Year 9 Subject Guide 2020

PERFORMING ARTS - MUSIC Subject Summary:

MYP Arts – Performing (Music strand) is designed to stimulate young imaginations, challenge perceptions and develop creative and analytical skills. Involvement in music encourages students to understand music in context and the cultural histories of music, thus supporting the development of an inquiring and empathetic world view. Music challenges and enriches personal identity and builds awareness of the aesthetic in a real-world context. The aims of MYP Arts – Performing (Music strand) are to encourage and enable students to: • Create and present musical performances • Develop skills specific to music

• Engage in a process of creative exploration and (self) discovery • Make purposeful connections between investigations and practice • Understand the relationship between music and its contexts

• Respond to and reflect on music experiences • Deepen their understanding of the world

Assessment Outline: The students are assessed throughout the course according to the following criteria: • Criterion A: Knowing and understanding (maximum 8 marks)

• Criterion B: Developing skills (maximum 8 marks) • Criterion C: Thinking creatively (maximum 8 marks) • Criterion D: Responding (maximum 8 marks)

Each of the above criteria will be assessed twice throughout the year through activities such as but not limited to composition tasks, performance tasks, visual and aural analysis examinations, oral presentations. An arts process journal charting their growth and development as a musician is kept by each student.

Subject Outline by Semester: YEAR 9 - SEMESTER ONE TOPICS: Unit One: A Cultural Dessert – The Sweeter Things In Life

In recent years there has been an explosion of interest in the music of other cultures, especially those completely foreign to our own. This music has come to be called ‘world music’ and can include performance by ethnic musicians such as African drummers, Andean folk groups, Chinese instrumental ensembles and even rock groups that incorporate the rhythms, instruments and melodies of their own traditional music. Most Western countries of the world, including Australia, stage regular world music festivals that have promoted the rise of this fascinating new style of music. In this age of multiculturalism and shrinking cultural boundaries brought on by the advent of the internet, world music is a fitting unit start the year’s study. Through listening to examples from all the world’s continents an understanding of the basic concepts or elements of music, including rhythm, pitch, texture, timbre and form will be gained.

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