Art and Music GCSE doable?

[BerryBury]

So obviously it's a well-worn classic that Art is a terrible time suck. Anyone experience of children doing Art and Music?

DD has 4 options, totally free choice. In consideration are Geography or History (1 of but she could do both), German or French (1 of but she could do both), Art, Music, Computer Science. Long-term plans unknown, has considered Graphic Design (although nothing concrete) and so Art is really a no-brainer (Graphic Tech not offered). Is currently at G6 level in instrument. I know people often say, why use up an option, just keep going at home, but she is pretty keen on taking it. Able linguist. Able writer but not keen (I am steering her towards Geog as opposed to Hist). Maths well up to the demands of CS. I recognise I'm saying she's good at everything so far - she's not! Workshop tech, Dance, PE absolute no no's.

Music not as bad as drama or art. Assuming your child plays an instrument or sings they can usually find something to play from their usual repertoire then they just have to do an ensemble piece.

The bit a lot do find hard is composition though. That has to be mostly complleted in school though so the teacher can sign it off as being all their own work.

I agree with Comefromaway, music is not as bad as art. I would go so far to say that music can be an absolute breeze for academically able, experienced musicians as they may already have covered a lot of the syllabus.

Have you looked at the syllabus with your DD? She may already be performing and composing at GCSE level if she does a lot of extracurrcular music and already be familiar with a lot of the understanding music syllabus, if she has grade 5 theory. If she plays in bands or orchestras or has performed a large repertoire, even if she doesn't know all the terms, she may well already recognise a lot of the styles, sounds of instruments, musical elements, have an innate feel for how classical music is different from baroque music even if she doesn't "know" IYSWIM, which will give her a headstart on the understanding music exam.

At grade 6, she is above the standard required for the performance element. The advice my DC were given was to play something simpler than they were capable of at the level required for GCSE (IIRC grade 4/5) perfectly rather than a more difficult piece with mistakes.

If she already understands the basics of harmony, that will give her a head start with composition. If she has done a lot of improvisiation or composition already, as with the performance assessment, she may well already be at GCSE standard.

FWIW my DC were grade 6-8 on 2 instruments with grade 5 theory, played in orchestras and bands, writing their own (simple) songs, and all 3 scored 100% in both the performance element and composition with very little effort. The only part that required some work was the written exam but, even then, they knew a lot from studying theory. I'm not saying that as a boast, it just came down to the fact that they had effectively been studying the syllabus since primary school. Your DD might find the same as she is at a similar level.

Thank you both. Yes, we have had a look at the syllabus and the weighting of the 3 components. She has done only a little formal theory so far, but I suppose she will have covered a fair bit nevertheless. She plays in a county orchestra (not the county orchestra, but one step down) so they cover a range of styles. Composition has been minimal so far, but what she's done she's enjoyed. Sounds possible then...
Question is how to fit the other 3 choices into 2 slots!

It will be absolutely fine, one of mine recently managed to do well in three creative subjects at GCSE. It was never stressful, as they enjoyed all the extra work that people on these threads usually complain about.

The composition took DS an incredible amount of time. But then he really struggled with it and I swear he was writing about the rate of a bar an hour. And then annoyingly it never got looked at due to GCSEs being cancelled
If your DD has more aptitude it might not be so painful!!

No experience of art GCSE, but DS2 has just started taking music GCSE and has found it within his comfort zone so far (grade 6/7 in his instruments, plays in local youth orchestra etc).

My eldest took all academic subject, and history was by far the most time heavy. He loves it, so didn't mind at all, but it is fact heavy, and essay heavy.

Yes, it's the composition that is the bit I'm most unsure about, certainly the part we need to investigate more.
And yes, I am pretty well acquainted with the History GCSE and I know it is massively content heavy! I really don't think it's where her skills lie in any case.

Friend of DD's did music and art, she was first number cohort so a tough year, she also did history and German and she got six 9 and four 8 IIRC.

So yes, perfectly possible to do both. A musician at grade 6 in yr 9 is accomplished!

All I would add is that the amount of work for Art GCSE is considerable and could impact on the amount of time required for practice on her instrument outside school. I would presume she will continue with grades, so in a year's time Grade 7 or 8, competing with the time required for Art, could be a challenge for some students.

CS might be very useful for a future interest in graphics, so I would do that as well as art; and one of the languages sounds like a good idea as she's good in that area. That leaves one spot for music, geography or second language, whatever appeals most.

DD2 did art and music and didn’t complain about the workload at all. I thought she would because she’s not the hardest working! I think this is because she enjoyed both. She played two instruments and as others suggested she used pieces she was already playing for her music exams. Her other two were German and history and had 9 A*/As. I would always advise to go with what you enjoy.

Sounds like a great mix of subjects which she enjoys and all play to her strengths. It is a shame to hear that so many kids are put off art after doing the GCSE though. There has to be something wrong there with the curriculum or the assessment.

My DS (no genius) did his composition on the train between Harpenden and Blackfriars. That's all. Formulaic. Art for him took a lot more time and was not a success. Lovely course but he lacked commitment if not ability.

iloveshushi It is odd about Art isn't it - why is it acceptable to have a subject that takes literally twice as much time as everything else and yet that's somehow OK to shrug off and say, 'well that's Art for you'. She has a bit of time to decide anyway.

I'm not sure Art really does take twice as much time as anything else. It just feels like it!! DD's teachers reckon that if they spend 2 hours a week working on their portfolio and don't get sucked down the rabbit hole of being too perfectionist, that will easily enable them to stay on top of work required. And tbh, if you take into account homework + revision time (obviously not needed for Art) for any other subject, I think that's not too dissimilar if you count it up over 2 years. Art feels like more, because it's so easy to spend a lot of time on it (that probably doesn't add more marks in proportion to time spent) or, because it's continual coursework, it's easy to not work steadily and suddenly have to do a load all at once.

If you're taking music and are a decent musician, you might realistically be practicing for half an hour a day plus additional time spent playing in ensembles/orchestras etc. That's quite a chunk of time spent, but is somehow "ignored" because a musical DC is doing it anyway. And performance is only 40% of the GCSE!

(sorry 30% of the GCSE. On AQA anyway)

DD1 is in Y11 and a number of her friends are doing art and music. The art element was hard during lockdown because of not having access to supplies etc. but those who are organised and consistent seem to cope with it fine. Music is definitely easier if you play an orchestral instrument and/or the piano and have done at least some theory.

The most important thing is that your DD chooses subjects she wants to do. There aren't many paths that will be shut off to her as the result of her GCSE choices.

I'm going back 20 years , but I did both art and music at GCSE. Yes , it was a lot of time and effort but I did well in both.

I'd say it's most Important to let your child do what interests them at this stage , more career based choices can be made at later stages.

Well it's hard to know about the Art time thing isn't it? There are some total horror stories on MN about it. So it's good to read more balanced views too. I do know a girl who says for every two hours of Art homework she does one hour of everything else - leaving an hour for YouTube! But how much is choice/pefectionism I'm not sure.

I agree DC's should do what they are most interested in, assuming they aren't blocking off things at this stage. She is lucky she gets a totally free choice and a 99% chance of getting what she picks.

My dd is doing music (she plays the violin and is grade 6)and drama so similar to music and art and it’s fine.

You can get full marks for performance playing a Grade 5 piece - in fact yiu only lose 1 Mark playing a Grade 4. So she will be fine.

As she has Grade 5 theory she’ll be fine with the music written paper which is w combination of listening (unknown pieces) and set texts.

Tge composition is hard and a large component. Does she play the piano? If not does the school provide access to something like Sibelius?

Music is a great and well regarded gcse.

I’ve had 2 children do / doing history and 1 Grography - History is very content heavy.