Teacher's Guide Cambridge Pre-U MUSIC Available for teaching ...

Ultimate Showstoppers Big Band and Swing. Alfred Publishing
The Best Broadway Songs Ever (4th edition). Hal Leonard Corporation
The Definitive Broadway Collection (2nd edition). Hal Leonard Corporation
Cambridge Pre-U Teacher Guide
Candidates who choose this option need to be familiar with standard chord symbols (e.g. Dm 7 , Gma 7 ,
etc.) and to know how to express the harmony in this form. They will also be expected to write a bass
part in as much detail as possible and to ensure that the bass is consistent with the chord symbols.
Bass parts need not be instrument-specific: they do not have to be suitable for piano, double bass or
bass guitar, since their purpose is simply to show the direction of the harmony in conjunction with
the chord symbols.
Exercises should show the melody throughout, with an incipit of a few bars in which both the bass
and the chord symbols are given. Two or three bars will normally be ample for an incipit of this
kind. Thereafter, most of the exercise should consist of the melody alone, without either the bass or
the chord symbols. The final bars of the exercise, however, should give just the chord symbols, and
should require the invention of both melody and bass to fit with these symbols.
Candidates should not be expected to write a fully developed accompaniment. In other words, they
should not be required to provide the complete texture of a piano accompaniment with its partwriting
thought through in detail. For this reason, examples should normally be rather longer than
those suggested for the other options. An appropriate length might be some 24 bars in which the
chord symbols and bass have to be completed, and a further 8 bars where the melody and bass have
to be completed in accordance with the given chord symbols. Exercises set for the examination will
follow this model.
Section C: Commissioned Composition
The commissions for this section are designed to give as much freedom as possible for candidates
to compose music in whatever styles they wish. Three options are listed in the Syllabus, but in order
to cover as many approaches as possible there will normally be more than three commissions. The
Specimen materials give a good impression of the nature of the commissions, and in general terms
this pattern will be followed in the examination papers.
Composition should be regarded as a taught course, just as much as historical study or performing.
While it is important that teachers do not actually impinge on the creative side of the work,
compositional techniques still need to be learned: close supervision, guidance and advice are
therefore essential. Guidance should normally take the form of sensible, pragmatic suggestions, so
that candidates can choose whether or not to act on them. This may involve pointing out aspects of
the composing process that candidates may have overlooked; the aim should be to help candidates
to make the most of their compositional ideas, but without attempting to raise the standard of work
beyond their own capabilities. The intention should be to ensure that candidates think carefully
about what they are doing at all stages during the process of composition, without implying that the
teacher is doing any of the work for the candidate. The requirement for teachers to ‘complete a form
to authenticate the work as that of the candidate’ specifically does not mean that candidates must
work without guidance. It means that the musical ideas in the composition must be their own, and
that they must do by themselves the work of bringing those ideas into their final form. The teacher’s
role is to advise them about how they might achieve that, by making suggestions similar to those
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