What is the Eduqas Composing component (Component 2)?

Component 2 Composing is non-exam assessment worth 30 per cent (72 marks). It is two compositions totalling 3 to 6 minutes: one to a brief set by Eduqas (chosen from four briefs, each linked to a different Area of Study) and one free composition (your own choice of style and ideas). Both are developed across the course, notated or otherwise recorded, internally assessed and externally moderated. Always confirm the current briefs and requirements with your centre.

How are the Eduqas composing briefs organised?

Eduqas publishes four briefs each year, each linked to a different Area of Study (Musical Forms and Devices, Music for Ensemble, Film Music, Popular Music), and you choose one for the set composition. The brief draws on the style and techniques of that area, for example a film brief might ask for music for a scene, and a popular-music brief might ask for a song in a pop or rock style. Confirm the current briefs with your centre.

What do markers reward in a GCSE composition?

Markers reward how well you develop musical ideas (using and developing the elements: melody, harmony, rhythm, texture, structure, timbre), the clarity of the structure, your control of the medium (writing idiomatically for the chosen forces), how well the set piece meets its brief, and effective use of technology or notation. Development of a few strong ideas with a clear structure scores better than a string of unconnected ideas.

How do you develop the free composition?

Start with a strong, simple idea (a melody, riff, chord pattern or motif) in a chosen style, then develop it: repeat and vary it, change key or mode, alter rhythm, dynamics or articulation, change the texture or instrumentation, and build contrasting sections within a clear structure (verse and chorus, ternary, a film-cue shape). Write idiomatically for the chosen forces. Development, not a string of ideas, is what scores.

How is a composition notated or submitted?

A composition can be submitted as a staff-notation score, a lead sheet (melody and chord symbols), guitar or drum tab, or a recording with supporting documentation for styles where full notation is not idiomatic. Clear notation has accurate pitches and rhythms, time and key signatures, dynamics, articulation and tempo markings, and instrument names, and the recording should match the score. Confirm the submission process with your centre.

EnglandMusic

Eduqas GCSE Music: Composing (Component 2) - the two compositions, composing to a brief, the free composition and notating the folio

A complete Eduqas GCSE Music guide to Composing (Component 2): the two compositions (one to an Eduqas brief, one free), the durations and 30 per cent weighting, the marking criteria, composing to a brief, developing the free composition, and notating the folio. Confirm current requirements with your centre.

Generated by Claude Opus 4.811 min readC660 Component 2Updated 2026-06-02

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Jump to a section

What this component covers
The two compositions
The marking criteria
Composing to an Eduqas brief
The free composition and notating
How to do well
The dot points in this component

What this component covers

This is Component 2, Composing, the composition part of the GCSE, worth 30 per cent (72 marks). You write two compositions totalling 3 to 6 minutes: one to a brief set by Eduqas (from four briefs, each linked to an Area of Study) and one free composition. Both are developed across the course, notated or recorded, internally assessed and externally moderated. This guide ties together the three dot-point pages for the component. Always confirm the current briefs and requirements with your centre.

The two compositions

Component 2 is two compositions totalling 3 to 6 minutes: one to an Eduqas brief (chosen from four, each linked to a different Area of Study) and one free composition (your own style and ideas). Both are developed, notated or recorded, and marked out of 72.

The marking criteria

Composing is marked on how well you develop ideas (using the elements), the clarity of the structure, your control of the medium (idiomatic writing for the chosen forces), how well the set piece meets its brief, and effective notation or technology. Development of a few strong ideas is the biggest mark-earner.

Composing to an Eduqas brief

Read the brief for its requirements (stimulus, style, forces, mood, structure, Area of Study link), make a checklist, plan a fitting, developable idea, and keep checking the music against the brief while developing the ideas and writing idiomatically. The brief links your composing to a studied area.

The free composition and notating

The free composition is your own style, forces and idea. Develop a few strong ideas within a clear structure, writing idiomatically. Then notate or record the folio clearly (staff notation, a lead sheet, tab, or a recording with documentation), with accurate pitches, rhythms, signatures, dynamics, articulation, tempo and instrument names, the recording matching the score.

How to do well

Develop, do not just state. Grow a few good ideas (repetition, variation, contrast, extension, structure) rather than listing fragments.
Meet the brief. Read the set brief for its requirements and keep checking your music against them.
Play to your strengths. Choose the brief and the free style you compose best, ideally suiting your performing instrument.
Write idiomatically. Make the parts playable and effective for the chosen forces.
Notate clearly and start early. Give clear notation or a recording with documentation, and develop both pieces over time.

The dot points in this component

Each links to a focused answer page: the Composing component, composing to an Eduqas brief and the free composition and notating.

Sources & how we know this

Eduqas GCSE Music (C660) specification — Eduqas (WJEC) (2016)