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Tips for the unprepared essay
This article (written by Paul Owens from Sydney Technical High School) provides Music 2 students with valuable tips on preparing for Question 4 in the Musicology/Aural paper.
By the very term unprepared essay, Question 4 can pose many problems for the unsuspecting student. How can anyone prepare for a question that is unknown, provide an answer that has an almost indefinite number of possibilities, all in the time it may normally take to write an introduction?
Impossible?
No, but here is the first major hurdle. Many students believe Question 4 provides few opportunities to prepare and little time to organise an answer once they are in the examination.
Preparation is not only possible, but necessary and invaluable.
1. Know your Mandatory and Additional topics
Easier said than done, given the scope of these topics.
However, it can be achieved primarily by studying representative works (five from the Mandatory topic and a number from the Additional topic). The key word is representative. The work studied is not simply a member of a group, but represents a series of generalised features (similarities or differences) across that group.
An overall or global understanding of topics is essential, as questions commonly ask you to support or refute statements that are generalisations relating to one or both topics.
Some of this understanding can come from the many fine texts that cover topics such as Twentieth Century Music or Classical Music. These references will give you a perspective on topics, lists of notable musical characteristics, a review of the repertoire and an overview of crucial areas.
From here, you can then make decisions regarding the best representative sample of works to study. This selection will allow you to:
- cross-reference, and validate, generalised features;
- differentiate between works and observe distinctions;
- cover major features of the topic.
Why are these things important? Because one reference is poor proof of a general claim and without comparative analysis during the course, you are unlikely to recognise general characteristics and trends in the first place.
2. Listen broadly and analyse selectively
No one can cover every work in the set or optional topics or even analyse every chosen work at the same level of detail. Therefore try to cover a range of works in which some will be analysed in greater detail and others in less detail. In this way you will have the required substance when answering questions as well as the overview necessary to summarise relevant features.
3. Organising your learning
Question 4 often involves comparing or contrasting information and ideas. The comparative focus may be:
- works
- concepts
- topics
- ideas.
Therefore it makes sense to organise information in a way that readily allows access to what you have learned from studying scores. Tabulation is one way of achieving quick comparisons and presenting information in a form that is easier and quicker to learn (and retrieve).
| Pitch | Duration | Texture | D.& Exp.T. | Tone colour | Structure | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Work 1 | ||||||
| Work 2 | ||||||
| Work 3 | ||||||
| Work 4 | ||||||
| Work 5 |
Tables can be expanded or contracted to suit and should be continually updated as your knowledge and understanding develop. The horizontal and vertical dimensions can be labelled in whichever way you wish in order to compare and generalise information. Separate tables can also be placed side by side to give an increasing perspective of topic-wide features.
Keep matching the musical characteristics to the score and recording and of course commit them to memory! Whichever way the question asks you to discuss and analyse music, the concepts will provide a basis for analysis.
4. Support all statements
The examiner is interested in what you know about the topics and concepts in relation to real music. The only justification for any statement about music is the music itself. Always support your arguments with references to specific works and to more than one work if you are making a generalised point.
References may be given as specific bar numbers, a structural section (rehearsal mark), or apply across the work. Be sure you can quote a range of references and that they are indicative of the points to be made, not a "one size fits all" quote.
Conversely do not use a quote of any kind unless it illustrates a point or provides additional meaning. For example, it is of little value to quote a theme as a general reference. The theme should be placed for a specific reason: for comparison or for highlighting features. Annotations, arrows, subscripts, adjunct diagrams and so on are all valuable ways of enhancing the meaning of statements.
5. Answer the question at different levels "points ain't points"
Your answer will be marked for its adherence to the question (focus), the range of points which support your answer and the higher levels of thought evident in formulating your response. This is not to say by any means that the more basic levels of response are not relevant and do not receive credit. They are often the basis of building the layers necessary to provide a comprehensive response; however, a distinction should also be made between the depths of different points.
The recalling of facts and the naming or recognition of basic features are worthwhile. A sound understanding of these features and their application to works requires a higher level of thinking, i.e. classifying information, explaining and comparing features, summarising characteristics, and therefore provides a better answer. A further level is reached when distinguishing important from unimportant material, determining how concepts function within a work, finding coherent patterns between works or topics, detecting inconsistencies between a process and a stimulus (work or topic).
These observations are not intended as a checklist for the examination. They are to raise your awareness when practising and preparing works and topics. In this way you will write with breadth and depth when answering a question.
Don't waste time repeating the question in your opening paragraph. Make an introductory remark if it provides a direct overview of your basic argument, otherwise move straight to your major points and their justification. Similarly, concluding statements should be dispensed with unless they offer something new, or bring a cohesion to your response that has otherwise not been evident.
6. Highlight substantial similarities and differences
Watch that, in supporting an argument, you don't allow your points to become so diluted that they are virtually meaningless. This is especially true when highlighting differences between works or topics. In one sense, every work is completely different from another, with a different order of notes, different order of rhythms, different keys etc. However it is the collective and systematic difference in which we are often interested, not meaningless distinctions.
Likewise with similarities, the features need to be meaningful in context. For example, two pieces may often use a Bb, which in one sense may be a coincidence of being written in the same key, or in another context represent a pivotal tone around which pitch in both pieces is organised in similar ways. You need to judge the significance of the comparison you make. A guide to significance can often be based on the scale (the larger the better) or frequency (the more often the better), and context of usage.
7. Argue consistently
Your response, taken in total, should be coherent, cohesive and consistent. If you have proposed a thesis, then your line of argument needs to continually refer to and support your assertions. It is at times too easy to make points at the expense of any relationship between them, especially if you are on a "concept roll" drawing prepared information from whatever source.
It is possible with some questions that you will see a need to answer opposite points of view. This presents no problem, as long as each series of points supports the appropriate point of view. Music is not an exact science, and consequently offers many perspectives, most or all of which can happily coincide if justified.
8. Prepare by idea, not by rote
Adapting ideas is a valuable skill when answering Question 4. Prepared responses written with little thought are rarely successful, as they do not usually argue from the perspective of the question.
Take a few minutes to:
- read the question and be sure of what it is asking
- note your main line and sequence of arguments
- decide on the works and characteristics which will support your
arguments
- try to move from major to minor points.
Conclusion
There is little substitute for a broad and diverse understanding of the music. Engage in meaningful listening, broad reading and active debate throughout the entire course. Good luck!
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