This Classroom-Based Assessment offers students an opportunity to celebrate their achievements as creators of music artefacts, by compiling a collection of their musical ideas and creative expressions in a variety of genres and styles over time.
Through this process students will develop their musical voice and their identity. When composing music for their chosen audience, students will learn how to bring an idea from concept to realisation.
The development of creative expression in music is a central element of this course, as outlined in the rationale. It is important to instil in students a creative disposition where they are free to experiment, allowed to take risks, encouraged to explore new and challenging opportunities and reflect on the creative process.
In the majority of cases, the work in the student's collections will arise from the ebb and flow of classroom practice. The collections of student compositions promote student engagement when students: identify and choose the stimulus for the creative work choose the format(s) in which to create the piece of music develop their ideas through engagement with other aspects of the music course.
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identify and choose the stimulus for the creative work
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choose the format(s) in which to create the piece of music
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develop their ideas through engagement with other aspects of the music course.
Two pieces from the portfolio of compositions will be selected by the student for assessment purposes.
The focus of this assessment activity will be on the creation of a set of musical compositions which might include the following options:
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responding to an auditory or visual stimulus
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arranging an existing piece of music
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answering phrases(s) to an existing phrase
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adding music to text
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responding to a story or text
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creating an advertisement jingle
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devising a piece of electro-acoustic music
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music for a school event
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music as a response to a personal experience.
This list is not intended to be exhaustive, but serves to suggest that the collection should be a varied one. The options included above can overlap, there is no restriction on the choices that students can make.
The compositions can be in any recognised musical style/genre and can be written for instrument or voice and as a solo or group performance. It can be presented in written, digital, visual or audio form, or any other format that is deemed suitable by the student and appropriate for capturing the essence of their ideas.
Underlying and informing this Classroom-Based Assessment, is a focus on the developmental and progressive nature of exploring creative ideas, and on students developing an understanding of the creative process. This is best supported by ongoing student practice in this artistic pursuit. To this end, students are encouraged to include drafts, redrafts, and other workings in relation to the compositions, although this work will not be assigned a descriptor.
A student reflection must be included with each of the two compositions chosen for assessment purposes. This is intended to give students the opportunity to set out a brief statement on the purpose or intention for the creative idea, and asks the students to indicate what they have learnt from the process and what they might do differently on a subsequent occasion.