“Music is my passion in life. When I am older I would love to be a classical musician so I am very glad I chose BTEC Music at DSFC. It has taught me so much during my time in the class. The members of the class and the teachers have helped my confidence grow so much within the different areas of study, such as performing in an ensemble and advancing my skills as a composer. Throughout Year 12 I have thoroughly enjoyed all the collaborative opportunities I have been given. They have widened my knowledge of music each time and I have formed incredible bonds with other students. I have also loved that we share our class with Year 13 – it gives so much more opportunity to collaborate with different people and it is very interesting to listen to everyone’s own style of music.”
Maddie
Task 1
Record a 4-8 minute performance of yourself. This is likely to be 1-3 songs. The music can include any or a mixture of:
- a solo performance on any instrument
- a solo performance on any instrument with a backing track
- yourself singing and playing an instrument to accompany yourself
- a group performance using other people, as well as yourself, who have sent you recordings of themselves and you have put them together using software
- a group performance with 1 or more members of your family with whom you are isolating
- an improvisation
- your own composition, which you are also performing
Part of the challenge here is being able to make a recording and send it to me. The easiest way to do this is using Google Drive, as it is better with larger files than email. Please do not use other file sharing platforms, such as Dropbox – we need to use Google Drive to keep your work. Good luck, and let me know if you need help with the technical aspect of this.
Task 2
Write a letter to Arts Council England asking for a grant of £2000. You intend to use this money to put on a large community event in Dereham. I have outlined the details of the event below. Your letter needs to:
- use formal, professional language
- be structured to include all of the information in a clear and informative way
- use persuasive language to try and prove that you deserve the £2000 and that it will be money well spent
- aim for at least 600 words, if you can
Details of the event:
- You are organising this as part of a team of 3 people.
- You will be putting on 4 hours of music, from 6010pm.
- The event will be a big summer festival, held in a field on the outskirts of Dereham.
- You will have the venue for free and it includes space for parking.
- You will have one music stage, which will have lots of performances by local children, young people and musicians from Dereham and surrounding area. Then, from 8pm you will have some bigger, headline acts.
- The event is aimed at families.
- You are charging an entry fee of £2 / adult £1 child to add to the funds.
- You are expecting around 1000 people at attend.
- The Arts Council money will be used for stage and sound hire and to pay for the headline acts.
- You have also received money from Dereham Town Council, which is paying for portaloos.
- Food, drink and merchandise stands are paying to come and sell their products. You expect to be able to have a percentage for the stalls / pitch.
Task 3
Compose some music which is inspired by a theme of ‘Connection’. This can include:
- song lyrics
- song lyrics and melody
- song and accompaniment (on guitar / piano)
- solo for an instrument
- a multi-layered composition
Aim to create at least 30 seconds of music, write it down and send it to me. If you are able to work with notation, please do write your music down using that, i.e. YAB, drum notation, staff notation, chord labelling, etc. If you do not know how to use notation, just write your music down however makes sense to you. You can have access to Soundtrap – please email me for a log in / access details.
Please get in touch if you have any questions.
[email protected]
