2025 CCEA A-Level Music 7010 Practice Paper with Answers

Extract 1 is taken from the finale of Bernstein's Three Dance Episodes from On the Town, 'Times Square: 1944'. It opens with a syncopated brass fanfare answered by rapid string figuration, then settles into a driving dance rhythm led by muted trumpets over a walking bass in the low strings and pizzicato double basses. The metre changes frequently between duple and triple groupings, and the harmony is coloured by added-sixth and blue-note inflections typical of the Broadway idiom. A solo clarinet interjects with a syncopated countermelody before the full orchestra, including a prominent side drum and cymbal crash, brings the extract to a bright, fortissimo close.

Identify the family of instruments that plays the opening fanfare.

Extract 1 (Bernstein, Three Dance Episodes): the dance rhythm is led by muted trumpets over a walking bass in the low strings. Identify the playing technique used by the trumpets in this passage.

Extract 1 (Bernstein, Three Dance Episodes): the metre changes frequently between duple and triple groupings. Name ONE of the two metre types used.

Extract 1 (Bernstein, Three Dance Episodes): the harmony is coloured by added-sixth chords and blue notes. Identify the general stylistic idiom these harmonic features belong to.

Extract 1 (Bernstein, Three Dance Episodes): identify ONE percussion instrument that helps bring the extract to its close.

Extract 1 (Bernstein, Three Dance Episodes): which of the following best describes the metric treatment of this extract?

Extract 1 (Bernstein, Three Dance Episodes): describe the accompanimental texture beneath the dance melody, referring to specific instruments and their roles.

Extract 2 is taken from the opening of the 'Libera me' from Fauré's Requiem. A solo baritone intones the words 'Libera me, Domine, de morte aeterna' in a narrow-ranged, step-wise, chant-like melody, sustained above a quiet pedal note held by the cellos and double basses. The chorus then enters homophonically in four parts, echoing fragments of the baritone's phrase pianissimo. Later in the movement (not included in this short extract) the music builds to a fortissimo choral and orchestral outburst on the words 'Dies irae, dies illa'.

Identify the solo voice type heard at the opening of this extract.

Extract 2 (Fauré, Libera me): state the language of the text being sung.

Extract 2 (Fauré, Libera me): identify the vocal texture used when the chorus enters, echoing fragments of the baritone's phrase.

Extract 2 (Fauré, Libera me): identify the orchestral device sustained beneath the baritone's opening phrase.

Extract 2 (Fauré, Libera me): quote the opening Latin words with which the baritone begins this movement.

Extract 2 (Fauré, Libera me): which of the following describes the dynamic level of the chorus's first entry?

Extract 2 (Fauré, Libera me): describe how a hushed, restrained atmosphere is created in this opening extract, referring to the accompaniment.

Extract 3 is the opening of Schumann's song 'Widmung'. The piano begins with a rapid, continuously flowing accompaniment of surging quavers, and the voice enters with an ardent, wide-ranging melodic line on the words 'Du meine Seele, du mein Herz' ('You my soul, you my heart'). The piano and voice remain in a major key throughout this opening section, and the mood is ecstatic and devotional.

Identify the medium (performing forces) of this song.

Extract 3 (Schumann, Widmung): state the language of the text being sung.

Extract 3 (Schumann, Widmung): identify the mode (major or minor) of this opening extract.

Extract 3 (Schumann, Widmung): identify the type of piano accompaniment figure described in this extract.

Extract 3 (Schumann, Widmung): which of the following best describes the character of this extract?

Extract 3 (Schumann, Widmung): describe the piano accompaniment in this extract and its effect on the character of the song.

Extract 4 is an unfamiliar sacred anthem for four-part choir (SATB) with continuo accompaniment of organ and cello, sung in Latin. The upper three voices enter one after another in overlapping imitative points on a rising scalic subject, and the bass voice enters last with the same subject a fifth lower. The tempo is moderate, the harmony diatonic throughout in a major key, and dynamics change suddenly in stepped blocks rather than through gradual crescendo or diminuendo.

Identify the vocal texture used at the opening of this extract.

Extract 4 (unfamiliar sacred anthem): identify the term used to describe dynamics that change suddenly in stepped blocks rather than gradually.

Extract 4 (unfamiliar sacred anthem): identify the type of harmony (diatonic or chromatic) used in this extract.

Extract 4 (unfamiliar sacred anthem): identify the two instruments forming the continuo accompaniment.

Extract 4 (unfamiliar sacred anthem): name the compositional device by which the voices enter one after another on the same melodic subject.

Extract 4 (unfamiliar sacred anthem): suggest a possible date of composition of this extract, giving two musical reasons for your answer.

Extract 4 (unfamiliar sacred anthem): describe the texture of the choir's opening entries.

Extract 4 (unfamiliar sacred anthem): which of the following genres does this extract most likely belong to?

Extract 5 is an unfamiliar Romantic chamber work scored for solo cello and piano. The cello enters with a broad, singing melody marked espressivo, rich in chromatic inflection, while the piano provides flowing arpeggiated chords beneath. Midway through the extract the music passes through a series of rising sequential modulations, building in dynamic to a passionate fortissimo climax, before subsiding to a quiet close in the tonic minor key.

Identify the two instruments heard in this extract.

Extract 5 (unfamiliar Romantic chamber work): identify the harmonic device used to build the passage towards its climax, in which a musical idea is repeated at successively rising pitch levels.

Extract 5 (unfamiliar Romantic chamber work): identify the expressive performance direction implied by the cello's phrase markings.

Extract 5 (unfamiliar Romantic chamber work): identify the term used to describe a melody that is rich in notes outside the home key.

Extract 5 (unfamiliar Romantic chamber work): state the mode (major or minor) of the key in which the extract ends.

Extract 5 (unfamiliar Romantic chamber work): suggest a possible date of composition of this extract, giving two musical reasons for your answer.

Extract 5 (unfamiliar Romantic chamber work): describe the piano's accompanying role in this extract.

Extract 5 (unfamiliar Romantic chamber work): which of the following best describes the device used to build towards the climax?

Extract 6 is an unfamiliar twentieth-century orchestral extract. It opens with a repeated rhythmic ostinato in the lower strings and bassoons, played in a dry, detached manner. Above this, piano and woodwind play a spiky melodic fragment doubled at the octave, using added-note and bitonal harmony rather than functional tonal chords. The metre changes frequently between 5/8, 3/8 and 2/4, giving the music an angular, motoric drive.

Identify the playing technique used by the lower strings in the opening ostinato.

Extract 6 (unfamiliar twentieth-century orchestral extract): state whether the metre of this extract is regular/unchanging or constantly changing.

Extract 6 (unfamiliar twentieth-century orchestral extract): identify the harmonic technique in which two keys are implied simultaneously.

Extract 6 (unfamiliar twentieth-century orchestral extract): identify the keyboard instrument used melodically (percussively) alongside the woodwind in this extract.

Extract 6 (unfamiliar twentieth-century orchestral extract): suggest a possible date of composition of this extract, giving two musical reasons for your answer.

Extract 6 (unfamiliar twentieth-century orchestral extract): describe the texture created by the ostinato and melodic fragment in this extract.

Extract 6 (unfamiliar twentieth-century orchestral extract): which twentieth-century style is this extract most likely to represent?