Composing: SQA Higher Music coursework overview

The composing assignment is one of the two coursework components of SQA Higher Music, alongside the performance. It is practical, creative coursework, not part of the Understanding Music question paper: you compose your own piece of music over the year and reflect on it in a composing review. This page introduces the component and how it is assessed; the overview dot point covers it in depth.

What the composing assignment involves

You create an original piece of music, applying compositional methods (repetition, sequence, variation, contrast, development) and the musical concepts you have studied, to shape a coherent piece. You then complete a composing review that accounts for your creative decisions in accurate musical language.

How the assignment is assessed

The assignment has two parts, assessed together:

1. The composition. Purposeful use of compositional methods and concepts to shape a coherent piece, with deliberate choices of melody, harmony, rhythm, timbre, texture and structure.
2. The composing review. A clear, accurate, musically literate account of your decisions: which methods and concepts you used, and how each serves the music.
3. Coursework, over the year. Developed through experiment, revision and reflection, not a single sitting.

How to approach it

1. Generate a musical idea that you can develop.
2. Develop it with compositional methods - repetition, sequence, variation, contrast, development.
3. Build a coherent structure so the piece holds together.
4. Write the composing review explaining your decisions precisely.

How composing connects to the course

Composing is the listening skill turned inward: the concepts you identify in the question paper are the tools you compose with and the language you explain your work in. Composing, performing and understanding music reinforce one another.

For the official course specification

The SQA publishes the full Higher Music course specification and the coursework assessment task for the assignment at sqa.org.uk. Always work from the current specification and coursework documents, because the requirements are board-specific.