Reaction to 2026 Leaving Certificate Music (Higher Level) by Ciara Coleman, Music teacher at The Institute of Education.
- For the listening sections the set works were familiar with a few challenges creeping in for the Irish Music and Aural Skill Sections. The composition paper gave students the a platform to bring something extra to the pieces while not imposing any strange twists that might make the heart skip a beat.
Listening (Core)
This year’s Listening (Core) paper rewarded students who had made a thorough study of their set works, with no nasty surprises in Questions 1-4. The format of these questions was similar to recent years with a broad range of questions on musical features and instrumental and compositional techniques. The layout of the Irish Music listening question differed slightly from previous years, but the questions asked were mostly in line with student expectations. The question on Aural Skills was arguably the most challenging of the paper, due to the broad range of styles featured, and the inclusion of questions which required more than a ‘surface’ listening to the work.
Question 1: Berlioz
Question 1, which carries the most weight on the listening paper, was focused on Movement 4 of Symphonie Fantastique by Berlioz. Students who had made a thorough study of this movement will have been very happy with this question, with almost all sections covered. Nerves will have been settled with questions on instrument identification, rhythmic features, and instrumental techniques. While many students find the dictation question challenging, this portion was taken from the familiar March Theme was very manageable as the missing notes all move by step. The final part of the question allowed students to show their knowledge of the illustrative writing of the programmatic content in the work.
Question 2: Mozart
Question 2, which was based on Mozart Piano Concert no 23, was also very student friendly. This question tested students on their knowledge of musical features of the work, such as Alberti bass and cadenza. Students were asked to compare differences between Movement 1 and Movement 2 and again, and this was a lovely opportunity to show their knowledge, with lots of possible answers here.
Question 3: Deane
Although some students struggle to get to grips with Seachanges by Raymond Deane, the well-prepared student will have been happy with this question. It started with a short rhythmic dictation featuring the Danse Macabre rhythm, before the expected questions on compositional and instrumental techniques, which are such a big feature of this work. Those who had studied their scores in depth will have been happy to have an opportunity to explain the differing meanings of the symbol denoting flutter tonguing, percussive rolls, and tremolo bowing.
Question 4: Beatles
Question 4 tested students’ knowledge of the song Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. Again, there will have been relief all round, with questions rewarding students who had analysed features such as tonality, instrumentation and important chord progressions in this song.
QUESTION 5: Irish Music
The layout of the question on Irish music departed from previous years, with four musical excerpts instead of the usual three, and unusually the inclusion of a small dictation. Students were asked to fill in some missing notes to the well-known tune Planxty Irwin. Students with a background in Irish traditional music will have had a slight advantage here, but questions on dance identification and traditional and non-traditional features, were similar in style to previous years. Students expecting a question on sean nós singing may have been slightly thrown by a song instead featuring a lilting style but will have been able to pick up most of their marks in the remainder of the question.
QUESTION 6: Aural Skills
Question 6 challenged students to analyse a broad range of musical styles, within an orchestral context. While some students may have recognised excerpts and interpretations of music from Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake and The Nutcracker, they will have been less familiar with music by Florence Beatrice Price and Arturo Marquez. Students will have enjoyed the mixture of styles here but were nonetheless challenged to listen deeply for a range of melodic and rhythmic features, forms and textures. With such a broad range of musical styles and question format, this question was arguably the most challenging section of the the paper.
Composing
After a break students returned for to show their skill with composition. With most students opting for Questions 1 and 5 on this paper, there will have been lots of sighs of relief here, as this was a very student friendly paper. Students were tested on their knowledge of both major and minor tonalities, with a major melody featured in Question 1 and a minor harmony featured in Question 5. Question 1 was an Eb major upbeat melody, in 4/4 time. While upbeat melodies tend to be slightly more rhythmically challenging than melodies with no upbeat, the two quaver upbeat in this question will have been very manageable for most higher level students. In this question students are asked to compose a 16 bar melody, using a given 4 bar opening. In addition to knowing how to handle the given anacrusis, students will have been expected to make use of other unique features such as the dotted rhythm in bar 1, and the single quaver rest in bar 2. Melodically, the question featured a mixture of step and triadic movement, with repeated notes and leap of a 6th also featured. There was plenty of scope for imagination here, without anything to worry a well-prepared student.
Question 5 was similarly student friendly. While the F# minor tonality will have required a careful approach when composing the bass line, the cadence points were easily identifiable and students who had studied and practiced using their strong chord progressions will have been well equipped to tackle this question. The triadic nature of the given bass line was very manageable for students to replicate in their answer, and students had plenty of options for good solutions to the various chord progressions throughout the question.