Music

Course summary

The A Level specification - Two years - 3 units COMPONENT 1 – Appraising Music (2 hours 30 minutes, written examination) The areas of study, provide an appropriate focus for students to appraise music and develop and demonstrate an in-depth knowledge and understanding of musical elements, musical contexts and musical language. The areas of study can also provide a rich source of material for students to work with when developing their performance and composition skills. There are seven areas of study, as follows: 1. Western classical tradition 1650-1910 (compulsory) (The three strands include Baroque - solo concerto; Classical – operas of Mozart; Romantic – piano music of Chopin, Brahms and Grieg) 2. Pop music 3. Music for media 4. Music for theatre 5. Jazz 6. Contemporary traditional music 7. Art music since 1910 Students must study Area of study 1: Western classical tradition 1650-1910 and choose two from Areas of study 2-7 COMPONENT 2 – Performance Students must be able to perform music, either instrumentally or vocally, as a soloist and/or as part of an ensemble. Students perform for a minimum of ten minutes and a maximum of twelve minutes in total. The performance types are defined as follows: Solo performance – a single unaccompanied part where it is the intention of the composer that the part be unaccompanied OR a part that is accompanied by piano, guitar (or similar), backing track or a small group of performers. Ensemble Performance – music performed by the student in conjunction with at least two other musicians (one of which being the student assessed), in which each player or singer has a unique and significant part (ie. which is not doubled). COMPONENT 3 - Composition Students must learn how to develop musical ideas and compose music that is musically convincing through two compositions. One must be in response to an externally set brief (Composition 1) and the other is a free composition. The combined duration of the compositions must be a minimum of four and half minutes, and a maximum of six minutes