Any music treacher swho can explain GCSE requirements please?

[woodrunner]

DS1 loves music. He composes a lot at home on his midi and using garage band as back up. He plays classical piano to grade 2 and is doing grade 1 jazz piano and has just started sax.

He's 11. He really wants to do GCSE music but I'm concerned that he won't be able to get the grades in time. The school he started at last term has some seriously precocious musicians (piano grade 8 aged 12 etc) so most of the others who are interested in music are way ahead of him and those who take GCSE at his school are usually grade 5 before they start the course. No way can he reach that level by the end of year 9.

Does anyone have any advice on what he will need? he's very keen on music theory and his piano teacher thinks he can progress by doing the theory grades, but I want him to devote practise time to playing as he'll never get any good if it's all theory and composition without the ability to play to back it up.

Sorry - I'm clueless when it comes to music. No one else in our family can play a thing, so any advice would help.

Not a music teacher, but my DS is currently taking GCSE music. He was grade 1 piano at age 11. Grade 3 in year 9 and is taking grade 5 at easter ( year 11). He will be using one of his grade 5 pieces as his GCSE solo performance piece which we have been told, if played well, should be hard enough to get him top marks. Knowledge of music theory helps but formal exam passes are not required. He certainly doesnt need to worry about it yet. I would encourage him to work at his piano grades, and find a training band or youth orchestra he can join with his sax. DS, as a pianist, initially found the listening part of the exam tricky as he could not identify the other instruments by sound, joining an orchestra helped.

Not a teacher, but DD1 did GCSE music last year.

Their course was EDEXcel, and the minimum performance requirement was Grade 3. It is easier to achieve full marks in the performance section by playing a Grade 5 piece (extra difficulty marks awarded, so room for a slip up or two) but no real benefit playing anything more difficult.
The performances (one solo, one ebsemble) are worth 30% of the total GCSE, then 30% for compositions and 40% for written exam papers.
There is no requirement to have passed any grades at all.

If he sings, voice also counts as an instrument.

Find out the exam board his school does and have a look on the board wenbsite - although of course it could all change by the time he starts GCSE or equivalent courses.
If your son is only in yr7 and is grade 2 standard, (the average is about a grade a yea), he could well be grade 4 or 5 before starting the course.

The kids at his school sound quite advanced, grade 8 at age 12 is not the norm.

As Suffolk says, you don't need to have done the grade exams to do gcse music. ds1 never did any grades but did gcse music and held a music scholarship at school. On average however the standard to aim for would be around grade V for gcse

Hi there,

I am a Music teacher teaching both GCSE and A-Level Music. I would tell him not to worry! the exam boards recommend a average grade of around 3-4. When you mark performance for the AQA board (the one I teach for GCSE) there are 3 marks awarded for 'Level of Demand'. For 3/3 marks for that section you need to "...perform a piece graded above 4 by the examination boards."

Theory exams will be very useful and as long as he is interested enough to learn about composition (one of my pupils biggest challenge!) then I would have thought he would be fine. All my students are Grade V and below (many unable to read music when they start) and we achieved 100% A*-B last year. Enjoyment and enthusiasm is more important than a official grade.

I hope that helps a little (sorry it is so long!)

The musical performance is only a fraction of the overall grade, and listening / composition elements are really important also.

As others have said, it is less about the 'grade' you are on an instrument ( and he seems well on track for being at a perfectly decent level by y11) but the motivation and enthusiasm to learn.

Learning piano will be a great basis for his theoretical understanding and score reading skills, as well as helping with the composition element.
If he is prepared for a lot of hard work, he will enjoy the course and do well.

I'm not a music teacher but know that many pupils who are strong performers find the composition part of the GCSE the hardest so his enthusiasm for that must be a big bonus. Seems he would get a lot out of it and in the meantime would have the incentive of working to getting to grade V playing level by year 11.

Thank you all so much. These are really useful tips from you all, and it sounds as though he can be on course by yr 9 to start and yr 11 to pass.

They don't all have grade 8 - but one or two do and he immediately compares himself to them.

So, it seems from what you've all said, that if he carries on and gets to grade 4 piano, grade 3 sax, grade 5 theory (as levels, whether he sits them or not) and carries on with composition, singing in choir, and maybe also joining a band/orchestra to be able to distinguish the other instruments (great tip) he'll be OK.

That's lovely news.

My daughter is currently doing GCSE music. She is very musical and plays violin (g8) , sax (g7) and flute (g6). She plays piano for fun, but didn't get on with it when she had lessons. Having gone through the learning on each of these instruments, sax was by far the quickest to progress. Additionally, it's a super instrument for joining jazz and concert bands which is very good experience, and you can get little solos which helps to build confidence in performance. I think you would find it much easier to progress on the sax vs. piano to a level where you can guarantee an top mark performance at the exam. Further to the other comments I agree that theory is really important, as if he doesn't get on with this GCSE music will be a struggle.

GCSE options evening last night, we were told emphatically that DS only had to perform one fairly simple piece well to get up to a B mark in the solo performance element, not that he needed any proper music grades. As far as I'm concerned DS doesn't play any musical instrument & never will.

Violin grade 8, Kitty, at GCSE level - she must be exceptionally talented. Is she planning on taking it up as a career? Good to know this about sax. DS loves jazz too, so maybe he can join a jazz band.

Thanks lljkk. That's good to know. The school is very hot on music though. I don't think anyone who might get less than an A is encouraged to sit the GCSE. But maybe if he really works at it, he'll make it. He loves theory already.

My dd (Yr10) is taking music GCSE. She has both piano and flute at Grade 3 - her music teachers are quite happy with this. She was advised if she could play a piece at Grade 5 level (note - not need to be able to do all of a Grade 5) by the time she does her GCSE, then that will give her a big chunk of the marks.

Interestingly, my niece (Yr11) is doing GCSE - just got her mocks back and has been given an A. She is an excellent guitarist, but* has no grades/ exams, and started the GCSE unable to read any music at all and her teacher said that didn't matter.

Just to add to previous comments...

The exam boards all differ, but the way Edexcel worked last I was involved (and I think the others are similar) was like this: You play your piece, and are given a "raw" mark based on its technical and musical proficiency, regardless of its level of difficulty. That mark is then standardised using a chart which leaves it as it is, increases or decreases it, according to its difficulty level.

I had thought that the standard difficulty level (is where the mark remains as it is) for GCSE was grade 5, but from what others are saying above it may be lower than that. As a general principle however, I always found it was better to play a standard level piece really well, with proper musical conviction, than a flashy advanced piece where you're just playing the notes. The extra you get from the standardisation process for playing an advanced piece really doesn't make up for not playing it well (and I mean musically well). The syllabus is designed this way on purpose, as they want to encourage real musicianship in a way that's accessible to many, rather than just empty virtuosity (which is as it should be).

The other thing to bear in mind is that there's a world of difference between passing Grade 5, and playing one single grade 5 piece well, on one occasion. The latter, which is what you need to do for GCSE music, doesn't require exhaustive knowledge of all the scale etc, mastery of three varied pieces, good sight reading and so on. If your DC has passed grade 3 or 4 by the year before the exam, you'll probably find something in the grade 5 syllabus that he could do well with sufficient work.

GCSE music is much more geared towards all round musicians who like composing and being creative, than little mechanical virtuosos. If he wants to do it and the school are happy, go for it. By all means make it clear he'll need to practise regularly and take it seriously, but don't worry about comparing him to people whose skills are largely irrelevant to the process anyway.