Music 2 provides students with the opportunity to extend their musical knowledge with a focus on Western art music and may serve as a pathway for further formal study in tertiary institutions.
Students will develop knowledge of skills and understanding when performing:
Students will develop knowledge of skills and understanding in composition when:
Students will develop knowledge of skills and understanding in composition when:
Students will develop aural skills when notating, recognising, analysing and commenting on:
NESA will release the draft Music 2 11–12 Syllabus for public consultation as part of the NSW Curriculum Reform.
View the NESA information videos on Have your say – Music 11–12 (staff only).
The sample scope and sequence (DOCX 49 KB) has been provided to assist teachers in planning and structuring their Stage 6 music 2 programs and units of work.
This resource explores the work '[A]part' (2017) by Australian composer Ellen Kirkwood. It is written for Sirens Big Band and soloists Gian Slater, Sandy Evans and Andrea Keller. This work is Kirkwood’s response to growing issues in a rapidly changing world such as the wonder and malignance of the internet, the refugee crisis, greed, and climate change. This resource focuses on part 1 of the work which is titled ‘[A]part 1 – The Internet: wonder and malignance’. The activities contained in the resource provide students with opportunities to explore the musical concepts and compositional techniques that Kirkwood has utilised to represent the context of the work.
This resource explores the fourth movement of Australian composer Jim Coyle’s ‘Death in Sidmouth’ titled ‘November’ with text by English poet Thomas Hood. Compositional features used within the work including atonality, string techniques, modes, dissonance, rhythmic ostinatos and angular melodic writing, form the basis of the classroom activities contained within the unit. This resource contains a full listening guide according to the concepts of music, learning activites, classroom arrangements of the work, extension activites and literacy tasks.
This resource explores the work 'Diminishing Species' by Australian composer Jessica Wells, performed by Australia's leading art music ensemble, 'Ensemble Offspring'. This engaging work for marimba, two guitars, bass clarinet, violin, piano, double bass and percussion represents the extinction of animals in the 1990's through the manipulation of musical concepts including pitch, texture, tone colour and dynamics and expressive techniques. This resource contains sequenced learning activities in performance, composition, aural and musicology, and explores the musical features of the work through the concepts of music.
This Stage 6 HSC music 2 resource for the mandatory topic explores the work 'Bend/Boogie/Break' by Holly Harrison performed by Ensemble Offspring.
Other Voices is a performance, recording and education project based on three new electroacoustic works for flute and electronics by Australian composer/educators Cat Hope, Tristan Coelho and Fiona Hill. It provides access points for young composers, performers and their teachers to explore the potential for combining electronic music with instruments and voice.
Student guided online learning sequences to support learning from home or in the classroom.
The Stage 6 music projects online resource contains a self-guided project and two units of work on Baroque rocks and the Australian composition Eliza Aria. Baroque rocks allows Music 1 or Music 2 students to complete a group or individual project on Baroque music that could take from 2-4 weeks. Eliza Aria allows Music 1 or Music 2 students to complete online work for the topic of Australian Music or for Music 2 mandatory topic Music of the Last 25 years (Australian focus). This also could take 2-4 weeks to complete. An Eliza Aria Answers (DOCX 70.91 KB) is an accompanying teacher resources that provides answers to various questions asked in this unit. The final module is a self-guided project for students undertaking the Music 1 Stage 6 syllabus topic of An instrument and its repertoire.
The Assessment in the HSCExternal link resource is designed to provide Stage 6 teachers with opportunities to develop their understanding of the assessment requirements for the practical and performance works in the HSC music 1, music 2 and music extension courses. It has been written to support and compliment the NESA Creative Arts Assessment and Reporting in Stage 6 music 2External link advice and requirements.
HSC music 2 teachers can use this resource to:
The NSW Education Standards Authority (NESA) Music 2 Stage 6 Syllabus (2009) page contains the syllabus and helpful materials including a sample assessment schedule, HSC advice, specimen exams, HSC marking guidelines, standards materials, past papers additional support information.
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