Historical Periods of Music Information

This 4-page resource on the Historical Periods of Music contains 2 separate resources – one for students taking ABRSM exams (where the examples will be played on the piano only), and one suitable for students taking GCSE or A-level Music, where examples could include many different types of instrumentation, or vocal music. Key features are identified which help students to choose the correct historical period for the music they are hearing, and some examples of composers are included in each section.

A supplementary page is also included, covering the Medieval and Renaissance periods, since these are found in the syllabus of some of the exam boards but not others.

Encourage students to identify the historical periods of musical extracts with this sheet in front of them initially, in order to familiarise themselves with the sorts of features they need to listen out for.

ABRSM students could look at the pieces they have been learning and try to identify the historical periods they are from, before progressing to identifying the periods aurally, as part of the aural tests (from Grade 5* onwards)

Useful for introducing comparison of the historical periods of music, for practice in identifying them from listening examples and also for revision purposes (history of music).

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*syllabus information correct at the time of publishing