Music

Course summary

Students who study Music A Level develop three main skill areas in creative synergy: performance, composition and musical analysis. Students have individual musical strengths which are advanced and complemented through developing this broad musical understanding. In composition, students learn the fabric of tonal harmony through sophisticated composition techniques to create well-presented, effective musical works in a genre of their choosing. In performance, students develop their sense of musicianship and leadership, as well as their technical and expressive instrumental control. In listening and analysis, students develop a concise and articulate writing style, learning how to write about music from a range of genres using accurate subject-specific vocabulary demonstrating skills in analysis, appraisal and evaluation. Through all of these strands, aural skills are heightened to an advanced level. Students will develop knowledge of a range of styles of music. Three areas of classical repertoire (Baroque solo concerti, Romantic piano music, and operas of Mozart) complement studies in styles of music as diverse as popular music, film music, music theatre and jazz. Complementary skills in score reading, notation software manipulation, harmony, chords and aural appraisal will also be developed.