Skip to content

A NSW Government website

Welcome to the NSW Curriculum website

NSW Curriculum
NSW Education Standards Authority

11–12Music 2 11–12 Syllabus (2025)

Implementation from 2027
Expand for detailed implementation advice

Content

Year 11

Music of the 20th and 21st centuries

Students perform, compose, listen, analyse and respond to a range of music from the 20th century and the 21st century. Through the study of selected repertoire, students learn about the development and use of Music language within distinct contexts, styles and practices. They also consider the role of improvised music-making as part of performance and composition practice, and its effect on style and musical forms. Students develop their knowledge and understanding of tonal, metric and rhythmic content, structural and textural devices and timbral and expressive approaches.

Students develop their aural and analytical knowledge, understanding and skills through the study of recordings and approaches to musical documentation, including traditional and non-traditional scores and hybrid forms of notation. Through the use of traditional and modified voices, instruments and sound sources, analogue and digital technologies, students generate and manipulate timbral range and expressive approaches in music-making.

Students study the work of a minimum of TWO composers or TWO stylistic movements which have influenced practices in the creation and performance of music.

Performing
  • Apply music-making practice in rehearsals and performances of solo and ensemble repertoire, including improvised elements, performer decision-making and interpretation of open scores

  • Use improvisational skills, including interpretative breadth, technical precision and stylistic nuance

  • Apply extended techniques and technology to manipulate vocal and instrumental timbre

  • Apply live performance technologies, expressive practices and improvisation to the performance of solo and ensemble vocal and instrumental music

Listening, analysing and responding
  • Identify aurally the tonal, metric and rhythmic content from excerpts of music of a range of styles and genres, and transcribe using appropriate notation

  • Describe vocal and instrumental timbral manipulation as part of performance practice

  • Analyse complex musical scores, synthesising understanding of tonal, metric and rhythmic content, the expansion of timbral range, and the emergence of new Compositional language and musical genres and forms

  • Analyse the expanded use of timbral manipulation and the relationship to the development and use of improvisation and technology in the performance and recording of music

  • Compare scores, audio recordings and performance of music with consideration for how context informs composers’ and performers’ use of Compositional language and stylistic techniques

Creating and composing
  • Use musical ideas and Compositional language from the works of composers to generate new musical material

  • Apply improvisation techniques to the creation of new musical ideas and the manipulation, development and refinement of existing materials

  • Create musical material that blends traditional and contemporary musical material

  • Combine pre-recorded material with live performance and improvisation to create and develop musical material

  • Integrate live performance technology into own composed work for soloists and small ensembles

  • Create documentation and scores of music, applying Music language and notation conventions, to accurately convey dynamics, articulation and expression

  • Document the creative process used to compose and refine new musical ideas

Related files