Yikes.. after thinking about it for a few months I've finally applied for a place on the OU A214 course which will start next February.

I still want to do the AB grades 6 - 8 and am hoping this will teach me above and beyond what I need to know .

Can't wait to get started now although am a little bit concerned about the amount of time it will take during the week, but will have to be super organized, any tips anyone ? Still working on G5 piano so want to keep that going and have started singing lessons as well

Yay you've done it. Its a great course, you'll really enjoy it.

214 is a substitute for g6 theory, so you may just want to work through the paper and then move on to G7 afterwards.

Good luck and have fun

D

Thanks Digby,

Would like to start now,

You'll get a huge big box arrive about Christmas time with the first half of the course, but I agree now would be better, there's no Christmas films, mince pies or bottles of port to compete with.

Well done you., I am so pleased for you.

The first few units you will find easy, (apart from maybe the aural side of it) but you wont need to take too much time with it.

If I was you whilst it is easy I would concentrate on the works and the historical study side of it, I wish I had then maybe I wouldn't be struggling to try and pack this information in my brain now! I think that you will receive your materials around December, start on things then, this way you will be able to spread the work load throughout the year, rather than panic when it starts to get hard.

I don't think you will regret going for A214 and you will love the summer school.

Certainly when I get my materials for AA302 I intend to start on it straight away rather than waiting until February.

ET

Well done to you, pianophrase! I'm sure you'll enjoy the course!

Agree with ET..get started as soon as you can.

You'll be given a study timetable which tells you the units to study during a particular week. If you can keep to that as much as possible, you'll be fine. Make good use of your tutor too. They are very good at helping. And also attend as many tutorials as you can to meet others in your group and to set up a contact network so that you can support each other.

They recommend spending about sixteen hours per week on the course. You might not need this to begin with, and as it's very basic musical notation you may get ahead of things anyway. This will give you some leeway for the weeks when you haven't much time to study, or when things on the course become a bit harder/more technical.

Best wishes!

Hope you enjoy AA302 ET!

Thanks Daisychain, just get to get through A214 now. My head is swimming! So much so some of the stuff I knew I am now questioning myself about.

I have made myself up a revision bible, a kind of short cut really for the units that I have missed and not got time to get back to. In particular I am trying to work on the words and historical study, form, style and texture.

If I manage to just scrape through a pass now I will be happy. Still not had TMA08 back yet, so don't know how I have done with that.

ET

Hi pianophrase

I've also signed up and have coughed up the cash for it....so no going back now...I am beginning to wonder what I have let myself in for, but I'm also pretty excited and quite eager to get going. I'm going to start listening to these which are mentioned in another thread:

Purcell - Dido & Aeneas
Beethoven - Symphony No.5
Schubert - Octet
Tchaikovsky - Serenade for Strings

Cheers,

Jo.

P.S The other thread is:

http://www.abrsm.org/forum/index.php?showtopic=38837&hl=

These Forums are great, I had never heard of the A214 until I read about it here and you guys are so supportive

I feel excited already about the 'big' box of music related stuff - want it now !!

I will take your advice about starting early, sixteen hours a week is a bit daunting so will have to keep on top of it all.

Good luck Eldatom with your TM08 and AA302 course, look forward to hearing about it
Where is the best place to buy the music scores, did you get them all from the same place ? Did you also buy a CD recording of the music to be studied ?

Thanks for posting JoMook, maybe we will meet at the tutorials and Summer school.

I'll be doing it too. Can't wait!

Hi Clarimoo,

So now (with JoMook) there are 3 of us doing the A214 in Feb, anyone else ?

I'm wondering whether to apply to be a tutor on A214 Don't know if I've got time with piano teaching as well. Maybe I should just apply anyway and see what happens. I did the course in 1996 and loved it too. I just did Grade 6 AB for fun later and as a revision course for me. The AB paper is different though as you have to do the compositions within the three hour exam rather than as a TMA. Some of A214 goes up to a Grade 8 level of knowledge and it is a great source for understanding orchestration, musical styles and history.

Enjoy

I have got my scores, some from Musicroom and some from Amazon. I have managed to get CDs of most of them also although I understand that they are all included on CD's that we will get as part of the course. My cunning plan is to listen to them in the car and hopefully achieve some familiarity before the course kicks off.

Yes the more I read about the A214 the more interesting it became.

- It must be alot easier to do the composition at home, in your own time and using a keyboard, than in an examination room with a time limit

Too right! That's why most of my evenings are taken up with preparing for Grade 8 theory in five weeks time. I know what to do but it just takes me ages to do the composition questions. What takes me two hours I need to squidge into 45 mins on the day! I am going to start doing timed answers. I'm fine with the analysis questions which take me about 20 mins each and mostly full marks - so that will give me some extra time to play with. You will get some analysis in the A214 exam and I think there is one essay - I can't believe I sat that exam exactly 13 years ago!

I'm just trying to revise for my exam for A214- I'm glad I took the course. The first units were easy but I have certainly enjoyed it!
Enjoy.....

Good luck with the exam Clari Nicki 1 and Eldatom.

thanks Claimoo

Don't know about Nicki but I know that I need all the luck that I can get!

I'm sitting here feeling sooo jealous. I've always wanted to take these courses, but I had to be honest with myself and admit that I just wouldn't have time. Besides work, house, garden, hobbies etc, our kids are now in their teens and we're having to spend a lot of time helping one with his schooling.

However, as soon as they're - well, perhaps the first one - is packed off to uni, I intend to throw myself into the world of O.U. Hopefully by then they'll have re-introduced some more interesting music courses and give us more choice. I never understood why they removed so many from the diploma.

Re. the scores, don't forget that most of them are out of copyright and can usually be found on the net.

e.g.
Purcell - Dido & Aeneas
http://www.cpdl.org/wiki/index.php/Dido_an...)#Complete_work

Beethoven - Symphony No.5
http://www.bh2000.net/score/orchbeet/

Schubert - Octet
http://imslp.org/index.php?title=Category:...ranz&from=O

Tchaikovsky - Serenade for Strings
http://imslp.org/wiki/Serenade_for_String_...ch)#Full_Scores

If you look in the free sheet music section here, you may find better copies:

http://www.varesemusica.org/links.htm



Steve

I'm doing it too Part of the full degree I am doing with the OU. The summer school sounds really good, and its only down the road in Durham

Danny

Hi Danny,

Out of interest, what is the full degree you are doing?

Cheers,

Jo

I wanted a full music degree but the OU don't offer one, so I am doing the following:

Understanding music: elements, techniques and styles (A214) 60 points

Words and music (AA317) 60 points

From composition to performance: musicians at work (AA302) 60 points

From Enlightenment to Romanticism c.1780-1830 (A207) 60 points

Exploring the classical world (A219) 60 points

The technology of music (TA212) 60 points

It ends up as a Bachelor of Arts with Honours (BA Hons). The core is music - understanding music, words and music, composition to performance and the tec. of music. Enlightenment to Romanticism is compulsory. There are no other music courses to make up the required 60 credits, so I chose exploring the classical world, which deals a lot with how art and music shaped the world in the past. It is called a Humanities with Music degree. Can't wait to get started!

Yes very VERY good luck, a full report after would be great !!




Thats great stevensfo thanks for all the info




Wow and I was wondering about doing one (60pt) course, would be interested to hear how you progress

The OU A214 - Feb 2010 now has 4 Forum members :

pianophrase
Clarimoo
JoMook
aesir22

looking forward to Summer school already !!

What part of the country are people coming from for the summer school?

Just to ask...how long after you registered online did they send the papers through to you? I applied a week ago, and they said they would send out the financial things? On top of that, for those who have done multiple courses...I am combining six over time to make it a degree - will I be able to sort it so that applications for courses and financial help are all done in one? Will be such a hassle doing it six times lol.

Each course is seen as a seperate element, so you will have to apply for each one seperately per study year. The exception is if you are going to do two courses in one session (i.e. February to October) then you can apply for them both at the same time.

A week isn't long to wait, and some areas are having problems with postal strikes.

Patience! Have just replied to your PM.

I took A214 in 2003 (I think).

I found the whole course pretty easy. I basically did the TMAs without actually having studied any of the course materials. I would occasionally use the course materials as reference materials to help me if I got stuck and invariably it was easy to find out how to answer any question I was slightly stuck on.

I didn't go to any tutorials.

The summer school was EXCELLENT. Especially working on the Set Works.

I didn't do much revision for the final exam and yet I still ended up doing very very very well
Mainly because of the summer school!

Many universities will accept a pass in A214 as an equivalent to getting an A at A-Level Music. There were a few people at the summer school at schools not offering A-Levels so they took A214 instead. Having talked to friends doing music degrees at universities and conservatoires, the A214 course goes slightly beyond A-Level standard and covers a lot of the ground of the first year of a music degree, depending on how well you do!

Enjoy the course - especially the summer school!!!!!! It's a BRILLIANT week but unbelievably tiring because it's full on all day every day from 9 in the morning until about 11 at night! Make the most of it!

Hey DaisyChain

So I should maybe do A214 in feb, then 'Exploring the Classical World' in Oct, then the next in feb...complete in 3 years? Do i need to make it known I intend to do all six? I have absolutely no patience whatsoever haha

Hello!
Yes, if the courses run this way, there's no reason why not. No, no need to tell them what your intentions are. You will have your own study page on the OU site which tells you the courses you have done, and what can be achieved by doing them (i.e. BA Hons). Or a nervous breakdown if you push yourself too hard!

The OU can become very addictive though. Pace yourself if you're not in any tearing hurry! Take your time and enjoy each course as you do it.

I had toyed with the idea of doing 2 courses at once, but on top of working full time and learning to play piano I thought it might be a bit much haha. Even so, some of the courses may overlap...start new in feb, finish ones started in oct in june. Will be a good challenge

Yes it will..I did two courses together when I was working full time and teaching in the evening. It was hard going and probably not the best idea I've ever had. If you can manage your time equally between the two, you should be ok. Say goodbye to the your bed and the pubs for a while though!

Lol I said goodbye to the pubs a long while back...quite said since I'm only 25 lol!

Hi there,

im doing the A214 now and the exam is on October 19th

I thoroughly recommend it and have learnt so much especially on the history/style side. Theres a fair amount of harmony in the TMA's which was possibly my weakest point prior to the course but now im ok at it. The first few units will be a breeze but it soon hots up and is very interesting. I had a fantastic tutor who was very thorough, extremely supportive and quick to respond to emails and tma queries.

I am doing From Composition to Performance next year, cant wait!

Donald Burrows was at the summer school (do google him) and has an infectious amount of energy. If you want any further info please pm me!

Thanks for your post BeSharpNotFlat, interesting to hear your experience,

How long is the exam and how many marks is it worth compared to the TMA's?

good luck with it, hope you do well

The exam is 3 hours long, and you have to get 40% to pass, you also have to get 30% pass on the last TMA .
I am still waiting for my last TMA to come back, I could be revising for nothing! lol - Hope not though.

3 hours is a long time without a toilet break, although you are allowed to go, I am just thinking of the time that I would be wasting on the exam questions!

ET

Thanks Eldatom,

Gosh 3 hours is a bit of a marathon, the only formal exams I've done since school are the AB theory grades (2 hours for G5)

Good Luck, we're all here to cheer you on

The exam is 3 hours long, and you have to get 40% to pass, you also have to get 30% pass on the last TMA .
I am still waiting for my last TMA to come back, I could be revising for nothing! lol - Hope not though.

3 hours is a long time without a toilet break, although you are allowed to go, I am just thinking of the time that I would be wasting on the exam questions!

ET
[/quote]


Thanks Eldatom,

Gosh 3 hours is a bit of a marathon, the only formal exams I've done since school are the AB theory grades (2 hours for G5)

Good Luck, we're all here to cheer you on
[/quote]

Me too!!!

I met him at mine too! He was excellent.

Good luck to all who are about to take the exam.

thanks daisychain.

Yes, and so different to what he looks and seems on the DVD. Such good fun.

Thanks for the luck Daisychain, need it!

ET