Music syllabus, dot point by dot point

Prepare for the External Assessment examination (extended response in musicology) by analysing and evaluating how music elements communicate meaning in stimulus repertoire under timed conditions

How do you succeed in the QCE Music External Assessment musicology examination?

Plan and realise the IA3 integrated project so that the performer, composer and musicologist roles inform one another around a single narrative intention, demonstrating coherence and integration

How do you build a coherent integrated project that connects performing, composing and musicology around one narrative intention?

Prepare and deliver the IA1 performance by selecting suitable repertoire, securing technical control and making deliberate expressive choices that communicate stylistic meaning

How do you prepare a high-scoring performance for QCE Music IA1?

Foundations: music language and theory

Read, write and apply music language, theory and notation (scales, keys, intervals, chords, metre and rhythmic values) to support analysis, composition and performance across both units

How does music language, theory and notation underpin every role in QCE Music Units 3 and 4?

Develop and apply aural skills (recognising elements by ear) and score-reading skills to identify, transcribe and interpret music elements in repertoire across Units 3 and 4

How do aural skills and score reading support accurate analysis and performance in QCE Music?

Unit 3: Innovations

Identify and explain extended techniques and innovative uses of tone colour that expand conventional instrumental and vocal practice, and evaluate how they communicate meaning in innovative repertoire

How do extended techniques and timbral innovation expand the expressive range of instruments and voices?

Identify and explain how the music elements and concepts (duration, pitch, dynamics and expression, tone colour, texture and structure) are combined and manipulated to create meaning in innovative repertoire

How do music elements and concepts work together to create innovative music?

Explain how music technology and electronic manipulation (sampling, looping, processing, synthesis and the studio as instrument) are used to create innovative music, and evaluate their effect on the elements

How do music technology and electronic manipulation create innovative sound and structure?

Explain what constitutes innovation in music and identify the contexts in which it occurs, including fusion, hybridisation, experimentation, technology and the reinvention of convention

What makes music innovative, and in what contexts does musical innovation occur?

Use and manipulate music elements and innovative compositional devices to create original music that communicates a stated creative intention

How does a composer use innovative compositional devices to communicate a creative intention?

Apply technical and expressive skills to interpret and realise innovative repertoire in performance, demonstrating control of music elements to communicate stylistic meaning

How does a performer interpret and realise innovative repertoire to communicate meaning?

Analyse and evaluate how music elements and compositional devices are used in innovative works, identifying interconnections and making judgments about how meaning is communicated

How does a musicologist analyse and evaluate the use of music elements in innovative works?

Write a clear statement of compositional intent that specifies the creative purpose, target style and intended use of music elements, and use it to guide and justify compositional decisions in IA2

How does a statement of compositional intent guide and communicate an original composition?

Unit 4: Narratives

Explain how leitmotif, thematic transformation and other devices are used to establish and develop characters in narrative music, and evaluate how character and change are communicated

How does music create and develop character through leitmotif and thematic transformation?

Explain how music elements and compositional devices are manipulated to communicate narrative, character, mood and meaning in repertoire that tells a story

How does music communicate narrative, story and meaning to a listener?

Explain how music conveys narrative in different contexts (film and television, video games, music theatre, opera and program music) and evaluate how the demands of each context shape musical choices

How does music convey narrative across different media contexts such as film, games, theatre, opera and program music?

Explain how music elements and compositional devices create mood, atmosphere and dramatic action or tension in narrative repertoire, and evaluate how these support the unfolding story

How does music create mood, atmosphere and the sense of dramatic action in a narrative?

Explain how music elements and compositional devices are used to establish setting (time and place) in narrative repertoire, and evaluate how convincingly the setting is communicated

How does music establish setting, the time and place of a narrative?

Use and manipulate music elements and compositional devices to create original music that communicates a narrative or supports a story, character or dramatic context

How does a composer create music that tells a story or supports a narrative?

Apply technical and expressive skills to interpret and realise narrative repertoire, using control of music elements to communicate character, mood and dramatic meaning

How does a performer use interpretation to communicate the narrative of a work?

Analyse and evaluate how music elements communicate narrative in repertoire, and integrate the performer, composer and musicologist roles to realise a project that communicates a narrative intention

How does a musicologist evaluate the way music communicates narrative, and how is this integrated in a project?