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NSW Curriculum
NSW Education Standards Authority

11–12Music 2 11–12 Syllabus (2025)

Implementation from 2027
Expand for detailed implementation advice

Content

Year 12

Music of the last 25 years (Australian focus)

Students perform, compose, listen, analyse and respond to music of the last 25 years created and composed by Australian music-makers with consideration given to musical developments worldwide, and cultural contexts which influence contemporary music. Through selected repertoire, students consider current music practices to understand the relationship between conventions of Australian art music and the impact of emerging practices on the performance and creation of new musical works.

Students develop their knowledge and understanding of Compositional and Notational languages used to shape musical meaning and expressive intent in works. They refine their aural and analytical knowledge, understanding and skills through their approaches to musical documentation, including the use of audio-recorded, written and hybrid methods of representing sound.

Students study a minimum of FOUR contrasting works from FOUR different composers, including THREE works of art music and ONE work from another style.

Performing
  • Apply stylistic awareness, technical control, and idiomatic and expressive techniques

  • Interpret non-traditional notation and recorded music of improvisations and performances by soloists and ensemble members

  • Demonstrate expressive control in the performance of works, including improvisation, extended techniques, technical demands, pitch and rhythmic complexities and the interpretation of new forms of notation

  • Use technology to enhance musical effect

  • Evaluate performances to develop technique and stylistic understanding

Listening, analysing and responding
  • Identify aurally and transcribe Music language from music in a range of cultures and styles using appropriate notation

  • Describe and compare musical features and Compositional language in scores and recordings of music from a range of cultures and styles

  • Interpret the use of notation conventions in scores from a variety of musical styles

  • Compare the ways tonal systems, metric content, structural and textural conventions, and the use and manipulation of timbre, shape musical intent and meaning in musical works

  • Evaluate the ways performance practices communicate intent, including the use of extended techniques, meeting technical demands, and pitch and rhythmic complexities

  • Evaluate ways the creation, performance, recording and notation of music have been influenced by technology and context

Creating and composing
  • Use traditional, digital and acoustic instrument capabilities, idioms and extended techniques to create new musical ideas

  • Arrange the sounds of traditional, digital or acoustic performing media to explore timbre, structure and texture in compositions

  • Apply tonal and metric complexity to the generation and development of musical ideas

  • Refine compositions to achieve expressive intent and communicate meaning with stylistic cohesion

  • Apply technology to the documentation of sound-based creations

  • Apply appropriate Notational language and score conventions to document music and communicate musical ideas, shape meaning and convey expressive intent

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