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NSW Curriculum
NSW Education Standards Authority

11–12Music Life Skills 11–12 Syllabus (2025)

Implementation from 2027
Expand for detailed implementation advice

Content

Life Skills

Life Skills for Stage 6

Through collaborative curriculum planning, it may be decided that Life Skills outcomes and content are the most appropriate option for some students with intellectual disability.

Contexts of music

Students perform, create, listen and respond to music to develop their understanding of how music is structured, performed and interpreted across a range of social, historical and cultural contexts. They engage with repertoire to develop knowledge of the Elements of music, including rhythm, melody and harmony, and a range of ways to represent music. Students experiment with sounds, rhythms and structures, and a variety of tools to express and communicate musical ideas.

Music context and Elements of music should be integrated with this focus area as appropriate to the needs, abilities and prior learning of students.

Performing
  • Experiment with instrument use or vocal techniques for a particular genre or style

  • Experiment with ways to create rhythm

  • Experiment with rhythm to create different effects

  • Experiment with melodies and pitch to create different sounds

  • Perform music individually or in a group

  • Perform music of a particular genre or style

  • Reflect on personal participation in group or individual performances

Listening and responding
  • Engage with music from a range of cultures, styles and genres

  • Count and respond to beat, tempo or rhythm

  • Engage with and respond to melody and harmony

  • Identify how structure is used to communicate ideas

  • Recognise conventions associated with music of a particular genre or style

  • Explore how the Elements of music are used in a piece of music

  • Identify the influence of people, place or time on a piece of music

Creating and composing
  • Select, order and create original music material

  • Participate in composing music that reflects a particular genre or style

  • Select and arrange sounds to create pieces of music for specific purposes or settings

  • Make choices about rhythm or melody when composing a piece of music

  • Experiment with ways music can be structured to communicate ideas

  • Experiment with different structures when composing a piece of music

  • Communicate the structure of individual or group composition

  • Participate in documenting musical ideas

  • Reflect on personal participation in group and/or individual compositions

Safe and ethical practices
  • Demonstrate safe practices when listening and responding, creating and composing or performing music

  • Demonstrate hygiene protocols when sharing instruments and resources

  • Demonstrate respectful and cooperative behaviours when working with others

  • Demonstrate appropriate protocols when engaging with live or online music

  • Acknowledge composers, arrangers and/or collaborators when performing, creating or composing pieces of music

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