Hello and welcome to Reigate College’s Music Department.
My name is John Evans and I’m the Head of Music and Course Leader for Music A Level.
I’m pleased you’ve chosen to study Music at Reigate College and I’m looking forward to welcoming you in person to our friendly team at the beginning of the academic year. We’re incredibly lucky to have such a well resourced Music Department, together with talented students and amazingly supportive staff and music alumni.
In order to study Music A Level at Reigate College you have to successfully pass the audition process.
If you would like to study A Level Music and have not yet been through the audition process, please contact admissions@reigate.ac.uk.
Please read the instructions below and then submit your files, using your full name within the file titles, using the “Music” folder on the line below.
Task 1: Theory Skills
The first New Starters task is to make sure you have all the underlying skills in order to be able to access and engage with the A Level Music course.
For A Level Music it’s expected you have theory skills to Grade 5 theory level. If you haven’t, in order to be able to demonstrate this to us in September please undertake the most relevant tasks below (A, B and/or C) to ensure you will be ‘up to speed’ when you start.
If you have your Grade 5 but haven’t already presented your certificate, you should complete Task A below. You may also want to look at Task B below as a refresher.
If you don’t have Grade 5 Theory, you will need to complete the whole of Task C.
A. Submit a copy of your Grade 5 Theory Certificate if you haven’t done so already, using the ‘Music’ folder link above.
B. Use www.musictheory.net to ensure you are familiar with the topics in the following sections:
- The Basics: All sections
- Rhythm and Metre: All sections
- Scales and Key Signatures: All sections
- Intervals: All sections
- The first two lessons from Chords, Diatonic Chords and the first from Chord Progressions would be a bonus.
C. Work through the ABRSM Grade 5 Theory Book. Please upload screenshots / photos / scans of the completed pages from the theory workbook to the Music link, above.
For your ‘Get Going’ task for A Level Music, I’d like you to listen to the opening of ‘Pagodes’ from Estampes by Debussy, written in 1903 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lswHSnJ0Rlw
The first four bars of ‘Pagodes’ are based on a B pentatonic (five-note) scale: B, C#, D#, F# and G#.
Write a one minute pentatonic piece for any combination of instruments using ‘Pagodes’ as your inspiration.
Please use Musescore (free download available at https://musescore.org/en) to notate your composition, then export it as a .xml file and submit it using the link below.
Please make sure you use your full name as the file name when you upload your work via the Music folder link below. For Musescore you should also give your full name in the title/composer section of the file.
If you would prefer to use manuscript paper, then please upload a photograph of your work ensuring your full name is clearly visible on the page.
Jazz Comparison
Your final task, before the start of the course, is to compare two versions of the same Jazz standard, performed in different styles. Use your knowledge of the ‘elements of music’ (Melody, Articulation, Dynamics, Texture, Structure, Harmony, Instrumentation, Rhythm, Tonality) to identify the similarities and differences between the two recordings.
The best way to complete this task is to create a table with ‘similarities’ in the left-hand column and ‘differences’ in the right-hand column, like below (I’ve given an example of the kind of statement you could write – these may not be correct for the pieces!!)
You do not need to write in full sentences, bulletpoints is fine. You should aim to identify between 5 – 10 similarities and differences.
Duke Ellington and his Orchestra – Take the A Train
Charles Mingus Sextet – Take the A Train
Please upload a screenshot / photo / scan of your completed table to the Music folder.
If you have any queries regarding any of these tasks, or regarding the A Level course in general, please contact me at john.evans@reigate.ac.uk
Head of Music
