What areas of study are you doing? I'm doing Music for Large Ensemble and Popular Music and Jazz. I love the song by the Kinks - Waterloo Sunset! Also loving the Debussy Prelude.

Meeeee I am! Well at the moment I am doing Pavana Lachrimae and partita in D, and we are doing 'flow my teares' its THE most depressing song ever, and in the words of my teacher "it just makes you want to end it all"!!!

*And what about the size of the anthology eh? I don't enjoy lugging that and all my other text books on and off the bus...!

hehe....i'm doing keyboard music as well as other theorotical stuff...

yeah, the book is HUGE! im lucky im doing it outside school so i dont have to carry too much stuff with me (apart from my viola aswell!). so lots of people doing keyboard music then..... any ideas what you're going to do for the composition sections? I'm working on bach chorale cadences at the moment.

Nope, no ideas. Yet.

I'm doing Music for Large Ensemble, and, surprise surprise, Music for Small Ensemble. I'm doing it outside school too but I have to carry that huge book up three flights of stairs along with a massive folder and my violin- not fun!

I think I'm doing Bach chorale cadences too for the Compositional techniques bit, and probably Serialism as well. I don't know what I'm going to write for my actual composition but that's kinda bad because I'm meant to be starting it this week... eek! Apparently though, you can just write what you want and shove it into one of the categories at the end as they don't mark you on how well it fits into the category, only on how good the piece is!

Well I would love to take A/AS level music but I can't find a course near me to do it ! (Manchester area)

Fiona

A student of mine has just begun As music in tameside.
I think it is at Ashton 6th form college.

Thanks Sbhoa.

I will check that as it's near me.

Fiona

Well I phoned the college but as I'm an 'adult' I can't do it !

They don't know anywhere that offers t either.

It's so annoying !!

Fiona

Maybe you have to jump in at the deep end and do an Open University degree; it's rather expensive though...

QUOTE (AnotherPianist @ Oct 19 2004, 03:21 PM)

Maybe you have to jump in at the deep end and do an Open University degree; it's rather expensive though...

Hi AP,

I have been considering doing the OU music dip and maybe extending it to the degree.

At present, I'm due to sit GVI theory and not sure whether to do VII and VIII after as well or just the diploma.

I don't know if it would be better to do up to VIII and then the diploma. Any ideas ?

I shall have to have a think about it.

Fiona

QUOTE

Well I phoned the college but as I'm an 'adult' I can't do it !

So much for lifelong learning.
That seems to only apply if you want to learn leisure based things, like painting, flower arranging or holiday languages

Don't see why, if you are prepared to pay the cost of the course and study with 6th formers, you can't join a class!

I know it's so annoying Ggrrrrr !

I know, I'll take up flower arranging !

Maybe you could study it yourself, with some advice from a music teacher who's done it. Maybe then the colleges will let you enter through them just to sit the exam rather than actually doing the course there, it's a lot of fiddling around though...

QUOTE (hannah @ Oct 18 2004, 08:24 PM)

yeah, the book is HUGE! im lucky im doing it outside school so i dont have to carry too much stuff with me (apart from my viola aswell!). so lots of people doing keyboard music then..... any ideas what you're going to do for the composition sections? I'm working on bach chorale cadences at the moment.

i know the anthology is so big.... and so heavy.... whatever....i'm doing keyboard music and possibly sacred music.... i've done a bit on bach chorale cadences, figured bass and i think i'm composing a romantic minature quite soon...

QUOTE (AnotherPianist @ Oct 19 2004, 04:12 PM)

Maybe you could study it yourself, with some advice from a music teacher who's done it. Maybe then the colleges will let you enter through them just to sit the exam rather than actually doing the course there, it's a lot of fiddling around though...

Mmmm...I suppose so.

May be worth looking into.

Fiona

QUOTE

i think i'm composing a romantic minature quite soon...

I might do that, I think... or variations. The thing is, you have to choose quite carefully as whatever you write at AS you have to carry on at A2 if you do the composition option... that might seem a long way away now but it's only a year really!

i will have a recital rather.... i don't like composition

QUOTE (cecilia @ Oct 18 2004, 09:11 PM)

I'm doing Music for Large Ensemble, and, surprise surprise, Music for Small Ensemble. I'm doing it outside school too but I have to carry that huge book up three flights of stairs along with a massive folder and my violin- not fun! I think I'm doing Bach chorale cadences too for the Compositional techniques bit, and probably Serialism as well. I don't know what I'm going to write for my actual composition but that's kinda bad because I'm meant to be starting it this week... eek! Apparently though, you can just write what you want and shove it into one of the categories at the end as they don't mark you on how well it fits into the category, only on how good the piece is!

yes, i have to carry it up a lot of stairs too! where are you studying, if i may ask? im studying at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama. It's advertised as a course for adults but 3 of the five of us who are doing it are school age.
Im probably gonna go for the recital option next year.
thanks for the hint about the compositions, i wasnt overly enthusiastic about the topics..... mind you it could be worse, i have friends studying with WJEC and they have to link one of their composition to Baroque forms or American musicals (their areas of study).
How did your family/friends/teachers react to you studying A level earlier. I had mixed reactions, not all of them positive, I must say.

Well, seeing as I did GCSE 2 years early as well, nobody seemed to mind much because they know I did very well at GCSE so it seems I can manage. There were doubts about how I would fit an AS-level with the first year of GCSEs (coursework and all that) but it seems to be going fine! I'm not the youngest in my class either- there is a range of ages from one student who is 20 down to one girl who is a couple of months younger than me. In fact it might be better to do it earlier as some of the students trying to take it as an extra A level alongside their others have already dropped out as they found it too much.

I guess I'm quite lucky to have had such positive reactions from my family and friends. My teachers seem OK with it too except for my school music teacher who says he'd rather I'd waited and taken it at school...

QUOTE (cecilia @ Oct 19 2004, 07:34 PM)

Well, seeing as I did GCSE 2 years early as well, nobody seemed to mind much because they know I did very well at GCSE so it seems I can manage. There were doubts about how I would fit an AS-level with the first year of GCSEs (coursework and all that) but it seems to be going fine! I'm not the youngest in my class either- there is a range of ages from one student who is 20 down to one girl who is a couple of months younger than me. In fact it might be better to do it earlier as some of the students trying to take it as an extra A level alongside their others have already dropped out as they found it too much. I guess I'm quite lucky to have had such positive reactions from my family and friends. My teachers seem OK with it too except for my school music teacher who says he'd rather I'd waited and taken it at school...

I'm in year 11 now, so I'm still supposed to be doing GCSE, but I'm not sure if I can go ahead with the exam, as there is a rule that says you can't do the exams at the same time. There isn't really a great deal of work in Year 10. I just can't wait to get compuslory education over and done with (110 days to go!).
My music teacher was the same - I think he was annoyed that I didn't talk to him about it, but I had already decided in the summer holidays.
Good luck with your exams!