Music

Pre-course tasks to be completed by September

2023

• 30% of the AS/A level music examination is a recital performance. The summer break is a great time to spend some time exploring and discovering new pieces that you would like to play. What are your musical goals for the next two years?

• List the pieces you are studying / want to study / learn

• 30% of the A level examination is composing. Have fun developing your ideas and trying out your ideas. You set your own brief for the first composition.

• Enjoy getting to know this set repertoire. These pieces are the chosen set works/albums for the next 2 years. The more background knowledge you have the better, it is an exciting journey.

• You can find performances of these pieces on Youtube, listen to different versions too!

Area of Study 1: Instrumental Music of Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven

• 2024 Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 4 in G major, Op. 58, first movement.

• 2025 Haydn: Symphony No. 103 in E flat major, ‘Drum Roll’ (1795), first and second movements.

• Area of Study 2: Popular Song: Blues, Jazz, Swing and Big Band

• 2024 Mel Tormé: Mel Tormé Swings Schubert Alley (1960): (i) ‘Too Close For Comfort’, (ii) ‘On The Street Where You Live’, (iii) ‘Too Darn Hot’, (iv) ‘Lonely Town’.

• 2025 Cécile McLorin Salvant: For One To Love (2015): (i) ‘Wives And Lovers’, (ii) ‘The Trolley Song’, (iii) ‘What’s The Matter Now?’, (iv) ‘Le Mal De Vivre’.