A LEVEL MUSIC FROM 2017 What you will need to do.

The Music course Just as with your GCSE Music course at the moment, there are three components. PERFORMING COMPOSING APPRAISING You will have four or five hour long lessons each week and you will need to continue your music tuition with your instrumental teacher.

The Music course PERFORMING is recorded in the last term of the Upper Sixth and takes the form of a recital, but not a very long one at 8 minutes. The standard level is Grade 7 and there could be more credit for playing pieces of a Grade 8 standard, depending on how well these are played.

The Music course COMPOSING will involve a free composition or one to a brief, and a second one that assesses compositional techniques, usually in the form of the four-part Bach chorale. Note that at GCSE you are writing two pieces that fit with two areas of study, but at A Level, one of them can be totally free.

The Music course APPRAISING is like the set works paper at GCSE, although you have to develop a knowledge of other works that are similar to those set. So for instance, one of the areas is film music and along with studying Bernard Hermann’s music to Psycho, Rachel Portman’s music to The Duchess and Danny Elfman’s music to Batman, you would need to listen to some other similar film scores. There are 18 set works altogether and they range from a wide variety of styles and countries.

Why Take it? Here are some key things which might help you decide whether or not to take the subject at A Level. Clear and coherent structure – three engaging components, assessed through practical performances, compositions and one externally examined paper. Provides a real music focus – the key content of musical elements, contents and language are taught through the Areas of Study and set work to show real examples of how these are used within different types of music . Holistic understanding of music – you would investigate, analyse and evaluate music and its features and use this to inform your playing composing and listening.

Why take it? Breadth and depth – the set works will enable you to conduct in depth studies into different musical styles and genres, and place these within a wider context Diverse musical heritage – you will learn to perform, compose and appreciate different types of music, developing critical and creative thinking, cultural, aesthetic and emotional awareness, and the ability to make music individually and as part of a group. Continuous progression - the content builds on the understanding developed at KS4, avoiding unnecessary repetition Progression to Higher Education – the content will allow you to develop your knowledge and skills in music, enabling you to progress into undergraduate music or music related degree courses

The Details The next slides are taken from the Specification and explain in a little more detail what I have already mentioned, including a full list of the set works. If you have any questions, just ask!

PERFORMING

COMPOSING

APPRAISING

APPRAISING

SET WORKS-these are all available on Moodle if you want to listen!