We look forward to seeing you in September! For further information about your College and being a student at HSDC,

please visit hsdc.ac.uk/Havant

Music – A Level

We hope you’re looking forward to joining the HSDC Music department family in September. In order to help prepare you for the different elements of the course and help you to feel more confident when you start the course, we have compiled a checklist of tasks we would like you to complete before you start. Alongside this, we have created a list of great musical resources for you to get stuck into and explore! Performance Keep practicing your instrument between now and September. Don’t let your practice schedule slip, regular, short practice is the best.

1. Set yourself the aim of learning one new piece (not a piece from GCSE Music or recent exam) ready for a practice/masterclass.

2. Keep practicing a piece you already know ready for a performance in September.

Music Theory A solid foundation in music theory is so important for Music A Level. Make sure that your theory knowledge is up to grade 5 level. You should be able to answer yes to the following statements:

Music Theory Checklist Yes / No I can confidently read music in both treble and bass clef

I know all the major and minor key signatures

I know the names of the degrees of the scale

I can work out the notes of primary triads in any key (tonic, dominant, subdominant.)

I know the difference between common and simple time signatures

I can identify the principal note values (crotchet, quaver etc.)

We look forward to seeing you all in September! For further information about your College and being a student at HSDC,

please visit hsdc.ac.uk/Havant

Good resources for online practice here, and here. A great podcast on Music Theory is ‘Music Student 101’. It goes quite in depth but the first few episodes (2-12) are just the ticket for Music A Level. Music History Knowing your composers/genres/periods of music is a great start for studying music at college level. For a general introduction, Classic FM is a good place to start - listen to their various programmes on their website. Wider Listening The most important part of studying music at any level is listening, and not just listening, but listening actively, enjoying and thinking critically about the music you are experiencing. The main task we would like you to undertake in preparation for Music A Level is to fill out a ‘Listening Log.’ Any time you listen actively to a piece of music, please fill out your listening log. By September you will have an amazing diary filled with all the music that inspired you over the last few months. We have created a Listening Log template that you might like to use, but of course, feel free to create your own system, maybe use a new notebook and make it colourful.

Listening Log - A Level Music Preparation 2020

Date Piece Composer Context?

(what period/genre is the piece/song from? Any interesting facts?)

Musical Observations (what interests you about this piece? Think structure/harmony/melody/instrumentation etc.)

We look forward to seeing you all in September! For further information about your College and being a student at HSDC,

please visit hsdc.ac.uk/Havant

We look forward to seeing you all in September! For further information about your College and being a student at HSDC,

please visit hsdc.ac.uk/Havant

Read Do not purchase any official course books just yet, as you will get an anthology at the start of your course. However, I have listed some good reading materials below, some of which are accessed online via google books, otherwise a cheap copy may be available online: Benham H — A Student’s Guide to Harmony and Counterpoint (Rhinegold, 2006) ISBN 0904226310 Cole B — The Composer’s Handbook (Schott, 1996) ISBN 10 0946535809 Cole B — The Pop Composer’s Handbook (Schott, 2006) ISBN 1902455606 Boydon M - The Rough Guide to Classical Music(1999) Copland A - What to Listen for in Music(Penguin, 1988) Sadie S - The Cambridge Music Guide(Cambridge University Press, 1990) Aschmann L - 500 Song writing Ideas(Music Books Plus, 1997) Citron S - Song writing: A Complete Guide to the Craft(Amazon, 1990) Taylor E - The AB Guide to Music Theory (ABRSM, 1991) Alex Ross- The Rest is Noise: Listening to The Twentieth Century (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2007) Watch Howard Goodall’s Story of Music (6 Episodes Available on YouTube) Did You Know? We get to study 18 wonderful Set Works in Music A Level! Feel free to have a listen in anticipation of studying the best that music has to offer! Area of study Set works Vocal Music

● J. S. Bach, Cantata, Ein feste Burg ● Mozart, The Magic Flute ● Vaughan Williams, On Wenlock Edge

We look forward to seeing you all in September! For further information about your College and being a student at HSDC,

please visit hsdc.ac.uk/Havant

Instrumental Music ● Vivaldi, Concerto in D minor, Op. 3 No. 11 ● Clara Wieck-Schumann, Piano Trio in G minor, Op. 17: movement 1 ● Berlioz, Symphonie Fantastique

Music for Film ● Danny Elfman, Batman Returns

● Rachel Portman, The Duchess ● Bernard Herrmann, Psycho

Popular Music and Jazz ● Courtney Pine, Back in the Day ● Kate Bush, Hounds of Love ● Beatles, Revolver

Fusions ● Debussy, Estampes ● Familia Valera Miranda, Caña Quema ● Anoushka Shankar, Breathing Under Water

New Directions ● Cage, Three Dances for Two Prepared Pianos ● Kaija Saariaho, Petals for Violoncello and Live Electronics ● Stravinsky, The Rite of Spring