GCSE Music AS aN Option CHOICE

The level of performance required on an instrument covers all ranges of abilities and instruments/voices.

It is an advantage if you play an instrument or sing, however, you could always develop this during the course.

You will listen to professional musicians and study their performance techniques using CD recordings and YouTube videos.

Here are a few examples of performance work in GCSE music lessons.

*Guitarists: Perform a rock piece using Chords initially, develop solo/lead skills, form a band.

*Drummers: Play along with CDs, learn a section at a time, develop more complex fill-ins etc...

*Singers: Perform a solo with a guitarist or use a backing CD, you could also sing vocal duets with others. Learn about microphone technique and sound effects.

*‘Classical’ Musicians: You can use graded pieces as part of your study or perhaps adapt your instrument to perform modern styles e.g. a flute player could study film music, a pianist could study Pop or Rock music pieces.

The course is VERY flexible to cater for every musician’s tastes and interests.

Performances are recorded and sent off to an external examiner for moderation at the end of the course; you have plenty of time to learn increasingly more challenging pieces throughout the course so don’t worry if you are a beginner at first. Some students in addition take up instrument lessons.

Compositions are pieces of music that you create yourself. Some of these will be done on your chosen instrument, some on a computer or other instruments of your choice. You will keep a log of your work.

Compositions can be recorded either using live instruments or through a computer. You can also write out your composition for example tabs for guitar, drum kit notation or traditional notation however this is not a requirement- a recording is perfectly acceptable-you would not lose marks for not writing it out in full as long as there is a good recording to show your ideas.

The Creative Task is a practical exam which is taken at the end of the course. It lasts 45 mins and involves choosing a basic idea and creating a piece of music under a time limit. This can be done on a computer or live instrument/s.

The exam paper for this task has 6 short ideas such as a set of words to create a song from (good for singers), or a group of 4 or 5 chords (good for guitarists/keyboard players) or rhythm pattern, a small set of notes. There is also a story board (like a short cartoon) which you can set to music.

Its quite good fun and you soon get used to the 45 minute time limit with practise runs we do in class beforehand.

Whatever you produce at the end of the 45mins is sent off to an external examiner. You will learn how to develop ideas using composition techniques and how to structure sections of music.

The listening paper is a written examination which is taken at the end of the course. This exam is designed to help you show what you have learned throughout the course. There 4 main Areas of study:

1)My Music (studied as part of your coursework)
2)Shared Music
3)Dance Music
4)Descriptive Music

Area of study 1 is covered in the coursework: The listening paper is based on everything learnt in Areas of study 2,3,4.

This website is used as a source for revision for the listening paper as well as a forum for students to showcase their performances or compositions.

If you would like to know more or hear some students’ work then click on the GCSE button on the main

www.chantrymusic.co.uk website

While studying for the listening paper you will learn:

Music Theory and Musical terms

Composition techniques

The development of music through time

Instruments and Instrumental groups

Bhangra, Jazz, Folk, Salsa

Dance music: Disco and Club Dance, Irish Dance, Tango

Film Music/Programme music

Music Technology

All of these are studied for the listening paper but they are also looked at in practical ways through performance and composition.