The West Bridgford School

Music AS Level

Students who take AS Level Music benefit greatly from its unique opportunities of group work leading to co-operative skills and a boosting of self-awareness and self-confidence. Although students taking AS Music do not study the full course, we find it enables some of our most engaged musicians to carry on their love of music studies for an additional year, often broadening their subject choices which in turn helps them stand out in the University application process. In order to take AS-Level Music, students should opt for Music as one of their four choices and instead of dropping a subject in October, they will continue until the middle of May when the AS-Level exam is and drop at this point.

POSSIBLE CAREER PATHS:

  • Performing/Recording Musician 

  • Composer (for Film, TV, Advertising, Songwriting, Performance)

  • Music Therapist

  • Music Journalism 

  • Arts Manager for organisations such as Arts Council England

Due to the coursework requirements, we do not enter students for both AS and A-Level music as such, a final decision must be made in January of Y12 as to whether students will do AS or continue onto the full A-Level.

Course content section:

 

Component 1: Performing (30%) Performance is externally assessed between March and May of Y12 by a visiting examiner. You must complete 2 Performances each marked out of 36 totalled to give 72 marks. The time must last for a minimum of 6 minutes and additional pieces can be added to make up the time. This performance can be as a soloist, within an ensemble or a combination of both. The standard level of difficulty is Grade 5.

 

Component 2: Composition (30%) Your compositions are externally assessed NEA. You will write 2 Compositions; one free and one to a brief, of which there are four two choose from, that must be in a Baroque, Classical or Romantic style. You must complete a composition log as you go. Each composition is marked out of 36 totaling 72. Combined they must be a minimum 4.5 minutes.

 

Component 3: Appraising (40%) In the exam you will answer two sets of questions from two different areas of study. Area of Study A: The Symphony from 1750- 1900 (48 Marks). Which features a set works by Schubert as well as a breath of music from across the time period. This section also features questions on aural awareness (e.g. dictation). Area of Study C: Musical Theatre (40 Marks) where we focus on five different theatre composers; Rodgers, Bernstein, Sondheim, Schonberg, Lloyd-Webber and answer both listening questions as well as a contextual essay question on the development of an aspect of Musical Theatre. The total exam time is 1hr and 30 minutes and there is only one written exam for AS-Level music.

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