Hi, I hope no-one else has already asked this question (just searched for it and couldn't find it). Do you have to be at a certain stamndard to do A level music and also is their a standard set for uni. * as grade standards on instruments.

Heya! There isn't a definate grade criteria for doing A level music. Your school might ask for certain grades though and the individual boards advise what sort of grade they think you should have. When I started A level I was grade 5 on piano and violin and hadn't even started singing lessons! University's though tend to ask for grade 8 on your first instrument so that's something to work towards over the 2 years of A level!

Cool. Ihave around three years then to get up to standards lol

When performances for A level are marked, they take the raw score and alter it for the standard of the piece. AS pieces have so many marks subtracted if they are below grade 5, or so many marks added if they are grade 6+ (classed as "more difficult", "standard" or "easy"). A2 performance requires you to play a piece which is at least grade 6, and grade 5 pieces have marks taken off for being too easy.

hi.

this is very true and is something i would be thinking about if i was you. When taking your a-levels you need to create a balance between course being neccessary/fun/beneficial in context to the dgree you want to do.

for example, if you dont want to do music at uni and youd be more likely to get a better grade doind a different subject (subequently gaining more ucas points) youd probably be better doing that course.

however, if you have the option of doing 4 AS levels, take music on as your fourth and see how thing progress. as mentioned earlier there are no specific entry quals to AS so you may aswell go for it. just make sure you dont waste an A-level, you nee three strong subjects (generally). At this poiny in your education you dont want to start regretting your decisions unless you've thought about them long and hard. Music A-levels is one of the hardest ones to do (in my opinion). Anyway, however, if you would like to do music at uni A-level music is a neccessary A-level.

try using the neccessary/fun/beneficial systemto work out your a-levels. i ended up with

Neccessary - Music
Fun - Philosophy and Ethics
Beneficial - Psychology
*Fun - Drama

hope things go well!
jaime

According to something that I've read, 6-8 is A level standard.

It is

Grades 6-8 for AS/A2 generally.

For uni - it totally depends on the university.Most conservatoires will ask for grade 8 on your first instrument, and some grade 8 distinction.

my board (OCR) didnt request any particular grade, but the performance modules had sections which marked the demand of the piece (i.e. how hard it was)

for AS to get full marks on the demand section you needed to play a grade 5 piece
for A2 a grade 6 piece

universities: it varies very widely. at cambridge there is no compulsory performance module so technically you don't actually need to be able to play an instrument (although everyone who studies music does, and everyone i've come across has grade 8 distinction on at least one instrument).

many universities that do have compulsory performance modules will request Grade 8 (often at Merit or above) but universities will take you mainly on the grounds of academic ability.

for music college you will definitely need to be at least grade 8 distinction standard (nb you dont actually need the exam) and they will audition you if they think your application form shows that you could be good enough for the course. i can't really comment on this though because i didnt apply to music college.

On the trintity college website it asks for a grade 8 in principal instrument but does not ask for merit or distinction..though that doesn't mean it wouldn't help I'm sure!

I suppose most people will assume that they need a good pass in Grade 8 so perhaps that's why music colleges still end up with students with good standard even though they don't specify Pass, Merit or Distinction.