Composition Support Packs for GCSE Music
Stimulating guidance and activities to encourage students to develop their own musical style for the Composition elements of the 2016 GCSE Music specifications.
Well-written, clear and beneficial for students
Soundly structured!
Organised by musical element, each section includes:
- Key theoretical information in student-friendly language
- Notated examples of the musical style to develop understanding
- Aural and written tasks to help students make connections between musical devices and expression
- Practical tasks to encourage students to apply their knowledge to create well-rounded compositions
- Hints and tips for further support – great for struggling students
This is a really good idea as the composition element is one that students often struggle with especially when it comes to articulating their thoughts musically
Fully resourced!
- Audio tracks with musical examples included
- Answers and model compositions included
- Plus! Composition progress tracker gives students autonomy over their piece
The writing overall is excellent
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What do teachers say about this resource? (9469)
An excellent and much needed resource on how to approach the teaching of the composition element for GCSE students of mixed ability... The resource is appropriately challenging and stimulating with an interesting range of activities organised under elements of music headings... The resource addresses the student as a complete musician with pertinent references to Western Classical Music repertoire and research tasks that will bring greater knowledge and understanding to composition. This holistic approach is of great educational value to the music classroom... The resource is a perfect match to the specification as it goes to great lengths to provide links with all the elements taught within a Music GCSE.
A very useful resource indeed... My year 10 group have started to work through the tasks and are really enjoying that they are working independently but have that support of listening to examples all the way through... I really like the fact that there are short composition activities to complete as the students work through the resource but that as the pages go on there is the option for those students that already have some ideas to complete an extension task instead... This has been really useful for my class as some students have come to their composition classes with some ideas already so they have been able to continue with these ideas whilst completing the activities in the booklet to move them forwards. I particularly like how the activities have been split into the musical elements - it has been very useful from a listening perspective too! It helps me as it a ready made resource that students can work through independently. In the current COVID climate it has been fantastic as students have been able to work through this at their own pace, focusing upon each section whether they are at home or at school. From a personal point we covered a lot of the musical elements in the very first half term of this year so these resources have helped students to reinforce their understanding of particular musical elements and techniques. The inclusion of the mute examples in particular was really useful... It provides students with a set of activities to work through that all follow on from one another. Composition is an area of the course that I personally find really difficult and so resources like this which are quite formulaic work well for me and the students really benefit from working through tasks which all follow on from one another and are all connected to the musical elements. It really helps students to see the connections between the composition and the listening part of the course... I am really pleased with the resource.
The writing overall is excellent. The resource is well set out with clear descriptions and very useful activities which provide students with clear directions on planning the various elements of their own compositions.
What do teachers say about this resource? (9775)
Extremely good... Presented in a logical order, there are a wide range of listening exercises to help pupils, as well as visual examples and the written text. It goes through all aspects of the composition and is a great work booklet for free composition as well as set briefs for any exam board... Lots of clear visual and aural examples to allow the pupils to discover information for themselves... It allows pupils to work independently at their own pace... It makes sure pupils think about all musical aspects of their composition and how it will work as a whole... Research section is very detailed and allows pupils to discovers characteristics about each style for themselves through listening tasks... Very good resource, one of the best I have seen.
Very good. Suitable for preparation for GCSE listening examination... Questions are typical of the questions used in the exam for the specification. Mixture of question styles. Good mix of extracts from across the area of study... Although the resource is billed as listening questions for homework, the questions could be used in lessons as well, either as teacher-led or individual exam practice.
I thought the resource was excellent in terms of the content, the way in which the different aspects of music were broken down, the links to playlists and the terminology. It was all at a very high standard, and appeared well suited to the academic musician.
Good quality throughout... The author uses several examples to illustrate musical points reinforcing the element or musical technicality in different film contexts. Very slick concise writing and will benefit learners’ understanding of film composition... There is a nice variety of activity types clearly mirroring GCSE coursework specs... The technical design of the resource is clearly well thought out and the author has consolidated the key elements of the film composition in the selected examples while understanding all students will create varied individual responses to the resource. This breaks down the learning (and coursework stress) effectively providing good support for learners... I would most definitely use this resource in my GCSE composing curriculum.
What do teachers say about this resource? (9681)
The writing is detailed and informative, offering a wide variety of suggestions and prompts for helping students with composing. It is structured very clearly, by musical element, enabling the student to look carefully into each area and ensure that nothing is missed... Answers are clear, detailed and helpful. The model answers for melodies etc. are particularly useful... This is a thorough resource which students can either go through from start to finish, or dip into according to which musical element they need more help with. This makes it accessible and flexible!
I liked the way it interspersed suggested listening to introduce compositional ideas. It also backed it up with the theory.
Some really good listening activities that help to back up the musical ideas. Helps to give students inspiration for their own work. Good theoretical grounding of concepts.
It would be good as a gradual approach to creating an original composition. Lots of different starting points and ideas to use which could be targeted at specific students. Could be used to scaffold for weaker students. Theoretical backing and listening examples help to inspire students.
This can be used for the free composition element, but aspects can also be used for the brief composition. Can be used in Year 10 as an introduction to composition, working on pieces in groups or individually. Specific techniques can be used individually.
The concept of a resource like this is a really good idea as the composition element of a music course is one that students often struggle with and especially when it comes to articulating their thoughts musically... I really like the activities in the resource that ask the student to stop and think about contextual examples of the musical elements that are being discussed.