A Level Music:

Wider Listening Guide

Tips for Wider Listening:

Throughout your course listening to music will be imperative. Your listening and
appraising examination comprises 40% of your overall grade at A Level.

The examination will require you to listen and answer questions based on the set works
you will have studied; to write an essay (without audio) based on one of these set
works; to listen to a piece of unfamiliar music, draw comparisons with your set works
and describe what you can hear in relation to a given question.

As well as this, more than half the marks awarded for your essay on a set work are
dependant on how well you can link the set work to your contextual knowledge (social,
historical and compositional context), discussing how it compares to other music of a
similar time or genre, and how well you can justify this through examples
of/comparisons to other pieces of music from your own knowledge. This is known as
wider listening.

You should therefore:

- Listen to your set works as much as possible in order to make them familiar
- Listen to music (set works and other pieces) as often as you can
- Listen to a wide variety of music
- Try to attend some live performances by reputable musicians/orchestras
- Dedicate some time to active listening to make conscious connections between
your knowledge/learning and what you can hear

Use the following sheet templates to help organise your wider listening, or create your
own and keep a comprehensive log.

The final pages include a summary of your set works and some examples of artists
and/or pieces for wider listening. These are just suggestions – include your own!
 Wider Listening Log:

Piece, composer Key features to link to a set work To which set work does this link
and details of and where?
work.
‘La cathédrale Impression of bell-like sounds created ‘Pagodes’ fifths and seconds used for
engloutie’, through use of fifths and seconds colouristic purposes (non-functional
Preludes, Book I - = gives an impression of the cathedral harmony) to create an impression of
Debussy bells ringing gongs and the gamelan. (e.g. in the
opening introduction setting the
Eastern atmosphere)

Movement of the bells through Ostinato moves through the

textures to give the impression of the textures; build up of lots of layers
cathedral sinking under the water to represent the different layers of
the gamelan
 Suggested Wider Listening:

AoS1: Vocal Music:

(Bach – Cantata Ein Feste Berg)

Handel – Messiah

Ethel Smyth – Mass in D

Felix Mendelssohn – Elijah

Verdi – Requiem

Stolzel – Cantatas for Pentecost

(Mozart – The Magic Flute)

Wagner – Die Walkure; Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg

Verdi – Rigoletto; La Traviata

Purcell – Dido and Aeneas

Gluck – Orpheus and Eurydice

Beethoven – Fidelio

Rossini – Otello

(Vaughan-Williams – On Wenlock Edge)

Butterworth – Bredon Hill and Other Songs

Schubert – (any lieder) – The Erlking; Gretchen at the Spinning Wheel; Serenade; An
die music

Robert Schumann – Dichterliebe

Mahler – Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen

Brahms – (any songs)

Vaughan-Williams – Songs of Travel

Benjamin Britten – Peter Grimes; Our Hunting Fathers

Sullivan – The Window

Elgar – Sea Pictures; The Snow

AoS2: Instrumental Music:

(Vivaldi – Concerto in d minor)

Handel – Organ Concertos, Op. 4

Teleman – Concerto for Viola in G major

Chaminade – Concertino for Flute and Orchestra

Mozart – Concerto for Flute and Harp

Beethoven – Violin Concerto

Vivaldi – Violin Concerto in a minor

Robert Schumann – Piano Concerto

(Wieck-Schumann – Piano Trio in g minor)

Farrenc – Piano Trio No. 1, Op. 33

Beethoven – String Quartets (any)

Brahms – Piano Quintet; Piano Trio No. 1, Op. 8

Schubert – Piano Trio in Bb major

Mendelssohn – Piano Trio No. 1, Op. 49

Rachmaninov – Trio elegiaque No. 2, Op. 9

Haydn – Symphony 101 (Clock); Symphony 6 (le matin)

Mahler – Symphony No. 4; Symphony No. 1 (Titan); Symphony No. 2 (Resurrection)

Mozart – Symphony 41 (Jupiter)

Beethoven – Symphony 3 (Eroica); Symphony 6 (Pastoral)

Sibelius – Symphony 5

Bruckner – Symphony No. 2

Mussorgsky – Pictures at an Exhibition

Dukas – The Sorcerer’s Apprentice

Amy Beach – Gaelic Symphony

Liszt – Symphonic Poems (any)

Saint-Saens – Danse Macabre

AoS3: Music for Film

(Herrmann – Psycho; Elfman – Batman Returns; Portman – The Duchess)

Herrmann – North by Northwest; Psycho

Elfman – Planet of the Apes; Spiderman; The Simpsons; Desperate Housewives; Edward
Scissorhands

Goldsmith – The Omen

Blatty – The Exorcist

Max Steiner – King Kong; Casablanca

Ennio Morricone – Once Upon a Time in the West; The Mission

John Williams – Schindler’s List; Star Wars – A New Hope; Jaws

Portman – Emma; Chocolat

John Lunn – Downton Abbey

Hans Zimmer – Gladiator; The Dark Knight Rises

Silvestri – Back to the Future

Debbie Wiseman – Wilde; Flood

Toru Takemitsu – Black Rain

Newman – He Named Me Malala

Powell – P.S. I Love You

Desplat – The Danish Girl

AoS4: Popular Music and Jazz

(Courtney Pine – Back in the Day; Kate Bush – Hounds of Love; The Beatles - Revolver)

Joan Aramtrading – Love and Affection

Gershwin – Summertime

Miles Davis – So What; Doo-Bop; All Blues; Everything’s Beautiful

John Coltrane – (anything)

Billie Holiday – Strange Fruit

Charles Mingus – Blues and Roots

Bix Beiderbeck – Jazz Me Blues

Carole King – Tapestry

Michael Jackson – Thriller; Beat it; Billie Jean; Earth Song; Man in the Mirror

Jay Z – Blueprint 3

The Monkees

The Beach Boys – Smiley Smile; Pet Sounds

The Verve

The Kinks – The Village Green Preservation Society

The Rolling Stones – Let it Bleed

The Hollies – He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother

Simon and Garfunkel – Bridge Over Troubled Water

Oasis – Definitely Maybe

Radiohead – OK Computer

Bjork – Vulnicura

Annie Lennox – Why ; Walking on Broken Glass

David Bowie – Low; Heroes; Hunky Dory

Tori Amos – Pretty Good Year

Madonna

Elvis Costello – Accidents Will Happen

AoS5: Fusions

(Debussy – Estampes; Familia Valera Miranda – Cana Quema; Shankar – Breathing Under
Water)

Debussy – Preludes; La mer

Ravel

Benjamin Britten – Prince of the Pagodas

Leonard Bernstein – West Side Story

Bizet – Habanera ‘Carmen’

Afro Celt Sound System – Volume 2: Release

AR Rahman – Jai Ho

Gloria Estefan – Mi tierra

Esperanza Spalding

Villa-Lobos – Bachinas brasilieiras

Robert Glasper – Black Radio

Enya – Watermark

Norah Jones

Ravi Shankar

Karsh Kale – Up

Talvin Singh - Together

AoS6: New Directions

(John Cage; Stravinsky – The Rite of Spring; Saariaho - Petals)

Bela Bartok – Dances in Bulgarian Rhythm

Zoltan Kodaly

Pierre Schaeffer

Karlheinz Stockhausen – Gesang der Junglinge; Sonatine

Arnold Schoenberg – Peripetie; Verklarte Nacht

Charles Ives – Piano Sonata 2

Iannis Xenakis – Metastasis

Saariaho - Nympheas

Steve Reich – Music for 18 Musicians; Clapping Music

Prokofiev – Romeo and Juliet; Cinderella

Tchaikovsky – Swan Lake; Sleeping Beauty

Webern – String Quartet Op. 28

Copland – Appalachian Spring

Alban Berg – Violin Concerto

Delibes - Coppelia

Adams – City Noir

Ustvolskaya – Concerto for Piano, Strings and Timpani

Philip Glass – Glassworks

Jean Michel Jarre – Metamorphoses

Messiaen – Des canyons aux etoiles

Boulez

Peter Maxwell-Davies – Eight Songs for a Mad King

Unsuk Chin – Alice in Wonderland

Tansy Davies – Re-greening

Luciano Berio – Sequenzas (any)