1.1 General
This course in Junior Cycle Music has been specifically devised to suit the entire range of student aptitude and ability.
The course has been designed to enable all students, to acquire musical skills suited to their age, varying abilities and musical experiences. To this end, music has been defined here in terms of musicality as expressed through a much broader set of mediums and genres than heretofore.
Similarly, an effort has been made to broaden the scope of the syllabus and, where appropriate, to allow for greater diversification. A portion of the work is prescribed for set study. In many instances, hcwever, the syllabus outlines only the parameters of choice within which teachers and students may choose a considerable amount of the material and its approach as it best suits their individual and particular needs.
For this reason, it should now be possible for a wider variety of schools to confidently introduce this course without prejudice to the musical interests and background of the pupils for whom they cater and in the knowledge that the educational integrity of the content chosen is maintained and recognised.
1.2 The Syllabus
This new syllabus is divided into three concurrent parts which represent the three main musical activities.
(a) Performing Skills: Performing may be either school-based or the result of private tuition and may be practised individually or in a group. The categories described on pages 6 to 9 and their appropriate appendices are approved for this purpose.
(b) Composing Skills: Students will be involved in either the composing of melodic phrases and an introduction to elementary harmony OR free composition as described on pages 10 and 11.
(c) Listening Skills: Students will be involved in reslxmding in musically perceptive ways to previously prepared, as well as unprepared, songs and recorded works using technical and/or non-technical language as described on pages 12 to 15. In the course of their study, students will acquire sufficient knowledge and experience of staff notation and aural training to be able t perceive and iIlustrate the relationship between sound and symbol as specified on page 16.
1.3 Length Of Course
It is recommended that three forty-minute class periods per week (not including time spent in rehearsing school choirs, orchestras and military bands) under the guidance of a fully qualified music teacher b e made available in each of the three years of the Junior Cycle as a minimum requirement for teaching this course effectively