Music Technology AS - Edexcel

I'm a 6th year (I think its called year 12 in England?) student. Well I'm in my AS year. Currently doing Maths, Chemistry, Biology, Music and Critical Thinking for AS. Next year i'm gonna drop critical thinking, but i'm thinking of taking on Music Technology (Edexcel) as an AS.

I know it won't go towards my UCAS and it's not favoured by universities and all the rest, but surely there's no harm in doing it in addition to what i'm already doing...

But yes, I'd be teaching it to myself, so if I get my school to enter me for the exam, do I need to do anything else?

Or can anybody give me any other tips, or an outline of the course?

Reply 1

jackf1337

15

Music Technology is generally favoured. It is not a 'doss' subject and does require a lot of time and effort.

It'll be no different to teaching yourself any other subject. There are a couple of good revision guides out there.

You'll need a DAW, a good computer with a good sound card and a recording studio.

It's 60:40 in favour of coursework.

Task one is a sequence, where you're given a song with a 'skeleton' score and you have to reproduce the song, making it sound just like the original.

Task two is a multi-track recording, where you have to chose a commercially available song to record.

Task three is an arrangement. You're given the choice between two songs and two genres, you must pick a song and a genre to rearrange it in.

Download this years AS coursework booklet (Music Technology Portfolio 1) (should be under question papers) and the log book.

Coursework is generally very time consuming and it sounds as if you're just doing this for the lulz and you know nothing about music production

Edit: Here's the link to the page with the Porfolio stuff and logbooks:
http://www.edexcel.com/quals/gce/gce08/music/tech/Pages/default.aspx

Sorry to come across as heated, but Music Technology is not an easy, self taught ride.
I also suggest you are able to read music/have keyboard competence. I assume you have both of those as you do AS level music. Can you use Sibelius?
If you do take it on, PM me, and I'll help you along the way :smile:

(edited 13 years ago)

Reply 2

chai wallah

Original post by fabnt

I'm a 6th year (I think its called year 12 in England?) student. Well I'm in my AS year. Currently doing Maths, Chemistry, Biology, Music and Critical Thinking for AS. Next year i'm gonna drop critical thinking, but i'm thinking of taking on Music Technology (Edexcel) as an AS.

I know it won't go towards my UCAS and it's not favoured by universities and all the rest, but surely there's no harm in doing it in addition to what i'm already doing...

But yes, I'd be teaching it to myself, so if I get my school to enter me for the exam, do I need to do anything else?

Or can anybody give me any other tips, or an outline of the course?

What the above poster said! It's really not ideal for self-teaching - don't know if it's fair to say it's comparable to a science subject in terms not of content or difficulty but teaching/learning structure - lab work, basically.

You'd learn more by pursuing an independent music production project, really (and it'd be more fun!). Multitrack recording/sequencing by yourself or with friends. The engineering content of the course you could learn in a day by shadowing at a studio - I say this having done both Edexcel Music Tech AS and work experience at a small studio!

Reply 3

fabnt

OP

4

I've been checking out the specification. And I'm not choosing it as a 'doss', but as a subject which interests me, and I wouldn't mind getting a qualification out of it.

i'm choosing so self teach it because I wantto be able to teach myself something, not because it's easy but because it's interesting.

One thing I wonder about though is the software packages I need:
Task 1: Sibelius/FL Studio?
Task 2: Garageband?
Task 3: Sibelius/Fl Studio?

Thank you everyone for the advice.

Reply 4

chai wallah

Task 2 I remember basically approaching it as an arrangement as I didn't have a band or other bunch of musicians who could cover the track themselves - so I needed Sibelius for that too. The recording went straight onto MD so no Garageband antics - this was 2003 though. Check the spec, Garageband could be okay.

Reply 5

fabnt

OP

4

However Sibelius are suitable for the other two?

Reply 6

jackf1337

15

Original post by fabnt

I've been checking out the specification. And I'm not choosing it as a 'doss', but as a subject which interests me, and I wouldn't mind getting a qualification out of it.

i'm choosing so self teach it because I wantto be able to teach myself something, not because it's easy but because it's interesting.

One thing I wonder about though is the software packages I need:
Task 1: Sibelius/FL Studio?
Task 2: Garageband?
Task 3: Sibelius/Fl Studio?

Thank you everyone for the advice.

Cubase 5/Logic/Pro tools plus Sibelius.

Original post by chai wallah

Task 2 I remember basically approaching it as an arrangement as I didn't have a band or other bunch of musicians who could cover the track themselves - so I needed Sibelius for that too. The recording went straight onto MD so no Garageband antics - this was 2003 though. Check the spec, Garageband could be okay.

Really? Was the recording any good?

Original post by fabnt

However Sibelius are suitable for the other two?

Yes and no. Use Sibelius to notate your sequence and arrangements, export them as MIDI files, then play about with the sounds in Cubase/Logic/Pro tools :smile:

Reply 7

chai wallah

Original post by jackf1337

Really? Was the recording any good?

Heh, probably not, but that's because I learnt bog-all about mic choice and placement, despite having learnt the syllabus (which tells you a bit about the syllabus). Wish I had a copy to hand to check. Creating a good soundstage is hard.

Reply 8

Fletch

11

Sibelius isn't really ideal for this as the spec has moved away from notation towards audio tasks. You need something like Cubase which can handle MIDI sequencing and audio recording - you need to be able to edit MIDI controllers and VSTIs.
When you talk about self-teaching, are you still doing this through your college? I ask because the coursework has to be completed under controlled conditions i.e. within 60 hours, semi-supervised by a teacher who has to sign a declaration to that effect. Work may not be taken away from the centre so you can't work from home for example.

Reply 9

fabnt

OP

4

Original post by Fletch

Sibelius isn't really ideal for this as the spec has moved away from notation towards audio tasks. You need something like Cubase which can handle MIDI sequencing and audio recording - you need to be able to edit MIDI controllers and VSTIs.
When you talk about self-teaching, are you still doing this through your college? I ask because the coursework has to be completed under controlled conditions i.e. within 60 hours, semi-supervised by a teacher who has to sign a declaration to that effect. Work may not be taken away from the centre so you can't work from home for example.