gsce-aqa-music-dj

I have been into music from a very early age, immersing myself in everything that my parents would play, and steadily developing my own tastes and style. But school education seemingly didn’t have the same ideas about music as I did, and I was subjected to years of sitting in a class listening to classical music while slavishly copying sheet music, without ever actually touching an instrument. Thankfully things have moved on a little since then, with students actually touching instruments and listening to things other than The Planet Suite and the Surprise Symphony. And now it looks like kids will be able to get a GSCE in DJing, or at least in part.

The BBC website reports on plans to introduce DJing into the formal education structure. For the 85% of the DJWORX community who are not from the UK, GCSEs are the exams that kids sit at the age of 16, and are the basis of their future, taking them to A-Levels, and then degrees if they wish. The AQA exam board is behind this initiative, and wants to add DJing along with further study of more modern music (The Beatles as it turns out) to bring the Music exam up to date. And DJing looks to be a strong part of the performance section.

So while it would be nice to imagine putting a GCSE in Turntablism or Heart Hands on your CV, this is just a much-needed update to the music syllabus taught in schools — jiggedy GCSEs and all that. Perhaps combining home economics will allow you to DJ and bake your own cakes for audience tossing. But there must be educational opportunities for manufacturers and DJs in this?

It must be stressed that right now that this is a proposal, and has to be approved by the powers that be.

What are your thoughts? Do you feel that more music programs at University’s in the US should include DJing to their program?