Music
Go BackGeneral Aims
The Music Department aims to develop the intrinsic musicality of every pupil in St. Mary's. We hope to stimulate an appreciation and enjoyment of Music through an active involvement in Listening, Composing and Performing. performance style.
Specific Aims
The Music department aims to:
- introduce pupils to a wide ranging repertoire of Music that they can enjoy listening to.
- encourage pupils to express their ideas with clarity and confidence
- develop their creativity through various Composing activities.
- Promote skills of negotiation, concentration and technical control of an instrument.
- Use ICT to create and perform Music.
- To provide opportunities for pupils to perform and further develop their skills.
Curriculum
KS3
Year 9 and 10 follow a taught Music program with a provision of 50 minutes per week. The course aims to prepare students with the appropriate Performing, Composing and Listening skills to effectively pursue Music at Keystage 4 and 5.
KS4
At Key Stage 4, students have the opportunity to study Music at GCSE Level. It has a large focus on practical Music making with Composition coursework constituting 40% of the total marks for the subject and Performance another 35% . The coursework component is made up of 2 Composition assignments spanning three main Areas of Study - Music for Celebration, Musical Arrangements and Musical Traditions in Ireland. The Listening Paper also focuses on these three areas.
The Music department delivers Music at both AS and A2 Levels. At this level the courses are also very practical with the Composition and Performance components constituting 60% of the course at both AS and A2 level. Each course is made up of 2 modules as outlined below.
AS
Module 1 - Performance/Compositionand Optional Module
This module is the practical one where pupils choose to specialize in Composition or Performance. They then can choose a different optional module from the following list
- Solo/Ensemble Performance
- Compositional Techniques Folio
- Multi-track Recording
- Sequencing
Module 2 -Aural Perception and Set Topic
This module tests the Listening skills of the pupil and also focuses on The Concerto as a popular form throughout the periods of Music. Pupils will study four set works related to the Concerto and also complete historical research on Musical Traditions in Scotland and Ireland
A2
Module 3
The same performance and Composition options exist at A2 as did at AS.
Module 4- Aural Perception, Set Work and Topic
Again, pupils will have a general Listening paper, but will also analyse Gershwin's Piano Concerto in F. They will also have another historical topic to discuss - in this instance The works of Aaron Copland, Vaughan Williams and Dmitri Shostakovich.
Resources
The Music department has two fully equipped Music suites and all ICT classes are taught in one of the suites. One suite provides access to an extensive range of both hardware and software, including; Sibelius Compositional software, Photoscore, Garageband, Logic 7.2 and Ivideo. There also is Internet access and the computers are new top of the range Apple IMac computers. The other suite is a keyboard and performance area with a full complement of Yamaha and Roland keyboards. There are also three instrumental practice rooms.
Class size is set to ensure that all students have access to their own resources during class time.
