Music
Music is all around us. It is the soundtrack to our lives. Music connects us through people and places in our ever-changing world. It is creative, collaborative, celebratory and challenging. At OIAMFS we have a high-quality music education which brings our school community together through singing, ensemble playing, experimenting with the creative process and, through the love of listening to friends and fellow pupils, performing. Music is a universal language that embodies one of the highest forms of creativity. Our curriculum engages and inspires our students to develop a love of music and their talent as musicians, and so increases their self-confidence, creativity and sense of achievement. As students progress, they develop a critical engagement with music, allowing them to compose, and to listen with discrimination to the best in the musical canon.
Key Stage 3 Music
Key Stage 3 continues the journey towards building a universal foundation of musical understanding.
By the end of Key Stage 3 (Year 9), pupils will have:
- gained an aural knowledge of some of the great musical output of human civilisation
- engaged with creative processes through improvisation and composition
- built an understanding of how musical elements work and discussed how these interact with subjective and objective models of musical meaning
- developed knowledge of a wider range of notes and improved their fluency in music notation.
Key Stage 4 Music - GCSE Music (Eduqas)
GCSE music involves written, analytical, practical and social/personal skills such as: independent learning, team working, performance and presentation skills, listening, confidence and self-esteem, creativity and self-expression.
Course Overview
The course consists of two units of coursework; performing and composing (60% of course) and a listening exam on appraising (40% of course).
In the Appraising part of the course students will study the following:
- Musical Forms and Devices. During this unit, students will study music of the Western Classical tradition. Students will learn about the key features of the Baroque, Classical and Romantic periods, as well as learning about musical structures and devices.
- Music for Ensemble. During this unit, students will study sonority (timbre) and musical texture, through listening to examples of chamber music, musical theatre, jazz and blues.
- Film Music. During this unit, students will develop an understanding of film music including the use of timbre and dynamics.
- Popular Music. During this unit, students will develop an understanding of pop, rock, bhangra, and fusion music. Students will study ‘Africa’ by Toto in detail. This is a ‘set work’ on which students will be required to answer questions in their appraising exam during year 11.
Students will have 1-2 Performance lessons each week in which students will develop their core skills on their chosen instrument/voice. Students will be required to record a solo and ensemble performance during year 11, so throughout year 10 performance opportunities will be given regularly in preparation for this. Composition lessons will take place throughout the year. During year 10, students will submit a composition based on a brief set by themselves, which can be in any musical style. During year 11, students will submit a composition based on a brief set by Eduqas. An example of a brief could be: Compose some music for a film scene in which there is a car chase.