What do you do in Gcse music that you can't get from extracurricular music?

[Verycold]

If anything?

DDs doing hers with the other good singer from the other class. I don't know if they are having any one play for them?

Can't ask, she's at choir

If by "extra curricular music" you mean instrumental tuition and / or ensemble playing, GCSE could give

• theoretical knowledge (though prob not significantly above Grade 5 theory)

• composition

• programming

• history / development of music

• exposure to different styles eg non- Western

• a certificate that us often needed to go on to A level music study

Nocomet I'm lovely too but have been worn down by pupils in a year 11 group who just want to sing what they want to sing and not realise that a GCSE in music is a bit more than an audition piece for X Factor. Oh and don't organise their pieces or rehearse them or even turn up for recording sessions I have organised around their needs....

I'm in the same LA as TheasMum, but my dd hasn't had any free music lessons - must be an individual school thing.

So would it be fair to say that apart from composition there isn't anything more than what a good private teacher would be teaching them?

I mean, besides the instrumental a good teacher would do theory, expose to different styles.

Oh, is the performance the controlled assessment part of the exam?

Thanks for the comments about outsiders joining the practical part, this as I said must make it fairer for those who would otherwise have less able peers.

I don't know the current syllabus but an instrumental teacher would find it difficult to cover all the history, style & analysis of works if music.

Edexcel was 40% exam paper, 30% performance (2 peieces, solo & ensemble) and 30% composition (2 pieces).

Exam was based on 12 set works that are studied throughout the course.

May be worth checking the syllabus for the board your school uses on the board websites.

Out of interest do you need A level music to study music at a conservatoire or is it just needed for the more academic music degrees?

I skipped gcse music and did it for a-level where the focus for me was more on instrumental playing and pure musical analysis. A-level I did required proficiency in two instruments - tbh it was an easy a-level as already played to grade 8 in two instruments so didn't need to do much extra work. I got into the royal northern without gcse on strength of playing - the audition is worth more than any academic qualification. The qualification at gcse or a- level is More if you want to teach rather than perform.

Eventually went to Oxford on a different specialism so they didn't think that the music a-level wasn't academic enough.

A qualification?

I think diploma is recognized as a qualification! But if there's any chance you might want to teach or do an academic music degree rather than a performance based course then At level is vital. You can do A level without GCSE.

I'm going to explore whether DD1 can have someone from outside (eg me or one of her teachers) play with her for her ensemble work at A level. She 'had' to do a duet with her GCSE music teacher for GCSE and he is nowhere near her standard on the relevant instrument, it wasn't very fair I thought.

Certainly following the A level syllabus is exposing Dd1 to music she wouldn't have otherwise encountered because van Morrison is one of the artists and we don't listen to him in our house (at least during the footy season) because he is KNOWN to be UNLUCKY.

herc :)

My DD had an equally competent fried from another school come and play with her for her GCSE piece - no one else in her school was advanced enough on her instrument to play what she wanted to play. But I don't remember the same happening at AS level - maybe there isn't an ensemble piece at AS?

And music GCSE is so different from practical or even theory exams - it really is very academic. I may be confusing the GCSE and A level syllabuses but it's a solid structured walk through of musical styles and repertoire that you don't get in performance lessons?

And when else at school would you study the B52s and Rachmaninov in the same lesson??

Herc If it s Edexcel, there's no ensemble at AS. DD1 recently did her moch, 6 min repertoire, did 2 pieces, 1 soprano, 1 alto. Most of her group did single instrument.

No Van Morrison, but guessing yours is 2010 to 2015 list. I think hers is 2009 to 2014, as know it includedps Desmond Decker.

GCSE Music is not necessary for anybody who has reached (or will do by the end of the course) Grade 5 Practical & Theory. Unless of course you are using it to gain an extra A-C grade you are unlikely to get from another subject. Instrumental lessons, ensembles & a continued grounding in theory & harmony are perfectly adequate & I would suggest more advantageous at A level which is a different kind of course entirely!

Some of the comments on here make me so cross. I am heartily glad that I am now head of Careers in my school not head of Music - I no longer have to justify the value of the subject to those who lack understanding of the breadth of experience that studying Music at GCSE and A Level can give a student.

At least now I can continue to be an excellent Music teacher whilst ensuring every pupil in the school develops an understanding of what the world of work is like and give them opportunities to develop the skills and knowledge to move on to the next stage. Funnily enough, I never have to justify that.

I have two doing it. They are music scholars and have a grade 8 and a grade 7 (and the other has 2 grade 7s) and both have grade 5 theory. They are doing it on top of 9 academic GCSEs as their one extra easier one and because 30% of it is practical which is a walk in the park for them. I think they will get an A* without too much effort. They would have been choosing being music, RE, drama - those kind of software GCSEs. It's just an added extra. I think they enjoy it. It's making them have regular contact with the music staff so they can't hide from them which is jolly good thing.

I put myself in for it in the lower sixth without any lessons (I had almost full marks in grade 8 theory and 4 grade 8s) it was an easy way to get an additional (then) O level if you do a lot of music.

stillenacht that I certainly can understand, I don't know how far the music class are behind. I think most of them are pretty serious about it even if like DD they find it hard going. As for Xfactor she's as likely to sing church Latin as pop.

I know DD1 will, unavoidably because of an art exam, be scrapping her second composition in on the deadline.

I do know art and drama are having grief withY11s who don't seem to care if the get a GCSE or not.

DD says they have boys who can act, who just throw marks away by not turning up for rehearsals for no reason what so ever except being teen boys.

Likewise spending the first 5 hours of a 10 hour art exam doing very little.

Why??!!?

I can see some music pupils having bitten off more than they expected, it does seem a very complicated multifaceted course, but art and drama are pretty straight forward. Turn up, do the work, get at least a C, but I guess I was never a disaffected rebellious teen and neither is DD1.

Does anybody know if all the boards are pretty much the same and how hard it would be to do GCSE and A level out of school?
My dd has looked at some of the elements already and will be likely to have grade 6 in 3 instruments and a grade 7 in the other by 11.
I know we would have to find a school/centre willing to do this but was wondering how difficult it would be.

It would be quite difficult because composition had to be done under controlled conditions in class over several sessions.

pictures

Thank you, I was trying to work out which part would be the controlled assessment part. I knew there was one.
I know there's no rush, but whilst she seemed interested and had started some of it, I thought why not. Maybe its best leaving it and seeing if she goes to school throughout secondary.