AS and A Level

Music has become an increas­ingly popu­lar subject at Sixth Form level and provides great oppor­tun­it­ies for self-expression and devel­op­ment in many areas, not just the intel­lec­tual. Music is an import­ant area of study for anyone consid­er­ing a career in the arts and partic­u­larly for stage work. It can also lead to other career oppor­tun­it­ies in broad­cast­ing, record­ing and teach­ing. In general the specific­a­tion provides consid­er­able choice and enables candid­ates to demon­strate their abil­it­ies to perform, compose and appre­ci­ate a vari­ety of musical styles.

This specific­a­tion has been designed to:
Encour­age candid­ates to draw on their exper­i­ences at GCSE and recog­nise the inter­de­pend­ence of musical skills, know­ledge and under­stand­ing and the links between the activ­it­ies of performing/realising, compos­ing and appraising

Offer a mean­ing­ful found­a­tion for the study of Music beyond A-level.

AS outline

MUSC1: Influ­ences on Music
Writ­ten paper 1 hour 45 minutes.
Section A contains struc­tured listen­ing ques­tions using a CD of musical excerpts. Candid­ates then answer two essay ques­tions, one based on the set work from the compuls­ory Area of Study, The West­ern Clas­sical Tradi­tion, and one based on a second Area of Study chosen from:

Choral Music in the Baroque Period
Music Theatre: a study of the musical from 1940 to 1980
Brit­ish Popu­lar Music from 1960 to the Present Day

MUSC2: Compos­ing: Creat­ing Musical Ideas
Extern­ally assessed course­work completed in controlled time.
Candid­ates respond to one brief from a choice of three:

Compos­i­tional tech­niques
Free compos­i­tion or pastiche
Arranging

MUSC3: Perform­ing: Inter­pret­ing Musical Ideas
Intern­ally assessed course­work.
Candid­ates offer two perform­ances from a choice of six, includ­ing oppor­tun­it­ies for solo, ensemble and/or technology-based performance.

A2 outline

MUSC4: Music in Context
Writ­ten paper 2 hour 15 minutes.
Section A contains struc­tured listen­ing ques­tions using a CD of musical excerpts. Candid­ates then answer two essay ques­tions, one based on the chosen set work from the compuls­ory Area of Study, The West­ern Clas­sical Tradi­tion, and one based on a second Area of Study chosen from:

English Choral Music in the 20^th century
Cham­ber Music from Mendels­sohn to Debussy
Four decades of Jazz and Blues 1910 to 1950

MUSC5: Compos­ing: Devel­op­ing Musical Ideas
Extern­ally assessed course­work completed in controlled time.
Candid­ates respond to one brief from a choice of three:

Compos­i­tional tech­niques
Free compos­i­tion or pastiche
Arranging

MUSC6: Perform­ing: A Musical Perform­ance
Extern­ally assessed.
Candid­ates will offer two (or more) contrast­ing pieces to form a short programme for either solo acous­tic perform­ance and/or perform­ance via music technology.

Specific­a­tion: AQA Music AS 1271 A 2271
Click here to down­load the current specific­a­tion for this A level course.