Music GCSE

If he would just be doing it for the composition, you'd probably be better finding a teacher that will teach him composition, rather than spending time (and money) jumping through all the hoops for the GCSE. You could ask the sixth form college what it might be useful for him to have met that he won't have done with the theory/practical exams.

Sorry @londonmummy1966 i meant to thank you too. Great ideas, but he’s a child that needs an end point as motivation - I know from bitter experience that he won’t work for the sake of it. Hopefully that come with age!

Thanks so much for all your comments.

It’s great to hear that it’s been beneficial for so many. My main concern was that I’d read that it could be a box ticking exercise, so it’s good to hear that it’s been so inspiring and enjoyable for some, and useful preparation for the composition aspect of music A level.

Good point as well about the exposure to different genres of music - my dc mostly plays (western) classical with his teacher and orchestra, and listens to hip hop and pop at home, but probably doesn’t have a clue about other types of music.

I’ll have a chat to him but I think I’ll encourage him to do it.

Thanks everyone.

My DC1 was accepted onto A level music without GCSE - it wasn't offered at her school. The college asked for G5 practical and theory as an alternative, and the head of music said G5 theory in particular is good preparation.

She's not struggled to bridge the gap in either composition or analysis. I should add that she's very much a western classical person though, and if someone's previous musical experience was all popular music or musical theatre it might be a little harder.

@Fishlegs DH teaches A Level and GCSE music and says that it would be hard to do A Level without the GCSE. I think people assume that being a good performer is enough but that's only part of the qualification at each level. Think it would be worth speaking in more detail to the college about how he could fill the gaps if he does want to do A Level.

@Fishlegs - I don't see why your DC couldn't do A level music without the GCSE. However I would recommend that he did a bit of work in the summer between Yr 11 and 12 just to catch up with the basics he'll have missed out on. One thing that would be useful would be to buy the scores anthology for the set pieces and a revision guide/workbook to them and work through it as the analysis of scores is a litte different to Grade 5 theory. ANother would be to read a general overview book on the history of music so he has a grasp of the difference between eg Baroque and ROmantic styles (which will be useful for music exam aural tests as well). The bigger issue will be the lack of composition experience - speaking from bitter experience as DD's GCSE teacher was really bad and she ended up at A level not knowing how to compose. This might be a good place to start https://sites.google.com/tiffin.kingston.sch.uk/music/curricular-music/gcse-music/gcse-composing

Depending on where you are in the country there might be a composition summer school - I know that some of the London conservatoires (Royal COllee of Music and Guildhall offer them)

Aside from composition, the other skills you start to develop at GCSE that aren't covered by theory/practical exams are in analysing music from the score and more detailed listening skills.

DS is doing music GCSE at the moment, sitting his mocks. He has got an absolutely huge amount out of it. When he chose it, it wasn't his best subject by any means, and I saw it as a "why not, even if you don't get great marks it will be an enjoyable subject to take". But he has put more effort into it than any of his others, to the extent he is now going to take it for A Level, his teacher has been massively complimentary and even suggested he do it at university. He practices all the time, he talks about music, he loves the composing element, his social life now revolves around orchestra and choir and his flute group and he has made great friends through the subject. He has taken up two more instruments as well.

It is definitely the most expensive GCSE though, what with the lessons, the trips, the instruments....

My son enjoyed his GCSE, even though it was disrupted by Covid, but that had a lot to do with having good teachers.

He’s not done A level music, but from what I understand although doing a GCSE is probably not necessary spending time getting the basics of composition would be very beneficial.

My DD is a music scholar and had her grade 8s before doing her GCSE but she loved the course work and particularly the composition element. There’s a wide range of set pieces, some genres of which she would never have focussed on if not compulsory, so it widened her view in that way. It was the only GCSE she did with a proper practical element, which was definitely beneficial for her

Could I just jump onto this thread and ask those whose dc have done music GCSE whether they gained much from it?

My home educated dc wants to do music A-level, has just completed his grade 5 theory and is doing his grade 6 practical in March. The 6th form college he wants to attend have said they would be happy with this and he doesn’t need music GCSE, however he wonders if it would be useful for the composition aspect.

Ive read different perspectives on whether taking music GCSE was a positive experience or a chore, would anyone be happy to share their thoughts please?

@MurphyM some of the Junior Departments of Conservatoires do - DC1 had this at Junior GUildhall. Also CYM at Waterloo offered GCSE studies for year 10 and 11 students. DD2 had got grade 5 theory at age 10 so was put in the GCSE class in year 8. CYM also offered GCSE revision classes in the Easter holidays

Do you know any paid institutions or schools which can offer classes/courses for Music GCSE (AQA), maybe intensively in holiday times or continually say weekends? I'd like to think about such an option for my son (current y9) to study outside of his school. He has passed theory and piano practical grade 5 and working on grade 6.
His school group might offer additional gcse classes in y10 but I'd prefer him to start maybe early 2024 (in y9) to get him ready for taking it in y10 (2025).

State school here. WJEC board I think. Was advised to play Grade 5 piece as that's all that's needed for top marks. Daughter explained that she'd rather play one of her grade 8 pieces which she had prior distinction level and that it actually would mean less work for her as she knew it technically and musically. It actually meant more work for the school though. Luckily, lovely school agreed and hired an accompanist for her. I'd push back at the school if you're paying fees and you feel it's right for your child.

Why not use a pre-recorded backing track rather than a live accompanist?

You can commission these for a very nominal amount online, or get someone you know is competent to record one.

I'd second the advice to play an easier piece - DC1 was at a specialist music school where lots of them had diplomas and they still all played easy pieces partly to make them perfect and partly so they didn't need to spend a lot of time practicing them. I'd ask the school if one of the piano teachers might be prepared to offer accompaniament and bill the parents for it as that would be a lot easier to organise both for performance and for practice.

Agree with others, my son was advised by his state school to play Grade 5/6 piece even though he got grade 8 at end of Y10. Any accompaniment required would have been arranged without charge though.

I don’t think it is too unreasonable to have to pay - you are probably paying for the exam entry fees after all. I would approach the piano peri teachers at the school as a good starting point.

With the caveat that there is one exam board (think its WJEC) where the marking criteria differs slightly

It was good advice. The maximum difficulty marks are available for Grade 5 then it is all about perfect technique and musicality. Playing an easier Grade 5 level piece allows you to be sure of nailing those marks.

This is the advice my children's school gave and they had a lot of children taking GCSE music who already had grade 8.

Mine followed the advice. It meant they could concentrate on playing as musically as possible, rather than having to worry about playing something that they found technically challenging. Students don't get credit for playing anything above grade 5 standard.

In terms of the accompanist, I'd expect the school to offer to arrange one, but (as it's private) think it's entirely up them to decide whether or not to charge.

My DD plays to a decent level but had to choose pieces that had easy enough accompaniments that the class teacher who is not a piano specialist could do. You don't get extra marks for playing harder pieces. She didn't really spend much time on them, only focused on them just before the exam so he could just choose something relatively easy.

My DS is doing music gcse next year, and he's also grade 7 but on the piano. We were told that he needs to only play at grade 5 level to get the highest marks.

Depending on the exact exam board he really shouldn't be playing a Grade 7 piece for GCSE anyway.

But I would expect the school to provide accompaniment.

Peripatetic string teacher here. I guess the issue may be that while the class music teacher might be a competent pianist and be able/happy to accompany up to around grade 5 (I know I would), by grade 7 the string pieces are proper repertoire and some of the accompaniments are pretty tricky and really need a good pianist. That said, school should be able to offer a bit of advice at least! Could they make recommendations about accompanists who've been used in previous years or who other students are using? Is there a school piano teacher who you could approach? Presumably they won't want a load of random accompanists turning up for each GCSE recording!