Staff

Our Director of Music is Mr A Kermode

Curriculum

Lower School

We follow a spiral curriculum plan where the key musical elements of rhythm, melody, harmony, texture, timbre and structure are met at increasingly higher levels over the two years. These are incorporated through topics such as keyboard and percussion performance pieces, African Drumming, Minimalism, Experimental Music and Jazz Improvisation.

This practical element is balanced and backed up alongside work on Sibelius software and traditional theory lessons to help students gain a real understanding of the concepts covered.

For Fourth Form (Year 9), Music in an optional subject and is very much a pre – GCSE course where both individual composition and performance come to the fore. Work on structured listening questions also provide a firm grounding for those wishing to go onto the GCSE course in the Lower and Upper Fifth (Years 10 and 11).

GCSE

The AQA specification is followed, consisting of a listening exam (20%), two composition units (40%) and performance (40%).

Sixth Form

We follow the AQA AS and A2 specification. Set works, a genre study and structured listening questions form the basis of Units 1 and 4. Four part harmony and controlling a two part texture are met in Unit 2; Bach Chorales and String Quartet writing in Unit 5 and performance in Units 3 and 6.  

Click here to learn more about Music at A Level

For more information on music outside the classroom, please visit our Co-curricular Music section.