Understanding Music — AS & A Level Music (9483) questions by topic
Understanding Music questions ask you to discuss how contrast or melody works across set works such as Debussy's La cathédrale engloutie, Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade and Grieg's Peer Gynt, or how a poem's words shape a song setting, worth up to 35 marks.
Discuss, describe, explain and compare all require detailed reference to specific passages of the set works, without scores. Drawn from 18 questions across 2023 to 2025 papers, this page's instant marking is useful because examiners repeatedly note that naming a theme at its first appearance is not enough; you need to trace how instrumentation changes as that theme develops later in the work.
What examiners look for
- A recurring criticism is naming themes only at their first appearance rather than tracing how the instrumentation changes as the work develops.
- Examiners note that mentioning 'low brass' for a theme is often not followed up by naming the specific instruments involved.
- Strong answers made frequent, precise reference to musical features with clear indication of exactly where in the music they occurred.
- Reports praise responses contrasting Debussy's limited piano resources with Grieg's full orchestra, and explaining how each composer exploited what was available to them.
May–June 2025, Paper 11
Answer one question in Section B. Refer to your own unedited recordings of the set works. You may not use scores. Explain how the titles MGV (Musique à Grande Vitesse) and New…
Answer this question and get it marked →How do the poets' words inspire the music in Travel's End by Price and Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening by Bonds?
Answer this question and get it marked →May–June 2025, Paper 12
Answer one question in Section B. Refer to your own unedited recordings of the set works. You may not use scores. How is melody used in MGV (Musique à Grande Vitesse) by Nyman and…
Answer this question and get it marked →Describe the relationship between voice and piano in Travel's End by Price and Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening by Bonds.
Answer this question and get it marked →May–June 2025, Paper 13
Answer one question in Section B. Refer to your own unedited recordings of the set works. You may not use scores. Explain the use of contrast and continuity in MGV (Musique à…
Answer this question and get it marked →Describe how the use of tonality and different types of scales in Symphony no. 9 in E minor 'New World' by Dvořák and Bonds's Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening contribute to a…
Answer this question and get it marked →May–June 2023, Paper 11
Refer to your own unedited recordings of the Set Works. You may not use scores. Describe some of the different ways in which Rimsky-Korsakov uses the two opening themes in any two…
Answer this question and get it marked →Refer to your own unedited recordings of the Set Works. You may not use scores. Compare Debussy's use of the piano in La cathédrale engloutie with Grieg's use of the orchestra in…
Answer this question and get it marked →May–June 2023, Paper 12
Refer to your own unedited recordings of the Set Works. You may not use scores. Compare how the composers imitate Middle Eastern dance music in Festival in Baghdad from movement…
Answer this question and get it marked →Refer to your own unedited recordings of the Set Works. You may not use scores. How do dynamics contribute to the descriptive aspects of Debussy's La cathédrale engloutie and Peer…
Answer this question and get it marked →May–June 2023, Paper 13
Refer to your own unedited recordings of the Set Works. You may not use scores. Discuss how contrast is achieved in Debussy's La cathédrale engloutie and in any one movement from…
Answer this question and get it marked →Refer to your own unedited recordings of the Set Works. You may not use scores. Explain how changes of mood are achieved in Solveig's Song, movement IV and one other movement from…
Answer this question and get it marked →October–November 2023, Paper 11
Refer to your own unedited recordings of the set works. You may not use scores. Discuss the use of instrumentation to suggest characters and events in Rimsky-Korsakov's…
Answer this question and get it marked →Refer to your own unedited recordings of the set works. You may not use scores. How is melody used in Debussy's La cathédrale engloutie and any two movements from Grieg's Peer…
Answer this question and get it marked →October–November 2023, Paper 12
Refer to your own unedited recordings of the set works. You may not use scores. Discuss the use of instrumentation to suggest characters and events in Rimsky-Korsakov's…
Answer this question and get it marked →Refer to your own unedited recordings of the set works. You may not use scores. How is melody used in Debussy's La cathédrale engloutie and any two movements from Grieg's Peer…
Answer this question and get it marked →October–November 2023, Paper 13
Refer to your own unedited recordings of the set works. You may not use scores. Discuss the use of instrumentation to suggest characters and events in Rimsky-Korsakov's…
Answer this question and get it marked →Refer to your own unedited recordings of the set works. You may not use scores. How is melody used in Debussy's La cathédrale engloutie and any two movements from Grieg's Peer…
Answer this question and get it marked →