Question 1

What is NCEA AS 91275 about?

Accepted Answer

AS91275 is an external (end-of-year exam) standard worth 4 credits. You listen to pieces of music and write down what you hear — things like chords, rhythms, melodies, and musical features. The exam has three questions and you must answer all of them. It tests your ability to accurately identify and describe what is happening in music just by listening, and to write it down using correct musical notation and vocabulary.

Question 2

What do students need to do for AS 91275?

Accepted Answer

1. Listen to short pieces of music played in the exam and answer questions about what you hear 2. Identify chords (written as Roman numerals or jazz chord symbols) and chord progressions 3. Write out rhythmic patterns and melodies using standard music notation 4. Identify and describe musical elements such as tempo, dynamics, articulation, texture, and timbre 5. Recognise instruments and instrumental groups 6. Identify cadences (e.g. perfect or interrupted) and other musical features 7. Describe how compositional devices are used in context, with musical evidence

Question 3

What's the difference between Achieved, Merit, and Excellence for AS 91275?

Accepted Answer

Achieved: You can identify basic elements like instrument groups, tempo, metre, dynamics, and articulation with reasonable accuracy. You can recognise chords and contours and spot changes in texture or chord, but your descriptions lack detail. You use some correct music vocabulary but may miss important details like time signatures or miss the difference between similar chords (e.g. ii vs IV). Merit: You accurately identify instruments, time signatures, cadences, and pairs of chords. You can notate barlines and articulation correctly. You describe how compositional devices and instruments are used, and you link what you hear to the context of the question. You may make occasional errors, like writing chords that don't quite match the cadence you named. Excellence: You accurately transcribe melodies, syncopated rhythms, and complex chords (including 7th and suspended chords). You correctly add tempo markings, dynamics, time signatures, and articulation to a score. You discuss how texture, timbre, and instrumentation change and explain the effect this has on the music. Your answers are insightful, well-supported with evidence, and show strong exam technique.

Question 4

What mistakes do students typically make in AS 91275?

Accepted Answer

1. Confusing elements of music with each other, for example mixing up dynamics and texture 2. Confusing compositional devices with elements of music 3. Not correctly identifying the 12-Bar Blues 4. Confusing monophonic and homophonic textures 5. Inaccurately notating melodic contours and rhythmic patterns 6. Confusing instruments and instrumental groups 7. Misunderstanding common terms like 'cadence' and 'compositional technique' 8. Misreading the question — for example, being asked about melody but only writing about accompaniment, or discussing texture in a question about timbre 9. Listing instruments that are not actually in the piece being asked about 10. Using effect words copied from past papers without linking them to the actual music in the question 11. Not knowing the difference between similar chords, such as ii and IV, or vi and I 12. Leaving out important score details like the time signature or an 'a tempo' marking after a ritardando

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