Music: Strands, Achievement Objectives, and Learning Examples
Developing Practical Knowledge in Music
In this strand, students explore and respond to the elements and expressive qualities of music through such activities as listening, moving, singing, and playing. They develop a vocabulary in music by learning and using symbols and systems for representing sound, and they use focused listening to develop aural skills and sensitivity.
Students investigate ways of creating sounds, using conventional and unconventional sound sources. They experiment with the elements of music and discover structural devices for shaping sound into music. They recall and transcribe increasingly complex rhythm patterns, melodies, and harmonies, and they explore techniques for creating sound with instruments and voices.
Developing Ideas in Music
In this strand, students draw on their experiences and perspectives to develop and refine musical ideas. They develop an awareness of different sounds and the potential of sound for resourcing and generating ideas and for communicating feelings. They use aural skills, imagination, and a developing knowledge of structural devices, musical instruments, technologies, and the elements of music to improvise, compose, and notate music with increasing sophistication and refinement.
Students draw on their developing knowledge to inform their compositions, arrangements, and improvisations. They manipulate materials within particular styles, genres, conventions, and cultural forms, and they compose and arrange music for specific purposes.
Communicating and Interpreting in Music
In this strand, students develop fluency, musicianship, and technical control as they rehearse and present individual and group performances. They play and sing individually and in groups, using appropriate techniques and performance practices. They reflect on and evaluate their own performances and make critical judgments about the interpretation of music in others' performances.
Students prepare, rehearse, refine, present, and direct musical works. They listen to, read, and interpret music, and they develop understandings of composers' and arrangers' intentions and of cultural protocols. They explore how technologies contribute to performance, and they record their own and others' performances.
Understanding Music in Context
In this strand, students develop knowledge and understanding of music in past and present contexts. They share the music of their homes and communities, and they investigate musical works as social texts that deepen our understandings about people and environments.
Students recognise music's contribution to, and significance in, contemporary cultures. They associate music with particular events, times, places, and feelings. They compare and contrast styles and genres of music in relation to past and present contexts, and they investigate and celebrate traditional Māori music and the multicultural musical heritage of New Zealand.
