piece.

Practical in self-explanatory.

There's a lot of conundrums regarding 2-Part and practical though, basically if u play an extra piece for practical u can forgo 2-Part. Go to www.seab.gov.sg and look for 6053 Higher Music syllabus, more in detail there.

Personal thoughts:

TOTAL WASTE OF TIME. I dunno abt u guys but i absolutely hated it. The only thing that kept me there was the friends i made, and the fact that they had very funny ways of irritating the teacher. We always had a good laugh during lessons. And at the end, i realised that unless u intend to go and study music in university, the knowledge gained will likely go to waste. Even the teacher admitted that she hated the syllabus, and she will be quitting in Sept this year. No offence to those who took it and liked it, but if u aren't serious abt it, don't take the plunge. Sure, i gained some great knowledge but my practical skills are terrible, quoting Mozart won't get me anywhere with terrible practical skills. I had never gotten higher than a C5 in my Sec 3 and 4 years, until my results, which yielded a B3. Distinction rate is high yes, but if u happen to be a bad egg, at least in the musical sense like me, then plz don't waste ur time.

 

[theliverevolution]

lol. I constantly got a C6 for music until O's, when I got an A2 for it, upsetting a lot of my frens who got B3 (they thought I didn't stand a chance) and surprising my teacher...

 

[ruixist]

o level music (at least if taking in school) requires you to have prior classical training in both an instrument and theory (certified). i'm not too sure about the requirements for a private candidate though.

i took o level music together with higher music for o's back in 2005. it was not easy! the musicianship level required is very high, plus a keen interest in classical music.

 

[ruixist]

Paper 3:
I hated this paper. My year we had to do Prokofiev's Classical Symphony. That was hell. They make you remember the whole freaking piece, all the highlights, unusualities, key points of the piece. The whole piece lasted 15 minutes.
For the exam, they play about a few seconds of the extract they want you to focus on, then comes all the questions.
The comes all the HISTORY ABOUT THE STUPID COMPOSER. Wah lau. I ahted that. Memorize all the history, and usually they always linked it to how this period of his life affected his music writing and style and how it affected the piece in question.
instrument

sorry for the double post, i just noticed this and had to agree. i did prokofiev too! the history part was :/

 

[loldude333]

Yes, but compared to what i did ( Hadyn's London Symphony No. 104 ) it was actually pretty ok. I did study that work too but perhaps in less detail than u guys. Then came Hadyn and i thought passing was gonna be beyond me.

 

[icrashedanddied]

=.=

You guys ah.. I did A level music and i thought it was one of the few subjects that you can really do well in. I don't see how bad O level music can get. For areas like practical and composition, all you have to do is follow the rubrics and you'll get your marks.

 

[tim098]

geez man for a moment i thought u had a futuristic post-apocalyptic vision of the O levels or something

DUDE I had the exact same thought in mind when I opened this thread!

 

[KeDraiv]

You guys ah.. I did A level music and i thought it was one of the few subjects that you can really do well in. I don't see how bad O level music can get. For areas like practical and composition, all you have to do is follow the rubrics and you'll get your marks.

ok, that's encouraging for me.
=D

 

[psionic]

DUDE I had the exact same thought in mind when I opened this thread!

ur replying to someone who posted that comment 3 years ago...