What Counts as an Ensemble Performance?
Four people in the room does not make an ensemble. Learn the published definition as a test you can run on a piece before you record it.
Justify the choices, the way you are assessed
Free interactive practice on the decisions the assessment actually asks you to justify.
Start revising freeWhat you'll cover
Counting heads is not the test
Your Performing coursework needs two different pieces: one solo, and one ensemble. Almost everybody assumes the ensemble one just means more than one person playing. It does not. The specification gives a precise definition, and a piece can have four people in the room and still fail it. A piece that fails is not marked down, it is not an ensemble performance at all, which puts half of a coursework component at risk.
Four words that decide it
The published definition is: two or more performers, playing undoubled and simultaneously sounding, independent parts, with or without additional backing. That sentence looks like padding. It is not. Four of its words are doing all the work, and almost every rejected piece fails on exactly one of them.
Five checks, five different jobs
- How many performers actually sound
- Whether the parts overlap in time
- Whether any two performers share a line
- Whether a singer plus an accompanist qualifies
- How long the performance lasts
- Two is the minimum, and a backing track is not one of them
- Players who alternate are not sounding at the same time
- Two people on one line produce a single part between them
- The specification names this line-up and excludes it outright
- One minute is the stated minimum for the piece to be accepted
A singer and a pianist
A student records themselves singing, with a friend accompanying on the piano. Two people, playing together, just over two minutes. Does it count as their ensemble performance?
- Yes, because two people are performing at the same time
- No, because a soloist with an accompanist is named in the specification as not counting
- Yes, as long as the pianist is not reading from the same music
- No, because a piano cannot be part of an ensemble
Same four people, two answers
Line-ups do not sort themselves by size. Both columns below have four performers.
The order to run the test
Put the four checks in an order that works. Each one needs the answer to the one before it.
- Count the performers who actually sound in the recording
- Check that their parts sound at the same time, not in turn
- Check that no two of them are playing the same part
- Check the performance reaches the one minute minimum
What do you need to know first?
Someone describes a recording and asks whether it is an ensemble. Which two facts do you need before you can answer?
- Which part each performer plays
- Whether any two performers are on the same part
- Which grade the piece is rated at
- Who composed the piece
- Whether the recording was made in one take
Backing decides nothing
The definition finishes with the words with or without additional backing, and that phrase is there to settle an argument before it starts. A backing track is allowed, and it changes nothing either way. It cannot rescue a line-up that fails the test, and it cannot spoil one that passes. Make the decision on the live parts and ignore the backing completely while you do it.
Complete the definition
An ensemble performance needs _____ or more performers. Their parts have to be _____ sounding rather than taken in turn. No two performers may play the same part, which the specification calls _____. Each part has to be _____. The performance has to last at least one _____.
One line-up, worked through
Two students record a duet. One plays the melody on the flute, the other plays a separate lower line on the cello. It runs to one minute and ten seconds. Performers: two, both sounding. Overlap: yes, they play together throughout. Doubling: no, the cello line is not the flute line. Length: past the minute. It counts, and notice that the verdict named the check that decided it rather than just saying yes.
Which rules belong to the definition?
Only two of these belong to the ensemble definition itself. The rest are real requirements that belong to a different part of the coursework. Tap the two.
- Two or more performers
- A minimum of five hours of controlled conditions
- Parts that sound at the same time and are not doubled
- A live, unedited recording
- Two performances on different pieces
- A teacher present while you record
Build the verdict
A verdict is only useful if it names the check that decided it. Choose the option in each gap.
The line-up run
Five line-ups. Counts, does not count, or not enough information yet?
Advising a student
Somebody in your class brings you a piece and asks whether it will be accepted as their ensemble performance. Work through it with them.
- They open with: there are four of us playing, so it is definitely an ensemble.
- It turns out two of the four are playing the same written line all the way through.
- They rewrite it. Three separate parts now sound together, and the recording runs to fifty seconds.
Write the verdict
A friend plans to submit a recording of themselves singing, accompanied by a pianist, as their ensemble performance. They are proud of it and it sounds good. Write what you would tell them.
- Give the verdict first, before any explanation
- Name the condition that decides it
- Say what would have to be different for a recording to qualify
- Do not rest any part of your answer on how many people are in the room