Educerie · IB Diploma · Music

Coursework checklist

Run this each term. Every "no" is fixable now and unfixable at submission.

Writing about music

• [ ] Every analytical paragraph contains at least one locatable reference — a bar number or a timing.
• [ ] Claims about effect are derived from a musical cause, not asserted.
• [ ] I name texture, metre and its grouping, tessitura, timbre and articulation where relevant.
• [ ] Removing the adjectives from my writing would leave substantive content.
• [ ] I identify specific instruments and forces, not "the instruments".

Breadth across the areas of inquiry

• [ ] Area 1 — sociocultural and political expression: I have material here.
• [ ] Area 2 — listening and performance: I have material here.
• [ ] Area 3 — dramatic impact, movement and entertainment: I have material here.
• [ ] Area 4 — music technology: I have material here.
• [ ] My material comes from more than one tradition.
• [ ] At least one tradition is not the one I was trained in.
• [ ] Where I analyse non-Western music, I analyse what that music is organised by, rather than cataloguing what it lacks relative to Western practice.

Connecting the three roles

• [ ] Something I researched changed something I performed or created.
• [ ] I have stated that connection explicitly, in writing.
• [ ] An experiment in my portfolio can be traced to a finished piece.
• [ ] My performing repertoire relates to the areas of inquiry, not only to what I already played.

Experimenting with music

• [ ] My experiments are experiments, not polished pieces.
• [ ] Each states what was being tested.
• [ ] Each states what happened, in musical terms.
• [ ] At least one experiment failed, and the failure is documented with what followed.
• [ ] Experiments span researching, performing and creating.
• [ ] Every reflective entry ends in a decision, not an evaluation.

Recording and evidence

• [ ] I began recording early, so development is visible.
• [ ] Recordings are dated.
• [ ] Audio is clear enough for what I claim about it to be audible.
• [ ] Scores or notation are included where they support a claim.

Presenting music

• [ ] The pieces I present relate to each other and to the areas of inquiry.
• [ ] Programme notes contain musical evidence, not impressions.
• [ ] I can justify why each piece is in the programme.

Higher level — the contemporary music maker

• [ ] The project has a real audience and a real occasion.
• [ ] I stated the purpose before the project, not after.
• [ ] I evaluate the outcome against that purpose, honestly, including what fell short.

Academic integrity

• [ ] All music by others is fully credited: composer, performer, recording.
• [ ] Any samples used are identified, with their source.
• [ ] Where I have adapted or arranged, I say so and identify the original.
• [ ] Collaborative work identifies who did what.

If you can only fix one thing: go through your written work and delete every sentence that contains no timing, bar number, pitch, interval or named instrument. What remains is your actual analysis. If very little remains, that is the finding — and rewriting those paragraphs with located evidence is the single highest-value use of your time.

Educerie · written from the published IB Diploma Programme structure for Music, first assessment 2022. Original text. Last reviewed 5 September 2026.