Delivery Routes: Instrumental, DJ or Music Technology

Three routes, and one slippery word

Performing can be delivered by three different routes: playing or singing, DJ performance, or music-technology production. You submit two pieces either way, a solo and an ensemble. Here is the part that is easy to miss. The word solo means something different on each route. On one of them it is you, playing. On another it is a minimum number of tracks, with a rule about which of them are live. Same word, same component, different requirement.

The three routes

All three sit in the same component and are marked against the same objective. What differs is what you produce.

Which route is this about?

A finished piece that is not a solo

A student takes the music-technology route. They sequence a polished two-track piece, both tracks programmed rather than played. Does it meet the solo requirement?

• Yes, because it is their own work and it is finished
• No, because it is short of the track minimum and has nothing played live
• No, because programmed tracks are not allowed at all
• Yes, as long as the ensemble piece has more tracks

What a solo is, on two routes

The same requirement, read on the two routes that describe it most differently.

How many more tracks?

A student on the music-technology route has two tracks down for their solo, neither of them played live. What is the smallest number of further tracks they need?

True on every route

Which two of these are true whichever delivery route you take?

• You submit two pieces, one solo and one ensemble
• Your repertoire need not relate to any Area of Study
• You need at least three tracks
• You must demonstrate beat-matching
• The style or genre is fixed by the specification

The route changes the requirement, not the standing

It is worth being clear about what choosing a route does not do. It does not change the component, the number of pieces, or what the marks are for. A DJ performance and a clarinet performance sit in the same component and are assessed against the same objective. What the route changes is what you have to produce to have made a performance at all. Get that part right first, and then the marking is the same conversation for everybody.

Deciding your route

Put these four steps into a sensible order for settling on a route.

• Work out which route matches what you can actually do well
• Read what that route requires for a solo and for an ensemble
• Check you can meet those requirements with the time and kit you have
• Choose your two pieces, knowing what each has to contain

One student, deciding

A student plays keyboard reasonably and produces confidently in a sequencer. They could take either route, so they read both requirements before choosing. Instrumental route: they would play a solo and join an ensemble piece, which needs other people and rehearsal time they are not sure they have. Technology route: the solo needs at least three tracks with one live, which they can do alone on the keyboard; the ensemble needs at least four tracks with one by another performer, so they still need one other person, but only briefly. They take the technology route, for a reason they can state. Notice the decision turned on what each route requires, not on which sounded more impressive.

Which two would fail?

Four of these music-technology submissions meet the stated minimums. Tap the two that do not.

• Solo: four tracks, one played live on a keyboard
• Solo: three tracks, all programmed, none played live
• Ensemble: five tracks, three yours, two by a friend
• Solo: three tracks, one played live on a guitar
• Ensemble: four tracks, all four recorded by you
• Ensemble: four tracks, three yours, one by another performer

The track minimums

On the music-technology route a solo needs at least _____ tracks, with at least _____ of them played live in real time. An ensemble needs at least _____ tracks, of which _____ are yours and at least one is by another _____.

The DJ route

What does the specification say about DJ skills on that route?

• Beat-matching and scratching are specified at basic, intermediate and advanced
• Only advanced scratching earns marks
• DJ performance requires vinyl turntables rather than software
• The DJ route has no solo and ensemble split

Justify the route

A route choice you can explain is one you can stand behind. Choose the option in each gap.

Three route questions

Somebody in your class is settling their performing route and keeps checking things with you.

• They say: I will take the DJ route because it looks harder and should therefore score higher.
• They switch to music technology and build a solo from three carefully programmed tracks.
• For the ensemble they plan four tracks, all recorded by themselves.

Advise on a route

Somebody tells you they are good on guitar and also confident with recording software, and asks which performing route to take. Write your advice.

• Say what each route would require them to produce for a solo
• Name a specific requirement they would have to plan for on the technology route
• Point out at least one thing that is the same whichever route they choose
• Do not argue from which route looks more impressive or scores better