Exemplar for Internal Achievement Standard Music Level 1. Demonstrate knowledge of two music works from contrasting contexts

Transcription

1 Exemplar for Internal Achievement Standard Music Level 1 This exemplar supports assessment against: Achievement Standard Demonstrate knowledge of two music works from contrasting contexts An annotated exemplar is an extract of student evidence, with a commentary, to explain key aspects of the standard. These will assist teachers to make assessment judgements at the grade boundaries. New Zealand Qualification Authority To support internal assessment from 2014

2 Grade Boundary: Low Excellence 1. For Excellence, students will demonstrate comprehensive knowledge of two music works from contrasting contexts. Demonstrating comprehensive knowledge involves providing details of contexts, elements and features supported by insightful explanations and/or perceptive musical examples. The evidence presented here is from the context of Handel s Messiah oratorio. Comprehensive knowledge is demonstrated throughout this evidence, particularly the details on Handel s life (1), (2). There are some insightful explanations (3), (4) and a perceptive musical example (5). To secure Excellence, further musical examples would aid in demonstrating comprehensive knowledge of the Baroque period.

3 Student 1: Low Excellence Role of Music in the 18 th Century Society During the Baroque period, music served many purposes. In the courts and castles, music was a source of entertainment for the royalty and composers were hired under the system of patronage to compose music at aristocrats whim and desire. Music was used in religious services in the forms such as oratorios and sacred cantata in order to worship. Writing for Mass and Protestant church services was also a way for composers to gain patronage. Generally, composers wrote music for a specific purpose rather than purely as a form of self-expression (which came about later in the 18 th century Romantic period). Composers were most often performers of their own music, particularly solo stars such as Vivaldi whose performances of his own concertos made him very popular. Music also served as a form of escapism, allowing the general public to escape their work and lives for a while as people today would do with TV or video games. (4) In the Baroque society, music served to help people worship and preach, to guard against boredom, to entertain, to put on show a composer s extravagance and to make entertainment available for the entire public rather than just rich aristocrats. Handel s Life and Career Georg Frideric Handel was born on the 23 rd February 1685 (the same year as J.S Bach) into a middle class family in Halle, Germany. He has been called an international composer as he lived and worked around Europe which was rare for most composers. As a child, Handel s father, Georg Handel, disapproved of Handel s love and passion for music, but visiting his brother in patronage to the Duke of Saxe-Weissenfels, Handel s music (preformed on the available organ and harpsichord) intrigued the Duke that Handel s father was forced to relent and allow Handel to have music lessons. Handel had been secretly playing a harpsichord in his attic. Secrecy seems to be one of Handel s traits. Handle did end up following his father s wishes and studied civil law, but he became dissatisfied and when his father died in 1697, he had the freedom to join the orchestra of the Hamburg Oper am Gänsemarkt as a violinist and harpsichordist. Later in 1706, Handel traveled to Italy on invitation of the Prince of Tuscany. In Italy, Handel learnt much of his musical knowledge as well as discovering Opera Seria literally a serious opera and composed religious music for church. In 1710, Handel went to London where he served under German prince Georg the Elector of Hanover. This proved to be the most important position Handel would have as the Elector became, in 1714, King George I of Great Britain and Ireland. Handel became very popular in court, composing the music for the royal fireworks and numerous pieces of party music for the king. Handel wrote many Operas, but later moved onto Oratorios which attracted a wider audience as the tickets were cheaper than those for an opera, the music was understandable due to being in English and followed a religious context, unlike opera which were usually Italian and centred around mythology or history. (1) Some of Handel s compositions include: Almira an Opera that premiered at the Theater am Gänsemarkt, Hamburg in This Opera had Handel noticed by the prince of Tuscany who later invited him to Italy. Esther Handel s first English Oratorio premiered in the King s Theatre, London, in 1732 The Water Music one of Handel s most famous Orchestral compositions, premiered 1717 Music for the Royal Fireworks premiered 1749, this piece celebrated the Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle (Aachen) which brought to an end the War of Austrian succession Handel lived in very political times. It seems that through his music he was able to work his way through these political times. For example, his Water Music was written to get back into favour with King George I after there were rumors Handel was a Hanoverian spy. Handel was a very private man who lived alone in London and never married. He was a good business man and managed his money very well. In London he lived an independent life-style living in his own home without having to live at the royal court. He did not write many letters (especially when compared to Mozart) so it is his music that shows his true character. He must have been

4 very religious and had a great faith. This can be seen in how magnificent the Hallelujah Chorus is. There is also great joy in his music so that must have been one side to his personality. Handel died rich (unlike many composers of the period) and respected on the 14 th April, (2) Oratorios An Oratorio is an Opera designed for church without costumes, acting, props or women as such things were declared offensive and unfit for church by the pope. (3) An oratorio is largely defined as a choral work for soloists, choir and orchestras which use religious texts for words. An Oratorio has 4 main parts: Overture: an introduction featured only once in an oratorio with a fugal entry played by the orchestra alone with a polyphonic texture Chorus: a chorus is sung by the chorus with an orchestral accompaniment Aria: an aria is sung by a soloist (sometimes in a duet) with an orchestral accompaniment. Aria are longer than a recitative, are difficult to sing and are repetitive Recitative: a recitative has very little music played only in chords, is short, focuses on the voice of the person singing and is declamatory. It is a soloist continuo with no repetition, unlike an Aria. The words in an Oratorio are taken straight from the bible and often on the score of an Oratorio there will be a reference as to where in the bible the words originated. What makes Handel such a great composer of Oratorio is his use of word painting to make certain words and phrases from the bible stand out e.g. in the Hallelujah Chorus, the phrase Lord of Lords, King of Kings is sung loudly on one note as an acclamation. (5) Handel s Messiah Messiah by George Frideric Handel was originally written as an Easter offering. On the 22 nd August, 1741, Handel began work on the Oratorio Messiah and finished the work in 24 swift days of composition. This was after receiving Charles Jennens libretto text sometime after the 10th July, Messiah was described by scholar Richard Luckett as a commentary on (Jesus Christ s) Nativity, Passion, Resurrection and Ascension. Messiah was first performed in Dublin on the 13 th April, 1742, on invitation from the Duke of Devonshire. It is not known if Handel originally intended to perform Messiah in Dublin, but it is known from Jennens letters that he was not informed of such a plan. The performances in Dublin produced a record audience of 700 people. Ladies were asked to wear dresses without hoops and men to come without swords in order to make sure there was enough room for everyone. Unfortunately, Messiah received a rather modest reception from the public at its London premiere, but later rose to popularity eventually becoming one of the best-known and most performed choral works in Western music. Messiah is still performed world-wide as a popular piece of music, including in Auckland where it is performed annually during the Christmas season. Bibliography:

5 Grade Boundary: High Merit 2. For Merit, students will demonstrate breadth of knowledge of two music works from contrasting contexts. Demonstrating breadth of knowledge involves providing details of context, elements and features supported by explanations and/or musical examples. This student demonstrates breadth of knowledge of the context, elements and features of Take Five. The student begins his presentation by providing a definition of cool jazz while also referring to other works in the jazz genre. The student provides some context for understanding the piece and some pertinent musical examples (e.g. the reference to the influence of Dizzy Gillespie and bebop on cool jazz). The innovation of using 5/4 is identified and in explaining this, the student demonstrates understanding of rhythmic terminology and contextual knowledge of the album from which the piece comes. In explaining the form of the piece the student identifies and describes in detail many terms, e.g. riff, swing, chord progression, vamp, head, E blues scale, anacrusis etc. Performance techniques of smear, flam, and buzz roll are identified, defined and demonstrated clearly on the drums. The student draws some comparisons between parts of the piece noting differences in the material and dynamics. To reach Excellence, the student needs to give more accurate and detailed definitions of key terms and concepts (such as swing and blues scales) and more comprehensive information in relation to contextual aspects.

6 Grade Boundary: Low Merit 3. For Merit, students will demonstrate breadth of knowledge of two music works from contrasting contexts. Demonstrating breadth of knowledge involves providing details of context, elements and features supported by explanations and/or musical examples. In this exemplar, comprising of a publicity article and programme notes on The Four Seasons, the evidence for context is on the Achieved/Merit boundary. The programme notes generally demonstrate more breadth and allow the overall evidence to move into Merit criteria. The programme notes include well-summarised details about Vivaldi; the date of the composition; an explanation of why the music was written; Baroque performance practices and the student s own reactions to the music. The details on why the piece was written are well-supported by explanations and musical examples (1). Information on Vivaldi is well summarised (2). The performance practice explained is the use of non-vibrato (3), and the student s opinion on the music (4) is generally well explained. The publicity article gives some detail on the works that will be performed (5) and why the concert will be authentically Baroque in context (6), (7), (8). To secure Merit, there needs to be further detail on the composer and Baroque performance practice, particularly in the publicity article. For example, the evidence on Vivaldi could include detail of his role as solo violinist.

7 Student 3: Low Merit Programme notes: Spring (of the Four Seasons) by Antonio Vivaldi ( ) Vivaldi was a baroque composer who wrote many concertos. He was in charge of music in a girl s school in Venice and composed more than 400 concertos, of both the Concerto Grosso and the Solo Concerto, for his pupils to play. Vivaldi started off as a priest in St. Mark s cathedral in Venice, however because he left the alter while celebrating Mass he was barred from saying Mass and soon left the church to become the Director at the Ospedale della Pieta, which was a girls orphanage with an excellent orchestra, where he composed most of his concertos. (2) The Four Seasons, composed in 1723, are four solo concertos for a solo Violin, and an orchestra made up of two groups of violins, a group of violas and a bass continuo, which is made up of cellos, double basses and a harpsichord. These concertos are programmatic or descriptive concertos, which mean that each one begins with a poem, that Vivaldi himself wrote, which describe that particular season of the year. Each poem is broken up into sections, labelled by letters with each section corresponding to a particular part of each concerto. Vivaldi wrote The Four Seasons because he loved to create music with brilliant effects, like wide leaps from one register to another. He also wanted to attempt to describe natural phenomena such as storms, wind, rain and the sound of bird calls. The Four Seasons were inspired by four paintings of the seasons by the artist Marco Ricci. So the Four Seasons is a combination of the arts of music, painting and poetry. (1) The first concerto of the Four Seasons is Spring, describing its freshness and beauty. Spring is a solo concerto with 3 movements: quick, slow, quick. The first movement includes birdsong and a spring storm; the second a shepherd who sleeps with his faithful dog by his side and the third is a lively spring dance. The quick movements are written in Ritornello form, which literally means returning. In this form a main theme is played by the orchestra at the beginning of the piece and then is kept returning to after each solo section. In Spring the ritornellos were marked in the music by the word tutti which means everyone. There are many different techniques used in Spring. The opening movement starts off with a cheerful and joyful theme which consists of an opening phrase and an answering phrase; this is played by the whole orchestra, and goes to the words of the poem: Spring has arrived. Then the first solo is played, which imitates the sound of bird song and uses many techniques to do this, including mordent, staccato, layered entries, trill and imitation. After this the answering phrase is repeated again, which is the basis for the Ritornello form, which gives the piece a feeling of continuity. The second solo is then performed which represents the flowing of streams and the blowing of the wind. To do this Vivaldi uses slurs to slur every two notes together, this is a flowing felling representing the flowing of stream, and it also creates a feeling of movement which represents the blowing of the wind. The third solo is describing a spring storm, with the sky turning black and thunder and lightning. Vivaldi creates this effect by having all of the instruments play in unison in a low pitch so that the music sounds heavy and ominous, he also uses contrast; contrasting between a heavy fast rubbing sound using the tremolo techniques and a quick ascending pitch run played by the solo violin to create the effect of uncertainty. After this the bird song solo reoccurs and after going back to the ritornello a few times the movement finishes. One thing that differs from today is that in the Baroque period the string instruments did not use vibrato, which they do use today. (3) The first time I listened to Spring I thought that it was so beautiful: the way that the Ritornello kept reoccurring after each solo, and the fluidity of this piece made it very enjoyable to listen to. After doing an analysis on it I was even more surprised to find out how technical and perfect some of the techniques used in this piece were. I was fascinated how each section of the concerto actually sounded like the part of the poem that it corresponded to; it was very surprising that a lot of different moods and themes could be portrayed by the violins by using a range of technical devices and performance practices. Spring is an amazing piece of music and it has opened my eyes up to the wonder that baroque music can have. I hope that as you listen to it you enjoy it as much as I do. (4) Publicity: Newspaper article At 7 o clock, on Sunday the 19 th October the Johnathon Luiten Orchestra, featuring various soloists from around the world including the famous Nigel Kennedy and the fabulous Lara Hall, will perform a concert of Baroque music at Forum North in Whangarei, free of charge, sponsored by Jonathon Luiten himself. I highly recommend you go along. I m sure some of you fabulous readers want to know more about this concert. The concert will last just under two hours and includes The Four Seasons, by Vivaldi; two of the Brandenburg Concertos, by Bach; a Fantasy by Purcell; a Canon by Pachelbel; a Viola Concerto by Telemann; and a Concerto Grosso by Handel. The Four Seasons, which will be performed first, consist of four different concertos: Spring, Summer, Autumn and

8 Winter, which describes the season to which it corresponds. Each was written about a painting of that season and so each piece describes the painting, also each piece has a poem that goes along with it that describes that season, and all the different things that happen in that season that are portrayed by the music. The Four Seasons is played by a solo instrument, the violin, played by Nigel Kennedy, and accompanied by an orchestra which plays in contrast to the soloist. The orchestra is made up of twelve violins split into two groups, four violas, and a basso continuo part which is played by three cellos a double bass and a harpsichord. (5) Pachelbel s Canon is another piece written in the Baroque period, which has been made very famous today and has been transcribed to many different instruments. In this concert it will be performed the way it was in the Baroque period, with three solo violinists (Nigel Kennedy, Laura Hill and Johnathan Carney) which make up the concertino, which is a small group of soloists that play in contrast to the main orchestra. (6) The main orchestra will be made up of ten violins, four violas, and the Basso Continuo, made up of three cellos and double bass and a harpsichord. Another movement that will be played is Telemann s Viola concerto in G major. This was one of the very first concertos composed for a solo viola, and since then the idea has caught, with many other viola concertos having been composed since then. The instruments involved in this piece will be the solo viola (played by Lawrence Power) and an accompanying orchestra made up of twelve violins, four violas, three cellos, a double bass and a harpsichord. All of the pieces to be performed were composed in the heart of the Baroque era of music. Although many of these pieces have been edited to be played as if they were modern compositions, in this concert they will all be played like they originally would have been back in the Baroque era. One of the main things that make this concert authentically Baroque is the size of the orchestra. In the Baroque time orchestras were quite small, consisting of not much more than twenty instruments compared to the classical and romantic periods, where orchestra size is very large. This concert is effectively Baroque because the orchestra consists of only twelve violins, four violas, three cellos, and double bass and a harpsichord. This brings me to the second reason why this concert is authentically Baroque: the choice of instruments. As I said earlier, all of these pieces are played on the instrument they were designed for; in the Baroque period there weren t as many instruments as we have today. Mainly strings were played, for this reason most of the pieces are for string soloists (except for the harpsichord piece) and for a string orchestra, including violins, violas, cellos and double basses. Another common instrument of the time was the harpsichord, which is the predecessor to the piano. Bach s fifth Brandenburg Concerto is a harpsichord solo concerto which will be played at this concert. As well as this the harpsichord plays in the orchestra of most songs as well, teaming up with the cellos and the double bass to play the Basso Continuo, which is a very special part of the Baroque period, as it is signature to this period. The Basso Continuo is a bass line that repeats itself often, it is usually written in the form of figured bass which is another signature of the Baroque period, as it is where only the bass note of each chord appears with a number (or numbers) written underneath it to represent whether the note is in root position, inverted or a 7 th. This is what will be played at this concert. Another thing that makes this concert close to an authentic Baroque concert is that the performance practices used in this concert will be as they were in the Baroque era, such as none of the string instruments will use vibrato, although this is a relatively common practice today, it was not used in the Baroque era. (7) The final thing that this concert is going to do to make the feeling as authentically Baroque as possible is, where possible, instruments made in the Baroque period with be used by the musicians. These instruments sound different to the ones made today because they were all hand-made, used special wood and the finger board was shorter. Violins and violas did not have chin-rests. Nigel Kennedy will be bringing his very special Stradivari violin made in the year that the Four Seasons were composed. (8) This concert is going to be absolutely fantastic, if you want to see a once in a lifetime, world-class performance of authentic Baroque music, this is not to be missed. I know that I am going, and I hope to see everyone else that reads this article turn out for this spectacle that is happening in our city.

9 Grade Boundary: High Achieved 4. For Achieved, students will demonstrate knowledge of two music works from contrasting contexts. Demonstrating knowledge involves identifying and describing the contexts in which two music works were composed or performed, and the musical elements and features of the works. The student begins by presenting some relevant information about the composers and performers of Take Five. He then gives the time signature and outlines the form of the piece using key terms and indicating which instruments are playing which material: the opening drum riff, ostinato, vamp, saxophone theme, anacrusis and swing. Improvisation, smears, buzz roll and flam (actually demonstrated) are identified as performance practices. The student then defines cool jazz very briefly and makes reference to some other jazz styles and works. Swing is adequately defined. This student clearly demonstrates knowledge and meets the requirements for Achieved. To reach Merit and demonstrate breadth of knowledge, there needs to be further explanations and music examples. Identified features also require further elaboration.

10 Grade Boundary: Low Achieved 5. For Achieved, students will demonstrate knowledge of two music works from contrasting contexts. Demonstrating knowledge involves identifying and describing the contexts in which two music works were composed or performed, and the musical elements and features of the works. In this exemplar the student introduces Take Five which he immediately places in context by indicating that the use of 5/4 time signature was an innovative feature. Some appropriate terms that identify features are outlined as the student describes the form of the piece (e.g. anacrusis, intro, head, theme, vamp, chord progression etc.). The student then mentions be-bop and Miles Davis (providing some context). Performance techniques identified are smear, flam and textural density, with some attempt at definitions. The student concludes by defining cool jazz and bebop. Overall, musical features are identified (listed) rather than accurately described in any detail, although there is some attempt at explaining swing and vamp. There is some attempt to expand on the features and to explain and demonstrate knowledge of context. However the evidence here is just sufficient for Achieved. To secure Achieved, the student would need to more fully describe musical features and context. For example, the definition of textural density needs to be more clearly described by the student.

11 Grade Boundary: High Not Achieved 6. For Achieved, students will demonstrate knowledge of two music works from contrasting contexts. Demonstrating knowledge involves identifying and describing the contexts in which two music works were composed or performed, and the musical elements and features of the works. The student begins his talk on Take Five by giving a brief overview, referring to some of the elements he plans to describe (note structures and techniques ) and naming two jazz artists he will cover. He then outlines the use of chords with added notes as typical of jazz and cool jazz and gives some examples (Fsharp7) from the set work and from an alternative work, demonstrating some knowledge of details and context. A number of elements, features and performance aspects are identified and described including textural density, crush notes, anacrusis, swing, and flam. The student then demonstrates some detailed knowledge of the riffs of the set work (i.e. plays them) and talks about another jazz work. To reach Achieved, the demonstration of knowledge needs more specific descriptions rather than in general terms. Further, five elements and three performance practices need to be more clearly distinguished. The form of the piece also needs to be outlined and cool jazz defined.