Music examination

Music examinations are a method of formally assessing the accomplishments of pupils learning musical instruments. These are called grades.

Although there are music examinations available to school and university students alongside other regular qualifications and assessments, there are also a number of independent bodies who solely provide assessment in musical ability which are open to all.

Trinity College London was the first organization to offer examinations in music to external students in 1877. As of 2012, Trinity College London conducts around 600,000 assessments worldwide per year, as does the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music. Other examination boards based in the UK include the London College of Music; Victoria College of Music and Drama, the National College of Music and Rockschool.

Many students who enter these exams have taken a course of music lessons with a private tutor, although some are self-taught. Often this is a way for children to receive music training over and above what is provided at their usual place of learning, although private lessons are also popular with adults who turn to music later in life.

Grading (education)

Grading in education is the process of applying standardized measurements of varying levels of achievement in a course. Another way the grade point average (GPA) can be determined is through extra curricular activities. Grades can be assigned as letters (generally A through F), as a range (for example 1 to 6), as a percentage of a total number of questions answered correctly, or as a number out of a possible total (for example out of 20 or 100).

In some countries, all grades from all current classes are averaged to create a Grade Point Average (GPA) for the marking period. The GPA is calculated by taking the number of grade points a student earned in a given period of time of middle school through high school. GPAs are also calculated for undergraduate and graduate students in most universities. The GPA can be used by potential employers or educational institutions to assess and compare applicants. A cumulative grade point average is a calculation of the average of all of a student's grades for all of his or her complete education career.

Grade (slope)

The grade (also called slope, incline, gradient, pitch or rise) of a physical feature, landform or constructed line refers to the tangent of the angle of that surface to the horizontal. It is a special case of the gradient in calculus where zero indicates gravitational level. A larger number indicates higher or steeper degree of "tilt". Often slope is calculated as a ratio of "rise" to "run", or as a fraction ("rise over run") in which run is the horizontal distance and rise is the vertical distance.

The grades or slopes of existing physical features such as canyons and hillsides, stream and river banks and beds are often described. Grades are typically specified for new constructions (such as roads, landscape grading, roof pitches, railroads, aqueducts, and pedestrian or bicycle circulation routes).

Nomenclature

There are several ways to express slope:

Grade (surname)

Grade is a surname. Notable people with the surname include:

Music

Music is an art form and cultural activity whose medium is sound and silence. The common elements of music are pitch (which governs melody and harmony), rhythm (and its associated concepts tempo, meter, and articulation), dynamics (loudness and softness), and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture (which are sometimes termed the "color" of a musical sound). Different styles or types of music may emphasize, de-emphasize or omit some of these elements. Music is performed with a vast range of instruments and with vocal techniques ranging from singing to rapping, and there are solely instrumental pieces, solely vocal pieces and pieces that combine singing and instruments. The word derives from Greek μουσική (mousike; "art of the Muses"). In its most general form, the activities describing music as an art form include the production of works of music (songs, tunes, symphonies, and so on), the criticism of music, the study of the history of music, and the aesthetic examination of music. Ancient Greek and Indian philosophers defined music as tones ordered horizontally as melodies and vertically as harmonies. Common sayings such as "the harmony of the spheres" and "it is music to my ears" point to the notion that music is often ordered and pleasant to listen to. However, 20th-century composer John Cage thought that any sound can be music, saying, for example, "There is no noise, only sound."

Music (Mika Nakashima album)

Music is the third album by Mika Nakashima (fifth overall release). It sold only 231,521 copies in its first week but went to #1 on the Oricon 200 Album Chart. The album charted for 31 weeks and has since sold over 500,000 copies.

Track listing

Charts and sales

Oricon sales charts (Japan)

Singles

References

External links

Music (Erick Sermon and Marvin Gaye song)

"Music" is a 2001 hit single by Erick Sermon featuring archived vocals from Marvin Gaye.

The song was thought of by Sermon after buying a copy of Gaye's Midnight Love and the Sexual Healing Sessions album, which overlook some of the original album's earlier mixes. After listening to an outtake of Gaye's 1982 album track, "Turn On Some Music" (titled "I've Got My Music" in its initial version), Sermon decided to mix the vocals (done in a cappella) and add it into his own song. The result was similar to Natalie Cole's interpolation of her father, jazz great Nat "King" Cole's hit, "Unforgettable" revisioned as a duet. The hip hop and soul duet featuring the two veteran performers was released as the leading song of the soundtrack to the Martin Lawrence & Danny DeVito comedy, "What's the Worst That Could Happen?" The song became a runaway success rising to #2 on Billboard's R&B chart and was #1 on the rap charts. It also registered at #21 pop giving Sermon his highest-charted single on the pop charts as a solo artist and giving Gaye his first posthumous hit in 10 years following 1991's R&B-charted single, "My Last Chance" also bringing Gaye his 41st top 40 pop hit. There is also a version that's played on Adult R&B stations that removes Erick Sermon's rap verses. The song was featured in the 2011 Matthew McConaughey film The Lincoln Lawyer.