Music
Wellsway School - Bath and North East Somerset
01179864751
Chandag Road, Keynsham, Bristol, BS31 1PH
Course summary

Studying music at A Level will give you a solid grounding in composition, performance, and listening. These disciplines within music go side-by-side and therefore your enjoyment of music will grow as you learn to analyze a piece of music, whether it’s something you perform, or simply enjoy listening to, by breaking down the use of harmony, melody, structure, and texture. You should study music if you want to grow as a musician, not just as a performer, but also as a composer and active listener. You should study music if you are inquisitive and want to unlock how composers create that magic within a piece. We start the course by exploring how you describe harmony, tonality, rhythm, structure, texture, and melody. We do this by practical means and short composition exercises. We then move on to analyzing how composers use these musical elements. We study a broad range, from Baroque Concerto, to Mozart Opera and 19th Century Piano Music, alongside Pop (Beyonce, Stevie Wonder, and Daft Punk) and Music for Media (Bernard Herrmann, Hans Zimmer, Thomas Newman). You will learn to use a variety of compositional devices before you are encouraged to compose longer compositions. We aim to make the lessons as practical as possible and encourage you to bring your instrument to lessons to realize ideas on the instrument that is most natural to you.

Entry requirements

A minimum of 5GCSEs (or equivalent) ‘good’ passes or better including either GCSE Maths or English. 6 in Music and the ability to read music fluently.

How you'll be assessed

35% performance, 25% composition (both teachers assessed), and 40% examined.

School Info

About Education Provider

RegionSouth West
Local AuthorityBath and North East Somerset
Ofsted RatingGood
Gender TypeCo-Educational
AddressChandag Road, Keynsham, Bristol, BS31 1PH