Music

The Music Department at The Ursuline Academy Ilford is at the heart of the school community. The department takes an active part in the very busy musical life of the school, performing in the many school occasions, Masses, community charity events and concerts throughout the year.

Courses

KS3 Music

At Key Stage 3 students receive one lesson of compulsory Music education a week. The Music department seeks to offer our students every possible opportunity to get involved and enjoy Music through an integrated, “hands on” approach. Students experience Composing, Performing, Listening and Appraising in an integrated and practical way. Our schemes of work our carefully designed to achieve a balance between traditional and modern, Western and non-Western music, with a significant element of ICT. Many trips and performance opportunities are offered to our KS3 students.

Year 7 Music Grade Descriptors

Year 8 Music Grade Descriptors

Year 9 Music Grade Descriptors

GCSE Music

Music is a multifaceted academic subject, as well as one which involves performance, composition analysis and improvisation. GCSE Music enables students to develop their musical skills significantly and learn about the inner workings of music through many different means. Students will discover the cultural richness of music in Western Classical Music, Music in the 20th Century, Popular music and World Music. The Music Department follows the Edexcel GCSE Music course.

There are three main elements to the course:

Performing coursework 30% – Prepare and record one solo and one ensemble performance for a final assessment.
Composing coursework 30% – Compose two pieces of Music over the two year course.
Listening exam 40% – Sit an hour and a half listening exam at the end of Year 11. Students will answer questions based on the set works they analysed over the two year course.

Results indicate that our students regularly achieve, on average, 1 grade higher than their target grades. 73% of students in summer 2016 achieved an outstanding A* – A and 100% A* – C. 92% of students in summer 2017 achieved A*-C with an excellent 35% of the cohort receiving A*-A.

Resources

The Music Department consists of one classroom and a Music Technology suite with fourteen dedicated music PCs running Sibelius 7. There is also a Recording studio and 3 practice rooms which are used for peripatetic lessons, class group work and individual instrumental practice.

Instrumental Lessons

Individual lessons are currently offered by a team of experienced and highly qualified specialist instrumental teachers. Instrumental lessons are timetabled on a rotational basis.

We offer tuition on the following instruments;

Clarinet
Drum Kit
Acoustic/Electric/Bass Guitar
Flute
Percussion
Piano (Classical and Jazz)
Recorder
Saxophone
Singing
Viola and Violin.

We believe that learning an instrument is very important and can help a student with the following: develop an awareness of potential, improve concentration and coordination, instil confidence in pupil’s own ability, help develop communication skills, foster self-discipline and responsibility, give a sense of achievement, assist imagination and most importantly, helps develop a love of music and culture.