“The world’s most famous and popular language is music”
Here at St Bonaventure’s, no matter what your musical interests or preferences are, the Music Department will challenge you and open up your spectrum of musical knowledge.
No matter whether you
“The world’s most famous and popular language is music”
Here at St Bonaventure’s, no matter what your musical interests or preferences are, the Music Department will challenge you and open up your spectrum of musical knowledge.
No matter whether you want to pursue writing or performing, producing or composing “where words will fail, the music will speak” (Hans Christian Andersen). Music has a very important role to play in the life of the students and the department takes pride in ensuring your son’s musical styles and abilities are catered for.
All students in Year 7 – 9 are on a carousel where they will get two hours of music per week for a term. During this time we aim to teach the students about the theory associated with the topic they are studying, extend and sharpen their listening, composing and performing skills. They learn how to perform as individuals and as an ensemble and compose music using GarageBand and Logic Pro X.
In Year 7 students will learn about music from Africa. They will listen to music from the different regions of Africa, they will then perform a piece of music associated with West Africa. Finally, they will compose a piece of music in a style of their choice from a region of Africa. In year 8 students will learn about the development of Minimalism. They will listen to different minimalist composers and will explore how they used key features of the style of music to make their compositions interesting. They will perform their own arrangement of Tubular Bells by Mike Oakfield and compost in a minimalist style. During this time the students can expect to work on projects that will reinforce their musical understanding of the elements of music, composing a piece of music to a composition brief and performing a short piece of music to their class.
In Year 9, students will learn 2 different topics and this gives them an opportunity to work on extended projects so they can compose and perform to a high standard; the kind of standard that would be expected if they were to take GCSE or BTEC Music at Key Stage 4. These extended projects are Film Music where students will create their own short film using iMovie and compose the music for it as well. The second extended project is song writing where the students can either use our MacBook Pro’s or various instruments to create their own song in whatever style they decide. Both of these projects will be assessed against a standard that the students would see at KS4, giving the students an opportunity for them to get used to the vocabulary and standard of work that would be expected of them if they decided to take the subject further; it also allows the students to be creative.
GCSE Music – Eduqas GCSE Syllabus
For GCSE, students will study the WJEC Eduqas GCSE in MUSIC Syllabus. This course is for students who are interested in taking A level Music at college or sixth form or students who are interested in the traditional areas of Music. Throughout the two years the students will cover three components:
|Component 1||Performing||This goes towards 30% of their overall GCSE grade and is the first part of the students controlled assessment. The students will be required to do a minimum of two pieces of which one must be an ensemble performance lasting at least one-minute duration. The other piece(s) may be either solo and/or ensemble. One of the pieces performed must be linked to an area of study of the student’s choice. The total duration of the student’s performances must be between 4-6 minutes.|
|Component 2||Composing||This goes towards 30% of their overall GCSE grade and is the second part of the students controlled assessment. The students will be required to do two compositions. The first composition will be in response to a brief set by the exam board. The students will be required to choose one brief from a choice of four, each one linked to a different area of study. The second composition is a free composition that the students will set their own brief. The total duration of the student’s composition must be between 3-6 minutes.|
|Componen