Guide

How to succeed in your Leaving Certificate Music Composing Paper

By Ellen O'Brien - 16 minute read

Check out our Leaving Cert Music composing guide written by Ellen who achieved a H1 in her Leaving Cert Music exam.

Introduction

The composing paper is often underestimated and students are usually left to figure it out for themselves. The paper itself is worth an equal number of marks to the listening paper (half of what the practical exam is worth). It is not a section to be forgotten, dismissed or 'made up off the top of your head'. If the listening paper goes wrong or you freeze during your practical, what is going to save your grade? You guessed it, the compositions! Treat the composing paper with the time and respect it deserves and it will reward you in return.

It can be difficult to mark a musical composition. Similarly to the English written paper, examiners are advised to use their own intuition and personal preference. Many teachers suggest singing a melody out loud or playing the harmony line on an instrument. For the experienced musicians among us, this may be helpful but for a novice, it is not so easy. Perhaps a student had no choice but to take music as a subject or their only musical experience is playing the tin whistle in primary school.

In this guide, I will break down the key elements of a spectacular composition (both melody and harmony sections). 'Attacking' is a fitting description of the way of going about a musical composition. I like to think of it as a mysterious sentence to be taken apart and investigated for clues, before being slowly rebuilt into a perfect paragraph. Too much? Maybe, but it is an exam after all so we might as well have some fun while we’re doing it.

Checklist

Before you take off on your composition journey, there are a few essential things you should be aware of and keep in mind throughout. Think of these as safety procedures, demonstrated by you, for the benefit of your fellow passenger, the examiner.

Key signatures	Save time by knowing which keys have which sharps/flats. Write out the scale on rough work paper and label notes with their solfa name (do, re, me, etc.).
Relative majors/minors	Each major key has a relative minor and vice versa. You may think a melody is in a major key until you spot a rogue accidental in the opening bars.
Time signature	This is important to note for grouping purposes and for melody writing.
Progressions	For harmony writing, you should have a list of both good and bad chord progressions (ask your teacher about this).
Patterns	Identify any sequences/patterns in the opening bars or the harmony.
Phrasing	This is essential in melody writing (may include sub-phrases).
Instruments	Make sure you know the range of your chosen instrument. By choosing an unsuitable instrument (such as the piano for the melody question), you are practically shooting yourself in the foot. This can be a rookie mistake to make.
Anacrusis	Up-beats are common in melody questions and can be tricky to navigate. Ensure the upbeat is kept throughout the phrases and always mark the four bar phrases before you start as it makes life much easier. Phrases go in the order of A, A1, B, A2, etc. The A phrases must be similar whereas the B phrase must be different.
Dynamics	Melody composition should contain scattered dynamics as this shows flair and a good understanding of music. Don’t make the dynamics too dramatic.
Modulate	In major melodies, you must always modulate (it will ask you to in the question). This means that you must briefly move into another key before returning to the original key. A minor key doesn’t ask you to modulate but I would recommend doing it anyway. This way, you follow the same structure for both major and minor melodies (less to remember).

Chord bank

I would always try to write out a chord bank for both the melody and the harmony question. These are the chords of the first six notes in the scale. It is important to remember that we never use chord three or seven under any circumstances.

C major chords
1. C	C E G
2. Dm	D F A
3. Em	E G B
4. F	F A C
5. G	G B D
6. Am	A C E

Remember

The page before the harmony question will always contain a space for rough work and chord banks. Use this space.

Part 1: melody writing

Let’s start at the beginning. In this guide, I am going to use the Q.1 melody from the Leaving Certificate 2018 composing paper:

There are a number of steps to follow in answering this question. Let's go through them.

Identify the key signature

This is perhaps the most important step as it determines the entire melody. Choose your instrument: violin.

Bar 4 should contain (or lack) a helpful accidental. In this case, we see a D sharp. We know that the major key with only one sharp is G major, with its relative minor being E minor. G major only uses F# but E minor uses both F# and D#. Therefore, we know that this melody is in E minor. If there was no D# accidental, the melody would simply be in G major.

Work with what you've got

The first four bars contain all of the information you could possibly need so break it down bar by bar. Draw out your chord bank and write the Em scale with its tonic solfa:

E	F#	G	A	B	C	D#	E
L	T	D	R	M	F	Se	L

Remember

The tonic solfa of the Em scale does not start with 'doh', it starts with 'la'. Although we are in the key of Em, its relative major is G (G = doh and E = la). The tonic solfa will start with 'la' and go to 'high la'.

Example: bar 1 - phrase

We already know that the melody is in E minor so first we write out our chord bank. It should look something like this:

E minor chords
1. Em	E G B
2. F#°/A	F# A C
3. G	G B D#
4. Am	A C E
5. B/B7	B D# F#/A
6. Em	E G B

By identifying the notes in bar 1 ( E, D#, E, B, A, G), we can say that the bar itself makes up the notes of the chord E minor (not counting the passing notes). Therefore, we know that the first bar of phrases A1 and A2 contain notes of the chord Em, whereas bar one of phrase B doesn’t.

Pro tip 1

Note the direction in which the notes are going and invert it in bar one of phrase A1, for example:

E steps down one note to D# and back up to E before falling to B, A, G.

Through inversion, whichever note you start on in bar one of phrase A1, the next note should go up a step and then back down to the original note, all while keeping the same rhythm as bar one of phrase A (tricky I know but it shows skill). If this seems too complicated, stick to keeping to the same rhythm as bar one in A and the notes of the chord Em.

Do this with the first two bars:

identify notes of a chord (sometimes there may be two in one bar) and try to replicate it in the same bars in phrases A1 and A2. Don’t mess with the rhythm too much as you might end up confused. If in doubt, use a bar of rhythm from the original bars but with different notes.

Pro tip 2

For bar two of the A1 phrase, reverse the rhythm of the notes but keep within the same chord notes, for example:

if the original bar two contains a crotchet, a quaver and 3 quavers, start bar two of the A1 phrase with 3 quavers, a quaver and a crotchet.

Modulate

As we’re in a minor key, we don’t technically have to modulate. However, I would recommend doing it if you’re looking for those extra 'wow' marks. The modulation always takes place in bars 7 and 8 and I would advise you to ask your teacher if they have a set sequence for the major and minor modulations.

Major key

We modulate to the dominant (the fifth) note so depending on the dominant, we use a sharp, flat or natural sign. In the case of C major, we would use F# in bar seven as the dominant is G major (which contains an F#).
Minor key

You simply don’t use an accidental in bar 7. In this case, our accidental is D# so we use the note D but we don’t sharpen it. As G major only has an F# and no D#, we have successfully modulated back to our relative major. Make sure to use an F# and a natural D in bar 7.

The B phrase

While each of the A phrases are similar (inversions, rhythm, etc.), what are we supposed to do with the B phrase? Wing it? No. We must build the B phrase using sequences. Sequence, in music, is a melodic or chordal figure repeated at a new pitch level (that is, transposed), thus unifying and developing musical material. Basically, a group of notes at a certain pitch is repeated at a different pitch.

These notes should not make up any specific chord so just roll with it. This is your Mozart moment! Will you be remembered for hundreds of years for composing some random sequence? Probably not but you feel like a musical genius in the moment, let me tell you. The trick is to repeat the sequence in the following bar, either up a step or down a step.

Ending your melody

Every teacher has a different method of finishing off a melody or adding cadence points. Obviously, there are some guidelines but other than that, each melody ending will be different.

Major melody

Your teacher should have a set solfa pattern for bar 15 which leads into a final note of 'doh' in bar 16. For example, in a C major melody, the final note will be a long note on C. If you’re feeling fancy, you can incorporate an octave jump with two long notes: high C to low C or low C to high C.
Minor melody

Again, your teacher should have a set solfa pattern for bar 15, however, it should lead into a final long note of 'la' in bar 16.

Important

Be aware of the time signature when using long notes. This is another rookie error that could cost you marks.

Finishing touches

Before you say goodbye forever, make sure to add your final mark grabbers. These include:

Dynamics	Add ‘mf’ at the start or crescendos around your modulation.
Phrases	Mark the end of your phrases (A, A1, B, A2) with a comma after the final note. Your sequences should be marked as sub-phrases.
Solfa	Remember, ‘ti’ always goes to ‘doh’ and sometimes, the given bars end on 'ti' and you’re expected to spot this and start the next phrase with ‘doh’.
Unessentials	Never use two unessentials (passing notes) together. This defeats the point of being ‘unessential’.
Markings	Rub out any markings on your melody such as solfa or little reminders for yourself. Make that examiner work for it.
Big steps	Avoid big steps or leaps in your melody, instead, try to keep it within a small range. Melody should 'flow'.
Grouping	Depending on the time signature, notes must be grouped in a certain way. For 6/8 time, quavers must be grouped in threes whereas in 3/4 time, quavers can be grouped in twos.
Accidentals	Ensure these are used correctly and in the right places.

Melody conclusion

I hope this guide helps you when you’re doing your melodies. Practice makes perfect and you will always learn from your mistakes. If you have time, I recommend doing mock paper questions as they’re much more challenging than proper exam questions but they’ll prepare you for whatever the SEC decides to throw at you in June.

Part 2: harmony composing

If I’m being really honest, I was never a huge fan of the harmony writing question. I’d spend hours and hours on the melody writing question but somehow, I always ended up doing just as well on the harmony question (more good luck than good management I think). After a frustratingly long time, I accepted the harmony question and just got on with it.

This question can be particularly tricky if you don’t know what you’re looking at. As I mentioned before, there is a space before the question for a chord bank. This helpfully tells you what key the composition is in and leaves space for you to fill in the rest so start there and use a rough work page for working out chord progressions, etc. I will be using the 2018 Q.5 harmony question as an example:

There are a number of steps to follow in answering this question:

Step 1

Fill in the table

As with the melody composition, we never use chord three or chord seven. Ever. The finished table should look something like this:

Notes of chord

C/A

Chord symbol

A°/C

D/D7

Roman numeral

ii°

iii

vii

Step 2

Chord progressions

Ask your teacher for a list of the good, the bad and the ugly chord progressions. Some progressions work and some just don’t. Below is a list of chord progressions that you should never use in both a major or minor harmony question.

Never use:
Chord progression	Sample Gm
2 ⇒ 1	A°/C ⇒ Gm
5 ⇒ 2	D ⇒ A°/C
5⁷ ⇒ 5	D⁷ ⇒ D

As mentioned earlier, there are different chord progression patterns that you can use. I usually move in falling thirds and fifths and in rising twos, for example:

Chord	Good progressions
8. Gm	Fall three to E flat Fall five to C minor Rise to A°/C
7. F#	Never
6. Eb	Fall three to Cm Fall five to A°/C
5. D	Fall five to Gm (perfect cadence) Rise to E flat (interrupted cadence) Any chord to D is an imperfect cadence (except chords 3, 7, and 5⁷)
4. Cm	Fall three to A°/C Rise to D Fall to Gm (plagal cadence)
3. Bb	Never
2. A°/C	Fall five to D
1. Gm	Fall three to E flat Fall five to C minor Rise to A°/C

Once you don’t use any of the ‘never’ progressions, you are free to continue. Above, you can see the preferred progressions but they are not always possible. Go with what works best for you.

Step 3

Identify notes in the bars

The harmony chord in the box is based on the notes below it. As you can see, the accompanying chord is Gm because the notes in the bar are: G, B flat, A, B flat, D. As A is used as a passing note, the bar is based on Gm.

Step 4

Find your cadences

We know that there will be a cadence at the end. This is usually a final cadence but sometimes it may be non-final. There should also be a non-final cadence at approximately the halfway point, however, this is not always the case.

Only concern yourself with the last cadence as the rest of the cadences will automatically slot in (provided you choose the right chords for the boxes), for example:

Step 5

Choose your chords

Ensure it is the best fit for the bar. Take into account the notes in the bar, the chord progressions and the bass notes that are given.

Step 6

Composing the bass line

This is perhaps the most difficult step. Every teacher has different ways of teaching this so you should probably start there. However, if you’re looking for inspiration, this is my way of doing it:

take the bass notes that are given in the opening bars;
identify what notes of the scale they are based on the chord above the bar. For example, bar one uses G minor and we have G, B flat, D, G and B flat. Therefore, the style of the base goes like this:

G	Root of Gm
B flat	Third of Gm
D	Fifth of Gm
G	Root of Gm
B flat	Third of Gm

Use this pattern in the first bar in the second phrase. Remember that you must fill in the bass in the first bar. Do this for each of the bars that have a given bass and repeat the pattern in the bars that follow. This shows your understanding of the instruction, 'in the style of the given opening'.

Step 7

Finishing touches and cautions

Only use root position chords at cadences, no inversions.
In a minor key, the 7th note is always raised by a semitone in the bassline, except when it is used as an unessential note.
Only use chord 5⁷ if the 7th note is actually in the bar.
Never end an imperfect cadence on 5⁷.
Maintain given bass throughout where possible (some adjustments may be required).
Never use two unessentials together.

Harmony conclusion

This question is more about your interpretation skills than your composition skills. You must go in with your eyes wide open as there are a lot of traps to fall into (and you will fall into them, nobody is perfect no matter how much practice you have). However, the more traps you’re aware of, the less likely you are to fall into them.

In a stressful exam situation, when our brain feels as if it’s blocked, we rely on our subconsciousness to step up to the job. Writing a melody should be like drawing a picture; it may only be a stickman on a bike but a picture nonetheless.

Final note

I took music as my eighth subject for the Leaving Cert so the only time I had to do my composition homework was on a Friday night after school. I would push all other homework aside and put my time into my melodies and harmonies. This way, I didn’t feel as rushed to get through them and I could afford to take my time. Don’t get me wrong, some Friday nights my eyes would be closing as I was writing out tonic solfas and chord banks but I got through it thanks to a Bruce Springsteen album on repeat in the background and a steady supply of tea.

I’m not assuming that you have that sort of time to spend on music or even if you have the interest. I enjoyed the composition paper and was fortunate enough to have an excellent teacher but it’s not for everyone. However, as I mentioned earlier, this paper is a hidden goldmine of marks. Treat it with respect and it will reward you and ease a small bit of pressure. You've got this!

By Ellen O'Brien

Ellen is a motivated learner with a particular interest in Music. She has worked for us since graduating from Tullamore College in 2021 and helps create blog content while maintaining existing site content.