Well I need to complete my last TMA and have it ready to take with me to my last tutorial next Saturday. Can't believe that I am now nearing the end of this course when it only seems like 5 minutes ago that I was asking advice about taking it.

This afternoon is going to be devoted to finishing my classical keyboard piece. The Bach Chorale is done, just need then to check them both over.

Once they are out of the way I need to try and concentrate on catching up on the units that I have missed along with revision.

October 19th isn't that far way - exam date.

ET

Good luck ET I'm sure you'll do fine

Thanks Digby, I hope so, I am so behind. At the moment I will be happy with a Grade 4 pass. At the beginning I had high hopes, but at the end of the day a pass is a pass.

AA302 next, have you done that?

Tell me about it - I used to send my hubby out for the day with the kids whenever one was due - OU is great, but it's got to be harder than being immersed full time in a course.

I once had an assignment that I knew was due in the month of our local festival and with student and family committments I knew I had no time to do it, so I blitzed it and did the whole lot in about 4/5 very exhausting full time days following the previous TMA due date. Then rather than hold onto it for a month I posted it off (won't make that mistake again) the tutor picked up on one grammar mistake that I'd made and it was almost like he didn't even bother to read the rest he was so dismissive about the fact that it arrived so early he gave me 40% - Now I have a very good memory, so when almost the exact same question came up in the exam, I practically regurgitated the essay and got 75%. With hindsight I should have appealed, but it was only a little way into the course.



Yes I have done AA302, really enjoyed it, the videos were great and I've used loads of the info from it in my teaching - well recommend that one.

Had a lovely tutor for that one too.

I've done AA302 as well. I enjoyed it up to a point, and it gets rave reviews, but as a singer, AA317 (words amd music), which I'm just coming to the end of, is much more relevant to my teaching. By far the most enjoyable course of my OU career (AA317 is my final course), but not everyone's cup of tea, as it's being pulled in 2011.
Good luck with the exam, Eldatom.

I understand that AA302 is not all about score analysis, is that correct? Out of A214 I have not enjoyed the score analysis at all, in fact I find it stops me listening to the music just for enjoyment.

We are hoping that we get the same tutor as we have had for A214, he is brilliant and been so understanding with my personal circumstances.




Thanks Ann, right now I need all the luck that I can get due to personal circumstances putting me several weeks behind in the course. I am not going to be beat though and will continue to battle through.

When I registered for A214 last year I was due to go on to A317 as it was the only level 3 course, I was so pleased when they resurrected AA302 as A317 is definitely not for me. I want the music and not the literature. I hope to be able to teach music theory.

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Thanks Ann, right now I need all the luck that I can get due to personal circumstances putting me several weeks behind in the course. I am not going to be beat though and will continue to battle through.

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Wishing you lots of luck, if anyone deserves to pass it's you

[quote name='pianophrase' date='Sep 21 2009, 12:01 AM' post='875597']
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Thanks Ann, right now I need all the luck that I can get due to personal circumstances putting me several weeks behind in the course. I am not going to be beat though and will continue to battle through.

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Wishing you lots of luck, if anyone deserves to pass it's you
[/quote]
Thank you pianophrase.

My brain may be a little fuzzy, but I don't recall doing much score analysis in this one, it was more about how composers worked and how scores deveoped with instruments available with time, from a teaching theory point of view though, 214 is by far the best - that coupled with g8 theory and you'll be sorted from a knowledge point of view.

Thanks Digby, Grade 8 theory is next on my list, in between finishing A214 and starting AA302. One of the tutors at summer school told me to do Grade 8 theory too.

ET

I'm looking at the classical piece in TMA 08 today.... struggling. How have you got on ET?
Also I looked to see if there were any more example papers but couldn't find any? How about you?

Sort of done it Nicki but not yet checked through. Mind you I am dreaming about dominant chords and now need to revisit in case I have put weak chords were they should be strong!

Will try and catch up with you later. Off to Mum's now, but if I get back earlier enough I will give you a call.
Good Luck.

Hi,

I think in aa302 there is a section on editing a Handel score from his original autographs (think Ive got the right course) That calls for some pretty heavy score analysis and takes up an entire TMA, but its covered really thoroughly in the course. Score reading isn't my forte either but I enjoyed that section and got my highest mark for the TMAs on that one.
On the whole I liked AA302.
Good luck with the rest of A214 too

Julio

Good luck with the rest of A214 and to others completing OU units - I really loved 214!

I too, like AnnC am just completing AA317 and while there have been times I could have chucked it out the window (mainly due to conflicting personal events) , there are parts of it i have really enjoyed and I have learned a great deal about song. A302 would have been my first choice but as it was taken off last year, it was 317 or nothing - if I wanted to get finished. 317 is more literature based but I have to say I got a lot out of it too - I am even enjoying the ECA because I have been able to draw on song forms that I like.

Not sure I will register for anything else just at the moment - I will finish out with the Diploma in Music.... although I am temped by 302 and the musical technology unit too. I must focus on my grade 8 exams in 2010 (piano, theory and singing eek!) ... and then I think I need to revise my GCSE maths so that I can help my teenage daughter!!!

elizabeth

Hi ET .
It was lovely to chat to you today.....

Thanks Julio

I don't like the sound of that one taking me up the whole of the TMA - well as long as it isn't 10 pages long like we had to do it TMa 07, that was awful!

Hopefully I will get better at score analysis the more that I do. My piano teacher was quite surprised when she saw what I had learnt, we played a piece and then I said now I want to analyse it.




Thanks Elizabeth, I must admit that I have really enjoyed A214 particularly the summer school. I think it is great the amount of new friends that I have made too doing this course.

I was so pleased when AA302 came back as I had said that I would do AA317 and AA302 is definitely much more me.

After that TA212 here I come, really looking forward to that one.



Likewise Nicki, it is nice when you put a voice to the name isn't it. Maybe one day we will get a chance to meet?

All the best to you, ET. I'm glad you've enjoyed the course.

Good luck to all those about to finish OU courses!

Thanks Daisy Chain.

Hmm ... you all make it seem such an interesting (and useful) thing to do (A214) I am so tempted to sign up, just worried about the amount of time it will take up

It's a very good course. I believe it's being replaced in the near future with something similar.

A level two course such as this requires about sixteen hours of study per week. Not easy if one works full time and/or has a family to support. It can be done though! I did it when I was working full time and teaching in the evenings. Time management is essential.

And yes, February is its last intake. The new course iis going to be quite different and it wont have a summer school.

I have to admit Pianophrase that I haven't coped as well as I should have done, but that is only due to my sister being so ill and then losing her.

I don't work full time but I part time care for my mum, look after my 12 year old, do some mystery shopping which all in all probably equates to a full time job.

Like Daisy Chain says time management is a must, for the first few units you wont need to spend much time on it as it is things that you know. It suddenly moves on at a very fast pace.

Great course though and I certainly don't regret taking it on although I was nervous to take the plunge.

Don't forget that you can use your Tesco Clubcard vouchers to pay.

Not having a summer school would be a huge boon to people like me! I used to hate going away to them, and four out of the six courses I did had them, often in very difficult-to-get-to-from-here places. And the other plus side is that the courses are less expensive without them. But I know that many people get a great deal out of them.

I found time management in A214 quite easy, because you can get ahead in the first few months. In addition, I seem to recall that the workload is split up into days, so it's easy to keep track of where you are. It was a really good, useful course.

Can you really use Tesco Clubcard vouchers to pay?
It almost tempts me to go and do another course - maybe, this time, addressing my absolutely hopeless maths.....

Yes, you really can use your tesco clubcard vouchers to pay. I payed £200 in a cheque for A214 plus vouchers and £50 plus vouchers for AA302.

Oh I would love to go to A214 summer school again, I didn't want to come back home. I found it really good to suddenly be with all these likeminded people after having to work in isolation at home.

The tutors were fantastic too, in particular one of the tutors I had was fantastic and if I lived near him I would want to hire him on a one to one basis, of course I probably wouldn't be able to afford him, so just as well really.

ET

Good luck, ET! AA302 was my favourite out of all the OU music courses (except 317 which I don't fancy). I hope you enjoy it too

Thanks Panthera, do you remember when the exam is for that one?

Well I have now accomplished the task of completing TMA 08 - only in rough mind. First thing tomorrow morning I will re-write it and then pop it in the envelope ready to give to my tutor on Saturday morning. Personally I think that the chorale and the keyboard pieces are lovely, just hope that my tutor feels the same.

Out tomorrow evening and then back to the units that I have missed to see what information I can cram in to me in the short time left.

Hiya, I've finally made it on to here!! Hope the assignment is all going well for you ET, I'm sure your harmonisations do sound lovely, if they sound good to you
TMA 08 seems to be easier than TMA 07 - but maybe its being deceptive!
Good luck with it all, hope you do well! You really deserve it! xx

QUOTE "The tutors were fantastic too, in particular one of the tutors I had was fantastic and if I lived near him I would want to hire him on a one to one basis, of course I probably wouldn't be able to afford him, so just as well really.

ET" QUOTE

Which tutor are you referring to? AW? I'm so glad we had such great tutors at summer school, they really made everything so much clearer

Hiya you, lovely to see you here. Yes you sussed me out, definitely AW.

How are you getting on, have you finished yours?

Hiya, I've completed it but I still keep checking them both and making little changes to make them "better". I'm hoping that I'll have learnt from the mistakes I made in the last TMA.
I thought it might be that one just got that idea from what you had said!!! hehehe!!

Mine was around the 9th of October.

I think it was quite early that year - it's been a little later in the month in the past, normally around mid-October from what our tutor advised us. The exam is a distant memory here though as I'm working through the 317 ECA right now...

Thanks

Our exam for A214 is October 19th so maybe they are all around the similar time.

Good luck with your ECA for 317.

The OU has a two-week exam period every October. Where the exam for a given course will fall in those two weeks varies from year-to-year. But they tell you the dates of the October period quite early on in the year, so you know roughly where it will be.
This year's October exam period is 12th-23rd (15th for me [A219]...three weeks...ARGH!)

That explains it then. Good luck Maizie, you are just 4 days before me then, it isn't long is it. I am lucky that I can take the exam at the local college. Off to Pro corda on 15th and don't come home until 18th, so I will be taking revision material with me for bedtime reading. couldn't miss out on Pro corda, I enjoy it too much.