Welcome! This site is designed to assist students studying GCSE music. It is based on the Edexcel specification.

The site is laid out in different "musical worlds" by set work and explains the intention and purpose of each piece. Wider listening examples are used to explain musical approaches and to illustrate the set work in the broader context of the area of study. Studying the set works in isolation is very restrictive and will likely become tedious!

The GCSE exam is assessed using the following assessment objectives:

• AO3 - Demonstrating and applying musical knowledge

• AO4 - Using appraising skills to make evaluative and critical judgements about music

(AO1 is performance and AO2 is composition)

To help with AO3, relevant key words (musical terms) are underlined and compiled on the homepage of each set work.

To help with AO4, useful adjectives, relevant to describing the intention and purpose of each set work, are also underlined and compiled on the homepage of each set work. Becoming familiar with these, and learning how to use them to communicate, is integral to explaining musical purpose and making evaluative and critical judgements.

Throughout this site musical features are explained in light of their intention and purpose. This should help bring meaning and value to each set work and foster more enthusiasm and appreciation of the music.

There is a multitude of musical worlds out there to explore and to inspire. Furthermore, all musical worlds are alive and can be shaped and moulded by musicians today. Though the specification seems "fixed" and studying composers and their music in an historical way makes our own musical worlds seem unworthy or irrelevant, nothing could be further from the truth! Each set work composer was alive at a particular time and in a particular place, just like us. They were inspired to use the elements of music to craft something unique and creative, which made sense to them and to those who listen to their music up to the present day.

Musical composition is not for the few, but for anyone who has a voice and wishes to say something. Always remember that...

Click a set work below to view wider listening