Studying Music on your own.

Galwaymother

Hello!
Unfortunately my daughter's two favorite subjects will clash for her 5th and 6th year. She will be forced to study Music on her own, with a grinds teacher if we find somebody suitable.
She is a good performer of Classical Piano (currently at Grade 7), so will probably take the performance elective, and do well there hopefully.

We just have a few questions:
- Is the course very difficult to take on your own?
- Do you recommend any specific book?
- Are there any specific questions she should ask teachers to see if they will be of good support to her?

She wants a very good result, as she might be studying Music in College. Any pitfalls or tricky area of the syllabus she should watch for?

She was very disappointed (as well as her teacher!) to get a B in her Junior Cert. Music Exam, when she felt she had covered the course well, and her Performance had been very good apparently. I think Dictation was her weak point.

Thank you!

spurious

Can't help on the books but make sure she lets her school's Examinations Secretary know she wants to take the exam, so she will be entered for it (and the practical).

chatterboxxx95

She will do the performance elective, literally 99 point Something percent of candidates do, so that just leaves the composing and listening papers. There's no book for composing, its just building on jc skills of melody and chords, so thats something she'll need to be taught and then just practice. Listening paper is fairly easy, 4 set works and irish music, theres only a couple of notes books out there but easiest to follow is probably rapid revision music by may costello, I know its technically a revision book but its probably the best book out there and the notes are sufficiently detailed there's also soundscapes book (which my singing teacher advised me to buy) but tbh I found it way to detailed, lots of unnecessary background reading on set works and their cultural contexts, knowledge of which isn't need for lc. I'm currently in leaving cert and have done music in school, but honestly the course is very coverable in your own time.

(There's also a workbook written by the same author which has questions related to the notes in rapid revision and exam style questions too)

endacl

It's very doable op. As a previous poster mentioned, taking the performance option as her higher level elective means she'll have up to 50% of her final result in the bag by Easter of 6th year. It would be no harm sourcing a tutor. Even a couple of hours fortnightly will keep her on track. The 'resources' section on http://ppmta.ie/ has copious and comprehensive notes on the set works and Irish music topics.

Frankly (and speaking as somebody who teaches the course) LC music is a bit if a joke. I've presented the set works questions to grade theory classes who hadn't studied the course and all got passing marks on the questions. Some actually did very well. I've done the same swapping questions from the A and B syllabi between classes. Unseen, everybody does well.

In terms of books, there really isn't anything great available. 'Notes' is about as good as it gets. The best of a bad lot in a limited field. They supply a package with textbook, two workbooks, and recordings of examples.

Best of luck to her. LC is stressier than it ever needed to be. Music is a very handy honour, but not a last minute one.

Galwaymother

Thanks a lot guys, we feel a little more confident about it.
The alternative would be to do History on her own, and I am sure there are very few tutors in Galway for that, as well as the Project being difficult to manage.
Music seems doable all right, she will take down all these references, and will take it from there in September.
Also, her music teacher for the J.C. will keep an eye and an ear on her, as she is very disappointed she won't be in her class. She is a very busy lady, but very generous with her time.
So sad the subjects clash...:(
P.S. : Do you think she should do the Music Technology option if she can within the school?

endacl

Galwaymother wrote: »

Thanks a lot guys, we feel a little more confident about it.
The alternative would be to do History on her own, and I am sure there are very few tutors in Galway for that, as well as the Project being difficult to manage.
Music seems doable all right, she will take down all these references, and will take it from there in September.
Also, her music teacher for the J.C. will keep an eye and an ear on her, as she is very disappointed she won't be in her class. She is a very busy lady, but very generous with her time.
So sad the subjects clash...:(
P.S. : Do you think she should do the Music Technology option if she can within the school?

A few of mine did the tech option. Couldn't be simpler. The musical equivalent of an MS Word test where she'd be asked to open word: type a sentence: save it: open it again: make some small changes: save it again: close.

Plus, she can bring in her own 'sentence' on a sheet of manuscript.

Galwaymother

Yes, I heard it was very simple. I nearly think it's not enough of a challenge, and I think I would prefer her to do more performance pieces. We'll see what she wants to do in the heel of the hunt...

endacl

Galwaymother wrote: »

Yes, I heard it was very simple. I nearly think it's not enough of a challenge, and I think I would prefer her to do more performance pieces. We'll see what she wants to do in the heel of the hunt...

On that note, the examiner won't know, care or ask at what level she plays. She'll be assessed at the level of the material she presents. As an example of what i mean, I also teach guitar. I have a student preparing for a classical guitar diploma who presented pieces pitched at a grade 6ish standard. Only played particularly well.

Think strategically. The format allows you to. It probably shouldn't, but it does, so feel free to use this to your advantage.

spurious

Galwaymother wrote: »

Yes, I heard it was very simple. I nearly think it's not enough of a challenge, and I think I would prefer her to do more performance pieces. We'll see what she wants to do in the heel of the hunt...

I applaud you for actually wanting to stretch her and educate her, but sadly, at the end of the day, the LC today is just a means to an end (points) and the easier option may get her more marks/points.