Students will compose, perform and analyse music with the aim of broadening their understanding of how music works. All students on this course are expected to fully engage with the extensive performance opportunities in the Department and play an instrument or sing.

Course content:

Year 12

Throughout Year 12 students will be taught how to develop creative composition ideas using a range of software, including Logic, Sibelius and GarageBand, in a specialist music technology suite. Students will have an opportunity to develop and refine their performance skills in preparation for an end-of-year recital. The final component of this year is the study of set works from a range of genres including classical instrumental and vocal music, popular music, jazz and fusions. Alongside this study, students will be taught how to analyse unfamiliar pieces of music and develop their aural skills.

Year 13

Composition in Year 13 involves composing in a particular style to a brief set by the exam board. Skills in the various compositional techniques are taught throughout Year 13, with the piece being completed under supervision at the end of the course. Students will work to prepare a recital to be performed to an invited audience and also complete their study of the set works, and related listening and appraising skills, begun in Year 12.

The Department has a strong record, over many years, of successfully preparing students for further musical study at conservatoires or prestigious universities, including Oxbridge.

Assessment criteria:

Students will present an 8-minute recital on their own instrument or voice and submit 2 compositions, one of which will be to a set brief, and the other will be a free composition. The acquired knowledge of set works will be assessed in a 2 hour and 10 minutes listening and appraising examination.