The key of B-flat major may have been problematic for some, but generally yesterday afternoon's Junior Cert music exam was "fine". Some would say it struck just the right note. There were only one or two difficulties - and they were minor . . .
Everything was "fine" apart from a piece of music, On the Banks of Allan Water, which was given in the key of B-flat major, and also the dictation question, which was "quite difficult". The B-flat major piece in the Triads section "may have thrown one or two students, but by and large it was fine," according to Mr Ben Murray, a music teacher at Alexandra College in Dublin.
Also the dictation section, he said, was difficult and students felt there wasn't enough time between each playing of the four-bar phrase. Other than these worrisome notes, there were "no surprises" in Junior Cert music.
The higher-level paper was "fine, but it was harder than they expected it to be. The dictation question (question 4) was quite difficult." Students felt that in the dictation question the pauses between the playing of the melody were too short and the music "came very quickly".
Also part D of question 3 in the listening section, which asked about the Chieftains, "was difficult and quite detailed".
Some students found question 5, which is on songs from operas, operettas, cantatas, oratorios and stage musicals, "quite difficult", he said. Question 8 was "harder than other years", he said. The term "pedal notes" may have been difficult for some students.
The ordinary-level paper was also "very fair and there was nothing in it that would have caused surprise or that would have thrown them. The listening part was fine, not a worry at all."
The higher-level paper was "challenging in places" but "a fair paper with no major surprises", said Mr Chris Kinder, chairman of the Post-Primary Music Teachers' Association and a music teacher at Castleknock College in Dublin. There was "an imaginative approach to some questions", he said. He also expressed "some concern over the speed of the musical extract used for dictation".