GCSE Music (AQA)

30 free revision lessons in 8 units. Open the course or go straight to a lesson.

Listening Skills

Start here: train your ear on the basics — tonality, instruments, texture and cadences — before any set repertoire.

1. Hearing Tonality: Major, Minor and Beyond
2. Hearing Instruments and Families
3. Texture, Devices and Cadences: First Steps

Area of Study 1: Western Classical Tradition 1650–1910

The knowledge: the orchestra, the structures, and the Beethoven study piece — read first, then drill.

1. The Orchestra 1650-1910: How the Sound Changed
2. Structures You Must Recognise: Binary, Ternary, Rondo, Variations and Sonata Form
3. Beethoven: Symphony No. 1, First Movement — Guided Listening

Area of Study 1: Listening Practice

The training: eight ear drills on real recordings, one for each strand of the AoS1 listening list.

1. Beethoven Symphony No.1, Movement 1: Slow Introduction and Sonata-Form Allegro
2. Mozart Symphony No. 40 — Opening Listening Drill
3. Mozart Clarinet Concerto K.622, Movement 3: Rondo Form
4. Haydn Symphony No.94 'Surprise', Movement 2: Theme and Variations
5. Handel: Zadok the Priest — Coronation Anthem
6. Chopin: Nocturne in E♭ major, Op.9 No.2
7. Schumann: Kinderszenen Op.15 — Selected Pieces
8. Verdi: Requiem — 'Dies Irae'

Area of Study 2: Popular Music

The knowledge: rock, pop, stage, screen and games — plus the Queen study piece for Section B.

1. Rock and Pop: The Features That Give the Style Away
2. Music for Stage, Screen and Games
3. Queen: Three Set Tracks — Guided Listening
4. Placing a Track in Time: Rock, Pop, Broadway and Screen by Era

Area of Study 3: Traditional Music

The knowledge: blues, fusion, Latin and folk — plus the Esperanza Spalding study piece for Section B.

1. Traditional Music: The Four Styles You Must Recognise
2. Esperanza Spalding: Three Set Tracks — Guided Listening

Area of Study 4: Western Classical Tradition since 1910

The knowledge: the modern orchestra, minimalism, and the Bartok study piece for Section B.

1. Twentieth-Century Colour: Orchestration, Dynamics and Space
2. Bartók: Hungarian Sketches — Guided Listening
3. Minimalism: Adams, Reich and Riley

Areas of Study 2–4: Listening Practice

The training: unfamiliar-listening drills for Areas of Study 2-4 — this bank grows as more verified audio lands.

1. Area of Study 2: Popular Music — Unfamiliar Listening
2. Area of Study 3: Traditional Music — Unfamiliar Listening
3. Area of Study 4: Western Classical Tradition since 1910 — Unfamiliar Listening

Score Reading

The notation skills Section A assumes: rhythm, pitch, expression marks and reading an orchestral score.

1. Following a Score: Keeping Your Place While the Music Plays
2. Reading Rhythm: How Long Each Note Lasts
3. Reading Pitch: Steps, Leaps, Shape and Key
4. Reading Expression and Forces: Dynamics, Articulation and Clefs

How to revise Music

• Retrieval Practice
• Spaced Repetition
• Interleaving
• Dual Coding
• Elaborative Interrogation
• Knowledge Organisers
• Timed Practice
• Active Listening

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