Next steps

This post concerns thoughts for the new year for DP Music Candidates. After a brief congratulations to the year two students from the southern hemisphere (who just completed their IB Diploma experience), advice for the new year is shared for year two students.

I would like to congratulate the DP class of 2014 – I hope that you have realised the value of the IB DP throughout your DP experience and that your next steps in life are productive and meaningful. I also hope that you are able to use your abilities, gifts, and talents to contribute to the common good of humanity.

The remainder of this post will be intended for DP Music students in year two of their programme (northern hemisphere).

After the December break, you are in the final steps towards completion of the DP. Hopefully, all of your internal assessment work is completed. If not, now is the time to finish your work. Creativity tends to flow more consistently when there is less stress – the more mental time you have to dedicate to your work, the better. For students completing the solo performance component, make sure that you meet the prescribed time limits (20 minutes for HL and 15 minutes for SL) and that you have diverse repertoire selected (e.g. for a vocalist, diverse repertoire could include songs from the jazz, pop, baroque, romantic, and showtune/theatre genres). For students working on creations, make sure that you clearly understand the guidelines for each option (composition, arranging, improvisation, etc.) and what should be submitted to IB. For students in SL Group Performance, make sure that the recordings submitted are of the highest quality. All students should be aware of the rubrics for the IA components and should be using the rubrics to score their own work and sample student work. If sample work is not readily available, please contact your DP Music instructor and inform her/him that there is sample student work available on the Online Curriculum Centre (OCC). The more experience you have using the rubrics, the more you will understand the requirements of each component (solo/group performance and creating).

Best of luck to you in your final months of the DP!