VCE Music
VCE Music is based on active engagement in all aspects of music. Students develop and refine musicianship skills and knowledge and develop a critical awareness of their relationship with music as listeners, performers, creators and music makers. Students explore, reflect on and respond to the music they listen to, create and perform. They analyse and evaluate live and recorded performances, and learn to incorporate, adapt and interpret musical practices from diverse cultures, times and locations into their own learning about music as both a social and cultural practice. Students study and practise ways of effectively communicating and expressing musical ideas to an audience as performers and composers, and respond to musical works as an audience. The developed knowledge and skills provide a practical foundation for students to compose, arrange, interpret, reimagine, improvise, recreate and critique music in an informed manner.
In this study students are offered a range of pathways that acknowledge and support a variety of student backgrounds and music learning contexts, including formal and informal.
UNIT 1: Organisation of Music
In this unit students explore and develop their understanding of how music is organised. By performing, creating, analysing and responding to music works that exhibit different approaches, students explore and develop their understanding of the possibilities of musical organisation.
They prepare and perform ensemble and/or solo musical works to develop technical control, expression and stylistic understanding on their chosen instrument/sound source. At least two works should be associated with their study of approaches to music organisation.
They create (arrange, compose or improvise) short music exercises that reflect their understanding of the organisation of music and the processes they have studied.
They develop knowledge of music language concepts as they analyse and respond to a range of music, becoming familiar with the ways music creators treat elements of music and concepts and use compositional devices to create works that communicate their ideas.
UNIT 2: Effect in Music
In this unit, students focus on the way music can be used to create an intended effect. By performing, analysing and responding to music works/examples that create different effects, students explore and develop their understanding of the possibilities of how effect can be created. Through creating their own music, they reflect this exploration and understanding.
Students prepare and perform ensemble and/or solo musical works to develop technical control, expression and stylistic understanding using their chosen instrument/sound source. They should perform at least one work to convey a specified effect and demonstrate this in performance.
They create (arrange, compose or improvise) short music exercises that reflect their understanding of the organisation of music and the processes they have studied.
As they analyse and respond to a wide range of music, they become familiar with the ways music creators treat elements and concepts of music and use compositional devices to create works that communicate their ideas. They continue to develop their understanding of common musical language concepts by identifying, recreating and notating these concepts.
The College currently offers the Unit 3 & 4 pathway of Music Contemporary Performance.
This study offers pathways for students whose performance practice includes embellishment and/or improvisation, uses collaborative and aural practices in learning, often takes recordings as a primary text, and projects a personal voice. Students study the work of other performers and analyse their approaches to interpretation and how personal voice can be developed through reimagining existing music works. They refine selected strategies to enhance their own approach to performance.
UNIT 3
In this unit students begin developing the program they will present in Unit 4. Students should refer to the examination specifications to make sure that the works selected allow them to best meet the requirements and conditions of this task. They use music analysis skills to refine strategies for developing their performances.
Students analyse interpretation in a wide range of recorded music, responding to and analysing music elements, concepts, compositional devices and music language. Students also learn how to recognise and recreate music language concepts such as scales, melodies, chords, harmony and rhythmic materials that relate to contemporary music.
UNIT 4
Students continue to work towards building a performance program they will present at their end-of-year examination in line with their Statement of Intent. The program will contain at least one performance that is a reimagined version of an existing work and an original work created by an Australian artist since 1990.
Students continue to study the work of other performers and their approaches to interpretation and personal voice in performing music works. They refine selected strategies to optimise their own approach to performance.
Students further develop strategies to address the technical, expressive and stylistic challenges relevant to works they are preparing for performance.
Students listen and respond to a further range of recorded music by a variety of performers in contemporary styles. They continue to study music language concepts that relate to contemporary music.
For further information on the subjects on offer, refer to the VCE 2024 Subject Guide in link below
Detailed information relating to each unit can be found via the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority (VCAA) website: