Music

You will enjoy GCSE music if you want to get better at:

• playing your instrument or singing
• composing your own music
• listening to and learning about music from a wide variety of styles and periods

APPRAISING MUSIC (Exam - 40%)

You will study substantial pieces of music in a wide variety of styles and genres including Baroque, Classical, Musicals, Film and Fusion

You will analyse how composers use techniques and devices of melody, rhythm, harmony, texture and structure to achieve their intended purpose and effect

You need to learn and use an extensive range of specialist musical terminology in the exam, which has some short answer questions and some which require an extended written response

You need to enjoy learning about the theory of music and be willing to develop your aural skills

COMPOSING (Course Work - 30%)

You will create, develop and extend your own musical ideas to produce two substantial compositions

You will use staff notation to write down your compositions and you will learn how to use ‘Sibelius’ publishing software to present high quality musical scores

PERFORMING (Course Work - 30%)

For a good GCSE grade you need to be having weekly musical instrument/voice lessons already and you should be playing/ singing at a standard equivalent to at least grade 3 by the end of Y9 in order to make keep progressing towards a strong GCSE pass (GCSE grade 5) by the end of Y11

You will perform 1 SOLO and 1 ENSEMBLE piece in class each term. The solo could be a piece that you have prepared for an instrumental/vocal grade exam

The Value of GCSE Music Universities and companies value candidates with a broad range of skills, interests and qualities of character. Students with an academic qualification in music are considered to be self-disciplined, persevering, responsible, skilled in time-management, creative and capable of thinking and acting independently.