Music Higher

[TheresMoreofUs]

Anyone got experience of it? My DD is doing Nat 5 music, just done practicals (went well) finishing composition this week. Wants to do Higher Music but I’m just wondering about the workload. They play 2 instruments: piano to Grade 5/6 standard and will hopefully be doing Grade 5 theory in June. Can play Grade 6 pieces very well but theory definitely needs work. Plays Cello and has Trinity Grade 6 and will be taking Grade 7 in Autumn. They’re also in 2 out of school orchestras and have an hour’s lesson on each instrument per week.

I think my DD thinks it will be an ‘easier’ option because they are already above the required standard but I think it really encroaches on other subjects and revision time. They don’t participate in the school’s music orchestras/ensembles because they like to keep music as an out of school thing.

Also do you even need Higher/Advanced Higher Music for Music Degrees at Conservatoire/uni (if they decide to go down that route which they haven’t decided on yet) From a cursory glance it just looks like you need to audition and be playing to Grade 8 standard or above.

Would it be better for them to continue doing out of school Grades with the aim of getting one of them up to 8? They muck around and compose stuff all the time at home anyway so they can keep that up.

Be grateful for any advice.

If they can already play to grade 5/6 standard then higher music is an easy option for them. The composition piece is not a heavy workload. The music exam builds on concepts that they learned in nat 3/4/5. Good news it’s also considered an ‘academic’ subject for uni admission so should theoretically be an relatively easy high grade ticked off as the performance piece which is 50% is already covers - just need to work out what pieces to play. For conservatoire I’d focus on audition / grade 8, plus the orchestras etc. You could always call the Conservatoire of Scotland to check.

Might depend on the uni, I'm sure that either/or or both Aberdeen and Dundee didn't count music when DS2 applied politics/International relations type subjects ot music if that makes a difference.

Thanks both. I’ll check out how Music is viewed in terms of Uni admissions as that’s an important consideration. I think they’re thinking Music, History, English, Maths and Physics at moment but that’s literally only been thought up in past day and not based on any in depth thought on what they might want to study at Uni. Can’t persuade them to take French which is a bit of a shame but we’ll see how the Nat 5 goes (if it happens!!)

That’s interesting Wax. For Glasgow it’s not on the ‘general’ list of which you can normally only have one.

I'd need him to dig back emails but when he was applying, he only had 3 highers of which Music was one and he was taking more Highers in 6th year. He'd emailed out to a few Unis to suss out how his application would be viewed before sticking them on his UCAs form and I know that at least one of those two said that they'd consider that he had two highers at the end of s5. He had ABC with Music being the C so I suppose they might have excluded based on the fact it was a C rather than because it was Music? Also think it might have been both Aberdeen and Dundee.

My DS got into Oxford Law this year with a Higher and Advanced Higher in Music (amongst other exams) so I guess it's well respected and academic. In fact he needed three AHs at AAB minimum (one of them was music).

I remember reading about your DS Aurea hope he’s getting on well. What subjects did he need for Law out of interest?

His route to law wasn't an easy one. He started off wanting to be an engineer, hence the three sciences.

In S4 he took Nat 5s in maths, English, French, chemistry, physics, biology and a Higher in music (a year early). His music class was a composite class of Nat 5 - AH.

In S5 he took Highers in maths, English, physics, chemistry and crash Modern Studies (he started considering law at this point)

In S6 he took Advanced Highers in RMPS (crash), Modern Studies and Music.

He got all five offers for law (Scottish ones were unconditional) with this subject combination at Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen , Durham and Oxford. Durham's conditions were AAA and Oxford AAB at Advanced Higher.

For context, he goes to a state school.

Apologies for the essay......

I forgot to say, for law, at least one essay based subject is recommended.

Thanks Aurea. I wish that DD had been given the opportunity to do Higher Music a year early in S4. They were capable but it was never suggested and I wasn’t across the system enough to know that was an option. Mind you doing a Higher and 7 Nat 5s might have been too much anyway. I wonder whether they could do AH Music in S5 instead (says she who was worried that doing a Music Higher would be too much work!!) I’m off to do some research into the AH Music course...

There were a few kids in our school that did AH music in S5.

AH music is minimum grade 5 in two instruments, although the pieces have to as perfect as possible. I understand around 60% of entrants get an A grade so it must be one of the easiest AHs around!

I wish I’d pushed for early presentation of music - it makes a lot of sense if they can play at the standard ! The school my DC were at would not allow it. Though I wouldn’t necessarily push for AH instead of higher in 5th year - universities are looking for number of highers by end of s5. Bizarrely 5 highers may be better than 4 highers and one AH.

Is that right celtie about 5 Highers being worth more than 4 Highers and 1 AH sat in S5? I thought I was on to something there and that DD would then only have to do 2 AH in S6 and then pick up another Higher. I suppose it’s swings and roundabouts and the Uni requirement seems to be 5 x Highers at S5. I need to get my head round all this pronto!

I would email the admissions departments of the Unis and ask them. Nothing better than info out of the horses' mouths.....

Agreed ask the unis but when I’ve spoken to teachers there is invariably the statement that 5 highers in one sitting is the ‘gold’ standard, this is what Scottish universities like to see, even though on paper you’d think 4 highers and 1 AH would be better. AHs are very useful if you want admission to 2nd year or to go to England. That said they also make for an easier first year in Scotland if they are in a subject that is being taken at Uni!

A grade 8 in an instrument (or 2 instruments) may well not be enough to get into conservatoire, but would be enough to get into a music degree at university, with the right academic grades. For conservatoire I'd expect them to be looking for a level well ahead of grade 8. And piano is useful. Conservatoires don't care about academic grades.

I agree Ah music is well regarded and relatively easy to get an A for a musical child.

A friends DD used AH music to get into Medicine ( along with AH chemistry or biology ).

5 As at higher is best to aim for