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Original poster

GCSE Music question - required level for performance?

30 replies

circular · 09/02/2012 14:05

Getting mixed info.

School say grade 3 to 4 standard is sufficient.

Music school (teacher is also an examiner) say Grade 3 standard OK for C Grade, for A/A* grade 5 at least.

DD in a quandry as wants to get as near full marks as she can as performance is her strongest. Due to logistics, school want her to do the ensemble work on an instrument which she is a lower standard on.

Exam board ED-EXCEL, and performances will be completed in 2012/2013.

OP posts:
webwiz · 09/02/2012 15:22

It usually depends on more practical things such as what you are working on in your instrument lessons. So if you are a grade 7 student and you have something you've been practising for ages for an exam you might actually find that "easier" to perform that going back to a lower grade piece. But you are free to perform something easier than that.

I think it is more about setting a comparable level of difficulty for all the candidates and then applying the marking criteria. So yes if you are a grade 8 student you should be able to do a better grade 4 standard performance than someone who has only just reached that level.

Colleger · 09/02/2012 15:14

Maybe they don't play a harder piece.

gramercy · 09/02/2012 15:10

I'm confused.

So why wouldn't a grade 5,6,7 or even grade 8 student just play a grade 3 piece? Why would anyone bust a gut when doing something much easier could get the same mark?

webwiz · 09/02/2012 14:45

I think the difficulty standard of the performance pieces can be Standard (grade 4), Easier (grade 3) or More difficult (grade 5). The grades don't match exactly so the specification gives details of the relevant standards for each instrument

www.edexcel.com/quals/gcse/gcse09/music/Pages/default.aspx

The performance score can be adjusted upwards or downwards by 4 marks for the level of difficulty. But as the solo performance is out of 30 it is still possible to get an A on the easier piece if you play it very well.

DS is aiming for a good standard performance.

Colleger · 09/02/2012 14:10

I thought it was grade 5 but a great grade 3 performance is better than a poor grade 5.