This page was last edited on 25/01/07
Colin's Teaching Resources
Edexcel GCSE Areas of Study Resources and Links
This page was last edited on 25/01/07
[Disclaimer] |
Edexcel Syllabus | Tell me about dead links |
| Writing
a GCSE 'Brief' |
The
Edexcel site |
MY
HOT POTATO TESTS |
1) Repetition and Contrast in Western Classical Music 1600-1899
Click here to see and hear... a passacaglia I composed as a demonstration for pupils
My Hot Potato page has Ground Bass activities
Go to my page which explains what they are, with sound files and examples.
My Miniature Variations (part of the page above) as is the Bobby Shaftoe task
Aural exercise on a set of variations
HERE are some questions about a piece of music is ABA form, perhaps a bit difficult.
ALSO - A possible introductory lesson
ALSO - Another possible introductory lesson
General test on topics which may crop up in Listening Tests [Mainly Ternary & Rondo].
Click here for this as a web page and right-click here to download the Word file
General test on topics which may crop up in Listening Tests [Mainly Ternary & Rondo].
Click here for this as a web page and right-click here to download the Word fileSee my rondo piece for flute and read the "Understanding the Brief" pro-forma for this project.
2) New directions in Western Classical Music - 1900 to the present day
My site has LOADS! of resources to do with 12-note music
My Minimal Project is HERE
Philip Glass links [Off site]
Philip Glass Biography [Off site]
Steve Reich [Off site]
Terry Riley [Off site]
Click here for a few brief notes [in WORD .doc format] about minimal music.
[This sheet was downloaded from http://www.jsavage.org.uk/ and I have changed the appearance slightly [with permission] and added a photo]
Experimental music
e.g. aleatoric music, performance art, the use of graphic notation
3) Popular song in context
Download a "West End Blues" Listening Activity - Word document
Try these links
BBC Guide and Quick Guide
'Jazclass' and his page of blues scales here
Or use the direct links to 'The Reggae Crossword' V5 V6
Mento - a style which existed before Reggae. There's a useful Jamaican music map.
The BBC radio live and on demand site. Click to Genres and find Reggae.
http://www.jamaicans.com/index.htm was one place to look in January 2004
A little bit here too
Find out about Rastafarian beliefs Just go to his links page!
Reggae Page - Looks good, I have not explored it yet
Bob Marley.com (Official Site)
You should also have a look on the Music at School site
COMMENT
This is what I wrote some year ago when this website first went up.
What on earth can have motivated Edexcel to have included this topic in their syllabus is anyone's guess. Not very many music teachers actually know anything about it. A Google search yields precious little information on Club Dance Remix. What a search does reveal is the number of schools who have adopted the Edexcel syllabus and who have posted summaries of said syllabus on their web sites. By doing so, they seem to be proudly proclaiming that their pupils will be studying music which is not by dry, dusty and usually dead composers. My interest in pop music stopped with the Beatles, I readily admit that. However, I enjoy plenty of pop/commercial music written since the Fab Four broke up. Surely there was another topic which could have been selected about which there was more to say.
I was recently contacted by a visitor to this site who wished to point out the following in response to the points above. As I now no longer teach GCSE this site will gradually become more and more out of date. Sorry! All I can say is that there were precious few resources for teacher to use when Edexcel thrust this topic upon music teachers. It is a good thing if the situation has now changed.
1. What on earth can have motivated Edexcel to have included this topic in their syllabus is anyone's guess?
It has roots in early electronic, experimental and minimalist music - and further, considering the lengths composers, engineers and producers go to to systematically control the sequence of events and modulating parameters of the sounds, then it has roots in serialist music too.2. Not very many music teachers actually know anything about it.
A great opportunity for you and others to do exactly what you teach your pupils to do then... learn?3. A Google search yields precious little information on Club Dance Remix
Yes, but the clue is in those three words... you will surely have discovered the many, many, many recordings and sites devoted to Electronica, Techno, Garage, etc.?4. ...pupils will be studying music which is not by dry, dusty and usually dead composers.
Hooray, the world is indeed a bigger place!5. Surely there was another topic which could have been selected about which there was more to say?
My pupils are presented with merely a taster to what is a hugely sprawling, massively influential type of music. I have found it incredibly difficult to choose exactly what to introduce them to and sometimes the topic hurtles off in to other subjects. As I understand and teach "Club Dance Remix" it is a difficult, deep and challenging area of study and a force in music that won't go away, not for a long, long time.All in all it is a fantastic area of music...
Songs from the musicals
4) Rhythms, scales and modes in music from around the world
If you want to listen you could try MP3.com [click on genres]
[Composers influenced by Gamelan Music are here.]
[These are all off site links]
Joglosemar on line is a very good site on all aspects of Java. Follow the 'Gamelan' link and you will find a good, brief explanation of the instruments.
Bali and Beyond This site covers Balinese Gamelan music (surprisingly) in a very comprehensive way. The are sound files too.
Hastings (UK) Gamelan This site has an excellent links page (OK in IE / Netscape but not Opera) and a lot of pictures. There are links to other sites also listed here.
Indonesian Gamelan This site covers both Java and Bali. Plenty to look at and to listen to. A good explanation of the roles of the instruments. You will need a Real Audio Player.
The American Gamelan Institute (Hear music on-line)
Balinese Gamelan Covers rhythms and has online and seems geared toward selling a particular book. The site is a member of a Bali Webring.
Gamelan Mitra Kusuma A Gamelan Orchestra based in Washington DC. It has Audio files and links to follow.
Balinese Gamelan Music I find this site on the dark side, but if you use Opera you can turn off the black background and read the text OK.
Javanese Gamelan Notation You are unlikely to need this site but here is a link anyway. One day I shall have to unlock the secrets of the notation.
Javanese Court Dances Rather a specialist site with more examples of notation.
Composers Influenced by Gamelan Music
http://www.chandrakantha.com/ [Off site]
This is a very comprehensive site with sound files and an excellent page of links!
Links I have found - WAITING TO BE THOROUGHLY CHECKED (Disclaimer)
http://64.78.17.70/indiaculture/en/CulturalHeritage/Music%20of%20India/musicintro.htm
Musical Instruments of the World - Not sure how I found this.
Rhythmweb: Click on 'Cultures' / Asia
You can spend a long time on the net looking at site about African Music. Don't try all of these, but these are the main sites I managed to find.
African Treasures (A site which sells things but has plenty of images you might like)
www.dancedrummer.com Some resources about Ghana, particularly. Best on Broadband.
More pictures with a little information and another here
or here [a good site if you can get past the pop-ups!] The links seem to be out of date
Music of the Diaspora {A dispersion of a people from their original [African] homeland}. This site has a shockwave tour, but it is not there at the moment (Jan 2005)
Foundation Course is African Dance and drumming (Rather Advanced, but has some pictures)
Shekere Useful for teachers: Details of course and workshops. Picture of instruments.
Rhythmweb: Click on 'Cultures' / Africa
www.alternativeculture.com/ has an online rhythm player, but you'll need to sort out the notation.
Djembe net This site has books on sale and you can download a piece of software which will let you play rhythms. PLEASE NOTE I suggest you do not install the software to the default directory suggested in the installation wizard. Look at the FAQ page first and decide for yourself. At the moment this software will only play single rhythms.
Music which draws together at least two different cultures
Disclaimer
Whilst every effort was taken (during the setting up of this page) to ensure that the links work, it is not certain that they will do so since URLs change or are deleted from time to time.
This site is not responsible for the content on other sites. It has been known for a once perfectly respectable link to lead (at a later date) to a rather 'unsavoury' site. [This last happened in January 2005!]
Please exercise common sense when following links.
Report any problems to me <here>
