GCSE Music

In this course, students are prepared for Edexcel Music GCSE (1MU0). The following eight units are studied sequentially across Years 10 and 11.

Unit Content

1


 

In this unit, students learn about music for stage and screen, studying an extract from John Williams's score to the film Star Wars (1977) and undertaking wider listening from other film scores by composers including Bernard Herrmann, Debbie Wiseman and Howard Shore. Students develop their composing skills in the context of a Dorian-mode composition and advance their performing skills through individual practice on their chosen instrument.

Key knowledge developed:

  • Understanding fundamental concepts associated with music for stage and screen, including the process of scoring and recording music for a film
  • Knowing the characteristics of John Williams's symphonic style
  • Knowing important terminology including ostinato, triplet, fanfare, Leitmotif, quartal harmony, diatonic harmony and bitonality
  • Knowing the conventions of a Dorian-mode composition

Key skills developed:

  • How to identify and describe key features of John Williams's score to the film Star Wars
  • How to compare John Williams's compositional output with that of other film composers
  • How to develop musical ideas in the context of a Dorian-mode composition, demonstrating technical control and musical coherence
  • How to perform fluently, accurately and expressively on a chosen instrument

Assessment: Students benefit from immediate oral feedback from the teacher in lessons. They receive peer feedback and have the opportunity to assess themselves according to established criteria. Knowledge of the John Williams set work is tested in the Year 10 and Year 11 mock exam series, and finally assessed in the listening exam, which is worth 40% of the available marks. Students' composing and performing work contributes to a non-exam assessment portfolio, internally marked and externally moderated, worth the remaining 60% of the available marks.

2

In this unit, students learn about vocal music, studying 'Music for a While' from Henry Purcell's incidental music to John Dryden and Nathaniel Lee's play Oedipus (1692) and engaging in wider listening that includes arias by G.F. Handel and J.S. Bach. Students develop their composing skills in the context of a Dorian-mode composition, which they bring to completion in this unit, and advance their performing skills through individual practice on their chosen instrument.

Key knowledge developed:

  • Understanding fundamental concepts associated with vocal music including the setting of a text to music, and the structure of a da capo aria
  • Knowing the essential characteristics of the Baroque style
  • Knowing important vocabulary items including lament, ground bass, sequence, ornamentation, word-painting, suspension, tenor, harpsichord, viol, melisma, conjunct and disjunct
  • Knowing the conventions of a Dorian-mode composition

Key skills developed:

  • How to identify and describe key features of Henry Purcell's 'Music for a While'
  • How to compare Purcell's compositional output with that of other Baroque composers
  • How to develop musical ideas in the context of a Dorian-mode composition, demonstrating technical control and musical coherence
  • How to perform fluently, accurately and expressively on a chosen instrument

Assessment: Students benefit from immediate oral feedback from the teacher in lessons. They receive peer feedback and have the opportunity to assess themselves according to established criteria. Knowledge of the Henry Purcell set work is tested in the Year 10 and Year 11 mock exam series, and finally assessed in the listening exam, which is worth 40% of the available marks. Students' composing and performing work contributes to a non-exam assessment portfolio, internally marked and externally moderated, worth the remaining 60% of the available marks.

3

In this unit, students deepen their knowledge of music for stage and screen, studying 'Defying Gravity' from Stephen Schwartz's musical Wicked (2004) and undertaking wider listening from other musicals including Matilda and Hairspray. Students develop their composing skills in the context of a chord-based composition and advance their performing skills through individual practice on their chosen instrument.

Key knowledge developed:

  • Understanding fundamental concepts associated with music for stage and screen including the development of character through musical style
  • Knowing how Stephen Schwartz creates drama using a range of musical features and devices
  • Knowing important terminology including syncopation, chromatic, overdrive, syllabic, unison, colla voce, tutti, motif, recitative, belt, soprano and mezzo-soprano
  • Knowing the conventions of a composition in a contemporary style based on a diatonic chord sequence

Key skills developed:

  • How to identify and describe key features of 'Defying Gravity' from Stephen Schwartz's musical Wicked
  • How to compare Schwartz's style with that of other composers of music theatre
  • How to develop musical ideas in the context of a musical composition, demonstrating technical control and musical coherence
  • How to perform fluently, accurately and expressively on a chosen instrument

Assessment: Students benefit from immediate oral feedback from the teacher in lessons. They receive peer feedback and have the opportunity to assess themselves according to established criteria. Knowledge of the Stephen Schwartz set work is tested in the Year 10 and Year 11 mock exam series, and finally assessed in the listening exam, which is worth 40% of the available marks. Students' composing and performing work contributes to a non-exam assessment portfolio, internally marked and externally moderated, worth the remaining 60% of the available marks.

4

In this unit, students learn about instrumental music, 1700-1820, studying the third movement of Bach's Brandenburg Concerto no. 5 in D major and undertaking wider listening including concerti grossi by Vivaldi and Handel. Students develop their composing skills in the context of a chord-based composition, which they bring to completion in this unit, and advance their performing skills through individual practice on their chosen instrument.

Key knowledge developed:

  • Understanding fundamental concepts associated with instrumental music, 1700-1820, including eighteenth-century performance conventions, the basso continuo group, and figured bass
  • Knowing the defining features of a concerto grosso
  • Knowing important terminology including concertino, ripieno, polyphony, fugato, ritornello, virtuosity, terraced dynamics, gigue, compound time, figured bass, violone, imitation, pedal note, appoggiatura and cadence
  • Knowing the conventions of a composition in a contemporary style based on a diatonic chord sequence

Key skills developed:

  • How to identify and describe key features of Bach's Brandenburg Concerto no. 5
  • How to compare this concerto with similar music by other Baroque composers
  • How to develop musical ideas in the context of a musical composition, demonstrating technical control and musical coherence
  • How to perform fluently, accurately and expressively on a chosen instrument

Assessment: Students benefit from immediate oral feedback from the teacher in lessons. They receive peer feedback and have the opportunity to assess themselves according to established criteria. Knowledge of the Brandenburg Concerto is tested in the Year 10 and Year 11 mock exam series, and finally assessed in the listening exam, which is worth 40% of the available marks. Students' composing and performing work contributes to a non-exam assessment portfolio, internally marked and externally moderated, worth the remaining 60% of the available marks.

5

In this unit, students deepen their knowledge of vocal music, studying 'Killer Queen' from Queen's 1974 album Sheer Heart Attack and undertaking wider listening which includes songs by the Beach Boys and Pink Floyd. Students develop their composing skills in the context of a composition made to fulfil a brief chosen from a list of five options and advance their performing skills through individual practice on their chosen instrument.

Key knowledge developed:

  • Understanding fundamental concepts associated with vocal music of the 1970s including recording techniques and vocal effects
  • Knowing how Queen exploits and develops the key features of glam rock
  • Knowing important vocabulary including close harmony, overdubbing, distortion, wah-wah, string bend, slide, pull-off, vibrato, vaudeville, gospel, reverb, panning, flanging, anacrusis, portamento, circle of fifths, extended chord and modulation

Key skills developed:

  • How to identify and describe key features of 'Killer Queen' by Queen
  • How to compare Queen's musical output with that of other rock groups of the era
  • How to develop musical ideas in the context of a composition made to fulfil the demands of a set brief, demonstrating technical control and musical coherence
  • How to perform fluently, accurately and expressively on a chosen instrument

Assessment: Students benefit from immediate oral feedback from the teacher in lessons. They receive peer feedback and have the opportunity to assess themselves according to established criteria. Knowledge of 'Killer Queen' is tested in the Year 10 and Year 11 mock exam series, and finally assessed in the listening exam, which is worth 40% of the available marks. Students' composing and performing work contributes to a non-exam assessment portfolio, internally marked and externally moderated, worth the remaining 60% of the available marks.

6

In this unit, students learn about musical fusions, studying 'Samba em Prelúdio' as recorded by Esperanza Spalding in 2008 and undertaking a range of wider listening, including music from African, Turkish, Afro-Cuban Jazz and Latin traditions. Students develop their composing skills in the context of a composition made to fulfil a brief chosen from a list of five options, which they bring to completion in this unit. They advance their solo and ensemble performing skills through individual practice on their chosen instrument in preparation for the Year 10 showcase.

Key knowledge developed:

  • Understanding fundamental concepts associated with the fusion between musical styles
  • Understanding how cool jazz and samba are combined to create the bossa nova style
  • Knowing important vocabulary including strophic form, bossa nova, samba, cool jazz, tessitura, finger-picking, strumming, seventh chord, extended chord, altered chord, rubato, improvisation, glissando, double-stopping, harmonics and arpeggio

Key skills developed:

  • How to identify and describe key features of 'Samba em Prelúdio' as recorded by Esperanza Spalding
  • How to compare Spalding's recording with other works that are musical fusions
  • How to develop musical ideas in the context of a composition made to fulfil the demands of a set brief, demonstrating technical control and musical coherence
  • How to perform fluently, accurately and expressively on a chosen instrument

Assessment: Students benefit from immediate oral feedback from the teacher in lessons. They receive peer feedback and have the opportunity to assess themselves according to established criteria. Knowledge of 'Samba em Prelúdio' is tested in the Year 11 mock exam series, and finally assessed in the listening exam, which is worth 40% of the available marks. Students' composing and performing work contributes to a non-exam assessment portfolio, internally marked and externally moderated, worth the remaining 60% of the available marks.

7

In this unit, students deepen their knowledge of instrumental music, 1700-1820, studying the first movement of Beethoven's Piano Sonata no. 8 in C minor, Op. 13, 'Pathétique' and undertaking wider listening including piano sonata movements by Haydn and Mozart. Students develop their composing skills in the context of a piece composed to fulfil one of the briefs published by Edexcel at the start of Year 11. They advance their performing skills through individual practice on their chosen instrument in preparation for the Year 11 showcase.

Key knowledge developed:

  • Understanding fundamental concepts associated with instrumental music, 1700-1820, including sonata form, the Classical Style and nineteenth-century Romanticism
  • Knowing the affordances and limitations of the early-nineteenth-century piano
  • Knowing important vocabulary including Classical style, Romantic style, sonata form, exposition, development, recapitulation, diminished seventh chord and minor tonality

Key skills developed:

  • How to identify and describe key features of Beethoven's Piano Sonata no. 8 in C minor, Op. 13, 'Pathétique'
  • How to compare Beethoven's music with solo piano works by other composers of the period
  • How to develop musical ideas in the context of a composition made to fulfil the demands of a set brief, demonstrating technical control and musical coherence
  • How to record a fluent, accurate and expressive performance on a chosen instrument

Assessment: Students benefit from immediate oral feedback from the teacher in lessons. They receive peer feedback and have the opportunity to assess themselves according to established criteria. Knowledge of Beethoven 'Pathétique' Sonata is tested in the Year 11 mock exam series, and finally assessed in the listening exam, which is worth 40% of the available marks. Students' composing and performing work contributes to a non-exam assessment portfolio, internally marked and externally moderated, worth the remaining 60% of the available marks.

8

In this unit, students deepen their knowledge of musical fusions, studying 'Release' from the album Volume 2: Release by Afro Celt Sound System and undertaking a range of wider listening including music from African, Turkish, Afro-Cuban Jazz and Latin traditions. Students develop their composing skills in the context of a piece composed to fulfil one of the briefs published by Edexcel at the start of Year 11, which they bring to completion in this unit. They advance their solo and ensemble performing skills through individual practice on their chosen instrument in preparation for the Year 11 showcase.

Key knowledge developed:

  • Understanding fundamental concepts associated with the fusion of traditions and styles in the context of popular music
  • Knowing how elements of electronic dance music, traditional African music and Irish folk music are combined in the music of Afro Celt Sound System
  • Knowing important vocabulary including polyrhythm, repetition, Aeolian mode, loops, panning, sampling, strophic form, kora, djembe, talking drum, fiddle, uilleann pipes, penny whistle, bodhrán, accordion, hurdy-gurdy, drum machine, synthesizer, layering, drone, reverb and pads

Key skills developed:

  • How to identify and describe key features of 'Release' by Afro Celt Sound System
  • How to compare this work with other musical fusions in the realm of popular music
  • How to develop musical ideas in the context of a composition made to fulfil the demands of a set brief, demonstrating technical control and musical coherence
  • How to record a fluent, accurate and expressive performance on a chosen instrument

Assessment: Students benefit from immediate oral feedback from the teacher in lessons. They receive peer feedback and have the opportunity to assess themselves according to established criteria. Knowledge of 'Release' by Afro Celt Sound System is tested in the Year 11 mock exam series, and finally assessed in the listening exam, which is worth 40% of the available marks. Students' composing and performing work contributes to a non-exam assessment portfolio, internally marked and externally moderated, worth the remaining 60% of the available marks.