Further composing tasksArea of Study 2: Music in the 20th century

31Edexcel GCSE Music Teacher Guide © Pearson Education Limited. Copying permitted for purchasing school. This material is not copyright free.

Minimalism

Task 2: School experimentYour school is conducting an experiment to see how listening to different styles of music while working impacts on the standard of work produced.

The music used in the experiment includes a classical symphony, a piece of instrumental jazz, a pop song, a heavy rock song and a dance track. They want to include a piece of minimalism and have asked you to provide the music.

You have been asked to provide music that is rhythmically interesting, but quite repetitive. The music should not constantly repeat, but should change over time, in the style of a piece of music by Steve Reich. You have been asked to avoid the use of harsh, distracting sounds, concentrating instead on making the piece as relaxing and ‘meditative’ as possible.

Read through the whole task before you begin – this is a basic template to help you with your composition, but you should change any elements that you feel you may be able to improve on.

1 Choose one of the following groups of notes:

• A,B,C,E,F • A,C,D,E,G

2 Write a seven-note motif using only the notes you have chosen (but do not use the note ‘A’ yet). If you wish, you may transpose the group of five notes so that your music is in a different key (for example group 1 might be C, D, E , G, A ).

4 Draw a grid with 17 rows and 17 columns, and write the numbers 1 to 16 down the first column and along the top row. Leave the first box blank!

5 Put the first note from your chosen group (in this case ‘A’) into three boxes on each row (like the example below, but do not copy the example):

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16

1 A A A

2 A A A

3 A A A

4 A A A

5 A A A

6 A A A

7 A A A

8 A A A

9 A A A

10 A A A

11 A A A

12 A A A

13 A A A

14 A A A

15 A A A

16 A A A

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Further composing tasksArea of Study 2: Music in the 20th century

32 Edexcel GCSE Music Teacher Guide © Pearson Education Limited. Copying permitted for purchasing school. This material is not copyright free.

6 Insert six X’s into each row – each X will represent a rest. You may wish to shade in the box instead of using a cross if you will find this easier to read afterwards.

7 In the remaining seven boxes, insert your seven-note motif, shifting it along one note each time you move down a row (the motif in the example is B E F E B C B):

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16

1 B X A X E X A X F X E X B C A B

2 X A E X A X F E X A B X C B X B

3 X F X A X E X A X B X C A B B E

4 E A B X A X X C X X A X B B E F

5 B C A B B X E X X F X X E A X A

6 A C X B X A B X E X F A E X B X

7 X B X A X B X E X F X E A A B C

8 A B E X A A F X X E X X B X C B

9 X E F X E B A X C A X B B X A X

10 A F X X E B C A X X B B X X E A

11 E B X C X A X A X A X B X B E F

12 B X A C X B A X B E X F A X E X

13 X A X A C A X B B X E F X E X B

14 A X B X B X E X F X E A B X C A

15 X B X E A F X E B A X C X A B X

16 E X A F A A X E X B X C X B X B

Your grid should look something like the one above. This is a starting point for your composition.

8 On your computer sequencing package, select some sounds that you feel are suitable for your piece. Remember to pick sounds that fulfil the brief you have been given. It will probably be a good idea to include percussive sounds, but some non-percussive sounds may work just as well, depending on the context.

9 Decide on a structure for your piece – it may be a traditional structure such as ternary form (ABA), arch form (where the piece gradually builds up and then fades out) or something entirely original. The way you layer the parts will have an impact on your structure, and vice versa.

10 Each instrument should use the musical material from the grid – you may wish to play the notes from left to right, top to bottom, or the other way around. You may wish to snake around the grid, left to right, right to left, left to right, etc. or play the notes in a spiral shape – it is entirely up to you! Some repetition of the ideas would be appropriate to fulfil the brief.

11 The following are some suggestions for developing the ideas above. You may:

a Use a completely different group of notes to the ones suggested above.

b Use a different note from your chosen group to repeat in the grid instead of the tonic note.

c Use a different size of grid, resulting in different time signatures. For example, a 14-note grid would result in a 7/8 feel rather than a 4/4 feel.

d Not use all the notes on each row.

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Further composing tasksArea of Study 2: Music in the 20th century

33Edexcel GCSE Music Teacher Guide © Pearson Education Limited. Copying permitted for purchasing school. This material is not copyright free.

e Add some phasing by playing the same group of notes in two parts, but gradually move one out of time with the other.

f Decide on how long each box lasts – this should not necessarily be the same for each instrument.

g Form some chords from the grid to play alongside the layered parts.

h Compose additional ostinati/drone parts.

i Compose additional grids for use in additional sections.

j Make use of accents to make the piece more interesting rhythmically – for example, accenting just the repeated note or just the seven-note idea.

k Use techniques you have learned from your study of Electric Counterpoint.

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Answers to listening questionsArea of Study 2: Music in the 20th century

34 Edexcel GCSE Music Teacher Guide © Pearson Education Limited. Copying permitted for purchasing school. This material is not copyright free.

Expressionism and serialism

Answers to listening questions‘Peripetie’ from Five Orchestral Pieces, Op. 16, Schoenberg

SB Page 61

1 Describe the dynamics of the first section of this piece (up to 0:30).

The piece begins loudly (although because there are only a few instruments playing at the very beginning it sounds relatively quiet compared to what is to follow) – with instrumental groups introduced one after the other, each playing forte or louder. The brass parts give the greatest impression of high volume, playing ff or fff with a rasping tone. After about 10 seconds there is a diminuendo and the horns play the main theme quietly (although there is a cresc and dim within the horn part as well). The rest of the section is quite quiet with individual instruments occasionally swelling above the general p/pp level and then dying away again. 20–30 seconds is all very quiet, dying away to almost nothing.

2 Name the type of ensemble performing ‘Peripetie’.

Orchestra.

3 Describe the tonality of the piece.

Atonal.

4 ‘Peripetie’ was written in the 20th century. List six musical features you can hear in the piece that are common of music written in the 20th century.

• Largeorchestra.

• Orchestragenerallyusedsparinglywiththecomposerconcentratingoncombinationsofindividual timbres – only used all at once for climactic points.

• Widerangingdynamics.

• Detaileddynamicmarkings.

• Widepitchrangeusedineachinstrument.

• Atonal.

• Melodicmaterialmovesquicklyfrominstrumenttoinstrument.

• Frequentuseoftechniques/devicesthatalterthebasictimbreoftheinstruments(forexample,use of mute/tremolo/pizz, etc.).

• Rhythmicallycomplex.

• Anyothervalidmusicalpoints.

5 What is the name given to the group of notes Schoenberg used as a basis for his melodic and harmonic material in this piece?

Hexachord.

6 How might Schoenberg have used this group of notes when he composed ‘Peripetie’?

• Transposed.

• Inverted.

• Retrograde.

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