Leaving Cert music: Both levels ‘very straightforward’

Both higher and ordinary level Leaving Cert music papers were very straightforward, according to Síofra Cox, ASTI subject representative and a music teacher at the Convent of Mercy secondary school in Roscommon.

The main question in the listening paper was based on movement three from Mozart’s piano concerto.

“Students should have found it manageable,” she said.

“They would have been reasonably challenged by some sections of question three and four in the listening exam which required them to compare excerpts of music with music which was not played in the exam, testing their familiarity and aural memory of the overall works.”

She said that that the composition paper featured a choice of questions in both major and minor keys.

“Each were quite manageable and students should have had no problem in attempting these skills-based questions.”

Susan McCormick, a music teacher at the Institute of Education in Dublin said that overall, the listening paper was “nice”. Dictation, which is usually an area that students struggle with, was a “nice, straightforward question”, she added.