QCE Music Practice Questions
The 64 practice questions inside the QCE Music Mastery Pack, grouped by area of study. Every question comes with a full worked solution.
- Music elements and concepts, and compositional devices (syllabus course overview; used across Units 3 and 4)
- Multiple choice × 18
- Analyse × 3
- Evaluate × 1
- Explain × 1
- Justify × 1
- Unit 3: Innovations — How do musicians incorporate innovative music practices to communicate meaning when performing and composing?
- Multiple choice × 10
- Explain × 2
- Evaluate × 1
- Unit 4: Narratives — How do musicians manipulate music elements to communicate narrative when performing, composing and responding to music?
- Multiple choice × 10
- Analyse and evaluate × 3
- Evaluate × 1
- External assessment: analytical essay on unseen stimulus (assessment objectives 3, 5 and 7)
- Multiple choice × 10
- Justify × 2
- Analyse and evaluate × 1
Analyse how duration is manipulated in bars 1–16 to communicate restlessness.
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Answer: Worked solution
The composer makes duration the engine of restlessness by building an irregular metre that never settles. The marimba ostinato in 7/8 (bars 1–16, 0:00–0:22) groups the quavers 2+2+3, so every bar ends with a longer group that "stretches" the pulse. Accents on each group's first quaver make the unevenness audible, and the listener keeps waiting for a regular fourth beat that never arrives, like traffic that starts and stops without a pattern.
The fast tempo (crotchet = 152) means the quaver pulse is very quick, so the 2+2+3 grouping cycles rapidly and creates nervous energy rather than a relaxed lilt. From bar 5 the straight hi-hat quavers keep a constant subdivision, while the snare marks only the start of the 3-group. The constant stream against the irregular accent pattern adds friction: the surface is busy, but the strong points arrive unevenly.
In bars 9–16 the violins' tied notes begin on the last quaver and sustain across the barline. This syncopation blurs where each bar begins, so even the long notes do not anchor the pulse. They sound like horns held through a jam.
Together, irregular metre, fast tempo, accent placement and syncopated ties work on the same element at different levels (bar, beat and phrase). The result is perpetual forward motion without stability, which is restlessness. (Marking: 1 mark each for accurately analysing metre/grouping, tempo, accent, syncopation; 1 for relating two or more duration concepts; 1 for linking to restlessness with bar or time-code references.)
20 full-length practice exams with worked solutions, 20 revision notes, 64 practice questions and 200 flashcards.
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