Composition Exemplars
Individual Student Exemplar Compositions
Below are the very best GCSE compositions the department has produced - both 1st and 2nd compositions. The year refers to the year in which the student completed the GCSE music course in year 11. Their main instrument is also stated for your reference.
2019 - voice - 1st composition
A piece for primarily voice. Piano parts were actually partly played in and then edited using the note editor facility. This was time consuming but is an effective way for non-pianists to program quite advanced piano parts. Created on Cubase.
2019 - drums - 1st composition
Harry plays drums and so created a piece solely for drums. This was a challenge in itself as he had to demonstrate all the hallmarks of an effective composition such as dynamic variety, structure and shape, varied timbre and effective instrumentation (within the context of a drum kit) with just a drum kit. Created on GarageBand.
2019 - guitar & voice - 1st composition
Antoine wanted to create a folk piece based simply around acoustic guitar and voice. The lyrics for this piece play an important role and so the instrumentation is quite sparse with mainly guitar accompanying throughout. Created on GarageBand.
2019 - guitar & voice - 2nd composition
Another student sang lead vocals along with Antoine on this piece. Antoine had to write the part for the student and provide a detailed score for her to be able to sing from. All other parts were played and programmed into Cubase by Antoine himself. This is a great example of how effective multi-tracking can be. At times an entire band is playing but all the parts were simply recorded in one-by-one.
N.B. Students who utilise other musicians in their compositions must provide detailed scores for the parts played/sung by others, including embellishments, dynamic instructions, articulation and everything that can be heard.
2018 - piano & guitar - 2nd composition - set of words stimulus
Abigail used the set of words from the 2nd composition exam brief as the stimulus for this piece. The chorus sections feature the lyrics in their original state. The verses were written to match the theme of the lyrics. Like many other students, Abigail used other musicians effectively by writing parts for them. The vocals are from another student as well as the opening electric guitar rhythm part. Abigail also made extensive use of automation by programming in crescendos and swells.
2017 - voice - 1st composition
This piece was multi-tracked and made extensive use of lots of backing vocals to create a unique 'wall of harmony' in the chorus sections. Nisha was influenced by a performance piece she had earlier chosen that used the same technique. However, things went much deeper when she realised that Cubase allowed for a maximum of 48 tracks to be recorded. This piece achieved maximum marks and contains lots of variety and imaginative use of compositional techniques.
2017 - voice - 1st composition
Chloe created a fantastic example of a pop song here with a catchy rhythm, simple verse-chorus structure, great lyrics that tell a story and superb instrumentation. Using Cubase, all the parts were played in and edited in detail to sound as if they had been played by far more accomplished musicians. For example, adding a sync-delay on the drums to create ghost notes and adding texture to the piano chords using the editing features in Cubase.
2017 - piano - 1st composition
Lucy created a great example showing effective use of texture, layering, key changes and suspended chords. Her suspended chords make use of the 4th and 5th degrees of the home key and throughout the piece she uses the tonic of each key and the 5th and 4th degrees to create a calm, elegant and graceful feel throughout. Lucy also changed keys several times in the piece and unlike many pieces, simply used silent pauses to transition between keys. This can be quite a poor way of changing keys but in this instance it worked very well. Her use of syncopation through a delay effect on the drums perfectly complimented the delicate nature.
More to follow...Keep checking back
Voice & Guitar - 2015
Backing vocals also provided by the same student using multitracking
Voice & Piano - 2015
All tracks recorded by candidate using multitracking.
Voice/Piano/Drums/Bass - 2015
Backing vocals also provided by the same student using multitracking
Guitar - 2015
All tracks recorded by candidate using multitracking.
Music Technology - 2016
All tracks recorded/programmed by candidate using multitracking DAW.
Music Technology - 2016
All tracks recorded/programmed by candidate using multitracking DAW.
Guitar - 2017
All tracks recorded/programmed by candidate using multitracking DAW.
Piano - 2017
All tracks recorded/programmed by candidate using multitracking DAW.
Drums - 2017
All tracks recorded/programmed by candidate using multitracking DAW.
Piano - 2017
All tracks recorded/programmed by candidate using multitracking DAW.
Piano - 2017
All tracks recorded/programmed by candidate using multitracking DAW.
Voice & Guitar - 2017
All tracks recorded/programmed by candidate using multitracking DAW.