A Level Music – Transition Project (Summer 2020)

Welcome to New College Swindon Music Department. I look forward to seeing all you year 11s in September. The new A Level in Music (OCR specification) course provides a contemporary, accessible and creative education in Music with an integrated approach to the three main elements – performing, composing and appraising. When you study A Level Music, you are encouraged to be creative and to broaden your musical horizons and understanding with Areas of Study that inspire and challenge. You will have the opportunity to explore performance and composition in detail and to choose a specialism in performance or composition. Studying the various genres, styles and eras, you will explore musical context, musical language and performance as well as composition skills.

Basic Theory

When we start the A level course, we work on some basic starting points in which we review basic theory through some simple composition tasks. We will go over keys, triads, dissonance etc., but I do presume some basic knowledge. On the following (external) page, you should be familiar with the topics in the following sections:

Musictheory.net

• The Basics – all sections
• Rhythm and Metre – all sections
• Scales and Key Signatures – all sections
• Intervals – all sections
• The first two lessons from Chords, Diatonic Chords and the first from Chord Progressions would be a bonus.
  
  Another external page that will help you go through the basic starting points in preparation for A Level Music is the following:
  
  Teoria.com

• Music Theory Tutorials (sections on Reading Music, Intervals, Scales)

Music History

I recommend this link from Gramophone for a continuous read through the main periods with some examples: Brief history of Classical Music.

Listen to Haydn’s Symphony No. 6 in D major (Le matin) and follow the score on YouTube. Try to familiarise yourselves with the instruments of the orchestra and the structure of the Symphony.

For any questions, please feel free to email me: themis.toumpoulidis@newcollege.ac.uk

I look forward to welcoming you on to A Level Music in September.

Dr Themis Toumpoulidis 
BA (Hons), MMus, PhD, DTLLS, QTLS (IfL) 
Head of Music – OCR AS & A Level Music Assessment Specialist 
Assistant Curriculum Manager for Creative Media & Performing Arts 
BTEC Quality Nominee 
New College Swindon