Autumn / Winter 24 - music thread

DS took history, mini and enjoyed it, but there was a shock on results day when the entire cohort was moderated significantly down for their NEAs. I wonder if that's had an impact on the choice of syllabus?

DS wanted to do politics but obviously it wasn't on offer. He also fancied drama or German ( he did well in all his GCSEs so could have chosen anything really).

DS might start with four, to include drama.

DD1 started with four, dropped the one we least expected her to after not enjoying it (English) - but made the right decision - it at least gave her the flexibility to try an 'unknown' subject. In the end politics was the big hit, so I'm glad she tried four. DD2 is being allowed to start with four with VERY strict instructions to drop one in the first six weeks in a similar vein. Good luck with decision

That's an idea. They've just had to submit their current options and she's put music as her reserve. I think they can still discuss right up to results day.

I think she'd find music easier/more enjoyable on the whole. Her entire friendship group is based around her orchestras.

I think there's only a handful at our school doing music. 3 in Yr 12 and 3 in Yr 13 currently so they combine the class.

I think it sounds lovely but the composition has got her worried she'd drop a grade and is currently wanting As for the courses she's considering. (Time will tell if that's possible).

It may be she does her 3 A levels and then keeps up the orchestras. We're not in London but are lucky to have an audition/senior orchestra locally.

I think she'd love the music though! The new music teacher is really lovely and thorough but my duaghters seeing it as a risk.

Ah, @herbaceous, that makes sense. I shall have a look for videos - it's probably not a big stretch, given she can manage three notes.

I hope all the GCSE mocks are going well.

Hi @TreeAtMyWindow. Sounds like she had to sing back four notes in a chord - fairly necessary skill for singers to be able to pick out their starting note from that, eventually! Though she would normally be singing the top note... I'm sure there would be practice stuff on YouTube, or whatever.

And yes - the music teacher is brilliant. Really lovely guy, funny, fairly well-known composer, brings tea and cakes to lessons etc. It would be like having a university-level tutorial each time!

Choosing A Levels is an exciting time. There were only three of us in my Religious Studies class, @herbaceous, and it's one of my happiest memories from school, it was like having a scheduled cosy chat with my mates a couple of times a week.

DD has finally managed to have her informal pre-audition meeting about the choristership. She'd been practising the song they told her to have ready for what feels like months, and then they asked her to sing something else entirely! I don't know if that's a cunning plan to prevent overpreparation, or just a mix-up. Anyway, she said she was fine at everything they asked her to do, except singing the notes back when four were played together. I'm not really sure how you practice that, as presumably they aren't four totally random notes, and my musical knowledge doesn't stretch that far.

Composition has been somewhat shoehorned into DS's music GCSE too - something to do with problems with computer software... But with a lot of orchestral experience and good performance skills, I'm sure a lot of the structural elements get kind of hard-wired in!

Prompted by @minisnowballs, I investigated what DS is doing for his diploma! It's Chopin Nocturne op62, no 2; Mozart Sonata in D, K311; Debussy La Plus Que Lente; and Billy Mayerl Look Lively! I had to look through his music anthologies to find the pieces with pencil marks on...

Hello again!

My daughter is also choosing A levels! She'd love music and has got her grade 8 but she's worried about her composing as they've not had much teaching on it (change of teacher) for gcse so it's a bit of an unknown for A level.

I think she's going chemisty maths and psychology but will keep up the good Saturday orchestra she's in and school orchestras but it is her reserve!

@minisnowballs - DD found music a level the place she could sink into on the ground that she knew what she was doing. There were at least 3 classes - hers (all specialists). one that was mixed and one that was non specialists. They test everyone after the first half term of year 12 and allocate at that point. TBH DD thought she'd have done better in the mixed class as she can't compose for toffee and everyone in her class was assumed to be able to do so.

Have a really good look at the history results as they didn't used to be that good.....

@minisnowballs makes more sense 🤣

Oh I know them very well, @northerngoldilocks, but can't remember their exact names!

I'm surprised music Alevel isn't mandatory at her school.

@northerngoldilocks could also just be teens playing it cool?! What did they think of the programme?

I wasn’t totally convinced by Catamorphosis - it was a good contrast to Bolero and had some interesting effects in it but it did drag on! I love love the Nielsen.

Crikey, I can't remember exactly. A Debussy, a Chopin nocturne, a Mozart sonata and a jazz piece!

His drama teacher apparently 'desperately' wants him to take that, but I think four A levels would be a stretch.