2020 HKDSE Music Examination Paper 1 Samples

INTRODUCTION

To enhance understanding of the standards of the HKDSE Examination, authentic samples of candidates’ scripts in the 2020 examination are selected to form this set of exemplars which serve to illustrate the typical performance standards at different levels.

There are three compulsory papers in this subject. This set of exemplars is selected from candidates’ scripts of the listening papers, their video recordings of the ensemble performances and their audio recordings of the creating portfolios to illustrate the typical performance standards at different levels.

It is advisable to read this set of exemplars together with the question papers and the marking schemes in order to understand the requirements of the questions and the marking criteria. The question papers and the marking schemes are published in the 2020 HKDSE Question Papers (with marking schemes and comments on candidates’ performance).

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Level 5 Exemplar and Comments

Paper 1A Exemplar 1

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Paper 1A Exemplar 1

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Paper 1A Exemplar 1

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Paper 1A Exemplar 1

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Paper 1A Exemplar 1

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Paper 1A Exemplar 1

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Paper 1A Exemplar 1

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Paper 1A Exemplar 1

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Paper 1A Exemplar 1

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Paper 1A Exemplar 1

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Paper 1A Exemplar 1

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Paper 1A Exemplar 1

Comments

This candidate exhibits excellent abilities in identifying music elements such as chord quality,

instrument/voice identification, playing technique, meter, texture, genre, form and style. The

candidate obtained full marks for melodic and rhythmic dictation in Questions 2 and 3. The

candidate also shows outstanding listening skills and effective writing in describing musical features

and orchestration, especially in answering Question 5. In particular, the candidate explained how the

instruments are used very well when comparing the two excerpts.

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Paper 1A Exemplar 2

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Paper 1A Exemplar 2

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Paper 1A Exemplar 2

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Paper 1A Exemplar 2

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Paper 1A Exemplar 2

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Paper 1A Exemplar 2

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Paper 1A Exemplar 2

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Paper 1A Exemplar 2

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Paper 1A Exemplar 2

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Paper 1A Exemplar 2

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Paper 1A Exemplar 2

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Paper 1A Exemplar 2

Comments

This candidate shows outstanding abilities in identifying music elements such as chord quality,

voice identification, playing technique, meter, texture, form, genre and style. The candidate’s

melodic dictation in Question 2 was excellent, though there was a mistake in rhythmic dictation in

Question 3, where he/she missed out the number ‘3’ for the triplets. The candidate showed excellent

ability in describing the musical features in comparing different musical ideas in excerpt 8 when

answering Question 5.

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Paper 1B Exemplar 1

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Paper 1B Exemplar 1

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Paper 1B Exemplar 1

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Paper 1B Exemplar 1

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Paper 1B Exemplar 1

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Paper 1B Exemplar 1

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Paper 1B Exemplar 1

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Paper 1B Exemplar 1

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Paper 1B Exemplar 1

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Paper 1B Exemplar 1

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Paper 1B Exemplar 1

Comments

This candidate exhibits outstanding listening skills in identifying and notating music elements. For

instance, s/he scored full marks in harmonic progression, formal structure of the Cantopop song and

ding-ban notation. This candidate demonstrates comprehensive knowledge of the compositional

devices and artistic qualities of music of different genres and styles, such as types of banghuang &

shuobai in Cantonese operatic music, features of guqin music and pop songs. This candidate uses

effective music terminology to convey an understanding of music, e.g. by comparing the two

excerpts of guqin with reference to rhythm, tempo and tone colour and explaining how the register

and playing technique portray the mood of the Cantonese music.

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Paper 1B Exemplar 2

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Paper 1B Exemplar 2

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Paper 1B Exemplar 2

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Paper 1B Exemplar 2

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Paper 1B Exemplar 2

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Paper 1B Exemplar 2

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Paper 1B Exemplar 2

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Paper 1B Exemplar 2

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Paper 1B Exemplar 2

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Paper 1B Exemplar 2

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Paper 1B Exemplar 2

Comments

This candidate exhibits excellent ability in identifying music elements such as instrument, rhythmic

pattern, structure and harmonic progression. S/he demonstrates comprehensive knowledge of the

compositional devices and artistic qualities of music of different genres in connection with the given

cultural contexts, e.g., liupai of guqin, gongchepu of laqiang, etc. This candidate uses sophisticated

music terminology and coherent arguments to convey an understanding of music. For example, s/he

vividly compared and described the differences in the vocal style between the chorus and the solo

voice, and the similarity between the lyrics of the Cantopop song and classical Chinese poetry.

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Paper 1A Exemplar 1

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Paper 1A Exemplar 1

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Paper 1A Exemplar 1

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Paper 1A Exemplar 1

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Paper 1A Exemplar 1

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Paper 1A Exemplar 1

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Paper 1A Exemplar 1

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Paper 1A Exemplar 1

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Paper 1A Exemplar 1

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Paper 1A Exemplar 1

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Paper 1A Exemplar 1

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Paper 1A Exemplar 1

Comments

This candidate shows good listening skills in identifying music elements such as voice type, playing

techniques, texture, form and style. The candidate showed fair pitch recognition in the melodic

dictation in Question 2, however the notation did not include rhythms. The candidate’s rhythmic

dictation in Question 3 was excellent. This candidate provided good descriptions of the features

when answering Question 5, especially of the harmony when comparing excerpts.

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Paper 1A Exemplar 2

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Paper 1A Exemplar 2

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Paper 1A Exemplar 2

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Paper 1A Exemplar 2

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Paper 1A Exemplar 2

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Paper 1A Exemplar 2

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Paper 1A Exemplar 2

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Paper 1A Exemplar 2

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Paper 1A Exemplar 2

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Paper 1A Exemplar 2

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Paper 1A Exemplar 2

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Paper 1A Exemplar 2

Comments

This candidate shows good listening skills in identifying music elements such as voice type, playing

techniques, texture and style. The candidate’s rhythmic dictation in Question 3 was excellent, but

s/he was rather weak in melodic dictation in Question 2. The candidate used appropriate music

terminology to convey a reasonable understanding of music in Question 5.

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Paper 1B

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Paper 1B

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Paper 1B

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Paper 1B

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Paper 1B

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Paper 1B

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Paper 1B

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Paper 1B

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Paper 1B

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Paper 1B

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Paper 1B

Comments

This candidate exhibits good listening skills in identifying and notating music elements such as

instrument, skeletal melody, rhythmic pattern, and ding-ban notation. But s/he is weak at melodic

dictation, playing technique and xian identification. This candidate demonstrates sound knowledge

of the compositional devices and artistic qualities of music of different genres and styles, e.g., of the

Cantonese operatic music and Cantopop excerpts. Although this candidate uses appropriate music

terminology to convey an understanding of music, s/he was less able at comparing the excerpts of

the guqin music.

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Paper 1A Exemplar 1

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Paper 1A Exemplar 1

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Paper 1A Exemplar 1

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Paper 1A Exemplar 1

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Paper 1A Exemplar 1

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Paper 1A Exemplar 1

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Paper 1A Exemplar 1

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Paper 1A Exemplar 1

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Paper 1A Exemplar 1

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Paper 1A Exemplar 1

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Paper 1A Exemplar 1

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Paper 1A Exemplar 1

Comments

This candidate shows average listening skills in identifying some music elements, but his/her ability

in rhythmic and melodic dictation is weak. This candidate is weak in identifying meter and

instrument, but shows adequate ability in identifying the stylistic period, although in Question 4,

s/he did not give any relevant reasons related to the excerpt. The candidate used limited

terminology, for example “weird harmonies” in Question 4 and “weird chord” to describe the

harmonic features of excerpt 9 in Question 5.

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Paper 1A Exemplar 2

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Paper 1A Exemplar 2

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Paper 1A Exemplar 2

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Paper 1A Exemplar 2

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Paper 1A Exemplar 2

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Paper 1A Exemplar 2


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Paper 1A Exemplar 2

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Paper 1A Exemplar 2


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Paper 1A Exemplar 2

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Paper 1A Exemplar 2

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Paper 1A Exemplar 2

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Paper 1A Exemplar 2

Comments

This candidate shows average listening skills in identifying some music elements, but his/her ability

in melodic and rhythmic dictation was weak In Questions 2 and 3. This candidate mistook “solo

instrument” as the accompaniment in Question 1, excerpt 4. S/he was weak in identifying stylistic

period in Question 3, but showed reasonable ability in identifying form. The candidate showed

misunderstanding of the transformation of musical materials in Question 5, but showed some

understanding of the use of orchestration and harmony.

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Paper 1B

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Paper 1B

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Paper 1B

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Paper 1B

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Paper 1B

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Paper 1B

Comments

This candidate exhibits moderate listening skills in identifying music elements, and his/her abilities

in melodic dictation and harmonic progression are weak. This candidate demonstrates adequate

knowledge of the compositional devices and artistic qualities of music of different genres and styles,

e.g., banghuang and shoubai types, but s/he is less able in recognizing playing techniques and

skeletal melody. Although s/he uses appropriate music terminology to convey an understanding of

music, some arguments were not very convincing.

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Paper 1A Exemplar 1

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Paper 1A Exemplar 1

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Paper 1A Exemplar 1

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Paper 1A Exemplar 1

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Paper 1A Exemplar 1

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Paper 1A Exemplar 1

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Paper 1A Exemplar 1

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Paper 1A Exemplar 1

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Paper 1A Exemplar 1

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Paper 1A Exemplar 1

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Paper 1A Exemplar 1

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Paper 1A Exemplar 1

Comments

This candidate shows basic listening skills in identifying some music elements such as genre. The

questions on rhythmic dictation were answered very well, but those involving melodic dictation,

instrument/voice identification, chord, playing techniques, meter, texture, form and stylistic period

were poorly attempted. The candidate showed an ability to use relevant terminology to describe

melodic contour in Question 5.

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Paper 1A Exemplar 2

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Paper 1A Exemplar 2

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Paper 1A Exemplar 2

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Paper 1A Exemplar 2

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Paper 1A Exemplar 2

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Paper 1A Exemplar 2

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Paper 1A Exemplar 2

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Paper 1A Exemplar 2

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Paper 1A Exemplar 2

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Paper 1A Exemplar 2

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Paper 1A Exemplar 2

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Paper 1A Exemplar 2

Comments

This candidate shows basic listening skills in identifying some music elements such as voice type,

some playing techniques, texture and genre. The questions on melodic and rhythmic dictations,

instrument identification, meter, stylistic period and description on musical features in orchestration

and harmony were poorly attempted.

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Paper 1B

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Paper 1B

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Paper 1B

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Paper 1B

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Paper 1B

Comments

This candidate exhibits fundamental listening skills in recognizing music elements, e.g. word setting. But the identifications of harmonic progression, playing technique and melodic dictation are weak. This candidate shows basic knowledge of the compositional devices and artistic qualities of music of different genres and styles. S/he only did well in banghuang and shuobai types, for the other questions s/he scored very few marks. This candidate uses relevant music terminology to convey an understanding of music, but some of his/her answers such as question 3c (playing technique) were memorized and were irrelevant to the question.

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Paper 1A

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Paper 1A

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Paper 1A

Comments

This candidate exhibits basic listening skills and elementary abilities in identifying music elements.

The candidate failed to attempt the rhythmic dictation in Question 3, while scoring poorly in

melodic dictation, voice type and instrument identification. The candidate shows elementary

knowledge of terminology, for example, s/he does not understand form, genre, meter, dynamics and

harmony. Descriptions of musical features in Question 5 were also poorly attempted. There were

spelling mistakes.

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Paper 1B

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Paper 1B

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Paper 1B

Comments

This candidate exhibits simple listening skills and elementary abilities in identifying and notating music elements, scoring no mark in melodic dictation, harmonic progression and instrument identification. This candidate showed elementary knowledge of the compositional devices, artistic qualities and styles of the given music excerpts, and uses simple terminology to convey an understanding of music. Most of his/her answers were either incomplete or blank.

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2020 HKDSE Music Examination Paper 1 Samples

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