GCSE music

[disorganisedmummy]

Evening all, I'm a regular poster on the monthly music thread. For background my ds is 12,in Year 8 at a non-selective Indy school. He has Aspergers. He plays violin and is a sollid G6,working towards G7. He auditioned for Junior Guildhall recently. He wasn't successful but has been invited back in February.

Anyway,my reason for the message was his head of music at school told me something which sounded rather odd so I thought I'd ask you all as I have no experience in this. The school are not known at all for music. They're pretty crap tbh but they support ds v well in all other areas. Ds wants to do GCSE music. I know that part of it is composition but I'm concerned that the school do not have any type of composition software. When I queried this with Head of music she said that she doesn't like the software and prefers instead that pupils write it by hand and that adjudicators prefer it like this?? I can't decide if she's fobbing me off or not. I feel we should move ds to a school with a better music dept. If so we need to move him sooner rather than later.
I'd be interested to know what other schools do.

Thanks

I'm a music teacher and depending on what board you do, the compositions actually have to be played as well. We have sent recordings using Sibelius and Logic. I think the Head of Music is gibbing you off as music software is expensive and also the teacher also has to be able to use it. If she's not used to it, this might be why she is resistant to using it.

Fobbing not gibbing. Autocorrect is weird!!!

DS did GCSE and A level music and both places used software. The major advantage is that you can hear your piece without having to play the individual lines separately.

Back in the dark ages I did music gcse with no software - it was really hard going - I’m really pleased they get to use it now . Ds’s school have a variety . Some record their compositions live but it depends how many instruments it’s for, so composing software like Sibelius is great for getting a recording to send away too !!

DS's school uses Noteflight software. I can't imagine many schools expect pupils to write your by hand!

I'm a head of music at an indie and I'm afraid your sons HoD is completely wrong.
It's very difficult to run GCSE music without Sibelius notation software and any good school should have a license for this. You can take recordings directly from Sibelius.

As an examiner too I can assure you that a hand written score is absolutely not preferred - quite the opposite.

Thank you everyone for your posts. I am really very concerned now and am thinking what is the best way to approach this. Ds does not want to move despite the school being rubbish for music but I'm not convinced that they will be able to give him the best chance possible.
Does anyone have any ideas about the best way to approach this?

This might just be a budget issue, and wouldn't necessarily affect results. Maybe they will get a licence by rhe time ypur son gets to GCSEs? We were expected to write our music out (some students still do, including one of mine from a couple of years back) and get each other to perform it. You can get a temporary licence for Sibelius at home, or the cheap student package for gimme to use. Maybe it's an unpopular view, but I don't think the school needs to be 'dealt' with, and I certainly wouldn't move schools because of this (I have two musicians - eldest just did her grade 8 in year 7 but hasn't got a clue about composition except for what she did on grade 5 theory!)

Gimme? Him!!!

I didn't mean to come across as harsh. It's just that most composition woreally is done at home.

Work!!!!

The submitted piece can't be worked on at home though, it can only be done at school whilst supervised so that it can be assessed as the student's own work.

DDs school also uses note flight.. they also use the software to play some of the compositions in assembly and, I presume, send them to the examining board. Completely agree that the school ought to sort this out, however having tried to change school policies myself before ( one DS has SEN) this can be hugely stressful as a parent unless the school are receptive and on your side...

Oh wow, knitting that has changed... a student was bringing me work to check during his theory lessons not so long ago. I made suggestions about things like repetition, sequence and inversion, but made him do all the work. He had to submit 3 pieces.

Dd has just done GCSe music at a performing arts school. She is a dancer but the school has a handful of music scholars.

She did all her compositions on Sibelius and got exceptionally high marks (Grade 8 overall but her listening paper let her down a bit).

Ds has just started GCSE music at a local state comp. He, too is using software to compose on.

Both my two has aspergers/asd and use of the software has been invaluable. We were lucky in that dh is a musican so we actually have a family copy of Sibelius along with a programme for the ipad.

But yes to agree with knitting. The schools have to ensure that enough direct supervision is in place to ensure that the work is the student's own, unaided work. They can work on it at home, but the teacher has to check the work as it progresses, and check on any differences in standard between work produced outside and inside the classroom.

Composition work cannot be done at home. It is controlled coursework and the teacher has to verify that the work is the students own. They cannot do this if the work is completed at home.

Yes I would also agree it’s useful to have composition software to try out ideas etc at home but they have to complete the coursework in school .
If the school is a good fit for everything else and they aren’t great at supporting music could he choose a different gcse ? As long as you are a proficient ( at least grade 6 when you start) player and have grade 5 theory then A level music will be fine . GCSE music is nothing like A level and is designed to be suitable for lots of pupils ( not just the musically talented and very able) so can actually be quite frustrating for some . Ds seems to be enjoying it so far though so that’s good.
Also not all schools can offer A Level music now either , and grade 8 practical plus grade 8 theory is an acceptable alternative for music degrees . Hope that’s helpful !!

Musescore software is free and you can do loads with it. You can even connect to a midi keyboard and input like that ( currently trying different solutions for this though as our laptop is ancient and won't recognise the clavinova!)

Oh yes musescore is great

Yes, I've used Musescore with a midi keyboard to produce scores and parts for orchestral arrangements I've done. A bit clunkier than Sibelius or similar, but a decent, free alternative.