Early in the semester (Week 3) students will provide a proposal and outline of a project that they wish to complete by the end of the semester. This project will be your Creative Project for the unit (see Assessment Task 5 below). The project may be varied in scope, encompassing performance, recording, composition, transcription and/or analysis.

Your Project Proposal should state clearly what your final creative project will be, in what format it will be presented (e.g. paper, disc/USB) and should present a study plan to indicate how you intend to work on the task throughout the semester, and the skills you hope to develop through completing it.

This Project Proposal does not irrevocably “lock you in” to this program with no room to change your mind later. Its main purpose is at least to initiate the process for you, and to encourage you to commit to an idea – the sooner you have your ideas clear, the more time you have to develop them. It is hoped that there will be no substantial changes to your program after Week 7 (see Assessment Task 3 – Progress Report, below)

Submission: Please submit your Project Proposal through the appropriate portal on iLearn, as either a pdf or Word document.

Criteria for Assessment

·Creativity in musical ideas and structures

• Clear and realistic explanation of how you intend to realise your goals

Students will be provided with theoretical tasks as part of their in-class activities. As part of this process, five theory Worksheets will be handed out and returned for progressive assessment throughout the semester. Students should gather these tasks together into a Workbook for future reference.

An assessable Worksheet will be handed out every two weeks of the semester, starting from Week 3. Each Worksheet contains a number of questions to do with music theory, and each question will require a brief written response, either in words or in musical notation. Each Worksheet is aligned with a particular chapter from your set text by Fitzgerald (although not exclusively confined to the subject matter of that chapter). All students are advised to read the relevant chapter thoroughly, and also attempt the Written Exercises at the end of each chapter, before completing the Worksheet. The following table shows the alignment between each Worksheet, the relevant chapter of Fitzgerald, and the topic:

Worksheet 1     ⇒     Chapter 4:  Rhythmic notation and time signatures

Worksheet 2     ⇒     Chapters 2 & 5: Scales, modes and key signatures

Worksheet 3     ⇒     Chapters 3 & 6: Triads and inversions, simple chord progressions

Worksheet 4     ⇒     Chapter 7:  Rhythm: compound time and irregular metres

Worksheet 5     ⇒     Chapter 8:  Melodic-harmonic relationships, 7^th chords, further chord progressions

Students will have one week to complete each Worksheet, and will return it in the following week’s class. Please see the Theory Workbook Schedule below, for more detail on this process (and please note the irregularity around the public holiday in Week 8).

Theory Workbook Schedule:

Week 3:    WS#1 handed to students

Week 4:    Students return completed WS#1

Week 5:    Marked WS#1 returned / WS#2 handed to students

Week 6:    Students return completed WS#2

Week 7:    Marked WS#2 returned / WS#3 handed to students

Week 8:    Public holiday

Week 9:    Students return completed WS#3 / WS#4 handed to students

Week 10:  Marked WS#3 returned / Students return completed WS#4

Week 11:  Marked WS#4 returned / WS#5 handed to students

Week 12:  Students return completed WS#5

Week 13:  Marked WS#5 returned

Please note there is necessarily a strict turnaround time with these Worksheets, so students should make a point of being prompt with their completion and return. Once I have handed back a marked Worksheets to students (which I will do the week following submission) I can accept no further submissions of that particular Worksheet.

Weighting: The total weight for the Workbook assessment task is 20%. Each individual Worksheet will be given a mark out of 40, totalling a mark out of 200 for all five. This mark out of 200 will be divided by 10 to give you a final mark out of 20.

Criteria for Assessment

• Accuracy of your answers

Students will present a progress report on their Creative Project (Assessment Task 5). The report will take the form of an in-class presentation of a work-in-progress, and should indicate to the class the nature and scope of your project, your progress to this point in time, a schedule for completion, and any particular challenges you have encountered or rewards you have discovered through your processes to date. Your report should include presentation of media as appropriate to the nature of the final project – these may include a preliminary performance, presentation of some recorded elements, and projection of score and/or other relevant material.

Presentations will be made in class in Week 7, and will be followed by a brief question time.

Submission: Please submit any written component of your report both in paper form and as a pdf or Word document.

Please note: While there will be some flexibility for students to change the nature and focus of their project before this presentation (i.e. you are not necessarily locked into the proposal you offered in Week 3), it is hope that changes after this time will be kept to a minimum. If for any reason you need to make substantial changes to your project after this time, please discuss these changes, and the reasons for them, with your Unit Convenor.

Criteria for Assessment

·Creativity in musical ideas and structures

• Clear demonstration of progress since your initial Proposal
• Clear and realistic schedule for completion

Students will undertake regular in-class activities designed to improve their aural understanding of music. These activities will comprise singing and/or listening tasks. Towards the end of the semester (Week 11) students will be given an Aural Test in relation to the tasks and activities practiced throughout the semester. The Test will consist of students listening to short musical fragments (such as scales, chords, short melodies etc) played on a piano, and will be asked to identify particular aspects of the given fragments, in writing and/or in musical notation.

Criteria for Assessment

• Accuracy of your answers

All students will complete a final Creative Project, for submission at the end of the semester (Week 13). This is the same project for which you will earlier have submitted a Project Proposal (Assessment Task 1) and a Progress Report (Assessment Task 3). (Please observe the notes under those assessment tasks re potential changes to your project.)

Possibilities for your project are diverse in scope. Projects may involve musical performance, composition, recording and/or analysis of a particular musical work. Performances may be performed either individually, or as part of an ensemble (and should be submitted in recorded form). Compositions should be submitted in score (which may encompass various forms of notation and/or instructions), and may also be accompanied by a recorded version. You may design a project that you think falls into none of these categories, in which case you should discuss your ideas with your Unit Convenor.

Whichever form your project takes, the outcome should demonstrate ways in which you have explored new musical forms and/or sounds. The project outcome should involve theoretical/aural ideas learned in class and may also move into new areas of musical experimentation. Whichever form your project takes, your submission should include a written reflective paper (c.600 words) that explains the nature of your project, how you have completed it, and how the outcome reflects what you have learnt through the unit.

Submission: Please submit all relevant material items (discs, USBs etc) in a single sealed folder or envelope, to avoid separation. Please write your name on everything. Please submit your reflective paper through the appropriate portal on iLearn, as either a pdf or Word document.

Criteria for Assessment

·Creativity in development of musical ideas and structures

• Creativity in application of musical elements studied in this unit
• Clear articulation of what you have learnt in the course of the unit