HI EVERYBODYYY so im in year 10 I take gcse music the exam board is eduqas and I was wondering if you guys had any recommendations for ensemble performances that are ATLEAST grade 4 standard in either keyboard,piano, singing, even guitar. thanks guys!!!

I GOTTA DO BTEC! NO!

Im in my final year of GCSE and I'm doing my composition worth some of my final grade but im completely stuck on what to do. Ive been playing piano for 11 years so I have pretty good knowledge but it all seems to leave my brain when I need to compose literally anything. I really need some tips on how to compose something that will help me get high marks. I play jazz piano if that helps to narrow down the genre!

I remember seeing posts with other people's compositions last year, and I thought maybe sharing mine may be helpful to some people (this got me 28 or 29/30 I think) (I did edexcel). I suppose I'll write a summary of how I approached writing it in the hopes this might help someone doing composing for this year's exams.

The hardest thing is always to get started. I had no idea what my free composition would be, so I started during music just writing short 4 or 8 bar themes with the piano on Sibelius, then just staring at it for a while. not sure what to do.

Luckily, my music teacher noticed and thought the tune would work well for a wind quintet given I play the horn. (What I had written was the melody shared with the flute and oboe in b5-8).

I think one of the most important things to nail down when starting the composition is the structure. For this, I ended up using nested ternary form (ABA CDC ABA) with a short intro and each section generally being 8 bars.

When going about writing more stuff, I think it is important to just mess around on a keyboard and see what sounds nice and what could then make a good extension to the melody. Then you can think about chords and write in the chords as static notes in the accompanying instruments. Then, after a while, you can replace the static notes with more interesting, nicer to listen to, figurations.

When you're writing the melody, it is quite important to think about harmony - I think you need a perfect or imperfect cadence at the end of every 8 bar phrase (or something like that?), so when writing, split it up into those sections and think about those chords being your end point.

If you are really good at an instrument and know lots of specialised techniques for it, you should try to use them. Looking back at this, I kind of regret not putting in any hand stopping for the horn as that may have been effective in the middle bit.

I hope this has been somewhat useful for someone. And I hope you like my composition!

Ive picked music just wanted to know if there is any way to bridge the gap before I start. Just seen a lot saying its a big jump.

*there is no A-level music subreddit so i thought this was the best place

hi guys just wondering (not for me)

my friend is planning on copyings someone’s niche youtube composition with 400 views for his gcse eduqas brief composition of (write a piece for a string quartet) will he get caught?

I know this sounds nonsensical, but in your usual music exam, you have to write down everything you did in your composition, and provide evidence to support that. But if (hypothetically) I hear a melody in my dreams, add it to my composition the next day, and then write down “I added a melody that I heard from my dreams.”, how do you prove it was from your dreams, and not some sort of AI?

Brain waves perhaps?

I think I'm 1 of the few ppl who picked music but don't listen to it

I'm really struggling with composition. How does everyone else feel about it?

new year 11 here on my second composition. i need help here guys so i gotta hand it over to you folks.

"compose a pop song (including a vocal line) to be performed at a local "red nose day" event gcse music"

THIS IS SO CHEEKS. im a jazz vocalist myself, and my strongest instrument is my voice (backed up by my teacher). do you reckon the exam board will let me bend the rules a little if i do a jazz-pop blend casino type song? because whats a fundraising event without a little gambling 😈😈

anyways, im so confused with this and any info about the leniency of the exam board would be greatly appreciated. oh and i think i'm on eduqas bc thats the brand of our revision, but i dont know honestly 😭😭

and no. im not doing the other ones. they arent any better honestly.

Hi! At the moment I'm in year 10 and we're studying Seven Seas of Rhye by Queen. I have exams next week and my teacher set us a practice 8 marker. Do you think what I have written is ok? What do I need to revise?

Thanks

https://youtu.be/Cs3ugN3kDI4?si=io_9bbfI6FqDJoSu

Thought it may help people- it’s the Pearson Edexcel board. My teacher expects I’ll get a 9, but I don’t get my results for 2 more weeks.

Have a great day!

how the hell do you write a composition? i only play bass and I haven’t got a single clue on what to do any advice??

I answer a paper, and whenever I see a question on for example, melody, I just write down whatever I can remember that includes melody and I was wondering if that would work in the real exam or am I being silly?

Hello, I've just started year 10 and chose music as one of my options. I play the drums as my instrument. I walk into my first lesson today to see that there are 3 of us who play drums in my class and there is only 1 drum kit. I didn't mind as there was still 2 conga drums that I could use and simplify whatever track my group comes up with... we ended up choosing "go with the flow" by Queens of the stone age. A quick paced rock song on a drum which has very limited sounds it can make at a tempo in excess of 150bpm. I come home today and start thinking about how I'm going to play this on a conga drum. I'm not doubting myself that I can't play it even though I need to have learnt it before Thursday.(in 3 days time) I also don't know where I'm going to find or create a sheet of music in that time.

Does anyone have any ideas of how I could get a music sheet for a conga drum for "go with the flow" by Queens of the stoneage before Thursday??

im in year 11 rn and we ony recently got a new music teacher whose main focus is the performance part of the gcse but before she joined we had ZERO teaching/advice about this. I missed a full month of school due to serious illness and am now expected to come up with my ensemble + solo + an extra for safety marks with one of them being inspired by our 2 set works (Africa - Toto and Badinerie by Bach) by tomorrow morning like what?? pls pls pls does anyone have any ideas, the songs have to be grade 4 but any song I think of I dont know how to tell what grade it would be? thank you in advance!

please give me a mark for my gcse music comp so far

so I’m in year 9 and I’m grade 4 violin and grade 2 piano. I am used to performing violin in the orchestra and solo. I have taken gcse music but I have heard it’s very difficult to get a 9 and I need some advice especially since I’m also taking classical Greek which people say ur quite hard too.

Google says 108 minimum but can I do smt like 90?

One of the composition briefs says this - any ideas what it means??