Professional Development

Welcome to this training video presentation which intends to illuminate the principles behind the assessment of music at GCSE and A-level. My name is David Warwick, and I am a senior examiner for AQA. I will be taking you through the Assessment Objectives, the practical tasks and role of coursework, the types of questions, mark schemes as well as the role of optionality within the two specifications, showing you how they provide for a valid and reliable assessment in music. We will begin by focusing on A-Level and then GCSE Music after.

Hopefully, you'll have already seen our what makes good assessment videos about the principles of assessment, which cover concepts such as validity and reliability and what those terms mean. In this video, I'm going to talk about how those principles apply in music.

Firstly, we will look at A-level Music, for which I work as Chair of Examiners. The Assessment Objectives were laid down by Ofqual back in 2016 when the most recent specifications were being developed, and they apply to all examination boards.

AO1 - I’m not going to dwell on this part of the assessment as it is already largely well understood. The difference at A-level (compared with GCSE) is the final clause – understanding of style and context. ‘Performance quality’ is now a distinct (30%) part of the mark scheme, incorporating those aspects of style and flair, authority and commitment in the performance whereas ‘level of demand’ – the intrinsic difficulty of the pieces - is only a small (10%) factor in the overall assessment. The validity of this part of the assessment is evident through the fact that the mark scheme, the criteria by which examiners mark the performances, is the same year on year, and the demand (performing for at least 10 minutes) also remains the same.

AO2 is measured through the two compositions which candidates are required to submit. As with performance, it’s the same task every year (although the details of the briefs will change) and assessed against the same criteria within the mark scheme. The assessment balances compositional technique and creativity. The extra feature at A-level is the phrase ‘and refine musical ideas’ which implies an additional sense of reflective judgement on aspects of the composition. Examiners frequently come across compositions at A-level which are bursting with fresh and creative ideas and sounds but are less accomplished or secure in their technical control – be it in the use of the instruments chosen, or the harmonic progression, or perhaps the textural spacing. Conversely, there are candidates who are working within an unduly rigid structure, or who find it hard to create imaginative turns of melody or rhythm but have a good harmonic technique and secure textural awareness. These different types of composers can achieve similar marks – those who are able to combine the good qualities of both into a coherent and convincingly stylish piece will achieve the highest band of marks. I’ll come back to how the mark scheme is used in detail later on.

AO3 – demonstrate and apply musical knowledge is largely assessed in the one mark and two mark questions of the listening paper in both sections A and B. Although this Assessment Objective is exactly the same at A-level as for GCSE, there is an expectation of wider knowledge – for example recognition of instruments such as the cor anglais or chromatic harmonies such as the augmented 6th chord. Again, I’ll come on to the different types of questions and how they achieve differentiation in due course.

AO4 includes the phrase ‘use analysis and appraising skills’ at A-level which distinguishes it from GCSE. This Assessment Objective is measuring the candidates’ abilities to analyse musical elements in the unfamiliar listening excerpts for the 10-mark questions in Section A of the written paper and showing how those musical elements are used to create the composer’s desired style, mood or narrative. Analytical skills are also required for Section B where questions ask candidates to demonstrate their understanding of the compositional techniques found in the studied set works. In the Section C essays, analysis, evaluation and critical judgement are at the heart of the writing in order successfully to compare the works of at least two composers within a single chosen area of study.

In order to achieve a valid assessment, the listening questions must cover a similar range of tempo, metre and rhythm, melody, harmony, tonality, structure, sonority, texture and dynamics and articulation questions across each of the optional Areas of Study to avoid construct under-representation and achieve comparability. Here is an example from the 2022 paper which shows a balance of multiple choice and open questions, assessing knowledge and recognition of harmony, rhythm and articulation. Notice also that part one pinpoints a specific passage in the excerpt, whereas part two requires students to listen to the whole piece. The complementary question for the same area of study is likely to focus on different elements such as melody or instrument identification. Although at a glance both questions might seem quite similar, in the first the candidate has to work out where the B section is located (that’s a structure question), understand and hear a counter-melody (that’s a texture question), before identifying the instrument – possibly further complicated by the aspect of range if one of the saxophones is the correct answer – and cope with the negative connotation of ‘stops’. If the purpose of the question is to establish which candidates can identify the sound of a tenor saxophone, then this example suffers from too much construct irrelevance. In the second question, the location is given assistance by the naming of the instrument playing it, and there are only three choices. Standard practice is that there will be four choices for a single mark question, and five choices for two-mark questions. Neither of these questions would have successfully passed through the paper-setting process on to an actual paper.

The multiple-choice questions are a secure method of covering listening skills across the range of musical elements, avoiding construct under-representation and maintaining comparability between each optional area of study and from series to series. Some questions are successfully answered by (almost) all students – such as identification of instruments, playing techniques etc. and others differentiate well between ability levels – notably interval recognition and harmony.

The 10-mark analysis questions expect students to identify features, apply their musical knowledge and make critical judgements about how the music achieves its intended purpose. They can be answered at a variety of levels – from basic observation of a few features, to a reliable analysis of the whole excerpt achieving coverage of all the significant elements in a well-written and logically coherent response, revealing different levels of depth, insight and sophistication. As such, they achieve effective differentiation between students. Students and teachers often ask, ‘how many points do I need to make to achieve 10/10’. This is the mark scheme which applies to the previous question about The Trolls – and it’s used for all of the 10 mark analysis questions for the optional areas of study as well. As you can see, it assesses the levels of musical depth and insight in the students’ responses, as well as the range of coverage both in terms of the different musical elements and also across different parts of the excerpt – i.e. the structure of the piece. The clarity of writing and form of the response is also considered in the overall examiner judgement.

Coupled to this generic mark scheme is the indicative content – that is a long list of all the points which the question writer thinks a student might observe. Members of the question-setting committee will add to this along the way so that by the time the paper has been sat there is an almost comprehensive guide for examiners to use. Almost comprehensive is the correct term, because once the candidate responses arrive with examiners there will inevitably be further unexpected observations which the lead examiner will wish to accept – and these will be added prior to the examiner standardisation meeting. At the end of the list there is always a final phrase – any other valid point. Examiners are trained to know what is meant by the terms ‘limited,’ ‘relevant,’ ‘wide-ranging’ etc. from the sample scripts seen at standardisation, and then further understanding is gained from the first sample of an examiner’s scripts which are reassessed by a senior examiner, and then discussed. Subsequent periodic sampling by senior examiners continues this process. This establishes an overall reliability in the marking such that a response will achieve the same (or almost the same) mark whichever examiner marks it.

Assessment Objective2 requires students to ‘create, develop and refine musical ideas with technical and expressive control and coherence’.

At A-level, the two compositions are assessed by examiners rather than being first teacher-assessed and subsequently moderated. The task is the same each year (although the details of the briefs will change) and compositions are marked against the same criteria and mark scheme. The free composition is perhaps one of the most open-ended tasks set for any A-level paper. Its rather like asking a student to write an essay on any topic of their choosing, in any style, and for whatever target readership they wish. Musical compositions come in an increasingly diverse variety of genres and styles, especially as students embrace ever-widening opportunities for technology to support their inventiveness and artistic reach. The assessment balances creativity and compositional technique and differentiation is achieved through outcome. That is - at the very top of the spectrum we will see work that is highly ambitious, full of creativity and musical style, supported by assured technical control and a sharp ear for detail and expressive character. Conversely, there will be examples of pieces which are basic in design, simple or contrived in their use of musical elements and sometimes obscure in sense of coherence and style. The majority of the submissions obviously fall between these two extremes and reliable assessment requires experienced judgement, musical perception and constant referral to the mark scheme.

This composition mark scheme covers all compositions, except for Brief 1. The Chorales - are assessed against a different set of specific criteria which consider the success or otherwise of the keys and cadences, chord choice and progression, stylistic detail and part-writing, again aligned directly with the ‘authoritative’, ‘confident’, ‘secure’, ‘limited’ and ‘rudimentary’ headlines. For free compositions, the ‘brief’ column is not relevant although examiners will consider the composition’s intentions with regard to the context and occasion as outlined in the candidate’s programme note.

Technical control here principally refers to the way in which the chosen instruments or voices have been employed. This includes their playability – whether the writing is idiomatic for the instruments involved, in appropriate registers and effectively balanced. Examiners will be looking to see whether students have considered the practical demands of the piece. Also considered here is the way the instruments interact with each other – for example, a bass line either supporting or contradicting the harmony, rhythms which might either complement or confuse the texture.

The quality of the musical ideas and the way in which they are developed and contrasted through the piece is an important aspect of the assessment. The overall structure must be well-balanced with sufficient variety and contrast to support the length of the piece, but not so excessive that it loses coherence. Constant repetition of weak or generic ideas is unlikely to sustain interest whereas imaginative development of material will successfully lead to a rewarding musical journey. The joins between sections within a piece are a particular area which can reveal the strength or otherwise of a composer’s skill and control.

The musical elements column captures the nut and bolts of the compositional technique – the quality of the melodic shapes, the control and vocabulary of the harmony, the rhythmic character – as well as the way in which textures are considered to highlight important features of the writing. Sometimes compositions suffer from densely packed textures where all the parts are competing for attention in the same tessitura, whereas a more discerning ear will find space as well as light and shade. Examiners will also reward work where the musical elements have been combined effectively to achieve descriptive gesture or expressive shape. The intrinsic style of the music should be evident. Often this will be clear from the choice of instruments and the character of the musical elements. Embracing the essential features of a given style will achieve the middle (secure) band – and pieces which reveal creative skill and imagination to stamp a personal identity on the style will rise into the higher bands.

The final column relates to the supporting written material – either notated score or annotation as is most appropriate to the genre of the composition. The assessment here considers how successfully, or not, the piece can be realised by other performers. In the case of a score, this will include the attention that has been given to details of tempo markings, dynamics and phrasing as well as the accurate spellings of enharmonics and rhythms.

It is a practical necessity (as well as an Ofqual requirement) that one of the compositions should be to a set brief. The principles underlying these briefs is that they should provide a suitable variety of stimuli to allow all students, whatever their musical enthusiasms and skills, to be creative and imaginative. Although each one is broadly related to one of the seven Areas of Study, there is no requirement that candidates match these up with the AOS they choose for the Appraisal paper – although this can provide a helpful link to exemplar material. The scenarios and parameters set out in these briefs need to avoid bias and ambiguity – as in all assessment material. There should be different types of scaffolding and instructions across any paper in order to appeal to the different students taking the component.

I am now going to focus on GCSE Music. As the design of the assessment is inextricably linked to the Assessment Objectives, they are at the heart of making a valid assessment so we will be looking closely at the Assessment Objectives for music and how they are assessed. As an overview, AO1 is component 2 (performance) and AO2 is component 3 (composition). These are non-examination assessments, meaning that the first person to assess the work will be a student’s music teacher, or teachers, within their centre. The marking grids for both components are in the specification handbook and teachers are encouraged to use these alongside the AQA supplied online standardisation to maintain the agreed standard when completing their marking. The work is sent by centres to specialist moderators, who have received additional training to ensure the standard remains consistent. Finally, the moderators send samples to senior moderators to further ensure the standard is reliably maintained. The mark scheme has remained the same since the start of this specification which was first examined in 2018. AO3 and AO4 are assessed through the listening examination 8271/W. This paper is examined and is marked by expert markers.

To begin with, we’ll discuss Component 2 which assesses students’ performance skills. Again, as we see with A-level performance this is what attracts most students to the qualification and its assessment is essential for a valid qualification in music. A solo can be performed with or without an accompaniment, to match the composer’s intentions. A candidate can do more than one piece in a single take for either the solo or the ensemble to make up the minimum time requirement. As far as possible, AQA recognises the work produced on any standard instrument, including folk instruments and in any style. Accuracy must be checked against either notation, a lead sheet or a guide recording. In this way, AQA tries to be as inclusive as possible and encourages candidates to use their strengths and interests.

Traditionally the subject of music has appealed to students who already play instruments or sing and have taken recognised grades. Over time, more students have become interested in popular music and taken grades to recognise their skills on drumkit, rock guitar and bass guitar through boards such as Rock School. Djing and Production via Technology were introduced to further widen the scope for GCSE music and broaden its appeal. We recognise that despite a huge national interest in music, it can be hard for everyone to attain sufficient numbers to run GCSE classes, therefore the inclusion of these two performances sees a further attempt to acknowledge and reliably assess the different approaches and paths students choose to take.

Let us look at the mark schemes for these new approaches to the subject and consider how they work alongside the more traditional pathways. Whichever pathway is chosen for performance, there are 6 marks available for the Level of Demand. In traditional performances the 6 marks are roughly in-line with instrumental and vocal grades. For DJ, the number of tracks used, sound sources and complexity of skills are used to produce the level. For Production via Technology there are similar parameters including number and type of sound sources, number of tracks as well as the variety of textures, range of dynamics and rhythmic complexity.

The key words are stepped to help show differentiation within the mark range. The mark scheme shows instrumental/vocal descriptors in one column and the DJ column next to it. Let’s now look at the top band of the mark scheme. There is a great deal of common ground between the descriptors for instrumental/vocal performances and DJing. In the column for technical control, tempo has been added and intonation taken out with regard to technical control. In the column for expression and interpretation an additional paragraph has been added to cover the selection of tracks as their choices are crucial to the overall effect.

For Production via Technology, the same two areas have been maintained – technical control (accuracy) and expression with sense of style. Overall, the marks remain the same. 15 marks each for the two categories, giving the same overall total. The total mark of 30 from the 2 columns has been divided into 6 areas with 5 marks available for each area. (6 x 5 = 30)

Production via Technology is all about the final audio recording. Candidates can, and should, adjust tracks. This might include rhythm and pitch (correcting note lengths, inaccuracies in pitch including intonation). Balance too is very important. Panning and the use of the stereo field is also assessed. Some candidates will adjust the sound envelope to make the sound brighter. Similarly, the width of dynamics can be adjusted even if the initial input was all on the same level. The adding of effects such as reverb and echo can also be heard and assessed. As with all performances there will need to be a sense of style.

In the programme note the candidate can explain how they have created and then manipulated the tracks. Now look at the mark scheme for Production via Technology. The mark schemes have been constructed to allow for differences but are comparable, fair and reliable. Covering these different approaches gives good optionality and allows for different paths. There will be differentiation through outcome.

AO2 is measured through two compositions. This task of creating one free composition and one composition to a brief, is the same every year. The mark scheme remains the same, so it is comparable year on year. For each composition candidates should submit: a complete recording, a score/lead sheet/annotation, a CRF including a programme note of around 150 words identifying the compositional intention, the intended audience/occasion, details of the software and hardware used in the compositional process and the types of musical elements selected for assessment. The briefs are released to centres in September of Y11. The briefs offer 4 alternatives and are starting points, trying to be as open as possible. There is always the same wording for each brief. These instructions give candidates the opportunity to use their strengths and interests. A great deal of thought goes into the choosing of each stimulus. We work really hard to ensure that the chosen stimulus provides a great creative starting point whilst being inclusive to all and unlikely to cause offence or distress to any student. This can often be challenging, for example one year Star Gazing was a stimulus. There had been a great deal of discussion in planning as to whether students would know what an observatory was and what might happen at a Star Gazing event. However, it was decided that teachers had the opportunity to explain the concept and candidates had time to research this type of event. This was the most frequently chosen brief of that particular year, and candidates produced a whole range of responses from exceptionally creative and sophisticated to overly simple and repetitive.

When choosing poetry or texts a whole range of factors are considered. For example, the reading age and the language. Is it easy to understand? Is it age appropriate? Is the subject easily accessible? Text does not have to become words to a song. Over time this has become more apparent to centres.

The Candidate Record Form asks students to tick elements they have focused on. At least two from each list. The musical elements are central to the whole specification. Their constant use across the components should help students with their understanding of them.

Compositions are marked holistically – as a whole. It is very hard for a piece that is inconsistent in one or more elements to achieve the highest marks available in the top band of the mark scheme.

As you will know, student’s teachers are the first to mark their work. It is difficult for a centre to have a sense of the overall standard across the country and great care needs to be taken to access online examples. AQA have produced more online content in recent years and provided more help to teachers through Centre Services, as teachers had found it increasingly difficult to leave school for face to face meetings and AQA wanted to ensure that everyone had the opportunity to access these examples in order to understand the standard nationally.

In addition, centre marks are moderated by highly trained moderators to ensure consistent marking across centres. Centres are of course disappointed when moderators change marks but should remember that moderators have additional training and have a greater awareness of the standard. In order to help centres, if marks are ever changed then the rationale for this change is explained. Moderators work is sampled throughout the exam series, including into reviews after results. AQA are aware that this component can be problematic for centres and have introduced free feedback and support meetings online and outside of the school day to try and address the problem.

I will now cover Assessment Objectives 3 and 4 which are assessed in the written component. A great deal of care is taken in choosing the excerpts for these questions as well as the construction of the questions themselves. There are 8 questions in section A. Each of the 4 Areas of Study are used twice in rotation. Similarly, each area of Study has the same combined mark of 17. The questions are constructed to give one of 8 marks and one of 9 marks. The total for Section A is 68. Each excerpt is short (usually less than one minute) and has a timed silence after it. The silence gives students time to focus their listening, write their answers and prepare for the next playing. The number of playings for each excerpt is clearly shown on the paper as well as stated on the audio track for clarity. The number of playings reflects the difficulty of the question. For instance, the dictation question is usually played at least 4 times. The CD is played without any stopping and of course, under examination conditions. Please note this is different from what happens at A-level.

At GCSE, the majority of questions are short and closed, set within each Area of Study. The paper is constructed to give candidates a balanced test of their knowledge of all the elements and of specialist musical vocabulary. Questions include things such as identification of texture, sonority (timbre), intervals, degrees of the scale, cadences, chords, and tonality as well as asking for time signatures, tempo, dynamics, performance directions such as playing techniques, articulation etc. In addition, there may be questions on rhythm, harmonic devices and melodic shape and ornaments to cover the whole spectrum of elements.

The features’ questions test a candidate’s ability to demonstrate knowledge of the context of the excerpt in relation to conventions of the time in which the piece was written and/or the genre, as well as what they hear. The musical dictation question is always taken from Area of Study One (The Western Classical tradition 1650-1910). Each paper will include some multiple choice questions. Excerpts are chosen and questions written clearly stating the element required. Every effort is made to avoid construct irrelevance. Questions go through several rigorous processes to make sure they are written as clearly as possible giving students the best possible chance to achieve.

Together the short questions and the longer question test the candidate’s knowledge of the study piece(s). The questions are constructed to elicit more detailed knowledge than in Section A. For example, a Section A tonality question is related to what candidates hear and the answer may be as simple as a single word such as major or minor. In section B however, the candidates will have been studying the piece or pieces in depth. When asked about tonality the candidate should know not only the name of the tonic key but the names of other keys the music passes through in various sections. Answers are likely to be more specific. An answer might be, for instance, A major and E major. The command word “Explain” allows for differentiation with some students explaining in this case the relationship between the two keys. A major modulating to E major which is the dominant key. The longer answers generally give the widest differentiation.

In the B section each longer 8-mark question has comparability. For example, each longer question may refer to a specific place within a work. It might have a context, as well as relating to at least three elements. Hence the candidates have the same opportunities to access answers.

I hope this has given you an insight into how the assessments for music at GCSE and A-level work and will help you in your own question and brief setting. A greater understanding of how examiners make their judgements should also guide your teaching and steer your students towards even better results. Thank you for watching.