GCSE Music (OCR)

37 free revision lessons in 9 units. Open the course or go straight to a lesson.

Listening Skills

Train your ear: tonality, metre, texture, devices and cadences

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

Area of Study 2: The Concerto Through Time

The concerto from 1650 to 1910: Baroque, Classical and Romantic

1. The Concerto Through Time: The Baroque Era (1650-1750)
2. The Classical Concerto: Balance, Dialogue and the Rise of the Public Concert (1750-1820)
3. The Romantic Concerto: The Age of the Virtuoso Soloist
4. Concerto Detective Work: Identifying Period and Style in an Unfamiliar Extract

Area of Study 2: Listening Practice

Real recordings from the concerto's era, exam-style questions

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

Area of Study 3: Rhythms of the World

Traditional rhythms of India and Punjab, the Eastern Mediterranean, Africa and the Americas

1. India and Punjab: Raga, Tala and Bhangra Rhythms
2. Rhythms of the World: Eastern Mediterranean and Middle Eastern Folk Music
3. African Drumming: Polyrhythm, Master Drummers and Oral Tradition
4. Rhythms of the World: Samba and Calypso from Central and South America

Area of Study 3: Listening Practice

Rhythm drills for every region — plus real century-old recordings

1. India and Punjab — Guided Listening
2. Eastern Mediterranean and Middle East — Guided Listening
3. African Drumming — Guided Listening
4. Samba, Calypso and the Americas — Guided Listening

Area of Study 4: Film Music

Scoring mood, character and action — for screen and video games

1. Film Music: The Composer's Toolkit
2. Film Music: Creating Mood, Time and Place
3. Film Music: Writing About an Unfamiliar Cue and Composing to a Brief
4. Film Music: Borrowed Classics and Video Game Scores

Area of Study 5: Conventions of Pop

Rock 'n' roll to solo artists: pop conventions from the 1950s to now

1. Conventions of Pop: Rock 'n' Roll of the 1950s and 1960s
2. Rock Anthems of the 1970s and 1980s: Stadium Sound and Guitar Power
3. Pop Ballads of the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s
4. Solo Artists 1990 to Now: Producers, Studio Technology and the Streaming Era

Areas of Study 4–5: Listening Practice

Unfamiliar extracts: film colours, band textures and pop

1. Popular Music — Unfamiliar Listening
2. Band and Ensemble Textures — Unfamiliar Listening
3. Orchestral Colour — Unfamiliar Listening

Score Reading

Follow the music on the page while it plays

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

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