NQ Music - Online resources to support with delivering the assignments
The following online resources are available to support you with delivering the National 5, Higher and Advanced Higher Music assignments.
Understanding Standards
Our range of online Understanding Standards materials explain and illustrate the standards required in SQA assessments. These include:
Candidate evidence and commentaries
We recently published new examples of candidate evidence for National 5, Higher and Advanced Higher Music assignments. 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 needed) and are dated July 2024.
We also have an extensive range of existing candidate evidence and commentary materials that can support you with the assignment. These are detailed in the music assignment catalogue, which is also available on the SQA Secure website. You can use it to find specific examples, such as compositions in a particular mark range, performance plans and those with specific instrumentation.
Audio presentations
In September 2023, we published a series of audio presentations for National 5, Higher and Advanced Higher Music assignments, which cover:
- the requirements of the assignments
- information about the Music assignment catalogue on the SQA Secure website
- advice about composing reviews, analysis and arrangements
- suggested approaches to the assignment
We also created audio presentations that discuss examples of candidate evidence. These presentations identify the key features of the composition and review and, for Advanced Higher, arrangement and analysis. They also highlight details about areas of development or inconsistencies, and explain why marks were awarded and how the candidate could improve their assignment.
You can access these audio presentations from the Music section of our Understanding Standards website.
Presentations from the MPEG 'Composition - Sharing Good Practice' event
In August 2023, the Music Education Partnership Group (MEPG) hosted their ‘Composition – Sharing Good Practice’ event at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland.
The event included presentations on:
- composing from a keyboard
- composing from poetry and prose
- composing with Music Technology
- using chords as a start to composing music
- Advanced Higher composition and arrangement
These presentations are available from the ‘resources’ section of MEPG’s website at https://wemakemusicscotland.org/resources.