Scotch College

MUSIC Year 7

Music Craft and Instrumental Ensemble

Rationale

The music course is founded upon the belief that an understanding and appreciation of music will enhance each student’s quality of life, and that an appreciation of music is best developed through making music. A large part of the course is therefore practical, involving instrumental performance and music composition.

The instrumental component of the course involves each student spending a number of weeks learning to play an instrument from each of the principal orchestral families, ie., strings, woodwind and brass in small class ensembles.

The Music Craft course is designed to be a classroom and music technology based course that begins to develop students’ basic music language skills in support of the performance based skills being developed in the ensemble component.  The course will explore the student’s creative composition skills using music technology, whilst the study of basic theory and listening skills will develop students’ understanding of basic music language to enable them to acquire greater means of musical expression.

Student Outcomes

• Develop and refine basic aural, listening and theory skills.

• Listen and respond to music in order to develop creative and analytical skills.

• Create musical compositions in a variety of styles.

Course content

Listening and Analysis: The Elements of Music: pitch, duration, intensity and timbre, Instruments of the orchestra and a study of basic form and structure in music.

Theory and Aural studies: Basic scale forms, primary triads, elementary melodic and rhythmic dictation, and other essential music theory.

Composition: Students will be involved in creating musical compositions using a variety of the techniques studied throughout the course.

Compositions will be created and performed through the use of the music technology labs in Semester Two.

ICT Skills

Students will develop their proficiency in using the music software Logic Express in conjunction with the synthesisers and other audio technology in the music computer labs.

Assessment

Music Craft:

Creative Project, Research Work and ICT Skills

Music Language Skills

Instrumental Ensemble Music:

Ensemble Participation and Cooperation.

Instrumental Ensemble Skills