[Listening extract audio not available in printed QP. Skeleton score in Insert.] Study the melody below. (a) Name the scale used here. [1] (b) Describe its ...

(a) Name of the scale used [1]

The answer is the whole-tone scale. A whole-tone scale is built entirely from whole steps (tones), with no semitones. There are only two possible whole-tone scales: one starting on C (C-D-E-F#-G#-A#) and one starting on C#/Db. The melody in the score shows a stepwise ascending passage with sharps added progressively, consistent with whole-tone movement where every interval between adjacent notes is two semitones.

(b) Effect compared to a major or minor scale [1]

The whole-tone scale creates a dreamlike, floating or ambiguous quality because it lacks the semitone intervals that give major and minor scales their sense of direction and resolution. In a major or minor scale, the semitone between the leading note and tonic creates a strong pull towards the home note. Without this pull, the whole-tone scale sounds vague, suspended and tonally ambiguous - as though the music could drift in any direction without ever arriving at a definitive resting point. This gives it an exotic, otherworldly character.

(c) French Impressionist composer most associated with this scale [1]

The answer is Debussy (Claude Debussy, 1862-1918). Debussy used whole-tone scales extensively in works such as Voiles (from his first book of Preludes) and the orchestral piece Prelude a l'apres-midi d'un faune. He employed the scale to dissolve traditional tonality and create shimmering, atmospheric soundscapes that prioritise colour and mood over harmonic direction.