Edexcel AS Music - The Hazeley Academy | A learning … 1: Marking • Your teacher will assess your work using assessment criteria which are supplied by Edexcel • Each piece will

Edexcel AS Music

2015 - 2016

Overview

• There are three units in your AS Music

programme

Unit 1: Performing Music

Unit 2: Composing

Unit 3: Developing Musical Understanding


• This unit is internally assessed

• This unit will be sent to the examiner by May 2016

• What is this unit worth?

• This unit is worth 30% of your AS and 15% of the total GCE mark.

• Unit content

• This unit allows you to perform in any style as a soloist or as an ensemble. You can perform on any instrument or sing and your submission can be from notated music or based on improvisation.

Unit 2: Composing

• This unit is externally assessed

• This unit will be sent to the examiner by May 2016



• Unit content

• You will be required to compose a three minute composition in response to a chosen brief. In September Edexcel will publish four compositional briefs on www.edexcel.org.uk (Unit 2: Composing). You will also submit a CD sleeve note which will explain your compositional process and musical and extra-musical influences which will be a response to three questions set by Edexcel.

Unit 3: Developing Musical

Understanding • This unit is externally assessed

• This unit is assessed by a two hour examination

• This unit will be complete by June 2016



• Unit content

• In this unit you will study set pieces of music by listening and reading scores to identify important musical features as well as social and historical context. You will be provided with an anthology of scores (the New Anthology of Music or NAM) in induction week.

Unit 3: Areas of Study

• The three areas of study are:

• AoS 1: Instrumental music

• AoS 2: Vocal music

• AoS 3: Applied music

• For your AS Level you will study AoS 1

and 2, Instrumental and Vocal music.


• Unit 1: Performing Music

• You can perform as a soloist or as part of an

ensemble

• You can perform music in any style

• You can perform on any instrument or your voice

• You can perform from notation or from an

improvised stimulus

• You will be assessed on a performance lasting

between 5 and 6 minutes


How you will be assessed • For this unit you will be assessed by your teacher

• For this unit your performance will be recorded at school

• Your performance will last between 5 and 6 minutes

• You may submit a recording lasting longer than 6 minutes

• If your performance falls under the required minimum of 5 minutes then your marks will be penalised according to the length of performance

• This unit will be externally moderated by Edexcel

• There will be set recording sessions throughout the year

• You may re-record your submission

• The recording music be done in one continuous take

What you will submit

• A recoding of the piece/s on CD which will

contain only your work

• Photocopies of the music. If your performance

is accompanied then only your part will be

submitted

• Where the music is improvised or a composed

by the student then an appropriate form of score

music be submitted. This may include a full

score or simply a lead sheet

Unit 1: performing Music

• Ensemble performance

• There will be a maximum of five performers which includes you. Your part cannot be doubled by another and must play a clear and active part in the ensemble

• More than one student can be assessed in an ensemble

• Improvisation

• You must submit the stimulus for your improvisation which could be a lead sheet, head or chord progression. It is preferable that you also submit a written evaluation of your methods of interpretation and development

Unit 1: Accompaniment

• If your chosen work requires an

accompaniment then you must perform

with an accompaniment

• You may perform as a soloist with an

ensemble as long as your part is clearly

soloistic

• You may perform with a backing track

Unit 1: Difficulty

• You are expected to perform at a level

equivalent to Grade 5 ABRSM

• If you perform at a higher level then your

marks will be enhanced

• Your grade will be restricted if you perform

at a lower level

Unit 1: Marking

• Your teacher will assess your work using assessment criteria which are supplied by Edexcel

• Each piece will be assessed separately

• If you perform two movements of a single piece each movement will be assessed separately

• You will be provided with a copy of the assessment criteria for all aspects of this unit: notated music and improvised music

Internal assessment

• Your work will be assessed by your teacher and the assessment moderated by another member of staff

• You will complete an authentication document

Unit 2: Composing

• What you will learn

• You will learn how to use music sequencing programmes and how to input your music using Sibelius music publishing software

• You will be taught how to write for instruments in a stylistically and idiomatically correct manner

• You will be encouraged to compose in a musically intelligent and effective manner

• You will be taught how to develop and extend a musical idea

• You will be taught musical devices such a harmony, rhythm and form

• You will study musical extracts as part of your creative development

Unit 2: Area of study

• You will choose one composition brief from four set by Edexcel.

• AoS 1: Instrumental music

• Topic 1: Composing expressively

• You will investigate how mood and emotion are created in music

• You may write in any style

• You may write for any instrument and instrumental combinations

• Topic 2: Variation structures – composing idiomatically for instruments

• Keeping within instrumental ranges

• Instrumental techniques

• Instrumental restrictions

• Instrumental timbres and characteristic



Unit 2: Area of study

• AoS 2: Vocal music

• Topic 3: Words and music: structure in vocal music

• Text and music

• Form in vocal music



• Topic 4: Text, context and texture

• Types of text

• Texture in vocal music

• Style in vocal music


• You may write for any instrument and instrumental combination

Unit 2: Composing

• Written submission

• You are required to submit a CD sleeve note to

support your submission which will be based on

a response to three questions set by Edexcel.

• The composition and CD sleeve note will be

completed under controlled conditions: 15 hours

for the composition and 1 hour for the CD sleeve

note

• Your work will be assessed externally

Unit 2: Composing

• Style

• Although you will be working to a set brief Edexcel will ensure that the wording is sufficiently open-ended to allow you to work in any style and for any genre. It is important that you undertake private study and research into a variety of composers in order to broaden your musical vocabulary.

• CD sleeve note

• This is completed under controlled conditions

• You will prepare your sleeve note beforehand

• You may take your research material into the controlled conditions

Unit 2: Composing

• Controlled conditions

• You have 15 hours to complete the composition

• You have 1 hour to complete the CD sleeve

• The 15 hours will take part over a number of sessions which will be supervised by your tutor

• The sessions will take part in the Music Department

• You cannot take your work home with you between sessions. Your work will be kept by your tutor

• You may not download material from the internet

• You may not save your work to any device or upload to an email address

• All work must be your own

• The recording of your work takes place outside of the 15 hours restriction

Unit 2: Composing

• What you will submit

• A 3 minute composition

• A notated score

• A recording on audio CD containing your work only

• CD sleeve note

• Authentication

• Your score is not marked on presentation but it is expected to be legible and preferably created using Sibelius music publication software.

Unit 3: Developing musical understanding

• The unit in brief

• You will study a selection of set works from the

anthology

• You will study AoS 1 and 2: Instrumental music;

Vocal music

• You will learn to use a score to identify musical

features such as harmony and tonality as well as

other musical features and apply these

principles in the completion of an SATB texture


• Set works

• What you will learn

• You will learn how to listen to music

• You will learn how to follow a musical recording using a score

• You will learn how to identify musical features through listening

• You will learn how to identify musical features in a score

• You will learn about resources (instrumentation), form, texture, tonality, harmony, melody, rhythm and metre

• You will learn about the social and historical context of the set works

• You will learn how to write about music in an analytical, formal and informative manner

• You will learn how to compare and contrast musical features

• You will learn about the function of harmony and how harmony is used in the set works

• You will learn about the hierarchy of chords within a key

• You will learn about the structure of keys


• The set works for 2016

Instrumental Works:

Tippett — Concerto for Double String Orchestra: movement I

Webern — Quartet Op. 22: movement I

Haydn — String Quartet in E flat, Op. 33 No. 2, ‘The Joke’: movement IV, J. S. Bach — Partita No. 4 in D, BWV 828: Sarabande and Gigue.

Vocal Works:

Berio — Sequenza III for female voice

Bruckner — Locus iste, Dowland — Flow my tears

Gershwin — ‘Summertime’ from Porgy and Bess

Desmond Dekker and the Aces — You can get it if you really want

Oasis — Don’t look back in anger.


• How you will be assessed

• There will be a 2 hour examination in which there are three sections:

• Section A: Listening

• Section B: Investigating musical styles

• Section C: Understanding chords and lines

• You will be issued with a CD

• You will not be allowed a copy of the anthology

• You will be given 5 minutes reading time at the start of the examination

• For Section C you are allowed to use a keyboard with headphones but not musical software

Documents

Edexcel AS Music - The Hazeley Academy | A learning … 1: Marking • Your teacher will assess your work using assessment criteria which are supplied by Edexcel • Each piece will