Music (A Level)

A Level Music offers you the opportunity to develop your ability to use musical devices and conventions through composition, engage with and increase awareness and appreciation of the diverse heritage of music, and develop critical evaluation skills through appraising your own and others' music.

As part of the course you can expect to:

• Study music scores in detail to learn how the structure of music works
• Improve your performing ability on your first instrument
• Compose music using the facilities in college (recording studio, Mac suite)
• Learn how to write about music in a structured way
• Study music from The Western Classical Tradition, Modern Classical music (20th/21st Century), plus one of these three areas: Rock and Pop (1960-2000), Musical Theatre or Jazz (1920 -1960)

Music is taken with another 2 or 3 A Levels or Level 3 BTECs. It is a very good A Level to take for further academic study at university as it develops so many skills. If students are sure that they want to go into music in the future they might consider adding the Music Technology course as one of their other options.

In Music A Level, you will develop skills in the three distinct but related disciplines of performing, composing and appraising. You will also engage with both classical and popular music and study the development of the symphony - engaging with landmark orchestral repertoire. You will use the musical language of this period to compose one piece of music to a brief. Students can choose one area of study from Pop and Rock, Musical Theatre and Jazz and one further area of study exploring the musical language and styles from either the early 20th Century or the late 20th and early 21st Centuries.