AQA A Level Music 2018/19 Thread

Moved over to the music forum for you things can get a bit buried around results day!

About to embark on GCSE Music, will be watching this thread to see people's experience of taking Music to A-level and if it's worth doing

Hello, I did a level music (2018 exam) and I am going to university to do music this year. I hope for your sake that more resources come out before your exam because that was the main issue with our exam.

Yes I did aqa! The textbook isn’t in enough detail for what you really have to know. I had the listening book which I also found useful (I bought the edexcel one as well because it had some unseen stuff in it). I would say condense your notes now because you don’t want to be doing it near the exam because it will be very overwhelming. Try looking up pieces which could come up for the 10 mark essay in section A (for example I listened to Mozart’s 10 most famous arias and wrote out points which were features of mozart and how drama could be conveyed). I would also focus on one area for the big section C essay (I did art music and jazz but I only learnt the art music set works in lots of detail) because you can’t learn the amount of detail they want for two areas! It’s crazy how much content there is!

My teacher did practice section B style essays and I learnt the section C stuff really well (I basically sat for days and memorised facts and then recited them whenever I had the chance...in the shower, walking to school... anywhere!). It’s a very hard exam to revise for and I would also recommend taking your g8 theory (I am going to study music at university and they accept that instead of a level music). The g8 theory is incredibly similar to the a level so you may as well get extra UCAS points! I would also be careful with your performance and what you decide to play for it. Teachers this year have been complaining because they have students at diploma level who have come out with D’s and C’s for performance! I did G7 pieces (I did my G8 a few years ago) and examiners don’t care how hard or flashy your pieces are as long as they are perfect!

Going into my second year of A level music and I'm so overwhelmed thinking of everything that i'm going to have to revise, i'm studying it privately as my school didn't run the course so i'm a bit on my own with it all, to what level of detail do we have to learn all the pieces?

I would say learn the section C stuff in lots and lots of detail (be able to bar number and quote sections of music for about 4/5 pieces and then be able to name drop and reference any other pieces or have studied if needs be). I learnt them in less detail for section B. I would keep annotating blank copies of the scores for marriage of fig, baroque and piano music. This will get you used to learning the pieces and developing your written answers. I know y13 can be overwhelming (especially for the amount of music content) but everyone is in the same position so don’t panic! Good luck! 😊

I’m going to Cardiff 😀. I didn’t do an ensemble piece (just solo) so I don’t think you have to do both. I did free composition (we did a string quartet) and the bach chorale. What are you doing? It’s okay, barely anybody takes the a level so I’m happy to help where I can😂