Exemplar for internal assessment resource Music for Achievement Standard 91095
Exemplar for Internal Achievement Standard
Music Level 1
This exemplar supports assessment against:
Achievement Standard 91095
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
© NZQA 2014
Exemplar for internal assessment resource Music for Achievement Standard 91095
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.
© NZQA 2014
Student 1: Low Excellence
Role of Music in the 18th 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 18th 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 23rd 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 1705. 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
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 14th April, 1759. (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 22nd 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, 1741. 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 13th 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:
http://sss.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Baroque_Music
http://www.smithsonianmag.co./arts-culture/The-Glorious_History-of-Handels-Messiah.html
http://www.limelightmagazine.com.au/Article/367832,the-secret-life-of-handel.aspx
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Messiah_(Handel)
http://wikipedia.org/wiki/Oratorio
Exemplar for internal assessment resource Music for Achievement Standard 91095
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.
© NZQA 2014
Exemplar for internal assessment resource Music for Achievement Standard 91095
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.
© NZQA 2014
Student 3: Low Merit
Programme notes: Spring (of the Four Seasons) by Antonio Vivaldi (1675 – 1741)
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 19th 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
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 7th. 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.
Exemplar for internal assessment resource Music for Achievement Standard 91095
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.
© NZQA 2014
Exemplar for internal assessment resource Music for Achievement Standard 91095
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.
© NZQA 2014
Exemplar for internal assessment resource Music for Achievement Standard 91095
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.
© NZQA 2014