Music or Food and Nutrition GCSE

[ZebbieZebra]

DS is trying to choose between Music and Food and Nutrition GCSE. Does anyone have experience of either that might help us decide?

His other subjects will be English, Maths, Science, French, History, and RE

He’s been playing guitar for a couple of years but hasn’t ever done any formal grading. He’s also been having drum lessons at school for the past year. His music teacher thinks he has a natural aptitude for music and will do well in the GCSE. DS is a bit worried about all the theory. Another thought was would it turn a fun hobby into something stressful?

My DD did food and is now studying to be a vet. She is a fantastic cook because of that GCSE ! Great life skill.
Music is hard. Can't help much more than that, but my year 11s moan a lot how much work it is (& some of them are grade 8 )

My dd took music GCSE and was on about grade 4/5 when she started. She found the composition challenging, performance ok, music theory easy but then had done a lot of it already. She started A level but switched after a week as the focus on composition was not for her.

She did the old GCSE so the new one may have a different focus, but bc of the A level, I infer not.

I would say a student who had not done any grades or theory might find it hard. Check out the detail of composition as well - is this something your ds has done?

Food tech is a great GCSE and the practical element means you get a section completed before the summer which can be a bonus.

That’s really helpful thanks. It’s the composition I think that’s he most worried about. He’s never done any composing.

I agree that food and nutrition would also give him some great life skills.

Composing is 30% of the GCSE for all specifications, so that's something to bear in mind. You don't need to have taken any grades on instruments to do well in Music; for the Eduqas spec. to access the highest marks in performing (also 30%) you need to perform pieces of around grade 4 standard. Something that is often spouted on here is that you need to be grade 5 or play grade 8 pieces blah blah. That is nonsense. In fact students I have taught who have performed more challenging work have lost marks. GCSE performance is marked differently to eg ABRSM exams.

I would be surprised if your DS has never done any composing. Presumably he has had 2.5 years of KS3 Music lessons plus a whole primary education - composing is a strand that should have been covered throughout. They don't have to necessarily compose in a classical style; some of my singer-songwriters have produced stunning work using GarageBand and recording their work into that, then submitted detailed lead sheets.

I did both of them. Music is bloody hard work. If he’s only been learning an instrument for a couple of years and hasn’t started working his way through the grades, I am not sure he would be able to perform to the required standard by the time it gets to the performance exam (I think you’re recommended to be playing something roughly grade 4-6)

I believe you that he’s never done any composing, music can be pitiful before you get to GCSE (not always the teachers fault, certainly wasn’t the case in our school) The theory bit can be covered in lessons and they should do practice on the theory and appraisal bit but again some of that will come down to how good the teacher is.

Food is also a lot of work through. Our coursework was an absolute beast and I’m not sure I got a lot out of it (I only did it because we had to do a technology and I hated Resistant Materials and Graphics)

@ZebbieZebra I don't know the music GCSE, but I'm another big fan of Food & Nutrition. There are a few previous threads about it, including this one that I contributed to (to save me repeating everything 😁): https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/secondary/4727439-gcse-food-prep-nutrition-2019-spec-hard?reply=123363201

DD started the Eduqas Food & Nutrition GCSE but didn't complete it due to covid.
There is quite a lot of theory, which can be quite sciencey.
Some of the practicals are about testing and tweaking, not just learning to cook.
I'm not sure how she would have got on if she had had the chance to complete it. She would have been better off with a BTEC.