IMPACT IGCSE STUDENT RESOURCES
A STRUCTURED APPROACH TO LISTENING, PERFORMING, COMPOSING & MUSICAL UNDERSTANDING

LISTEN & ANALYSE

Develop your listening skills by identifying musical features, instruments, textures, structures and styles in a wide range of music.

PERFORM & DEVELOP

Build accuracy, fluency, expression and musical communication through solo and ensemble performance.

COMPOSE & CREATE

Develop musical ideas into complete compositions using melody, harmony, rhythm, structure, texture and appropriate notation.

THEORY & CONTEXT

Strengthen your understanding of notation, scales, keys, chords, intervals, musical terms, instruments, styles and historical context.

IGCSE Music Curriculum Overview & Course Structure

This curriculum supports Cambridge IGCSE Music through an integrated sequence of listening, score reading, performing, composing and analytical study. It covers all seven Areas of Study and incorporates the focus works across 43 modular units (Worksheets 0–42).

YEAR 10

Build the core skills required for IGCSE Music through listening, score reading, performance and composition. Explore a wide range of musical styles and traditions while developing increasingly independent analytical, practical and creative work.

0 — IGCSE Introduction & Diagnostic

Understand syllabus components, assessment objectives, and baseline musical skills.

1 — Take Five — Listening & Musical Language
Introduce IGCSE listening through Take Five, developing recognition of metre, melody, texture, form and jazz style while applying 5/4 metre in practical ensemble work.

2 — What Is Musical Form? — Repetition, Contrast & Return

Explore how musical ideas develop into phrases and sections, and how repetition, contrast and return shape musical form.

3 — Core Notation & Theory

Consolidate clefs, note values, rests, metre, score navigation, scales and intervals for confident IGCSE score reading.

4 — Harmony Foundations

Develop understanding of triads, inversions, primary chords and cadences and apply them in short harmonic writing.

Area of Study 1: Baroque Music

5 — Introduction to Baroque Music

Recognise the instrumentation, texture, continuo, ornamentation and stylistic characteristics of Baroque music.

6 — Vivaldi: Spring — Thematic Material

Explore ritornello form, solo and tutti contrast, sequence, articulation, texture and harmony in Vivaldi’s Spring.

7 — Handel: Concerto Grosso Op. 6 No. 5 — Focus Work

(New Focus Work) Study

8 — Bach: Brandenburg Concerto No. 5 — Concerto Grosso and Ritornello Form
Explore concertino and ripieno contrast, ritornello form, imitation, sequence, polyphonic texture and the virtuosic role of the harpsichord in Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 5.

9 — Bach: Little Fugue in G minor, BWV 578 — Fugue & Imitation

Explore subject and answer, successive fugal entries, imitation, polyphonic texture, episodes and sequence, and examine how Bach develops a single musical idea throughout the fugue.

10 — Baroque Music — Consolidation

Secure key Baroque terminology and recognise its characteristic musical features independently by ear and from a score.

Area of Study 2: Classical Music

11 — Introduction to Classical Music

Recognise Classical phrasing, instrumentation, texture, balance and formal organisation.

12 — Mozart K.452 — Phrase & Harmony

Explore periodic phrasing, antecedent and consequent phrases, cadences and harmonic organisation in Mozart’s Quintet K.452.

13 — Mozart K.452 — Form & Thematic Contrast

Identify themes, contrast and structural organisation and learn how motifs are developed through repetition, sequence and variation.

14 — Classical Harmony & Keys

Develop understanding of tonic and dominant relationships, modulation, cadences and key relationships in Classical music.

15 — Clementi Sonatina Op. 36 No. 4 — Sonata Form

Explore how exposition, development and recapitulation organise musical ideas and key relationships, and identify how motifs are transformed through repetition, sequence and fragmentation.

16 — Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 1 — Rondo Form

Identify refrain and contrasting episodes within ABACABA structure and explore solo-orchestral interaction.

17 — Baroque & Classical Comparison

Compare musical language, instrumentation, texture, harmony, form, and performance practice across both eras.

Area of Study 3: Romantic Music

18 — Introduction to Romantic Music

Recognise expanded orchestration, chromatic harmony, expressive freedom, programme music, and nationalism.

19 — Liszt: Liebestraum No. 3 — Romantic Piano & Expression
Piano development, rubato, virtuosity, chromatic harmony, expressive melody

20 — Wagner: Ride of the Valkyries — Leitmotif, Orchestration & Music Drama

Explore recurring motifs, expanded orchestration, chromatic harmony and dramatic intensity, and examine how Wagner connects music, character and stage action.

21 — Schumann: Mignon — Motif, Phrase & Ternary Form

Explore how Schumann develops motifs into balanced phrases and shapes a Romantic character piece in ternary form.

22 — Classical & Romantic Comparison — Style, Form & Expression
Compare Classical and Romantic approaches to orchestration, harmony, dynamics, phrasing, form and musical expression through familiar and unfamiliar extracts.

Area of Study 4: Music and Words

23 — Music and Words — Text Setting & Word Painting
Explore syllabic and melismatic word-setting, word-painting, vocal register, accompaniment and the relationship between music and text.

24 — Art Song & Choral Music — Voice, Texture & Expression
Compare solo and choral settings through phrase shaping, vocal harmony, texture, accompaniment and text expression.

25 — Popular Song & Musical Theatre — Form, Character & Narrative
Analyse verse, chorus, bridge, hook and riff, and examine how music supports character, emotion and narrative.

26 — Music and Words — Comparison & Application
Compare text-setting techniques across art song, choral music, popular song and musical theatre, and apply the vocabulary to unfamiliar vocal extracts.

Consolidate listening knowledge across the Areas of Study while reviewing composition, performance and individual Year 11 targets.

YEAR 11

Complete and refine your performing and composing coursework while consolidating knowledge across all IGCSE Areas of Study. Develop greater independence in analytical listening, score reading and examination technique as you prepare for the final Listening paper.

Area of Study 5: Music for Dance

27 — Tango — Rhythm, Instrumentation & Context

Recognise tango metre, habanera and marcado rhythms, articulation, and typical instruments.

28 — Salsa — Groove, Clave & Ensemble

Explore forward/reverse clave rhythms, syncopation, montuno, call-and-response, and percussion roles.

29 — Electronic Dance Music (EDM)

Recognise beat production, build-up, breakdown, drop, looping, layering, and studio effects.

30 — Music for Dance — Comparison & Application

Compare how metre, rhythm, instrumentation, and technology serve varied dance contexts.

Area of Study 6: Music for Small Ensemble

31 — Small Ensembles Across Cultures

Introduce instrumental roles, texture, interaction, and performance practice in intimate ensembles.

32 — Silk and Bamboo Ensembles (Jiangnan Sizhu)

Recognise traditional Chinese instruments, heterophonic texture, and melodic ornamentation.

33 — Hindustani Classical Music

Explore raga modes, tala rhythmic cycles, sitar/tabla instruments, drone, and alap-to-jhala structure.

34 — Arab Takht Ensembles

Recognise ud, qanun, nay, and riqq instruments, maqam scales, iqa'at rhythms, and heterophony.

35 — Music for Small Ensemble — Comparison

Compare texture, instrumental technique, improvisation, and context across non-Western ensembles.

Area of Study 7: Music for Stage and Screen

36 — Music for Stage and Screen — Function & Atmosphere

Explore how musical elements establish setting, character, mood, dramatic tension, and action.

37 — Ballet Music

Connect metre, rhythm, motif, orchestration, and phrase structure with dance movement and narrative.

38 — Film Music

Analyse leitmotifs, underscoring, hit-points, diegetic/non-diegetic sound, and orchestral scoring.

39 — Video Game Music

Explore adaptive audio, looping, layering, atmospheric timbre, and interactive narrative scoring.

40 — Stage and Screen — Comparison & Application

Compare the composition techniques used to accompany visual action across ballet, film, and video games.

Final Integration & Exam Revision

41 — Western Classical Tradition — Period Comparison

Contrast Baroque, Classical, and Romantic styles through unfamiliar listening extracts and scores.

42 — Cadences & Harmonic Listening — Revision
Revise the aural and score-based identification of perfect, imperfect and interrupted cadences, primary and secondary chords, dominant sevenths, pedals and modulation to related keys.

43 — Form, Genre & Movement Structure — Revision

Consolidate binary, ternary, rondo, sonata form, minuet and trio, theme and variations, ritornello, strophic, through-composed and popular-song structures, and distinguish between form, genre, movement and complete work.

44 — Unfamiliar Listening & Score Reading

Practice dictation, key identification, intervals, chords, cadences, and transpositions under exam conditions.

44 — IGCSE Listening Application & Reflection

Complete a full Paper 1 mock listening exam, diagnose remaining gaps, and create a targeted revision plan.

MUSIC BOOKS & RESOURCES

These resources support your IGCSE Music studies through theory, notation, listening, score reading, performance and composition. Use them alongside your classroom work to strengthen musical understanding and independent study.