Music - updated documents
We’ve updated the course specifications and coursework assessment tasks for National 5, Higher and Advanced Higher Music.
Instructions for teachers and lecturers
We’ve added a new ‘Instructions for teachers and lecturers’ section to the coursework assessment task documents. This section provides advice on how to avoid going beyond reasonable levels of assistance when working on the composing assignment.
General marking principles
We’ve also updated the general marking principles in the course specifications to include the following:
- If a candidate submits a performance plan containing only screenshots of a digital audio workstation and no other information, award 0 marks.
- If a candidate submits a score or performance plan with only tablature (TAB), award 0 marks.
- If a candidate does not annotate their note rows on their serial composition, award 0 marks.
These principles will be applied during marking of the assignments from session 2024-25 onwards. SQA appointees spent a considerable amount of time in 2024 marking assignments with these issues.
We’ve also made some formatting changes to the tables in the course specification and coursework assessment task documents in line with current accessibility guidelines. There are no changes to the content of the concept lists or drum kit style bank.
About post-exam diet changes to documents
It’s normal practice for SQA to review course materials after the marking of exams and coursework is complete.
During marking, our exam teams sometimes identify minor corrections, or areas of the published marking instructions and instructions for candidates that could be made clearer.
Composing review and review of creative process templates
Candidates must submit their composing review (National 5 and Higher) or review of creative process (Advanced Higher) on the templates provided by SQA. The templates are available from the ‘coursework’ tab on our National 5 Music web page, Higher Music web page and Advanced Higher Music web page.
These templates are restricted to one page. Candidates must submit only one composing review or review of creative process document. Centres must not create their own version of this template.
We’ve updated the PDF version of the templates to allow candidates to type into this version of the template. Microsoft Word versions are also still available.
Support for delivering Music assignments - Understanding Standards materials and webinar
We’re running a webinar for NQ Music on Wednesday 30 October at 16:30To book a place, please use our online events booking system.
As we advised in the 15 August edition of SQA News, new examples of candidate evidence for National 5, Higher and Advanced Higher Music assignments are available. These examples are accompanied by a written commentary from an SQA senior examiner, which explains why marks were awarded and whether the candidate met the national standard. They are available from the SQA Secure website (log-in required) and are dated July 2024.
These examples add to the extensive range of existing candidate evidence and commentary materials that can support you with the assignment.