Music Department

During the autumn term, students in the 3rd form study the history of Western Music from the Renaissance to present day. In the spring term, World music is covered and in summer term, the history of Jazz and popular music is investigated.  The course content is taught by performing, composing, listening or a mixture of all three.

Music is offered at both GCSE and A level. In addition to this, Music Technology A level is also offered.

At GCSE students have four tasks to complete:

The Integrated task (30%) which involves both performance and composition, the Practical performance (30%) which must include a group performance and another composition, the Creative task (15%) which is a short composition and finally the listening test (25%) which assesses the students’ knowledge and understanding  of a range of topics. For further details please see the OCR syllabus.

At A level both Music and Music technology are offered. Students who study Music will present a recital (30%), a composition (30%) and sit an examination which tests their response to a listening extract, essay type questions, and harmonic understanding (40%). Details of the course can be found on the Edexcel website.

Students who study Music Technology present a sequenced realised performance, a multi-track recording and a creative arrangement these practical tasks are completed using computer software and constitute of 70% of the marks at AS, the remaining 30% is achieved in a listening and analysing paper. At A2 the tasks are similar; students present a sequenced realised performance, a multi-track recording and a composition (60%). The remaining marks are achieved by sitting an Analysing and producing paper (40%). Details of the course can be found on the Edexcel website.