GCSE AQA Set Work Analysis: Esperanza Spalding

Fusing bossa nova, chamber music and various forms of jazz, Esperanza Spalding’s influential music pays homage to her early exposure to a range of instruments, including violin, oboe, clarinet and double bass, and her mixed heritage upbringing. This guide explores the careful combinations of the three selected tracks with insightful notes, activities and answers.

Supportive, confidence-building resources guide your students through the set work. Encourage them to discover the analysis for themselves while developing listening and appraising skills for the exam.

1. Learn

  • Need-to-know context and pre-listening ‘Do It Yourself!’ tasks build a firm foundation for learning
  • Student-friendly analysis organised by musical element for structured learning – fully supported by annotated score extracts!
  • Keywords and musical terms fully explained in context

2. Consolidate

  • Regular consolidation tasks encourage engagement and build confidence to apply theory independently
  • Extension activities to challenge Gifted and Talented leaners
  • Revision poster consolidates key points
  • Comprehensive glossary

3. Put into Practice

  • Five sets of exam questions, containing three 2-mark questions and one 8-mark question – perfect practice for the real thing!
  • Top tips for exam success
  • Full answers and mark schemes for easy peer, self- and teacher assessment

Integrate into your class teaching, or set for independent learning – it’s up to you!

Feedback for the 2020 Set Work Analyses:

Paul Simon
"An excellent resource that allows students to fully learn and later revise the Paul Simon set study pieces... The material is presented in a comprehensive way and there are excellent 2-mark and 8-mark questions... The many activities included in the unit greatly help students in fully absorbing the material... The cost of this resource is fully repaid by the progress students can make... Perfect."Joe P, Customer & Teacher

Little Shop of Horrors
"The writing is clear, informative and authoritative throughout... Information for students on each musical element is accurate... Excellent analysis... The author demonstrates a thorough knowledge of the specification."L Williams, Teacher & Teacher

Mozart
"The exam practice content and consolidation exercises are excellent and extremely comprehensive. The examples of how the mark scheme is applied to responses are extremely helpful to teachers, and the author’s experience as an exam marker is obvious and of huge benefit here… All aspects of the specification are covered… Excellent."T Scammell, Teacher & Expert Reviewer

Kodály
"Background information is thorough and detailed… Writing is very thorough and shows extensive knowledge of the set work and key... The analysis is excellent… Exam questions and answers [are] exceptional which includes exemplar responses at different levels which is great."L Williams, Teacher & Expert Reviewer