Edexcel GCSE Music (1MU0): complete guide to performing, composing, the eight set works and the appraising exam

Edexcel GCSE Music (specification 1MU0) is assessed through three components: two non-examined assessments (Performing and Composing) and one listening exam (Appraising). This page is the index: below is a map of the three components, the four areas of study and eight set works, the MAD T-SHIRP elements framework, and the exam skills that run across the course.

The three components

Pearson Edexcel splits the course into three components worth 200 marks in total.

• Component 1: Performing. Non-examined assessment, 30 percent, 60 marks. A solo performance and an ensemble performance, of at least four minutes combined, each marked out of 30, internally marked and externally moderated.
• Component 2: Composing. Non-examined assessment, 30 percent, 60 marks. Two compositions of at least three minutes combined: one to a Pearson-set brief and one free composition, each marked out of 30.
• Component 3: Appraising. A written listening exam, 1 hour 45 minutes, 40 percent, 80 marks. It tests the four areas of study and eight set works with multiple-choice, short-answer, dictation and extended-response questions.

The four areas of study and eight set works

Component 3 is built on four areas of study, each with two set works. The set works are the spine of the whole course.

Area of Study 1: Instrumental Music 1700 to 1820

Bach's Brandenburg Concerto No. 5 in D, third movement (a Baroque fugal gigue in ritornello style), and Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 8 in C minor "Pathetique", first movement (a dramatic Classical-Romantic sonata-form movement).

Area of Study 2: Vocal Music

Purcell's Music for a While (a Baroque song built on a ground bass with word-painting) and Queen's Killer Queen from Sheer Heart Attack (a 1970s rock song with multitracked vocals).

Area of Study 3: Music for Stage and Screen

Schwartz's Defying Gravity from Wicked (a West End musical-theatre number) and Williams's Star Wars main title / Rebel Blockade Runner (an orchestral film cue using leitmotif).

Area of Study 4: Fusions

Afro Celt Sound System: Release (an African and Celtic fusion with programmed beats) and Esperanza Spalding's Samba Em Preludio (a Brazilian bossa nova and jazz fusion).

The MAD T-SHIRP elements

Every appraising answer is built from the musical elements, remembered as MAD T-SHIRP: Melody, Articulation, Dynamics, Texture, Structure, Harmony, Instrumentation (sonority), Rhythm (with tempo and metre) and Pitch (tonality). Knowing the right term for each element, and using it accurately under pressure, is the single biggest mark-lever in Component 3.

The skills that run across the course

The exam rewards secure knowledge of the set works applied through listening skills.

1. Aural recognition. Hear the elements (key changes, cadences, textures, instruments, rhythmic devices) in both set-work and unfamiliar extracts.
2. Musical dictation. Complete missing notes, rhythms or chords on a score, worth 6 to 10 marks every year.
3. The unfamiliar piece. Apply set-work knowledge to a related unfamiliar extract with a skeleton score (8 marks).
4. The Section B comparison. Write an extended, evaluative comparison of a set work and an unfamiliar piece against the elements (12 marks).

How to study Edexcel Music

Music rewards practical fluency and disciplined listening in equal measure.

1. Learn each set work as a story. Fix its context, key, structure, instrumentation and signature devices so you can identify them by ear.
2. Use the right vocabulary. Call a repeated idea an "ostinato" in the Pathetique but a "riff" in Killer Queen, and never describe texture as "thick" or "thin".
3. Drill the dictation. Practise completing rhythms and chord patterns from the set works, because a dictation question appears every year.
4. Rehearse the comparison. Plan and write the 12-mark Section B answer quickly, working through the elements.
5. Record and refine. For the performing and composing components, rehearse, record and improve, keeping to the timing rules.

The course, dot point by dot point

Each part of the course has overview guides, dot-point answer pages and quizzes. Browse the full set at /gcse-edexcel/music/syllabus.

For the official specification

Pearson Edexcel publishes the full specification (1MU0), the anthology scores, past papers and mark schemes at qualifications.pearson.com. Always revise from the current specification and Edexcel's own past papers, because the set works and question style are board-specific.