Liam - Higher Level 

As I woke up this morning I felt a great wave of relief. My final exam, music. I've always struggled with the theory side of music but I wasn't nervous whatsoever for this exam, as all I could not think about was finishing this bloody leaving cert.

The first paper was the listening paper. I thought it went brilliantly. The question on Mozart, Sea Changes, Berlioz and the Beatles were all excellent. The essay went terribly however. I did the one about Irish song tradition but thankfully it's not worth many marks. We then had a fifteen minute break before paper two. I tried to study during this but I was just not able to.

Paper two was such a relief. I did question 1 and question 5 (the ones everyone do). They went very well. With just fifteen minutes left I finished. With a sigh of relief I handed up my paper. No more leaving cert <3 No more school <3 Finished at last <3

Emma - Higher Level 

Music!! The listening paper for me was a fail! The Mozart was so unexpected and that threw me for the rest of the paper! The written had two minor harmony and melodies and that's what I chose! They were quite nice and I was so HAPPY to see everyone else got C minor too!

Hopefully the listening won't affect me so much!! I'm so happy the leaving cert is over!!

Klara - Higher Level

The music listening paper could not have been better. At first when I saw that the third movement of Mozart's piano concerto came up as a long question I was really worried because it was the one I knew the least but the questions were actually very easy and general. Even the dictation type question was okay as they gave you options. The Berlioz excerpt was the idée fixe from Un Bal with questions on instrumentation and how it is used in the work. Next was a question on the Beatles' "When I'm 64". One of the questions was to differentiate the given verse (verse 2) and the first which is not included in the excerpt, I found this one difficult but the rest were fine. Deane was the fourth question with an excerpt of the main melody. I really dislike Deane and was dreading this question but I think it went ok. Again, we had to differentiate this section from when it is first heard in the piece and we also had to identify the percussion instruments.The Irish listening went pretty well overall. The essay titles were great. I was especially happy that an essay on O'Riada came up.The unheard listening was a bit different from the other years, as all the excerpts were from the same piece, as opposed to being from different pieces. The questions were also quite easy although I wasn't too sure about the last one which was to show how the music conveys the time of death. Overall, it was a very good paper.I wasn't as happy with the composing paper though, unfortunately. Both Q1 and Q5 were in the minor key, with an anacrusis. The melody wasn't too bad though as it was in 3/4 time. The Chords and Bassline question was pretty difficult though in my opinion as I found it difficult to get a good progression and bassline. I was writing up until the very last minute and didn't get the time to look over it at all. I think though, with the listening paper being so good, the exam went really well!Please note: blog posts reflect the opinion of the author and not necessarily the opinion of the Irish Second-Level Students’ Union. Blogs are updated daily by 6.30 pm on scheduled examination dates.Zeminar is an event for Generation Z, particularly those aged between 15 and 19, and their parents, teachers, mentors and coaches. It will take place from 11th - 13th of October 2016. For more information see www.zeminar.ie