HSC Music 1 past exams 2016–2025, by year and topic

The rest of the syllabus

Question-level mapping for these areas is still being verified. Every official paper covering them is in the year table above.

• HSC Concepts of Music — Duration — Duration refers to the lengths of sounds and silences in music and includes beat, rhythm, metre, tempo, pulse rates and absence of pulse · Beat: the underlying pulse in music · Rhythm: patterns of long and short sounds and silences found in music · Tempo: the speed of the beat; music may be relatively fast or slow and may become faster or slower · Metre: the grouping of beats, which can be grouped in any combination including 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and so on · Regular and irregular metres, and metric groupings · Rhythmic devices such as syncopation, augmentation and diminution · Methods of notating duration, both traditional and graphic
• HSC Concepts of Music — Pitch — Pitch refers to the relative highness and lowness of sounds · High/low: pitches can be comparatively high or low; direction of pitch movement is up, down or the same level · Melody: a horizontal succession of pitches · Harmony: two or more pitches sounding together · Indefinite pitch (untuned sounds, for example the speaking voice) and definite pitch (tuned sounds, for example the singing voice) · Pitch direction and contour, pitch patterns, pitch range and register · Various scales, modes and other ways of organising pitch · Methods of notating pitch, both traditional and graphic
• HSC Concepts of Music — Dynamics and Expressive Techniques — Dynamics refer to the volume of sound, including relative softness and loudness, change of loudness (contrast) and emphasis on individual sounds (accent) · Expressive techniques refers to the musical detail that articulates a style or interpretation of a style · A range of dynamics, including gradations · Articulations · Tempo, including gradations · Stylistic indications
• HSC Concepts of Music — Tone Colour — Tone colour refers to that aspect of sound that allows the listener to identify the sound source or combinations of sound sources · Sound source material, for example wood, metal, string, skin, electronic and vocal · Method of sound production, for example blowing, hitting, plucking, scraping and shaking · Combination of sound sources, for example single voice, multiple voices, voices accompanied or unaccompanied by instruments · Types of instruments and voices, and combinations of voices and instruments · Acoustic sounds, electronic sounds and synthesised sounds · Sound production methods, and traditional and non-traditional ways of using sound sources
• HSC Concepts of Music — Texture — Texture results from the way voices and/or instruments are combined in music · The layers of sound and their function · The roles of instruments and/or voices
• HSC Concepts of Music — Structure — Structure refers to the idea of design or form in music; in organising sound the concepts of duration, dynamics, pitch and tone colour are combined in some way for a particular purpose · Structure relates to the ways in which music sounds the same (or similar) and/or different · Phrases, motifs and riffs/repetitive patterns · Techniques of call and response/question and answer · Traditional and non-traditional patterns of musical structure · Structures used in world music and structures used in single pieces of music · Multi-movement structures (eg symphony)
• HSC Aural — Unity, contrast, style and the use of technology — Aural refers to the ability to discriminate between sounds and to make judgements about their use in a wide range of musical styles, periods and genres · Students develop skills in order to recognise, analyse and comment on the concepts of music, the use of technology, music of various cultures, and unity, contrast and style · Aural is an integral part of all activities associated with performance, composition and musicology · Any instrument can be regarded as a piece of technology; technological development has always been a feature of music · Synthesisers, sequencers, non-linear recording and editing systems are the everyday tools of many musicians · Improvisation is the simultaneous creation and performance of music and its role varies in different genres, periods and styles · Students' listening experiences should include a wide range of styles, periods and genres
• HSC Contexts — Topics for study and the learning experiences (performance, composition, musicology, aural) — Students study the concepts of music through the learning experiences of performance, composition, musicology and aural, within the context of a range of styles, periods and genres · Musical contexts (styles, periods and genres) are studied through specific topics; the 21 topics available include An instrument and its repertoire, Australian music, Baroque music, Jazz, Medieval music, Methods of notating music, Music and religion, Music and the related arts, Music for large ensembles, Music for radio film television and multimedia, Music for small ensembles, Music in education, Music of a culture, Music of the 18th century, Music of the 19th century, Music of the 20th and 21st centuries, Popular music, Renaissance music, Rock music, Technology and its influence on music, and Theatre music · In the HSC course students study at least THREE topics: either three different from the Preliminary course, or two different plus one Preliminary topic studied in greater depth with new repertoire and a comparative study · Students choose THREE electives from any combination of performance, composition and/or musicology, and these must reflect the three topics studied in the HSC course · Performance refers to participation in any form of practical music making; composition refers to the organisation of sounds; musicology refers to the study of musical styles and genres from historical, sociological, notational and analytical perspectives · 120 indicative hours are required to complete the HSC course; students may not study both Music 1 and Music 2