Our music department is built on a strong and rich music pedigree of professional performers, composers and educators. We are incredibly proud of our past and our alumni but never rest on our laurels, providing innovative and modern facilities and practices to provide our students with the best education today for the musicians of tomorrow.
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Years 10 and 11
At Enfield Grammar School we follow the AQA Specification GCSE Music.
Is this the right subject for me? Yes, if you enjoy:
- Composing and performing music
- Learning an instrument or singing
- Creating Music on your instrument, on a computer or in a recording studio
- Learning about all types of music, including classical, popular and world music
In order to do well students must:
- Attend regular instrumental / voice lessons – Performing places great physical strain on the body and students must train their bodies to cope with the rigours of performing in order to create successful performances. We have a highly committed and experienced roster of instrumental tutors who work very closely with the curriculum team, the parents and the students to support the coursework fully
- Take part in ensembles – The department run over 20 ensembles a week and there is a clear link between success in music and engagement in musical ensembles. Taking part in groups makes preparing for your ensemble performance a lot easier
- Choose an appropriate piece for performance – There are marks available for grades but a good, solid performance is what’s required. Always remember that an easier piece played well is always better than a difficult piece played badly
- Listen to music – Sounds obvious right? But students must engage fully in listening lessons and complete all Homework tasks set (this will frequently involve learning facts about the set works in preparation for the exam).
– Listening to a wide range of music– Attending live music performances– Performing music as much music as possible from a wide range of repertoire will also help students to gain the musical understanding required for this area of the course.
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Thorough revision as the exam approaches
The Structure of the GCSE is;
Unit 1: Performing – controlled assessment (30%)
Students must submit two performances
– One Solo Performance
– One Ensemble Performance
The recordings are made under controlled conditions i.e. with their teacher present and must be made within a time limit of 10 hours total recording time. In reality, students can do a number of recordings and we can select the best ones to submit.
Unit 2: Composing – controlled assessment (30%)
Students must create, record and make a score for 2 compositions. These are individual pieces of work and students may not compose in groups. However, many students will use other musicians both from the GCSE group and from the wider school community to perform on the final recordings of the work.
We encourage students to complete their composition work in the manner they feel most comfortable working within e.g. live recording, creating a composition using music technology or multi-track recording in our studio. Students have a total of 10 hours to complete each final recording and score, which are undertaken in controlled conditions.
In order to do well in Composing, students should listen to a wide variety of music in their own time. They should also spend some of their instrument / voice practise sessions improvising and trying-out their own ideas. It is very helpful if students have access to a keyboard at home when they are working on composition ideas so that they can experiment with harmony (chords).
Unit 3: Listening & Appraising – terminal exam (40%)
The final exam will consist of two sections;
- Section A – 8 compulsory questions that require students to respond to extracts of music
- Section B – 2 questions, of which students choose one to answer, it will require an extended, essay-type answer.
Both sections are based on 12 ‘set works’ – pieces of music that students will have studied during the course. The set works are drawn from 4 areas of study:
- Western Classical Music
- Music in the 20th Century
- Popular Music in Context
- World Music.
Students are given full revision notes for all 12 set works and these are also available below.
Further information: AQA GCSE Music (8271)
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