Struggling to answer questions for GCSE Music: Music for a While? Well, struggle no longer – this is the place to be!
Struggling to answer questions for GCSE Music: Music for a While?
Panicking because there are only a few months left?
Then this is the place to be!
As a grade-9 ex-GCSE student myself, I know all the best tips and tricks for doing well in your exam. I have tried to make all this information as concise as possible so you can get the best value for your time spent reading. Using this Music for a While analysis, you can boost your grades as quickly as possible.
Make sure you write everything down and learn it thoroughly. Reading alone will not help you absorb this information!
This post is all about the tips and tricks you need for Edexcel GCSE music Music for a While.
GCSE Music Music for a While
To start with, here is my favourite recording of Purcell’s Music for a While.
I’m tentatively assuming most of the people reading this will already have the GCSE Anthology of Music recommended by Edexcel. If not, here is a link to where you can buy it.
Unfortunately, the anthologies are very expensive. However, if you are lucky, you can find a second hand one on amazon or ebay.
Music for a While is out of copyright, so you can find it on that lifesaver of a site called IMSLP. However, the IMSLP version is in C minor (the original key). This is a bit annoying, as the Edexcel version you will need to know about is in A minor. However, if you are stuck and need the music, here is a link to the page. It might be a little helpful!
Context of Music for a While
Music for a While was written by English composer Purcell for the opera Oedipus in 1692.
Oedipus takes its story from a Greek myth, and the plot concerns a man (called Oedipus, incidentally) accidentally fulfilling a prophecy to kill his father and marry his mother. No, not joking! It’s where the Oedipus complex gets its name from.
Music for a While is sung to calm the Fury (a monster in Greek mythology) Alecto, whose role was punishing people who had killed a parent.
Luckily, this song is probably the least difficult GCSE set work. There isn’t a huge amount to say about it. That still doesn’t mean it’s easy, unfortunately!
Music for a While is solidly part of the Baroque period. Here are some important features of this era:
- Limited dynamic range
- Limited range of the keyboard
- Lots of ornamentation
- Polyphonic textures
Can you spot any of these features in Music for a While?
Structure of Music for a While
Music for a While is in ternary form (ABA). This means that the first and last sections are very similar. Careful though – the third section is slightly different to the first, mostly through embellishments in the voice part.
Purcell begins with a short three bar introduction, before the first A section begins at bar 4. This is where the voice enters.
The B section begins at bar 23, and it is quite short. By bar 29 we are in that final A section, also called A1. Can you spot some differences between A and A1?
Music for a While is also built on a ground bass, a very popular device in the Baroque period. This means that the bass line repeats every three bars. Think Pachelbel’s Canon for a more famous example of a ground bass.
Instrumentation of Music for a While
Music for a While has three instruments: soprano voice, harpsichord and bass viol. Here we find another common feature of Baroque music – the use of a basso continuo. A basso continuo (you can shorten it to continuo if you fancy!) is a type of accompaniment which consists of a keyboard instrument (the harpsichord) and a bass instrument (the bass viol).
The harpsichord is a bit like a piano, except the strings inside are plucked rather than hit with hammers. A bass viol is a bit like a cello or double bass. Both were popular in the Baroque period but have rarely been used since the 1700s.
Texture of Music for a While
The overall texture of Music for a While is melody with accompaniment. This is quite common for vocal music, and helps make sure that the lyrics are clear and easy to understand.
The right hand of the harpsichord does, however, have an interesting melodic line. This ensures there is some interest in the instrumental parts, a common feature of Baroque music.
There is also some imitation between the soprano and right hand harpsichord, for example in bars 20 and 21. These allows the performers to interact.
The left hand of the harpsichord and the bass viol play in unison throughout.
Tonality of Music for a While
The overall tonality of Music for a While is A minor. However, Purcell moves through lots of other keys, as is typical of Baroque writing.
In bar 15, we arrive in E minor, the dominant minor. The next bar, however, we are already moving keys again, arriving in G major in bar 18. This is the relative major of E minor.
Once again, we move to a different key very quickly, arriving in C major by bar 22, although we are already in A minor by bar 23. You might be wondering why there is a C# if we are in A minor. Don’t worry, I will explain this in the harmony section!
We then briefly move through E major, before arriving in A minor again for the A1 section at bar 28.
Don’t worry, you don’t need to learn the bar numbers of these different keys! Unless you are writing an essay of course, but if that is the case you will have the sheet music as a reference.
Harmony of Music for a While
The main focus of Baroque harmony is tension and release. Remember that!
Lots of chords in the harpsichord are arppeggiated. This is because harpsichord notes fade away very quickly, and the arppeggiation helps the chord last a bit longer.
Purcell also uses suspensions in this piece, such as the one at the end of bar 3. These create a sense of dissonance followed by relief. A particularly lovely chain of suspensions can be found in bars 13 and 14, on the word “eas’d”. This acts as a form of word painting. More on what this means later!
There is also tension created by the false relation between the voice and right hand harpsichord in bar 9.
Baroque music loves perfect cadences, and Purcell uses lots of them throughout this song.
There is a really interesting cadence in bar 23. I mentioned in the tonality section that here we are in A minor, yet there is a confusing C#. This is because Purcell is using a Tierce de Picardie, where a major chord ends a minor passage. They were really popular during the Baroque period – there is another one at bar 28.
The ground bass repeats every three bars, meaning it acts as an ostinato. If you get a harmony question and aren’t sure what to talk about, listen out for the bass line. This is what it looks like:
The notes of the ground bass change as it moves through different keys, but there are still some distinctive points:
- Normally three bars long (but sadly not always!)
- Lots of chromaticism
- Lots of different types of 5ths
- Ends with an octave, which leads into a perfect cadence the next bar
Melody of Music for a While
The soprano sings the melody throughout. However, there are a brief three bars of harpsichord melody at the beginning, when there is no voice part over the top.
Melodies in this song are characterised by lots of ornamentation, including appoggiaturas, trills, grace notes and mordents. Can you find some examples of these in the music?
The vocal part has a mix of syllabic and melismatic movement. Syllabic means one note per syllable, whereas melismatic means more than one note per syllable. For an example of a melisma, look at bars 19-22.
Purcell also uses many shorter melismas to embellish the melody. You can find an example of this at the end of bar 5. These are called passing notes.
In bars 20 and 21 Purcell uses a lovely descending sequence. This helps reinforce the melodic idea.
The song also uses a lot disjunct movement (i.e. leaps). For example, the soprano part begins with a perfect 5th, and there are two perfect 4ths in bars 7 and 8.
Purcell also uses lots of word-painting, as mentioned earlier. This is where the music reflects the words being sung. The best example of this is that really long melisma on “eternal” of bars 19-22. Bars 24 and 25 also have some nice word-painting, with the notes falling to reflect the word “drop”.
Rhythm, metre and tempo of Music for a While
There is no tempo marking for this song, which is quite slow. This was quite common in Baroque music, as it left decisions on tempo up to the performers.
The metre is 4/4, also known as simple quadruple time.
The bass line is in quavers throughout, creating a sense of stability. This allows the voice more independence without losing the sense of pulse.
The right hand of the harpsichord and the soprano both use lots of semiquavers, allowing for some level of virtuosity, especially in the voice part.
Purcell also uses some dotted rhythms and off-beat rhythms, such as those in bar 24, to create more interest for the listener.
Coda
And there we have it! A detailed dissection of everything you need to know for GCSE Music: Music for a While, from structure and harmony to tonality and tempo.
This article was all about GCSE Music: Music for a While.
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