Junior Cycle music: Plenty of choice in an ‘enjoyable’ exam

The first ever common level junior cycle music exam was engaging and offered a good variety of questions, according to music teacher Áine Balfe.

“It was a really engaging paper with great choice and a variety of questions, many of which were multiple choice, to assess the overall musical skills of the student,” said Ms Balfe, ASTI subject representative and a teacher at St Patrick’s Cathedral Grammar School in Dublin

“The unheard listening excerpts were very enjoyable for the students with a variety of styles such as popular, film and classical.

[ Examwatch 2022: Reaction to the Junior Cycle and Leaving Cert exams ]

“The ballad Fields of Athenry featured on the paper. The students were required to aurally identify chord changes in the song. Students also had to identify cadences which may have proved challenging for some.”

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Ms Balfe said that students were required to identify the time signatures and backing chords  in the familiar tune Happy Birthday.

“The final question on the paper afforded the students an opportunity to refer to music that they had created themselves as young composers.

“Overall, it was a very balanced common level paper which suited the needs of students of all abilities,” said Ms Balfe.

TRY THIS AT HOME:

JUNIOR CYCLE MUSIC, COMMON LEVEL

(i) Describe one way in which the music of Irish performers is promoted on local or national Irish media.

(ii) Explain one way in which Irish musicians benefit from royalties.

(iii) Name one organisation responsible for collecting royalties on behalf of Irish songwriters and performers.