Assignment Five – Formative Feedback
Student name: Suncica Lazic
Student number: 516098
Course/Unit: From Present to Past
Assignment number: 5
Type of tutorial: Written
Overall Comments:
For this assignment you were asked to submit:
• EITHER the ‘essay option’ comparing styles of Mass settings and works influenced by earlier composers OR the ‘score reading’ option analysing and describing the features of three different pieces of music (c.1500 words).
• Reflective Account – (c.500 words) documenting your listening and learning
progress in Part Five including your personal and critical reflections.
• Your Learning Log so far.
I really enjoyed reading your assignment and reflective account. This was a well researched and written assignment and finishes the course very much on a high point, clearly showing how much you have developed during the course. I wish you well on your future studies. Well done.
Assessment potential
Following on from my feedback on Assignment 4, you have indicated to me that you intend to submit your work assessment. The next assessment event is in November 2018. Be aware though that the deadline for applying for this assessment event is the 31st August, after which your work should be sent in between 15th – 30th September. This may be too short a time scale in which to complete any revisions and prepare any past work, but if you have the time, it may be possible if you act quickly. You may be able to apply for assessment in the following assessment event (March 2019) giving you some extra time to
prepare, however, please check with student services as soon as possible. Regardless, you will be able to begin your next module straight away, when you are ready, without having to wait for assessment. You can find information about applying for assessment, and the application form, on the student site at the following address. Let me know if you have any problems applying.
Feedback on assignment
Subject based knowledge and understanding:
You have continued to broaden your subject knowledge and you have clearly displayed your understanding of this in your descriptions of each piece, using appropriate technical language and at a consistently deeper level. Well done.
Example Score 1
In the first piece, you correctly identified the key, period of composition, and compositional structure of the piece which led to you suggesting that it was likely to be a piece from the Baroque period. This was good musical deduction with analysis directly referenced to specific bar numbers, and your use of annotated scores to highlight the fugal subject and answer entries was particularly good to see.
I’m impressed that you also went a step further and inputted the piece into Sibelius so that you could hear what it sounded like. That shows good critical thinking regarding the use of your ear to add to, and back up, what your eye can see from the analysis of the score.
Hence I’m very pleased that you correctly identified the composer as J.S. Bach, and went further again to identify the exact piece, Fugue No. 12 in F minor from The Well Tempered Clavier – Book 2. Great work, and I would certainly encourage further study of this collection of work by J.S. Bach, there is a great deal to learn from further analysis of it, as it continues to be very useful and inspirational to musicians and composers today.
Example Score 2
You have correctly identified the orchestration of the piece and, along with the size and make up of the ensemble, you have utilised features of the score such as textures and sudden dynamic changes, to help draw conclusions about the work.
It was particularly good to see you infer a possible composer from the stylistic analysis of the score (you may wish to consider Stylistic Techniques as
one of your next courses).
You have correctly identified the piece as from the Classical period and that it is a piece by Haydn. Well done.
You have also gone further, by deepening your analysis of the compositional devices employed, to draw together information suggesting that this may have been the first movement of a symphony from the classical period. The piece was Haydn’s Symphony No.62 in D Major (Hob.I:62/i) which you will be pleased to hear was composed in 1780/1781 when Haydn was working at the Esterhazy court, just as you suspected. T
his is very well deduced work and you have summarised and explained your findings neatly using well chosen examples.
Example Score 3
You have described this piece very well, using the text to identify the piece’s purpose and, ultimately, a period and potential composers. Your analysis of the piece was good, highlighting compositional details such as imitative contrapuntal polyphony, and you have clearly done some useful research on church modes and their use.
You have correctly placed this piece as from the late Renaissance, logically using your musical knowledge, discounting features often found in similar music of other periods. Therefore your suggested composer for this type of music and period were entirely appropriate.
Further research and listening on composers of the period may have drawn you towards the actual composer, identifiable through his particular use of clear imitative lines, simpler melodies and stylistic use of dissonances. The piece was the Benedictus from Tomas Luis de Victoria’s Missa O Quam Gloriosum.
You will be please to hear that he was a contemporary of Palestrina, and along with composers such as Orlando di Lasso, was very much one of the most important composers of this period, so you were very close in your deductions.
If you wish, you might look up and revisit this extract with this new information in mind, possibly adding a final entry to your log.
Research
Context, reflective thinking, critical thinking, analysis , stylistic awareness
Throughout the course you have been widening your research to include more focused listening and reading on matters brought up by your analysis of the pieces. This really demonstrates a deeper engagement with your work which is very pleasing to see. You have included a range of sources throughout your work and they have been referenced consistently. Your sources are generally very appropriate and reputable academic sources (always remember to keep in mind where the information is being drawn from, who has written it, and why they have written it).
You have demonstrated a well developed intellectual and analytical ability to extract the relevant information from each example and draw conclusions to the origin of its composition, showing excellent critical skills. Well done.
Listening & Learning Logs or Blogs
Stylistic awareness, context, reflective thinking, critical thinking, analysis
You have kept both your essay and reflective account almost precisely to the word count which is excellent as it shows that you can make full use of the space given to make your points. Throughout the main assignment, the reflection and your log, you have consistently communicated your ideas and knowledge very well, using appropriate terminology, and presented everything
clearly and neatly. Your online blog is relatively easy to navigate, with assignments and projects easy to find. As I mentioned in my previous feedback, you might consider drawing together (or additionally categorising) any listening log entries together rather than them being in each part, or including links to each on a page. Just make sure that all your work is easy to navigate as the ‘Stylistic Awareness’ section of the assessment mark is worth 30% of the total mark.
Moving towards assessment
As mentioned above, please move swiftly and get some advice from student services if you are considering entering your work for assessment in the next event. After you apply for assessment, you will be advised how to submit your work, e.g. sending a link to your online blog, and you will usually be also required to submit/upload your assignments and tutor feedback separately, in such as PDF format. As your previous assignments have been sent to me on
the blog, I’d advise also preparing them in PDF format too (don’t forget to include your student name and number on each). If you have decided to make any revisions to previous assignments then please remember to send both the original and revised versions making it clear which is which.
If you’d like any advice on preparing your work for assessment, please let me know.
Finally…congratulations on finishing the course!
Tutor: Chris Lawry
Date: 29 Aug 2018
Next assignment due: N/A