BTEC First: The Music Industry (Learning Aim B)

Earlier this year (Music Teacher, October 2015), we looked at Learning Aim A of the BTEC First Music Industry unit. Here, we move the focus from organisations to Learning Aim B, job roles in the music industry. Once again, the focus of this resource is to equip teachers with the necessary knowledge and understanding to deliver the course. Although many teachers have a good understanding of the music industry, it is quite possible to complete a music degree and teacher training without ever studying the topic. Consequently, this resource goes back to basics and attempts to break the knowledge down for any teachers who may be less confident with this aspect of music education.

Since the focus of this resource is on teacher knowledge, we won’t be providing an exhaustive list of teaching strategies for each topic. Of course, we will suggest a few ideas along the way, but we would encourage you to think about how you can teach this knowledge synoptically. Centres offering the performing unit may well approach this differently to those offering a technology unit. Use this resource to map out where your music industry teaching opportunities are, and drop in the relevant knowledge at those points. Doing so will ensure that pupils are able to associate the knowledge they’ve learnt with the music they were making – a powerful aide-memoire if ever there was one.