MUSIC 2011–2015
Music Style and Composition – Advice for teachers
In the ‘Exploring and responding’ dimension students focus on critical analysis, interpretation and description of the stylistic, technical, expressive and aesthetic features of their own works and works created by a range of other composers, improvisers, arrangers and performers. The knowledge, skills and behaviours that students develop through learning in this dimension informs the analytical and reflective aspects of the work they undertake in each unit of VCE Music Style and Composition. The interdependent nature of the two dimensions in The Arts is reflected in VCE Music Style and Composition, where students’ composition, improvisation and/or arrangement work is informed by study of the works and practice/working methods of other musicians. The Personal Learning domain in the Physical, Personal and Social Learning strand of the VELS develops knowledge and skills required to be an autonomous learner. These are crucial to successful learning in VCE Music Style and Composition, where students are required to complete extended creative tasks requiring use of goal setting, time and resource management skills, monitoring and reflecting on development and refinement of ideas and seeking and responding to feedback. Three domains in the Interdisciplinary learning strand in the VELS provide connections to VCE Music Style and Composition – Communication, Thinking processes and Information and Communications Technology. Aspects of learning from the ‘Presenting’ dimension in the Communication domain support students’ ability to complete analytical and reflective tasks for each area of study in Music Style and Composition. In particular, students draw on knowledge and skills about ways to effectively present information, ideas and opinions in forms that are relevant to the purpose and audience. In the Thinking processes domain, knowledge, skills and behaviours relating to critical thinking, inquiry, analysis and evaluation, using imagination to generate possibilities, risk-taking and reflection prepare students for learning in VCE Music Style and Composition. Throughout the study there are opportunities for students to use and extend their learning from the Information and Communications Technology domain. For example, students might use hardware and software tools to create music works, use tools that facilitate visual thinking when analysing music works or use ICT to seek and discuss alternative views about a music work, and plan and monitor the progress of extended tasks or document thinking and working practices.
EMPLOYABILITY SKILLS
Units 1 to 4 of the VCE Music Style and Composition study provide students with the opportunity to engage in a range of learning activities. In addition to demonstrating their understanding and mastery of the content and skills specific to the study, students may also develop employability skills through their learning activities. The nationally agreed employability skills* are: Communication; Planning and organising; Teamwork; Problem solving; Self-management; Initiative and enterprise; Technology; and Learning. Each employability skill contains a number of facets that have a broad coverage of all employment contexts and are designed to describe all employees. The table below links those facets that may be understood and applied in a school or non-employment related setting, to the types of assessment commonly undertaken within the VCE study.
*The employability skills are derived from the Employability Skills Framework (Employability Skills for the Future, 2002), developed by the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Business Council of Australia, and published by the (former) Commonwealth Department of Education, Science and Training.
vce study design
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