In Stage 4 it is mandatory for students in Year 7 and 8 to study 100 hours of Visual Arts and 100 hours of Music.
Visual Arts
Visual Arts has a significant role within the curriculum through providing learning opportunities designed to encourage students to understand the visual arts, including the different kinds of creative works they, and others, make.
Students will develop knowledge, understanding and skills to make artworks informed by their understanding of practice, the conceptual framework and the frames.
Students who have achieved Stage 4 have demonstrated an awareness of how practice, the conceptual framework and the frames affect the making and the critical and historical studies of art.
Course requirements
The Stage 4 mandatory course is offered as a 100-hour course and provides the foundational learning in Visual Arts in Years 7–10. This course and its content must precede any electives in Visual Arts.
It is recommended that in the mandatory course:
- at least 50% of time should be dedicated to artmaking and related aspects of content
- a further 30% of time should be dedicated to the critical and historical interpretations and explanations of art and related aspects of content
- the remaining 20% of time should be used to maximise the interests of students and teachers in any aspects of content.
Aim
The aim of the Visual Arts Years 7–10 Syllabus is to enable students to:
- develop and enjoy practical and conceptual autonomy in their abilities to represent ideas in the visual arts
- understand and value the different beliefs that affect meaning and significance.
Course overview
Focus areas:
- Artmaking - develop knowledge, understanding and skills to make artworks informed by their understanding of practice, the conceptual framework and the frames.
- Critical and historical studies - develop knowledge, understanding and skills to critically and historically interpret art informed by their understanding of practice, the conceptual framework and the frames.
Content overview
- Practice - describes the artistic activity, work or agency of artists to produce artworks.
- The Conceptual Framework - comprises four agencies or functions: artist, artwork, world and audience.
- Artist - the traditional function of the artist is to make artworks, be by images or objects.
- Artworks - are intentionally made by artists. Artworks have a material and physical form.
- Audience - the audience function is ongoing yet changeable as artworks inhabit different viewing contexts.
- World - artists, artworks and audiences function in relation to each other and the function of the world.
- The Frames - subjective, cultural, structural and postmodern - give meaning and are the instrument for generating different understandings of the function of and relationships between the artist – artwork – world – audience.
Music
The study of Music supports intellectual stimulation, neurological development, exploration of values, development of creativity and the expression of emotion. It combines the development of affective, cognitive, psychomotor, personal and social competencies in the act of making, understanding, appreciating and enjoying music. The transferable skills developed through the study of Music support students to follow a broad range of pathways and professions.
Course requirements
Students study 100 hours of Music in Years 7–8. In each stage of learning, students must meaningfully engage with the following repertoire:
- Music of Australia, including music of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples
- Art music
- Jazz
- Popular music
- Global music culture.
Aim
The aim of the Music 7–10 Syllabus is to:
- enable students to develop musical knowledge, skills and literacies for active engagement, to become thoughtful and creative musicians
- provide the means for students to experience the creative process as an individual, and in collaboration with others, through performing, listening and composing
- contribute to students’ aesthetic, artistic and cultural education and enjoyment
- develop a lifelong sense of wonder and curiosity about and engagement with music.
Course overview
Focus areas:
- Performing - practical music-making in solo or ensemble situations. It includes learning and interpreting songs, instrumental pieces, accompaniments and pieces of music composed individually and with others.
- Listening - the processes through which students experience music. It includes the ability to hear, understand and respond to musical stimulus, and discriminate between sounds and make judgements about the use of musical elements in a variety of repertoire.
- Composing - organising sound in both individual and group settings. Activities include engaging and experimenting with a wide variety of media and technologies to organise, record and manipulate sound, together with opportunities to analyse and reflect on compositions.
Content groups
The content within the focus areas of Performing, Listening and Composing is organised into 3 content groups: Music in Practice, Music in Context and Elements of Music.
- Music in Practice refers to the active application of knowledge and the development and enactment of skills related to performing, listening and composing.
- Music in Context relates to the settings in which a piece of music is created, adapted, performed or experienced.
- Elements of Music are duration, pitch, texture, performing media and timbre, dynamics and expression and structure.