AUSTRALIAN STEINER CURRICULUM FRAMEWORK The · PDF fileAUSTRALIAN STEINER CURRICULUM FRAMEWORK The Arts: ... When the human being is ... should have a good knowledge of the Steiner

© Steiner Education Australia MUSIC CURRICULUM K-10 www.steinereducation.edu.au Version: April 2015

STEINER EDUCATION AUSTRALIA

AUSTRALIAN STEINER CURRICULUM FRAMEWORK

The Arts:

MUSIC CURRICULUM

Kindergarten/Foundation to Year 10

April 2015

The Australian Steiner Curriculum: Music was developed to meet the recognition and equivalence

given to alternate internationally recognised curricula by the Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA).

While this process is currently not available for the Arts, Steiner Education Australia has made this curriculum available for Steiner Schools to use to meet state requirements based on the Australian

Curriculum.

http://www.steinereducation.edu.au/

©SEA:ASCF MUSIC Curriculum Years K-10 Page 2 of 40 www.steinereducation.edu.au Version: April 2015

Revisions included in this document:



Rationale

When the human being is artistically engaged with tone, he puts his ear to the very heart of nature and reproduces it in series of tones

- Steiner, Inner Nature of Music, Lecture III There's music in all things, if men had ears Their earth is but an echo of the spheres.

- Lord Byron, English poet, 1788 -– 1824. Don Juan, Canto XIV Rhythmic movement, often expressed as frequencies, is inherent in all elementary particles and their interactions. It is, as Rudolf Steiner expresses it above, ‘the very heart of nature’. Pitches are the audible frequencies that our ear registers, our mind perceives and our soul reflects. They are part of the vast continuum of natural frequencies, from the rotation of the planets at one end to gamma rays at the other. Furthermore, pitches are, for Steiner, merely the vehicles for the experience of soul and spirit that music provides. When a composer, performer or listener artistically interacts with pitches there arises what we describe as ‘music’. Human endeavours in manipulating these pitches are intricately bound up with the developmental journey of human consciousness. Music is engaged in for its inherently joyful and life-affirming qualities. The most important aspect of music

education is for the teacher to understand each child’s musical path and to attempt to give it recognition as

something precious to be nurtured.

Music takes a central position in Waldorf education, studied both as a discrete discipline and most

importantly as a vital part of the pedagogy. In broad terms, Steiner Education aims to harmonise the physical

and spiritual aspects of the child. Music fundamentally supports this aim across the curriculum by offering a

way of understanding the dynamic and cosmic connections between the growing human being and his or her

stage in the development of consciousness. Because of this, it is important that the specialist music teacher

should have a good knowledge of the Steiner Main Lesson curriculum as this informs many of the decisions

regarding music choice and instructional practices. Likewise, the Class Teacher should bear in mind that

music as well as being part of everyday life in a Steiner Classroom is an art in its own right.

This curriculum is designed to provide a framework for Class Teachers, Subject Teachers, Middle and Upper

School Teachers who are working with general classes as well as for those teachers in Steiner Schools who

may be working with Music Elective Classes in the upper years. It is therefore not intended that all the

suggestions in the Content Elaborations are necessarily covered by any one teacher.

Before the age of about 9 years, music, like the other arts, is used to support the child’s development. After

this time, music can be addressed as an art form requiring growing attention, understanding and reverence in

order for it to yield its true rewards. A love for music can be a life-long source of intellectual interest,

emotional support and spiritual sustenance.

Listening, creating and performing music are all integral aspects of a balanced music education. Through the

students’ involvement in sequential and age appropriate activities, they develop a refined ability to

experience and eventually understand music from many different cultures, historical periods and places.

Music education is a rich and valuable experience in its own right and is known to have a positive influence

on the development of fine and gross motor skills, emotional intelligence as well as cognitive and

interpersonal capacities. Steiner’s insistence on the artistic approach to teaching, means that music (as well

as the arts, generally), has a special place in education. For instance, Steiner’s insistence that reading and

writing should come from drawing, relates to the sense of movement that students activate when drawing

curves and straight lines. The sense of movement is closely connected with the musical sense as it deals

with the aesthetics of rhythm, tension and relaxation. As the children move either in space or in their



imaginations when learning the letters, so do they experience a musical quality. This positive relationship is

replicated in many other disciplines.

Whilst music undoubtedly provides opportunities for personal skill development and performance

achievement, it is a supremely social art that can build bridges between individuals and societies. Music is

also the art that, according to Steiner, is closest to the ‘will of the world’ the unseen forces that shape

physical existence and it is perhaps these aspects that makes it so vital a part of an effective education.

Music is a higher revelation than all wisdom and philosophy. Music is the electrical soil in which the spir it lives, thinks and invents.

- Ludwig van Beethoven

Aims

In addition to the overarching aims of the Australian Steiner Curriculum: The Arts, the following knowledge,

understanding and skills are developed in students, individually and collaboratively:

1 The ability to communicate with others in musical contexts (such as ensemble playing).

2 The ability to sing and play instrumental music for enjoyment and self-expression.

3 The ability to create original music as a way of communicating feelings and ideas.

4 The ability to respect and make aesthetic judgments about music in different cultural and historical

contexts using appropriate meta-language.

5 A life-long love for a wide range of musical activities.

6 An understanding of the role music can play in sustaining good health.

Learning in Music

Students develop their experiences in and understanding of music through listening, performing and creating

original music. Each of these areas develops in complexity revealing more of the nature of music as the child

matures in understanding and capacity.

The parameters of verbal communication about music are called the ‘elements’ or ‘concepts’ of music and

consist of pitch, duration, timbre (tone colour), texture, dynamics and expressive techniques and structure.

Listening (both inner and outer) is the foundation for all other musical activities and is also an important skill

in other areas of life. Music activities directed towards listening are called ‘aural skills’ or ‘ear training’ in

music education. In the early years, the students are introduced to music in school as a natural part of their

daily life. They hear music without the need to consciously notice or analyse that it is different from speech.

This can lead to responses such as spontaneous imitated singing and dancing.

As the child’s soul and spirit become more integrated in their physical body, listening develops more and

more consciously and is able to provide information about how music is constructed and conveys its

‘meaning’. This in turn, informs the students’ musical decisions in performance and creating original music.

Performing music does not require an audience and can range from improvising alone through to playing

music created by a composer in front of many people. In Steiner schools, music performance begins with

singing, then playing instruments as part of the daily rhythm and progresses to formal performances for



festivals and concerts involving listening, appreciating, analyzing, evaluating, arranging, notating, conducting,

rehearsing, presenting and recording.

Creating original music begins as soon as the children enter the school in the form of sung questions and

responses with a limited range of pitches and proceeds via formal and informal processes to the students

eventually creating complex pieces of music and songs.

Music is created and performed by using voices, body sounds, found objects, simple instruments, more

complex acoustic instruments and electronic instruments (in the upper classes). It is sometimes notated

using Western conventional (after Class III) and non-standard notation. Audio recording and replaying

technology is introduced after Class VI.

Knowledge

Steiner’s indications suggest that before the age of nine, learning in this and other arts subjects should be a

natural imitative process without artificial and abstract concepts. The young child should be first immersed in

a variety of musical rhythms; celebration of the seasons, of particular weekly and daily activities. The children

should sing as part of the rhythm of their everyday lives, in relation to necessary tasks, such as sweeping a

floor or baking. Instrumental music is introduced in Class One but is treated at this stage more like an

amplification of the child’s breath than a separate study.

Later, after the age of nine, the children’s attention can be drawn more and more to the requirements of the

art form, beginning with a firm foundation in aural awareness and proceeding to more complex forms of

understanding expressed practically through singing, instrumental playing, creating and responding to music.

Music for young children should be primarily melodic. As they progress through the first three grades, drones

and ostinati can be gradually added to songs and pieces of music but not harmonic accompaniment (such as

chords on piano or guitar, although this does not need to be followed absolutely). Young children only relate

to the melodic element. Harmony, which is expressive of more subjective feelings, can really be understood

from the age of nine onwards. Rounds and canons offer a good introduction to part-singing and they can lead

to more complex part-singing and instrumental playing depending on the maturity of the children.

The experience of rhythm is more varied and can appear first as an innate sense of movement in the young

child progressing to an independently perceived sense of beat and pulse, divorced from melody and harmony.

Later, complex polyrhythms can be heard, understood, created and performed sometimes in conjunction with

harmonic and melodic elements.

The changing consciousness of the growing child echoes the historical developments in human

consciousness and this has its musical counterpart in particular types of intervals and scale systems relating

to these stages. Whilst Steiner stressed that it is not necessary to be pedantic about this, he indicated that for

young children, the open ‘mood of the fifth’ (see annotated bibliography) and pentatonic music accords with

their experience of existence without separation from nature. They are, so to speak, at home with the gods.

Therefore the earthly ‘home’ note of the tonic is absent as they swing freely between different pitches using

major seconds and thirds. This accords with influential Hungarian musicologist Kodaly’s indications for early

childhood musical education based on the development of folk music idioms. As they grow in self-

consciousness, so does the musical experience become more inward, moving from music using different

modes such as Dorian and Aeolian to the experience of major and minor. This occurs in Class 3/4 with the

emphasis on the major and minor third and their place, unlike the expansive fifth, ‘inside’ us. These intervals

appeal to our heart. As we progress through the school years, more and more complex forms of music are

introduced using different tonalities, such as the Hijaz scale, modes based on Indian ragas, blues scales,

octatonic scales, bitonality and atonality, serialism and aleatory music.



As the students become more familiar with the theoretical basis of different musical genres, they are better

equipped to understand, evaluate and synthesize concepts concerning different spiritual, psychological,

ideological and philosophical contexts. From Foundation to Class 10, a growing sophistication in musical

understanding and use of terminology informs the students’ activities in listening, performing and creating

music.

Skills

Students develop their skills in vocal and instrumental performance from the beginning of their time in

Foundation. They are introduced first of all to simple pentatonic songs and imitate the teacher’s careful

singing. As they progress they become more able to sing within a larger range of notes and tonalities, with

greater control of dynamics and timbre and with the intention of expressing thoughts and feelings. They begin

with unison singing and end by singing accurately, sophisticated pieces of music in harmony.

Students may begin learning the pentatonic pipe (or by playing pentatonically on the recorder) that extends

their growing experience of the connection between ‘inner and outer’ through breathing. They may learn the

lyre and experience the spiritual/mathematical purity of the sounds. A bowed stringed instrument may be

learnt at around eight or nine years old. These instruments ensoul the sound of the vibrating string with the

breath-like bow, creating a sound between spiritual/mathematical and utterance (Ruland 1992). Playing other

orchestral and band instruments becomes possible and each student is given the chance to create a

relationship with their chosen instrument.

Steiner emphasized the usefulness of identifying character traits through a study of a child’s temperament

(sanguine, melancholic, choleric or phlegmatic). The choice of instrument for a child, where there is no

particularly strong desire for one or another, can be informed by a consideration of his or her temperament

(Steiner 1987).

They experience the process of practising over many years in order to achieve a musical goal. It is through

this that they learn the deep satisfaction of self-discipline and commitment to a progressively more difficult

yet rewarding task. Ensemble skills are developed throughout the instrumental program.

Students are also made familiar with the basic techniques of classroom percussion instruments and later

keyboards and guitars and their use in arrangements of songs and instrumental pieces.

Students may be introduced to Tonic Sol-fa letter notation in the early years and proceed to learn, via

pictorial and imaginative methods, standard staff notation. They develop the skills to accurately hear,

reproduce, write and read music.

Students gradually develop the capacity to listen with an awareness of the elements of music and a growing

understanding of the importance of cultural and historical context. They increasingly use their aural sensitivity

and expanded conceptual framework to inform their musical performance and composition.

Ultimately, the art of music is a social art and students are encouraged to use music as a way of building

bridges to other people, often communicating on a level that is non-verbal but profound.

Materials

Voice; bodies; pentatonic pipes, and/or diatonic recorders and pipes; classroom percussion instruments;

guitars; keyboards; pianos; other instruments and sound sources; music stands; sheet music; manuscript

paper; electronic equipment for creating, recording and processing musical sounds; computers and notation

software; headphones; spaces for composing, performing and listening.



Overview Classes K-2

Kindergarten to Class 2

We leave the musical element the instant we develop concepts about it.

- Steiner R The Inner Nature of Music and the Experience of Tone

The young child of Foundation to Class 2 lives in the musical realm that provides a healthy support for his or

her growing physical body. To engage them in abstract concepts about music at this age is to rob them of a

living experience and connection with their own world.

The musical development of young children can be likened to the image of a gong. To begin with the children

are still living on the edge of the gong, undifferentiated in body/soul/spirit and music belongs to their

experience in a natural and unconscious way. The sounds that surround them are diffuse and free. The

young students are allowed to live in the ‘periphery’ that is beneficial to their natural and easy assimilation of

musical idioms later on. Teaching in this stage does not concentrate on accuracy of intonation or rhythm. The

movement qualities of the breath and not the pulse are more important. They learn primarily through imitation.

In this stage, students experience reverence in their approach to musical sounds and in Class 1, images of

enchanted tones waiting to be returned to their homes in the stars by the students’ careful performance on

pipe or chime bar are helpful. To begin with ‘unfinished’ instruments such as a large seedpod shaker provide

space for the child’s imagination. As they grow, so their instruments become more technologically

sophisticated. The students learn to care for all their instruments and are introduced to them in a

pictorial/narrative way in which the images build reverence.

As they progress from Foundation through to Class 2, the students gradually ‘come closer’ to the centre of

the gong; the sounds are more focused and defined, pitch becomes absolute and rhythm is related to beat

and can be separated from melody. The speed of this transition will depend on the environment and the

children but the important point is that it is a process to be treated artistically and from observation of the

effects that the music has on the children.

The students’ developing musicality and sensitivity to sound in general is supported by imitating the teachers’

light quality of voice. This should be more musical than dramatic such as is appropriate for telling stories in

the younger years. Kindergarten students experience their teachers using voice interchangeably with singing.

In Class 1, singing is sometimes used to bridge activities enabling students to mark formal changes in the

rhythm of the day. Throughout Classes 1 -2, students engage in singing songs that relate to the Main

Lessons, subject lessons, festivals and plays.

In Kindergarten and Class 1, the students respond best to pentatonic music that does not emphasise a

keynote and music in ‘the mood of the 5th’ as the soul qualities of this music speak to their stage of

development. They can also experience folk songs and other tonalities. In Class 2, pentatonic music that

emphasises a key note (either major or minor), hexatonic music (without a strong leading note, such as D, E ,

F#, G, A, B, D) and music using the church modes (Aeolian, Dorian, Mixolydian especially) are useful as

bridges from pentatonic to full diatonic major and minor (Class 3 and 4).

The students learn music in melodic unison in Foundation and Classes 1 and 2. Simple drones and melodic

and rhythmic ostinati can be added in Class 2. Rounds are best left to later on in Class 3 or Class 4 for

reasons given below (see Class 3 and 4).



There are various considerations in the choice of a pipe/recorder for the students in Class 1. Students may

begin to learn the pentatonic pipe (five different notes only) or use a diatonic pipe/recorder (able to play all

the notes of major and minor scales) pentatonically. Learning the fingering on a pentatonic pipe can make

the transition to the diatonic pipe more difficult. Because of this it is suggested that students play pentatonic

music using a diatonic pipe from the beginning of Class 1.

They may also learn how to play the lyre and percussion instruments from Class 1.

The students learn notation formally in Class 3 through images to which they can relate (see below).

However, in the course of playing recorder, lyre and singing, there may arise in Classes 1 and 2 the

opportunity to engage in such imaginative preparatory exercises as drawing the contours of melodies (for

instance as a mountain range) or using line lengths to represent the different lengths of sounds but these are

not a priority and may be saved until Class 3.

The students learn about the polarities of pitch, timbre, texture, dynamics and tempo using suitable language.

(In the tables below and in similar tables, the Roman numerals refer to the school year group (so II is Year 2).

The next numbers refer to the content description and then the elaboration of the description. Where there is

more than one point per elaboration, letters are used to distinguish the points from others belonging to the

same elaboration.)

Kindergarten

Content Description Content Elaborations

K.1 Sing songs and chants

including Aboriginal and

Torres Strait Islander music

and play simple musical

instruments.

K.1.1 Imitating the teacher’s vocal pitch, rhythm and timbre in simple pentatonic songs. K.1.2 Responding to music through dancing or movement. K.1.3 Playing simple musical instruments such as shakers and bells. K.1.4 Immersion in a ‘singing environment’ including songs for work, play, nursery rhymes etc.



Class 1 and 2 Key to Elaborations numbers: First digit indicates class; 1/2 denotes both Class 1& Class 2.


Classes 1 and 2 1/2.1 Develop active listening to engage the feeling capacities.

1/2.1.1 Half of class listening to other half singing and playing 1.1.2 Imitating with greater accuracy the teacher’s vocal pitch, rhythm and timbre

in simple pentatonic songs. 2.1.2 More self-directed ability to sing with correct pitch and rhythm. 1.1.3 Demonstrating awareness of polarities of: timbre, lighter/darker; dynamics,

louder/softer; tempo, faster/slower. 2.1.3 Demonstrating awareness of polarities of pitch, higher/lower. 1.1.4 Experiencing the mood of the interval of a perfect 5th. 2.1.4 Experiencing the moods of different modes. 1/2.1.5 Observing basic ensemble skills, when to play and stop.

1/2.2 Sing and play on instruments age-appropriate songs, chants and pieces relating to Main Lesson and other subjects and for Festivals, celebrations and plays, including Aboriginal and Torres and Strait Islander music.

Elaboration 1 (class1/2) Singing in unison and parts. 1.2.1 Singing confidently in unison simple pentatonic songs with range D to E’ 2.2.1 Singing confidently in unison more complex major and minor pentatonic,

and other 6 note modal songs (avoiding strong leading notes but with latent sense of keynote) with range B to E’

Elaboration 2 (1/2) Singing alone. 1.2.2 Singing alone in self-initiated play. 2.2.2 Having the opportunity to sing alone. Elaboration 3 (1/2) Reading notation. 1.2.3 Showing contours of melodies with hands and bodies. 2.2.3 Imitating and using Tonic Sol-fa hands signs. Elaboration 4 (1/2) Playing recorders/pipes 1.2.4 Caring for recorder/pipe and playing pentatonic songs by imitation, ear and

contouring using correct breathing and tonguing techniques; notes. 2.2.4 Using confidently all pentatonic notes. Elaboration 5 (1/2) Playing on lyres and percussion instruments 1.2.5 Playing on lyre, pentatonic songs by imitation, ear and contouring signs.

Performing finger games to increase dexterity. 2.2.5 Playing simple ostinati on tuned and un-tuned percussion instruments. Elaboration 6 (1/2) Demonstrating awareness/understanding of rhythm and beat. 1/2.2.6a Moving freely to pentatonic music 1/2.2.6b Clapping and counting number rhythms 2.2.6c Performing rhythm exercises on one pitch using movement words

(see Examples of Knowledge below).

1/2.3 Create and perform music by improvising in pentatonic and other modes on instruments and voice to communicate with an audience.

Elaboration 1 (1/2) Showing respect for music. 1/2.3.1 Showing reverence for the ‘magical’ nature of sound. Elaboration 2 (1/2) creating music and using movement. 1.3.2 Demonstrating awareness of polarities of dynamics, timbre and tempo. 2.3.2 Demonstrating awareness of polarities of dynamics, timbre, tempo and

pitch. 1.3.2b Improvising short musical phrases using pentatonic modes. 2.3.2b Improvising short musical phrases using major/minor pentatonic and other

modes. 2.3.3 Creating body movements to express musical phrases. 1/2.3.4 Creating music for given or invented texts, dances, pictures, colours, forms.



Examples of knowledge and skills in Music at Foundation to Year 2

In these classes students experience the elements of music, including pitch, rhythm, timbre, (tone colour),

texture, dynamics and expressive techniques), provide a framework for this progression.

Rhythm/time:

‘Breathing’ rhythms (flowing rhythms related to speech patterns, not tied to beat)

Rhythms and beat as part of the melody (Years 1 and 2)

Polarities of tempi (speeds), fast, slow, getting faster, getting slower.

Sound and silence, long/short sounds, rest, ostinato.

Performance of rhythm names (or similar) – push (semibreve), glide (minim), walk (crotchet), running (two

quavers), running faster (four semiquavers)

Performance of rhythmic rests, (silent performance of above rhythm names),

Experiencing duple and triple metres.

Pitch:

High/low, contour, musical memory (remembering simple pitch patterns), unison.

Singing and playing using pentatonic, modal, major tonalities.

Dynamics and expressive techniques:

Polarities of and finding central point in; loud, medium, soft and gradations of volume.

Slurring and detached in recorder and other instrument playing and (by end of Year 3) Italian terms legato,

staccato.

Timbre:

Polarities of and finding central place in light and dark timbres.

Characteristics of each sound. E.g. What type of person would the sound of the cymbal be?

Exploring how different sounds are made on different instruments.

Progression from more peripheral, diffuse sounds to more focused sounds.

Texture:

Multi-layered timbral textures.

Unison melodic textures

Harmonic textures – drones and simple ostinati only.

Form:

Simple one or two part forms in Years 1 and 2.

Skills:

Singing with age-appropriate awareness of correct pitch and rhythm and enunciation of text.

Playing an instrument correctly and safely (pipes, lyres, recorders, classroom percussion)

Listening carefully to contrasts in musical elements and responding age-appropriately.

Being sensitive to the social aspect of music making

Being sensitive to the ‘magical’ quality of musical sounds

Understanding the relationship between musical sounds and visual representations of them.

Being able to perform from memory and ‘by ear’.

Being able to use sounds and silence creatively.



Foundation to Year 2 Achievement Standard

By the end of Year 2, students will enjoy singing songs with good intonation and playing pieces of music on

pitched and un-pitched instruments. They will in an age – appropriate manner improvise, compose, perform

music in conjunction with other students. They will present music to audiences such as parent groups and at

assemblies or festivals and have experienced the pleasure that making music brings.



Overview Classes 3 – 4 From Class 3 to Class 4 the students begin to consider music as an art form and to gain knowledge of the language that enables them to appreciate, perform, create and discuss music. The students engage in singing songs that relate to the Main Lessons, subject lessons, festivals and plays.

Class 3 Musical considerations and Main Lesson themes. From Foundation to Class 3, the students undergo a major change in their relationship to music in that the

changing nature of the child’s consciousness makes it desirable to begin to turn their attention to music as an

art. The child of around nine years old, crosses the ‘Rubicon’; Steiner identifies this developmental crossing

where self-consciousness takes the place of a sense of unity with the world. Towards the end of Class 3, it

could also be later (Class 4) depending on the age of the child, the music teacher works with the interval of

the major and minor 3rd that emphasize the students’ newly developed sense of inner and outer, self and

other. The emphasis on doing in the world (farming, measuring, and building Main Lessons) means that in

Class 3, the students respond strongly to music in diatonic major and other modes that have a sense of a

keynote. The relationship that the different pitches of a diatonic scale have to the keynote is also symbiotic

with the relationship that the growing individuality has with self and others.

By the end of Class 3, the stabilizing of the ratio between the breath and the heartbeat (1:4) marks a new

relationship to musical beat and rhythm. Whereas before, rhythm was considered more in relationship to

breathing, throughout Class 3 and into Class 4, it can be considered more in relationship to beat.

By Class 3, students are engaged more consciously in singing-training, ensuring that they sing with a light

tone, correct pitch, rhythm and pronunciation.

By Class 3 the students can learn very simple rounds and canons as preparation for singing and playing in

parts which Steiner places in Class 4. For the same reasons that major and minor are not formally introduced

until around the nine year old ‘Rubicon’, rounds, depending on when they are introduced, may create too

much age inappropriate self-consciousness.

By Class 3 the students are playing diatonic pipe/recorder. They may also be able to play melodies on tuned

percussion instruments and add melodic and rhythmic ostinato to songs and musical pieces.

The students learn notation formally in Class 3 through images to which they can relate. In the course of

playing recorder, lyre and singing, there may arise in Classes 1 and 2 the opportunity to engage in such

imaginative preparatory exercises as drawing the contours of melodies (for instance as a mountain range) or

using line lengths to represent the different lengths of sounds but these are not a priority and may be saved

until Class 3.



Class 4 Musical considerations and Main Lesson themes

In Class 4, the sense for belonging on earth is explored in the local geography Main Lesson and this could

involve creating individual ‘song-lines’. The Norse myths, with their emphasis on the human will, encourage

work with beat and rhythm. This is carried out much more consciously than before and the students identify

melody, harmony and rhythm as three distinct but overlapping elements. Through the greater intensity of

their subjective life, they experience the polarities of major and minor. This is a reflection of their

consciousness of an inner and outer life. As a result, they can accurately sing half and whole tones and can

work with these in compositions.

The students work with fractional note values in relationship to the semibreve. The use of American

nomenclature for rhythmic values is helpful here (semibreve = whole note, minim = half note etc.).They also

understand metre and time signatures and can use them in compositions. They understand 4/4 most

naturally, as this is the relationship between one breath and four heart beats that has established itself by this

time.

The students learn about the relationship between humans and animals and they understand the ability of

the human being to play and to practise an instrument and thereby gain greater skill and enjoyment from the

process. They understand that many musical instruments have been created from a picture of the human

being and have human qualities.

The students learn about the history of writing words and also how music notation developed. Their study of

map-making enables them to consider the musical score as a map and to begin to appreciate the overall

formal structure of songs and pieces of music. Graphic scores are worked with as a way of imaginatively

translating sounds into symbols.

Freehand geometry requires inner space visualisations and the students perform this aurally in imagining and

creating the continuation of musical sequences, patterns and in simple dictations.

The symmetries of form-drawings are reflected in their musical compositions as call and response, regular

phrase lengths, repeated dynamics and expressive directions such as staccato and legato.



Classes 3 and 4 Content

Note on numbering: In this and similar tables, the first digit refers to the school year group or groups;

eg 3/4 = both classes 3 & 4. A number in brackets after the elaboration title indicates the class.

The second digit refers to the content description, and the 3rd to the elaboration of the description.

Where there is more than one point per elaboration, these points are indicated with a, b, c, etc.

Content Descriptions Content Elaborations

3/4.1 Develop active listening

through experiencing the

elements of music,

performance, relating sounds

to symbols and comparing

music from different social,

cultural and historical

contexts including Aboriginal

and Torres Strait Islander

music

Elaboration 1 Developing understanding of music as an art. Class 3 3.1.1a Demonstrating an understanding of melody, rhythm and beat. 3.1.1b Demonstrating an understanding of the gradation of dynamics, timbres,

pitch and tempo. 3.1.1c Notating simple melodies using contour lines, Tonic Sol-fa letters and

eventually staff notation including different rhythmic values.

Class 4 4.1.1a Identifying the keynote in diatonic music. 4.1.1b Demonstrating an understanding of note lengths. 4.1.1c Demonstrating an understanding of intervals and their different

characteristics. 4.1.1d Transcribing pitch and rhythm dictations using staff notation and Tonic

Sol-fa hand signs. 4.1.1e Recognising chords as distinct from melody and where chords change

(two chords only to begin with, including major and minor chords). 4.1.1f Distinguishing between melody, harmony and rhythm.

3/4.2 Sing in unison and

parts with developing vocal

technique and expression

songs, chants and pieces

relating to Main Lesson and

other subjects and for

Festivals, celebrations and

plays, including Aboriginal

and Torres and Strait

Islander music

Class 3 Elaboration 1 (3) Singing in unison and simple rounds. 3.2.1a Singing confidently in unison, songs using different pentatonic,

hexatonic, Medieval church and eventually major modes 3.2.1b Singing rounds (see above) and phrases in ‘call and response’. Elaboration 2 (3) Singing alone. 3.2.2 Singing confidently alone. Elaboration 3 (3) Reading notation. 3.2.3a Imitating and using Tonic Sol-fa hands signs. 3.2.3b Reading pitch and rhythm from five-lined stave in treble clef. Class 4 Elaboration 1 (4) Singing in unison and parts. 4.2.1a Singing rounds, canons, quodlibets 4.2.1b Singing in combined choir Elaboration 2 (4) Sight-singing and Tonic Sol-fa. 4.2.2 Simple sight-reading from notation and using rhythm names, (see

examples of Knowledge and Skills for Foundation to 3 and 4 below), letter names and Tonic solfa names. Singing the major scale.

Elaboration 3 (4) Analysing and performing music read from notation. 4.2.3a Recognising keys of C, G, D and F majors; a, e and d minors 4.2.3b Discussing aspects of melody; range, melodic shape, frequently used

notes, repeated rhythms.



Content Descriptions Content Elaborations

4.2.3c Understanding how to construct simple triads on the notes of the C major scale.

3/4.3 Create, perform and

record music using graphic

and conventional notation to

express ideas and emotions

and engage an audience

Class 3 Elaboration 1 (3) Creating and notating original music 3.3.1a Demonstrating greater awareness of the polarities of dynamics, timbre,

tempo and pitch and showing choice in using them. 3.3.1b Creating short ‘answers’ to musical ‘questions’ using pentatonic,

hexatonic, church and diatonic major modes. 3.3.1c Demonstrating understanding of relative lengths of sounds, using

standard notation (quavers, crotchets, minims) including the use of

body movements.

Class 4 Elaboration 1 (4) Creating and notating original music 4.3.1a Notating original music using graphic scores and conventional staff

notation. 4.3.1b Understanding and using simple time and key signatures. 4.3.1c Creating music following a simple template and limited pitch range. Elaboration 2 (4) Setting words to music. 4.3.2 Setting short sentences to music, using limited pitch range, simple

non-melismatic melodies and sometimes with a given rhythmic framework.

3/4.4 Play instruments with

developing technical and

expressive skills individually

and in parts in ensemble.

Class 3 Elaboration 1 (3) Playing recorders/pipes 3.4.1a Caring for recorder/pipe and playing diatonic songs by ear and notation

using correct breathing and tonguing techniques. 3.4.1b Using confidently all notes in C, G and F majors. Elaboration 2 (3) Playing on lyres and/or percussion instruments 3.4.2a Playing melodies on lyres and/or tuned and untuned percussion

instruments. 3.4.2b Playing simple accompanying patterns on lyres and/or tuned and

untuned percussion instruments. Class 4 Elaboration 1 (4) Playing recorders and percussion instruments 4.4.1a Playing descant recorder diatonically, using slurs and detached notes,

music in up to two parts. 4.4.1b Playing diatonically on tuned percussion. 4.4.1c Playing more complex rhythmic ostinati and second parts (descants or

harmonies) on tuned and un-tuned percussion Elaboration 2 (4) Demonstrating an understanding of rhythm and beat. 4.4.2a Performing rhythm and beat independently. 4.4.2b Performing conducting patterns for 2/4, 3/4, 4/4.



Examples of knowledge and skills appropriate for students in Music at Year 3 to Year 4 level. In classes 3 and 4 the students progress to treating music as an art form whilst not losing sight of its

important social function as well as its scope for pure enjoyment.

Rhythm/time:

Progressing to awareness of rhythm and beat separated from melody (Year 3)

Simple metres (Year 4)

Whole note and fractional note values, American names of note lengths (Year 4) Push (whole note),

glide (half note), walk (quarter note), running (two eighth notes), running faster (four sixteenth notes),

tumbling (three equal quavers, either in 6/8 or triplets). Similar words may be used but the emphasis

is on a kinaesthetic experience of rhythm and beat (Years 3 and 4)

Other rhythmic units – run faster, faster run,

Rests of above (silent imagination of the movement).

Separation of beat from rhythm and melody (Year 4).

Musical mathematics (Year 4).

Ostinati, tempi changes, ritardando, accelerando.

Pitch:

By end of Year 3 notating pitch on 5 line staff

Diatonic intervals, simple musical dictations, major and minor (Year 4) Melodic shape, patterns, scales and arpeggios.

Recognizing and singing semitones. Tonic Sol-fa hand signs for pitches.

Harmony – chords and chord symbols e.g. I. IV, V, ii, iii, vi (Year 4).

Alignment in notating 2 part music and stave systems (Year 4).

Graphic representations of pitch (Year 4).

Dynamics and Expressive Techniques:

Italian terms – piano, mezzo piano, mezzo forte and forte (Year 3).

Italian terms for very soft (pianissimo), very loud (fortissimo), getting louder (crescendo), getting softer (decrescendo). Accents.

Timbre:

Qualities of different instruments and human characteristics of their ‘voices’ (Year 3)

Recognising isolated and combinations of timbres. Instrumental techniques (Year 4).

Texture:

Mostly monophonic textures in Year 3 with ostinato and drone accompaniments and the beginning of round singing (being mindful of the significance of nine year change).

Two rhythmic, melodic or chordal patterns appearing simultaneously. Exploring contrast within texture (Year 4).

Form (structure):

Year 3 rounds (see above), repetition, echo, call and response.

Phrases, question and answer, ostinato, repeat signs, binary (AB) form. Verse chorus (Year 4)

Skills:

Developing the ability to sing simple rounds Year 3 or 4 (via drones, ostinato).

Singing in parts and in unison with correct pitch, rhythm and dynamics (Year 4).

Playing instruments individually and in ensemble with correct rhythm, pitch and dynamics

Discriminating between rhythm and beat.

Demonstrating beat and tempo changes – conducting patterns for duple, triple and quadruple time signatures (Year 4).



Examples of knowledge and skills appropriate for students in Music at Year 3 to Year 4 level.

Exploring roles in ensemble; rhythmic, melodic, harmonic (Year 4).

Being able to read staff notation for vocal and instrumental music and perform simple music at sight.

Being able to aurally remember and sing or play increasingly longer and more complex phrases of music.

Using all the above in creating original music.

Achievement Standard Year 3 to Year 4

By the end of Year 4 the students will enjoy and be able to sing in two parts, and play instruments in two

parts with accurate pitch, rhythm and expression. They will understand how to use dynamic contrast in

performance. They will understand the rudiments of Western music notation and achieve satisfaction in

creating and arranging, as individuals and in groups simple pieces of music and songs using sound, silence,

tempo and volume, and understand and communicate where and why people make music, such as at

festivals and for other occasions.

The students can describe and discuss in an age-appropriate manner, the differences between pieces of

music they compose, sing, play and listen to, especially in relation to identifying the elements of melody,

rhythm and harmony.



Overview Classes 5-6

From Class 5 to Class 6 the students continue to consider music as an art form and to gain knowledge of the language that enables them to appreciate, perform, create and discuss music. They also become further skilled at playing and singing with others to create uniquely social experiences.

Class 5 Musical considerations and Main Lesson connections.

The students’ affective life develops strongly with more empathy and depth of feeling present. In music they

are ready for playing music in small groups where they need to work on communication and leadership.

The Main Lesson content for Class 5 features the evolution of human consciousness and this offers many

opportunities for the students to learn about the part music has always played in human culture and the

mood of each epoch. Beginning their studies in Ancient India, they consciously experience the sacred nature

of music and its ability to transport us in time and space. Journeying through Ancient Persia and Ancient

Egypt, they experience first the dualities of light and dark, (that could be expressed as musical dualities of

timbre, tempo, pitch) and then the perfect 5th as the interval that Steiner identified as hovering between the

physical and spiritual worlds.

The Hellenisation of the world through Alexander’s travels enable the students to learn about beauty in music,

through balance and symmetry. Brought in a phenomenological way, The Greek modes and the notion of

‘ethos’ deepen the students’ understanding of the power of music to affect human beings. For instance, the

same melody (original or not) could be played using different modes. The students’ attention is drawn to

timbre as a way of expressing beauty in music. The students practise an instrument in the way an Olympic

athlete trains for a competition.

In the same way that the grammar Main Lesson explores how language can enrich the expressive power of

words, the students’ study of music theory supports their understanding of the expressive aims of music.

They continue to learn specific musical terminology.



Class 6

Musical considerations and Main Lesson connections.

The students learn about aesthetic appreciation of music and the place of musical context. They learn

musical history more from a thematic than a chronological approach, for instance in the biographies of

composers and musicians. The balance between the individual and the State is a theme for this year and is

expressed in the music lessons by further development of ensemble skills, orchestral and band performance

and conducting. This is also underpinned by the study of the conditional in grammar that requires empathy.

The expressive possibilities of language are used to describe verbally or in writing, music that the students

hear.

Music, being essentially ratios of time and frequency supports the students in their search for internal order.

The astronomy Main Lesson deals with the order of the cosmos and the students may learn about the ‘music

of the spheres’. They use the Greek ‘planetary’ scales (modes) for composition exercises.

The scientific aspects of music are explored in the Main Lesson program for this year especially in the

phenomenological study of acoustics. The students are inspired with the wonder of the world and in music

their knowledge of the concept of pitch can be used in the Chladni plate experiments that reveal varying

spatial patterns. The students learn about the relationship between pitch and string length or vibrating air-

column. Students could explore the natural and man-made world in relation to musical sounds. What sounds

do rocks, pieces of wood, railings make? Theoretical matters are approached more abstractly such as

intervals, major and minor scales. The students work with parallel keys and reading key signatures. They

learn to transpose melodies. They use and understand Italian terms for dynamics, tempo and articulation.

The students understand the layout of the piano keyboard for theoretical and basic practical work.

Students in classes 4 to 6 continue to develop their ability to sing in parts in combined choirs. Their sight-

singing skills and use of Tonic Sol-fa notation increases in speed and complexity.

They may continue to learn a bowed string instrument and can choose a wind or brass instrument.



Class 5-6 Content


eg 5/6 = both classes 5 & 6. A number in brackets after the elaboration title indicates the class.




5/6.1 Develop active listening through experiencing the elements of music, performance, relating sounds to symbols and comparing music from different social, cultural and historical contexts including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander music.

Elaboration 1 Understanding pitch and rhythm 5/6.1.1a Identifying the keynote in diatonic music. 5/6.1.1b Demonstrating an understanding of note lengths. 5/6.1.1c Demonstrating an understanding of intervals and their different

characteristics. 5/6.1.1d Identifying major and minor intervals. 5/6.1.1e Transcribing pitch and rhythm dictations using staff notation and Tonic

Sol-fa hand signs. 5/6.1.1f Identifying different moods through the use of different scales and

tunings. 5/6.1.1g Identifying different cultural and historical contexts for music including

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander music.

5/6.2 Sing in unison and parts, songs relating to Main Lesson and other subjects and for community festivals. Explore dynamics and expression, using aural skills to identify, understand and perform rhythm and pitch patterns.

Elaboration 1 (5/6) Singing in unison and parts. 5.2.1 Singing rounds, canons, quodlibets 5/6.2.1a Singing more complex rounds, canons and quodlibets and part-singing

in two, three and four voices, unaccompanied and with harmonic accompaniment.

5/6.2.1b Singing in combined choir Elaboration 2 (5/6) Sight-singing and Tonic Sol-fa. 5/6.2.2a Sight-reading from notation and using rhythm names, (see Examples of

Knowledge and Skills for Foundation to 3 and below), letter names and Tonic Sol-fa names. Singing the major scale.

5/6.2.2b Singing major and minor scales to Tonic Sol-fa and known songs to letter names and Tonic Sol-fa.

6.2.2c Transposing melodies using letter names. 6.2.2d Beginning to self-correct intonation, diction and rhythm. Elaboration 3 (5/6) Analysing and performing music read from notation. 5/6.2.3a Distinguishing between melody, harmony and rhythm. 5.2.3b Recognising keys of D and Bb majors; a, e and d minors/ 6.2.3b Recognising keys of A and Eb majors; b and g minors. 5/6.2.3c Discussing aspects of melody; range, melodic shape, frequently used

notes, repeated rhythms. 5/6.2.3d 5/6.2.3d Discussing aspects of harmony; intervals, chords.

5/6.3 Play instruments individually and in parts in ensemble. Explore dynamics and expression, using aural skills to identify, understand and perform rhythm and pitch patterns

Elaboration 1 (5/6) Playing recorders and percussion instruments 5.3.1a Playing descant recorder diatonically, using slurs and detached notes,

music in to two parts 5/6.3.1b Playing treble recorder diatonically, using slurs and detached notes,

music in up to three parts 6.3.3.1c Playing recorder consort music. 5/6.3.1d Playing diatonic melodies and harmony parts on tuned percussion. 5/6.3.1e Playing more complex rhythmic ostinati on tuned and un-tuned

percussion




Elaboration 2 (5/6) Demonstrating an understanding of rhythm and beat. 5/6.3.2a Performing rhythm and beat independently. 5/6.3.3b Performing conducting patterns for 2/4, 3/4, 4/4 and (Class VI) 6/8. 5/6.3.2c Performing more complex rhythms including syncopations. Elaboration 3 (5/6) Playing orchestral and band instruments in ensembles. 5/6.3.3a Playing instruments in groups, Class Orchestra with the use of dynamics

and expressive techniques, beginning ensemble skills and for a variety of audiences.

5/6.3.3b Beginning to work in small groups on self-directed musical projects.

5/6.3.3c Playing simple chordal accompaniments in class ensembles.

5/6.4 Create, perform and record music using graphic and conventional notation to express ideas and emotions and engage an audience

Elaboration 1 (5/6) Creating and notating original music 5/6.4.1a Notating original music using graphic scores and conventional staff

notation. 5/6.4.1b Understanding and using simple time signatures 6.4.1c Understanding and using compound time signatures 5.4.1d Creating music without template and using a greater range of pitches

with and without harmonic accompaniment/ 6.4.1d Creating longer pieces of music demonstrating specific knowledge

including AB/ ABA form and phrase structures, with and without harmonic accompaniment.

Elaboration 2 (5/6) Setting words to music. 5/6.4.2 Setting multisyllabic words to music, using literary metres, a fuller range

of pitches and showing an awareness of form and phrase structures.

Examples of knowledge and skills appropriate for students in Music

at Year 5 to Year 6 level.

Rhythm/time:

2/4,3/4, 4/4, and (Year 6) 6/8

Simple metres, compound metres (Year 6)

Whole note and fractional note values, American names of note lengths. Push (whole note), glide

(half note), walk (quarter note), running (two eighth notes), running faster (four sixteenth notes),

tumbling (three equal quavers, either in 6/8 or triplets). Similar words may be used but the

emphasis is on a kinaesthetic experience of rhythm and beat.

Other rhythmic units – run faster, faster run,

Rests of above (silent imagination of the movement).

Separation of beat from rhythm, melody and harmony.

Identifying harmonic speed.

Different types of beat, e.g. minims, quavers.

Musical mathematics.

Ostinati, tempi changes, ritardando, accelerando.

Duple and triple notes.



Examples of knowledge and skills appropriate for students in Music

at Year 5 to Year 6 level.

Pitch:

Diatonic intervals, musical dictations, Ragas, Greek Planetary scales (modes) and their characters. Melodic shape, patterns, scales and arpeggios.

Recognizing and singing semitones. Relationship of pitch to string length/air column. Tonic Sol-fa hand signs for pitches.

Harmony – chords and chord symbols e.g. I. IV, V, ii, iii, vi, in different keys.

Dynamics and Expressive Techniques:

Italian terms for very soft (pianissimo), very loud (fortissimo), getting louder (crescendo), getting softer (decrescendo).Accents. Legato, staccato.

Timbre:

Qualities of different instruments and human characteristics of their ‘voices’. Recognising isolated and combinations of timbres. Instrumental techniques.

Texture:

Two or more rhythmic, melodic or chordal patterns appearing simultaneously. Exploring contrast within texture.

Form (structure):

Phrases, question and answer, ostinato, repeat signs, binary (AB), ternary (ABA) forms.

Verse and chorus.

Skills:

Singing in parts and in unison with correct pitch, rhythm and dynamics.

Playing instruments in ensemble and individually with correct rhythm, pitch and dynamics.

Performing rhythm and beat independently.

Demonstrating beat and tempo changes – conducting patterns for duple, triple and quadruple time signatures.

Exploring roles in ensemble; rhythmic, melodic, harmonic.

Being able to read staff notation for vocal and instrumental music and perform music at sight.

Being able to aurally remember and sing or play increasingly longer and more complex phrases of music.

Using all the above in creating original music.

Year 5 to Year 6 Achievement Standard

Students begin to explain how music communicates meaning (mood) in musical performance and composition through distinguishing aspects of the elements of music. They describe how the music they perform can evoke different times, cultures and places.

Students create music that expresses emotion and communicates ideas showing an understanding of simple

forms, phrase structure, melody, harmony and rhythm, timbre and texture. They demonstrate aural skills by

singing and playing instruments with accurate pitch, rhythm, dynamics, articulation and developing sense of

style. They find satisfaction in communicating meaning and expressing feelings to an audience.



Years Foundation to 6 General Capabilities

Critical and creative thinking – Music making involves many opportunities for critical thinking such as

deciding on alternative solutions in composition exercises, evaluating performances and planning for

improvement in the future or ascertaining the roles of different instruments heard in a piece of music.

Creative thinking is found in the enormous range of choices available to composers of music (pitch and

rhythm combination, the choice of instruments, dynamics, articulation); performers of music (how to phrase a

song, where to breathe, what dynamics to use) and listeners (what a piece of music suggests to a listener,

how to interpret and decipher it and respond to it).

Personal and social competence – Musical practice provides opportunities to develop personal skills such

as discipline in practicing an instrument and carrying out a performance or composing, notating and

performing a piece of original music. Social competence is developed through working musically with others

in duos or small groups. Composition in small groups, particularly, requires a great deal of awareness of

one’s own and others’ strengths and weaknesses and the need to listen to ideas from other people.

Ethical behaviour – Music requires a respectful approach, not just in terms of respecting the creations of

other people, such as compositions or musical performances but also in respecting the music as having a

being of its own. An example would be the ‘magical’ silence engendered at the end of a piece of music. Here

students can develop the ability to allow the music to disappear in its own time and not destroy the change of

mood. It is also important for students to understand that some musical ideas, like language structures,

cannot just be copied but are a personal expression of individuals.

Intercultural understanding – Through learning music from different parts of the world and from different

periods of time, students gain an appreciation for different cultures and ways of living. Music has a unique

ability to transport the listener or performer to another culture or era as these are clearly defined by particular

musical characteristics.

Literacy – Through their engaging with song and lyrics, students have the opportunity to appreciate

language both as interpreters and creators. Setting texts to music requires an understanding of metre and

emphasis as well as the need to make artistic decisions about meaning. Through developing their singing

technique, students become more and more aware of consonants, vowels and pronunciation.

Numeracy – Ernst Bindel suggests that in musical experience there is inside each of us an unseen

mathematician busily calculating the ratios and proportions that enable us to have an aesthetic experience of

music. In order to distinguish pitches, we have to make these calculations, however unconsciously, so to

train ‘the ear’ is to work with number at a profound level. In the gradual understanding of rhythmic

relationships, there is much scope for number work, for instance in the use of fractions when dealing with the

subdivisions of the whole note.

Information and communication technology (ICT) competence – The students of KG to Class 6 do not

use ICT in music education. This is because it is not considered appropriate.



Years Foundation to 6 Cross Curriculum Priorities

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories and cultures – Students may engage with Aboriginal and

Torres Strait Islander music in their music lessons, learning to sing and play songs and chants as part of

stories or festivals.

Asia and Australia’s engagement with Asia – The Music Curriculum is best followed in conjunction with

the Main Lesson Curriculum and this involves immersion in the stories and histories of Asia, such as in the

Ancient India Main Lesson. This will involve singing and playing music from Asia.

Sustainability – From the earliest stories in Kindergarten to the story sometimes told in Class 1 about the

child who makes a musical pipe from a fallen pear tree, ecology and sustainability are part of the music

curriculum. Instruments in the early years are best when not too ‘finished’ such as using seed-pods as

shakers, resonant stones or sticks for clapping sticks. That the physical aspects of music itself, when

produced acoustically, are formed in the natural world has a health-giving effect on young children and helps

them to connect to the world of nature. Later, when they approach the topic from a more intellectual point of

view, this real experience will inform their ability to relate to the issues of sustainability.

Aspects of ‘sound pollution’ may also be investigated using age-appropriate language.



Overview Years 7-8

Building on the previous stages, the students have now learnt the basics of music theory and have practical

skills that they can apply to their performance, composition and to deepening their listening and responding

experiences. It is important for the students to enjoy music making. Musicology and aspects of music theory

continue to unfold a greater degree of sophistication in listening and responding to, performing and creating

music. The ‘elements of music’ are formally introduced in Class 8 but throughout Class 7 the students are

using a growing familiarity with specific technical terms to inform their music studies.

Matters of workplace health and safety in the use and care of equipment are adhered to as the students engage in more sophisticated musical practices. One of the main aims of the music curriculum in the higher classes is to enable the students to use the skills

they have been developing in the younger classes to engage in more sophisticated musical practices in the

areas of performance and creating music. Listening and understanding are key to this.

There is ongoing communication between the Class Teacher and Specialist Music Teacher in how to continue the use of music as part of the daily class rhythm and also to extend the students’ knowledge and skills.

Year 7


Harmony should be emphasized in this year as it is the musical expression of feeling. The students’ internal

lives are entering into the turbulent journey of adolescence and harmony helps them to ride the waves of

extreme emotion as it balances the polarities of thinking and willing.

The Main Lesson program seeks to provide a contrast to the students’ subjective lives. The study of Medieval

European history and in particular the ideals of chivalry, provide a background for the study of Medieval

music, including the context of secular and sacred music. The Crusades introduce the migration of Islamic

music, instruments and ideas to Western Europe and the students study the origins of some modern

instruments. The students learn to play and sing music of the period and to compose using Medieval church

modes and rhythmic modes.

Through the study of the Renaissance period the students learn about technical developments in science

and their effects on musical instruments and expression. They also consider what tends towards the sacred

and objective beauty in the arts. Their musical judgment is encouraged through considering balance, shape,

proportion, timbre, purpose and expressivity. This is furthered by a study of different composers’ and

musicians’ biographies and musical styles.

The Voyages of Discovery Main Lesson enables the students to consider the wider world and is reflected in

their study of different world music including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander music and musical

innovations. They learn to respect the music of the world’s cultures and understand its value.

The students continue to develop their ensemble skills in instrumental groups and Class orchestra and this is

the time when some students may begin to play in a combined Middle School orchestra.

The students are encouraged to sing as a class and also in combined class choirs. Care must be taken with

the boys’ voices as they begin to change. (See annotated bibliography for resources).



Year 8


An important theme of this year is causality and the students work to find a relationship between the ideals

they have been given and the reality of their own and others’ lives. The students learn music history with

reference to preceding styles, through independent research into aspects of musicology. Their objective

judgments and evaluations are fostered. At the same time, music with strong emotional expression and

biographies of highly individual musicians provide reflective material for the students. In ensembles and

orchestras, the students study music with a strongly emotional and personal bias from many different

cultures and periods arranged for suitable combinations of instruments.

Many of the boys’ voices are now changing and singing with the classes needs to take account of this. The students learn a variety of songs; a cappella and accompanied in up to four parts; melodramatic, songs with weighty themes, such as death, or songs that criticize aspects of contemporary life (e.g. protest songs). They also learn humorous songs as a counterbalance. Musical style and character are studied and the ‘elements’ or ‘concepts’ of music are formally introduced as the language of musicological study. The students build on previous knowledge and learn how to compose their own songs based on given or composed texts. They consider word-painting and imagery in their compositions and study the songs of other composers and song-writers including contemporary popular artists. This can support the production of the Shakespeare play that in many schools is a tradition in Class 8. The students study the political and social effects of revolution and learn about music and musicians that have been at the forefront of social unrest and change, for example Beethoven and his 3rd Symphony, Shostakovitch’s 11th Symphony, Stravinsky’s ‘Rite of Spring’, the songs of Bob Dylan, ‘Zombie’ by The Cranberries, the phenomenon of Punk Rock, etc. The objective study of the physics of air and water provide opportunities for the students to consider the artistic and practical aspects of amplitude and frequency. The study of electromagnetism supports consciousness in the use of electronic music media; keyboards, electric guitars, microphones, amplifiers, computers etc. The students learn how to use computer software programs for writing and recording music, such as Sibelius, Garageband and Abelton. The objective realm of geometry has a strong relationship to musical forms and the students may learn from a phenomenological point of view about the significance of number in music such as in aleatory and serial music.



Years 7-8 Content


eg 7/8 = both Years 7 & 8. A number in brackets after the elaboration title indicates the class.




7/8.1 Explore the elements of music, through practice, sensitive rehearsal and performance; singing in unison and in parts including Australian, music.

Elaboration 1 – (7/8) Singing 7/8.1.1a Continuing to develop vocal tone and expressive possibilities through

manipulating timbre and dynamics. 7/8.1.1b Beginning to sing in SAB and SATB arrangements. 7/8.1.1c Singing art music, ballads, popular songs and world music songs with

increasing chants, motets etc. in unison and in parts from the Medieval and Renaissance periods demonstrating an awareness of appropriate tone colour and other performance techniques/ awareness of style.

7.1.1d Singing madrigals, Gregorian chants 8.1.1d Singing spirituals, ballads, strongly emotional art music, protest songs,

songs with social commentary, revolutionary songs, songs for the Shakespeare play, accompanied and a cappella, in unison and in parts.

7/8.1.1e Singing for a variety of audiences and with awareness of different performance requirements depending on musical style.

7/8.2 Explore the elements of music through practice, sensitive rehearsal and performance; playing instruments individually and in ensembles including Australian music.

Elaboration 1 (7/8) Playing instruments 7/8.2.2a Playing instruments in groups, Class and Middle School Orchestra,

Concert Band, Percussion Ensemble, with a range of dynamics and expressive techniques, increasing ensemble skills and for a variety of audiences.

7/8.2.2b Making stylistically appropriate musical decisions in self-directed small group rehearsals and performances.

7/8.2.2c Playing guitar or similar chordal instruments (autoharp, ukulele etc) in class ensemble with an understanding of stylistically appropriate harmonic accompaniment styles.

7/8.2.2d Playing Medieval and Renaissance music on recorders with an understanding of appropriate timbre and expressive techniques.

7/8.3 Create, perform and record music by manipulating the elements of music in order to develop musical ideas such as mood and atmosphere.

Elaboration 1 (7/8) Creating music 7/8.3.1a Notating compositions using conventional notation including dynamic

and expressive markings. 7/8.3.1b Creating and interpreting other types of notation representing musical

sounds. 7/8.3.1c Improvising and composing music in groups, experimenting with the

sequencing and layering of sounds to achieve specific musical outcomes.

7/8.3.1d Harmonizing melodic music using appropriate accompaniment styles. 7/8.3.1e Considering phrase lengths; call and response; question and answer

structures. 7/8.3.1f Considering range and tessitura in musical composition. 7.3.1g Creating music using Medieval pitch and rhythmic modes. 8.3.1h Setting words for songs in Shakespeare’s plays including word-

painting and imagery. 8.3.1i Including harmonic cadences and modulations in musical

compositions.




Elaboration 2 (8) Using digital technology 8.3.2 Manipulating sounds using music-writing software and recording

programs. Elaboration 3 (7/8) Arranging music 7/8.3.3 Arranging existing music by manipulating the elements of music.

Considering stylistic changes during the process.

7/8.4 Listen to, create and interpret music through an awareness /understanding of the use of the elements of music in stylistic features and cultural/ historical context including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander music.

Elaboration 1 (7/8) Aural training 7/8.4.1a Identifying different instruments aurally (and visually) 7/8.4.1b Recognising, reproducing and characterizing all major and perfect

intervals. 7/8.4.1c Identifying tones and semitones by ear. 7/8.4.1d Recognising and reproducing the chromatic scale.

7.4.1e Meeting the ‘circle of 5ths’/ 8.4.1e Understanding and reconstructing the ‘circle of 5ths’

7/8.4.1f Recognising and reproducing some of the notes of the harmonic series. 7/8.4.1g Recognising, reproducing and using chords I, IV, V and vi in musical

progressions. 8.4.1h Recognising, reproducing and using chords ii, iii and vii in musical

progressions. 7/8.4.1i Transcribing melodic, harmonic and rhythmic music from dictation. 8.4.1j Recognising musical effects of alliteration and assonance and using

them in composition and performance practice. 7.4.1k Recognising harmonic cadences (perfect and imperfect).

Elaboration 2 (7/8) Identifying features of musical style 7/8.4.2a Distinguishing and reproducing features of musical style (including

Medieval and Renaissance) with reference to the elements of music for example, drones, modal scales, rhythmic modes.

7/8.4.2b Comparing, evaluating and reproducing features of musical style with a knowledge and understanding of the elements of music, historical context and chronology especially associations with revolution and innovation.

7.4.2c Recognizing music of other cultures including Aboriginal and Torres

Strait Islander music/ 8.4.2c Understanding the context of and respecting music from diverse

cultures including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander music.



Examples of knowledge and skills appropriate for students in Music at Years 7 and 8 level.

In Years 7 and 8, the students continue to use their knowledge of music to inform their musical practices

of listening, performing and creating.

Elements of Music

Rhythm/time:

Rhythmic devices such as anacrusis, syncopation, ties and pause; Medieval rhythmic modes.

Pitch:

Melodic sequences; key and key signatures; major and minor chords and primary triads (I, IV, V, ii,

iii, vi) in chord progressions; reading treble and bass clefs and leger lines; perfect and imperfect

cadences; intervals within the major scale.

Range and tessitura

SAT, SATB singing

Dynamics and expression:

Dynamics and articulations relevant to style, for example, glissando, slide, slap, melismatic

phrasing.

Form and Structure:

Regular and irregular phrase lengths; repetition and contrast, digital sequences; theme and

variation; 12 bar blues; popular song structures including verse, chorus, bridge, middle 8, intro

and outro.

Timbre:

Recognizing instrumental types and groups; voice types; acoustic and electronic sound.

Texture:

Identifying layers of sound and their role (accompaniment and melody); unison, homophonic

(melody with chords), polyphonic (two or more independent layers performed simultaneously).

Experimenting with sequence and layering of sounds.

Skills (including aural skills)

Recognizing rhythmic patterns and beat groupings

Discriminating between pitches, recognizing and reproducing intervals and familiar chord

progressions

Identifying and notating metre and rhythmic groupings

Aurally identifying layers within a texture

Imitating and/or notating simple melodies and rhythms

Performing with expression and technical control, correct posture and safety

Understanding their role within an ensemble, balancing and controlling tone and volume

Using technology as a tool for music learning and to record their music

Holding and playing instruments and using their voices safely and correctly



Year 7 to Year 8 Achievement Standard

By the end of Year 8 students enjoy identifying the elements of music and use them to discuss musical

experience. They recognize the mental strength this creates through increasing their powers of judgment.

They are able to identify and analyse how the elements of music are used to create different forms of musical

expression and idea in various cultures and historical periods and hence the story of human consciousness.

They apply this knowledge in their own music making and communicate this to audiences.

The students deepen their understanding of musical composition and performance through increasing their

ability to listen with more consciousness and discernment. Students create music that expresses emotion

and communicates ideas showing an understanding of more complex forms, phase structure, melody,

harmony and rhythm, timbre and texture. They use aural skills, music terminology and notation symbols to

inform their composition and performance practice.

They use musical notation and music technology in order to help with the notation and recording of musical

ideas.

For General Capabilities and Cross Curriculum Priorities see Years 7-10 below

Marimba band

Mixed age lyre group plays for Winter Festival



Overview Years 9-10

This stage builds on the learning of the previous stages and aims to support the themes of the Main Lesson

curriculum. It focuses on both the technical language and skills needed for understanding, performing and

creating music in greater depth and the emotional and spiritual sustenance that activity in music provides,

Matters of workplace health and safety in the use and care of equipment are adhered to as the students engage in more sophisticated musical practices.


Year 9

Year 9 is essentially a practical year and the emphasis is on practical music making. Students in Class 9

learn about cause and effect. This is experienced in music as stylistic developments in a range of genres

from around the world and different periods of history. The historical and cultural influence on composers and

performers and their effect on each other is traced and used to inform performance and composition

experiences. This helps to prepare the students for the Music History Main Lesson in Class 11. Class 9

students are encouraged to develop their sometimes black and white judgments springing from an emotional

response to music, to judgments based on observation and understanding. How music is created and

recorded, how instruments are made, how composers and song-writers earn their living, comparisons

between composers of the same time period, the attractions and challenges of the world of popular music are

all themes for study as the students move from ideal to practical reality, from discovery of the world to

creation.

Modern History for this year provides an opportunity to explore the significance of music produced under the regimes of world ideologies such as Communism and Fascism. The role of women in performance and composition, in the light of the Suffragette movement for instance, is studied. Social History allows the students to consider the phenomenon of popular music in a chronological review. They learn about the societal factors that led to the rise and popularity of Jazz including slavery, Prohibition and the Depression. The fusions that resulted in “Rock ‘n’ Roll” and 20th century popular music are described, characterised, compared and assessed and connections made between music and society. The influences of the revolution in electronic and communication technology are studied in terms of the production and consumption of music as a commodity. In chemistry Main Lessons, the students study the art of refining substances and in music the aim is to

enable the students to refine their ability to make conscious musical judgments and cultivate artistic ‘taste’.

A study of the archetypal nature of tragic and comedic theatre, designed to objectify their emotional

discomfort, can include students experiencing music drama through preparing for a musical theatre

production. The objective commentary on emotional process that music within drama offers is a therapeutic

process for students of this age. They can also engage with stagecraft and other related activities.

The considerations of English usage and grammar, including the manipulation of text structures for effect is

echoed in the Class 9 music curriculum in the study of song-writing and rapping. Students learn how

individual composers and song-writers of different styles and periods create particular musical effects

through using the elements of music to enhance texts and forge a personal style.

As a counterbalance to this sometimes intensely emotional period of development, mathematics in Class 9

emphasizes stringent logic and this is paralleled in the music curriculum in learning how music is constructed

such as in harmonic progressions or the differences between polyphony and homophony.



Material for vocal work includes large choral works that can involve parents and staff, folksongs, lieder, light music, political songs, a cappella, accompanied, unison and part singing, musical theatre songs, songs in foreign languages, world music, and popular music including rapping and other forms of chanting.

Year 10 Students in Class 10 study historical and cultural influences in music in more depth than in Class 9 and have further developed their ability to form objective judgments. The imagination of the ‘anagnorisis’ of Odysseus, the ‘ego-directed hero’ who becomes aware of the reality of situations through the schooling of his observations applies to students of this age. Epic poetry in the Birth of Literature Main Lesson, provides the background for students to listen to, perform and create diverse styles of music that tell a heroic story. The balance between form and content is a theme that the students engage with in studying, creating and performing pieces of music and songs. For example, the phenomenon of the Fibonacci series, introduced in the mathematics Main Lessons, could be taken up in music in the study of musical forms apparently based on these ratios for instance in the music of Bela Bartok and Claude Debussy. Musical forms are studied in greater depth, including fugue and Sonata Form and its relationship to the life of the human being. Laws that can be understood through thought provide a firm foundation to learning in harmony and counterpoint. Ecological studies including the consideration of the earth as Gaia, a living organism, are developed in the idea of artistic ecology; respecting and cultivating music from different cultures including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander music, thereby creating a healthy whole. As part of the Main Lesson program, the students undertake a review of the history they studied in Class 5 but this time looking at ancient cultures by including primary and secondary sources and archeological interpretations. They learn about ethnomusicology as a science and weigh imbalances in the cultural life of the planet including a consideration of the challenges of globalization in its impact on musical diversity. Steiner particularly emphasized instrumental music for the students of Class 10. As their learning becomes increasingly abstract, instrumental music provides a health-giving way of harmonizing thinking, feeling and willing and this balance is discussed with the students as part of the study. Both smaller and larger ensembles, playing diverse styles, provide the students with opportunities to increase awareness of their role in a musical performance through appropriately manipulating the elements of music. They also reflect on others’ performances and consider whether the artistic intentions of an artist have been realized. The students sing in a combined choir and can perform large choral works with parents and teachers and a wide range of vocal music from various genres. The students play a more responsible role in cultural/musical events, such as planning and staging concerts, learning about ticketing, advertising, stage-managing and front of house. They learn about the planning required to take music into the community for instance, performing at hospitals and Aged Care centres.



Years 9-10 Content


eg 9/10 = both Years 9 & 10. A number in brackets after the elaboration title indicates the class.




9/10.1 Explore with developing musical awareness and skill, through practice, sensitive rehearsal and performance the elements of music, through singing in unison and in parts

9/10.1.1a Continuing to develop vocal tone through understanding and using vocal techniques such as twang, retraction, breath support, laryngeal tilt etc., within an expanding repertoire of music.

9/10.1.1b Sight-singing more fluently with and without Tonic Sol-fa notation. 9/10.1.c Singing small and large choral works in up to SATB scoring,

being responsive to the rehearsal and performance requirements including a common expressive goal, appropriate intonation, vowel blending/timbral shading and consonantal word endings.

9/10.1.1d Extending ability to perform stylistically, individual and choral repertoire including world music, art songs, political songs, popular music, music for theatre, opera and operetta, songs in foreign languages, a cappella and accompanied.

10.1.1e Planning and executing vocal performances including choice of appropriate repertoire by considering the target audience.

9/10.1.1f Rehearsing and staging a musical theatre performance

9/10.2 Explore with developing musical awareness and skill, through practice, sensitive rehearsal and performance the elements of music through playing instruments individually and in ensembles

9/10.2.1a Playing instruments in groups and larger ensembles such as Senior School Orchestra, Jazz Ensembles, Concert Band, Percussion Ensemble, Popular Music Ensembles etc.

9/10.2.1b Making stylistically sophisticated musical decisions in self- directed small group rehearsals and performances, considering the elements of music with reference to expressive aims.

9/10.2.1c Accompanying groups by playing harmony instruments such as guitar, ukulele, piano, and keyboard.

9/10.3. Create, perform and record music with stylistic awareness by manipulating the elements of music (eg texture, dynamics, expression, style, convention) in order to develop personal musical expression (Include Aboriginal and Torres strait Islander music)

Elaboration 1 (9/10) Creating original compositions using ‘classical techniques’ and notating in traditional notation, either hand-written or using a program such as Finale or Sibelius (not stylistically prescribed, however).

9/10.3.1a Notating multi-layered compositions using conventional notation showing an understanding of score conventions such as instrumental layout for ensembles.

9/10.3.1b Creating and interpreting other types of notation representing musical sounds with a greater awareness of musical style and cultural/historical context.

9.3.1c Understanding the subtleties of text structures and creating music that enhances their expressive possibilities through careful consideration of the elements of music.

9/10.3.1d Understanding and reproducing the characteristics of musical style through considering the elements of music.

10.3.1e Writing contrasting themes, such as appear in Sonata Form and extending musical ideas through fragmentation, repetition, sequence etc.

9/10.3.1f Developing harmonic progressions with the use of added note/extended chords and substitutions.

9/10.3.1g Creating harmonic and polyphonic textures using appropriate textural devices such as homophony, counterpoint (Year 10) and heterophony.




9/10.3.1h Arranging existing music by manipulating the elements of music to create a different stylistic expression (e.g. rock music to art music or vice versa).

Elaboration 2 (9/10) Creating music using processes and techniques of

popular music production (not stylistically prescribed, however) 9/10.3.2a Improvising and creating original music in groups, experimenting

with the sequencing and layering of sounds in order to create specific musical effects.

9/10.3.2b Manipulating sounds and creating larger musical structures through the use of music technology such as music writing and recording programs.

9/10.3.2c Understanding the subtleties of text structures and creating music that enhances their expressive possibilities through careful consideration of the elements of music.

9/10.3.2d Understanding and reproducing the characteristics of musical style through considering the elements of music.

9/10.3.2e Developing harmonic progressions with the use of added note/extended chords and substitutions.

9/10.3.2f Creating harmonic and polyphonic textures using appropriate textural devices such as homophony, polyphony (Year 10) and heterophony.

9/10.4 Listen to, interpret and evaluate music to create, refine and perform music through a study of the elements of music and an appreciation of cultural and historical context. (including music of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists)

Elaboration 1 (9/10) Aural Training 9/10.4.1a Identifying and describing a wide range of musical instruments

including orchestral, band, popular and ethnic instruments and having awareness of their playing ranges and specific techniques.

9/10.4.1b Recognizing and characterizing all major, minor and perfect intervals and including diminished 5th/augmented 4th

10.4.1c Imagining and performing either major or minor 3rd within an open 5th.

9/10.4.1d Identifying modulations to the dominant/subdominant/relative minor.

9/10.4.1e Identifying and using pentatonic, whole tone, blues scales, Hijaz scale, Ragas, etc for composition.

9/10.4.1f Recognizing and reproducing extended chords including 7ths, 9ths, 11ths and 13ths plus added notes such as 2nds, 6ths and 4ths.

9/10.4.1g Recognizing harmonic cadences (perfect, imperfect, plagal and interrupted).

9/10.4.1h Transcribing melodic, harmonic and rhythmic music from dictation including music in two voices (Class 10).

Elaboration 2 (9/10) (Identifying features of musical style) Year 9 9.4.2a Comparing, evaluating and reproducing features of musical style

with reference to the elements of music (e.g. comparing the music of Beethoven and Mozart, or Handel and Bach; investigating music and ideologies for example in the biographies and compositions of Richard Wagner, Carl Orff, Kurt Weil, Dimitri Shostakovitch, Dame Ethel Smythe, Scott Joplin and in different styles of music such as Flamenco, Aboriginal Dreamtime, Indian Classical etc.).




Year 10 10.4.2a Comparing, evaluating and reproducing features of musical style

with reference to the elements of music especially associations with the spirit of Epic literature, the Fibonacci series, logic, ethnomusicological studies, ecology (Gaia) (e.g. ‘A Hero’s Life’ by Richard Strauss, ‘Harold in Italy’ by Hector Berlioz, Symphony no 3 by Ludwig van Beethoven, ‘Music for Strings, percussion and celeste’ by Bela Bartok, ‘La Mer’ by Claude Debussy, ‘Two part inventions’ by J.S Bach, ‘Kakadu’ by Peter Sculthorpe, ‘’The Winds of Heaven’ by Sarah Hopkins, ‘Maninyas’ by Ross Edwards, ‘Ngana’ by Steven Leek, ‘Earth and the Great Weather’ by John Luther Adams, the music of Yothu Yindi, etc.).

9/10.4.2b Analyzing and contextualizing music of other cultures including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander music.

Examples of knowledge and skills appropriate for students in Music at Years 9 and 10

This section (knowledge and skills Years 9 and 10) is based on the ACARA music curriculum as it

corresponds in many ways with that document.

Rhythm

Regular and irregular time signature and beat subdivisions; triplets and duplets; further time signatures.

Complex metres, required note groupings: 5/4, 7/8, 9/8

Rhythmic devices including syncopation, rhythmic motif, rhythmic augmentation and diminution Pitch:

Melodies and chords based on major, minor and modal scales; tonal centres; modulation; consonance and dissonance; chromaticism; diminished and dominant 7th chords, added note chords; extended chords; pitch devices including riff, ostinato and pedal note, cadences

Dynamics and expression:

Dynamic gradations; expressive devices and articulations relevant to style such as rubato, ornamentation, terraced dynamics, pitch bending, vibrato, oscillation, filters and pedals

Form and structure:

Structures appropriate to styles and repertoire studied including theme, hook, motivic development, head, sonata form, interlude and improvisation

Timbre:

Identifying instruments and voice types by name and method of sound production (including voice types); use of mutes, pedals, harmonics, digitally manipulated sound, distortion and techniques appropriate to style

Texture:

Horizontal and vertical layers appropriate to styles and repertoire studied; homophonic and polyphonic writing, countermelody and white noise.

Skills:

Singing and playing music in a range of styles including sight-singing

Performing with expression and technical control and an awareness of ensemble.

Planning and executing performances, considering target audience

Improvising and composing music in groups and individually



Year 9 and 10 Achievement Standard

By the end of Year 10 students enjoy the ability to perform music vocally, instrumentally, as soloists and in

ensembles, for audiences and for themselves. They value the achievements they have made in creating their

own music and in understanding the cultural and historical contexts of the music of others. They have a

broad interest in music and can use appropriate technology in order to assist them in their musical

experiences.

Students analyse different scores and performances aurally and visually. They evaluate the use of the

elements of music and defining characteristics from different musical styles. They use their understanding of

music making in different cultures, times and places to inform and shape their interpretations, performances

and compositions.

Students interpret, rehearse and perform solo and ensemble repertoire in a range of forms and styles. They

interpret and perform music with technical control, expression and stylistic understanding. They use aural

skills to recognise elements of music and memorise aspects of music such as pitch and rhythm sequences.

They use knowledge of the elements of music, style and notation to compose, document and share their

music.

Student performance at Shearwater School Wearable Arts Festival, curated by Year 9 and 10

Fiddler on the Roof

Year 10 Musicals All photos used with permission

West Side Story



Years 7-10

General Capabilities

Critical and creative thinking – Critical and creative thinking at the level of a Class 10 student, builds on the

foundation laid in the earlier years where there are many opportunities for critical thinking such as deciding

on alternative solutions in composition exercises, evaluating performances and planning for improvement in

the future or ascertaining the roles of different instruments heard in a piece of music. At this level, there can

be more emphasis on the ability of students to relate musical sounds to symbols and to understand and

imagine larger scale musical structures including for other forms of media such as film. Creative thinking is

found in the enormous range of choices available to composers of music (pitch and rhythm combination, the

choice of instruments, dynamics, articulation); performers of music (how to phrase a song, where to breathe,

what dynamics to use) and listeners (what a piece of music suggests to a listener, how to interpret, decipher

it and respond to it, including notation).

Personal and social competence – As students develop their individual characteristics, music can be an

important part of their sense of identity. Vocal music enables them to experience their bodies in a tangible

and healthy way, and instrumental music provides opportunities for emotional expression that is so important

for adolescents. Musical practice also provides opportunities to develop discipline through learning an

instrument and carrying out a performance or composing, notating and performing a piece of original music.

Social competence is developed through working musically with others in duos or small groups. Composition

in small groups, particularly, requires a great deal of awareness of one’s own and others’ strengths and

weaknesses and the need to listen to ideas from other people.

Ethical behaviour – Music requires a respectful approach, not just in terms of respecting the creations of

other people, such as compositions or musical performances but also in respecting the music as having a

being of its own. An example would be the ‘magical’ silence engendered at the end of a piece of music. Here

students can develop the ability to allow the music to disappear in its own time and not destroy the change of

mood. It is also important for students to understand that some musical ideas, like language structures,

cannot just be copied but are a personal expression of individuals. In the senior years, students can engage

in questions of ecology and human geography through a study of music. The business aspects of the ‘music

industry’ can be studied including concepts such as intellectual property and attitudes towards

commercialization of music.

Intercultural understanding – Through learning music in conjunction with human geography, different parts

of the world and different periods of time can be brought to life. Students can gain the ability to imagine other

life situations apart from their own. Music has a unique ability to transport the listener or performer to another

culture or era. The senior students develop their ability to recognize and analyse particular musical

characteristics.

Literacy – Through their engaging with song and lyrics, students have the opportunity to appreciate

language both as interpreters and creators. Setting texts to music requires an understanding of metre and

emphasis as well as the need to make artistic decisions about meaning. Through developing their singing

technique, students become more and more aware of consonants, vowels and pronunciation.

Senior students also learn the specialist language for discussing and understanding music known as the

Elements or Concepts of music. This develops their capacity for choosing appropriate language as a means

of communicating and deepening understanding and appreciation.

Numeracy – Ernst Bindel suggests that in musical experience there is inside each of us an unseen

mathematician busily calculating the ratios and proportions that enable us to have an aesthetic experience of



music. In order to distinguish pitches, we have to make these calculations, however unconsciously, so to

train ‘the ear’ is to work with number at a profound level.

Senior students, in their study of string and vibrating air columns use number ratios to understand the

phenomena of acoustics. They also relate these findings to the proportions of the human body. Musical

structures with their divisions into bars and sections also deal with number.

Information and communication Technology (ICT) competence - Senior students learn how to use

recording equipment, electronic keyboards and other electronic sound sources. They learn how to use

programs such as Garage Band and Abelton for recording and mixing music and Sibelius or Finale for

notating music. They will also access the internet to find texts and audio recordings that help them to

experience music from other times and cultures. They may use programs such as Skype to access pre-

recorded or real-time tutoring and performance opportunities.

Cross Curriculum Priorities

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories and cultures – Students may engage with Aboriginal and

Torres Strait Islander music in their music lessons, learning to sing and play songs and chants as part of

stories or festivals. Senior students may learn to place this music in cultural and historical contexts.

Asia and Australia’s engagement with Asia – In studying and experiencing music from Asia, senior

students will learn about the involvement that Australia has in the region and the influence of Asian culture on

Australian musicians, such as Peter Sculthorpe and Ross Edwards.

Sustainability – Having been exposed in a pictorial and emotionally rich way to the ideas of sustainability as

younger children, students can approach them more intellectually in the upper senior years, through

conscious care of instruments, consideration of photocopying and paper usage, noise pollution and the

dangers of very loud music. The deeper issues of sustainability are also addressed in musicological studies

as important considerations of music and culture.

Whole School Concert



References

Bindel, Ernst, 1950/51 The Numerical Basis of Music, Stuttgart

Ewing, Robert, 2010, The Arts and Australian Education, Realising Potential, Australian Council for

Educational Research, Camberwell, Victoria

Frongillo, C.A., 2012, The Importance of Being Musical, The Association of Waldorf Schools of North

America, Chatham, NY.

Gloekler, G., Langhammer, S., Wiechert, C., 2006, Education - Health for Life, Medical and Pedagogical

Sections at the Goetheanum, Dornach

Groh, I., Ruef, .M., 2002, Education and Teaching as Preventative Medicine, Medical Section at the

Goetheanum, Dornach

Howard, M., 1998, Art as Spiritual Activity, Anthroposophic Press, New York

Huseman, A., 1994, The Harmony of the Human Body, Floris Books, Edinburgh

Rawson, M.R., 2010, The Educational Tasks and Content of the Steiner Waldorf Curriculum, Steiner Schools Fellowship publications, Forest Row, East Sussex Riehm, P.M., 1989, in Beilharz, G. (ed) Erziehen und Heilen durch Muzik. Trans. J. C. Ruland, H., 1992, Expanding Tonal Awareness, Rudolf Steiner Press, Sussex Steiner, R., 1964, The Kingdom of Childhood, Rudolf Steiner Press, London Steiner, R., 1980, Waldorf Education for Adolescence, Michael Hall School, Forest Row, Sussex Steiner, R., 1983, Discussions with Teachers, Rudolf Steiner Press, London Steiner, R., 1983, The Inner Nature of Music and Experience of Tone, The Anthroposophic Press, New York Steiner, R., 1987, The Four Temperaments, Anthroposophic Press, Hudson, NY Steiner, R., 1988, Practical Advice to Teachers, Rudolf Steiner Press, London Steiner, R., 1996, Art as seen in the Light of Mystery Wisdom, Rudolf Steiner Press, London Steiner, R., 1996, The Foundations of Human Experience, Anthroposophic Press, Hudson, NY. Steiner, R., The Inner Nature of Music and the Experience of Tone, lecture 7 March 1923 Schmidt no: S-

5193, Rudolf Steiner Archive, http://wn.rsarchive.org/Lectures/GA283/English/AP1983/19230307p01.html

Stockmeyer, K., 1991, Rudolf Steiner’s Curriculum for Waldorf Schools, Steiner Schools Fellowship

publications, Forest Row, East Sussex Vaughan, T., Harris, J., Caldwell, B., (2011) Bridging the Gap in School Achievement through the Arts

(summary report), The Song Room, Abbotsford, Victoria Von Heydebrand, .C., 1989, The Curriculum of the first Waldorf School, Steiner Schools Fellowship

publications, Forest Row, East Sussex


http://wn.rsarchive.org/Lectures/GA283/English/AP1983/19230307p01.html


Wilson, S.J. The Benefits of Music for the Brain, paper presented at the Australian Council for Educational Research conference, Melbourne, 4-6 August

**********

The Australian Steiner Curriculum Framework, 2011-2015, SEA publications Australian Curriculum: The Arts Foundation to Year 10, 2013, Australian Curriculum, Assessment and

Reporting Authority, Sydney, NSW Creative Arts K-6 Syllabus, 2006, The Board of Studies NSW, Sydney The Glenaeon Music Curriculum, Glenaeon Rudolf Steiner School, Sydney, New South Wales KMEIA – Kodaly Music Education Institute of Australia, Kodaly.org.au, htpp://www.kodaly.org.au, access

date August 2nd 2014 The Mumbulla Steiner School Music Curriculum, Mumbulla School for Rudolf Steiner Education, Bega, New

South Wales. Music Years 7-10 Syllabus, 2003, The Board of Studies NSW, Sydney The Noosa Music Curriculum, Noosa Pengari Steiner School, Noosa, Queensland, Australia The Orana Music Curriculum, Orana Steiner School, Canberra, ACT, Australia The Silver Tree Music Curriculum, Silver Tree Steiner School, Perth, Western Australia The Sophia Mundi Steiner School Music Curriculum, Sophia Mundi School, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

Annotated Bibliography A fuller Annotated Bibliography is available to Steiner Education Australia member schools on the Membership area of the SEA web-site.


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