Music 1 Stage 6 Syllabus (2009) — HSC 2026
The Aural Skills paper has four short-answer questions worth 6, 8, 8 and 8 marks: 30 marks in total, with approximately one hour working time and five minutes reading. It has no sections, multiple choice, score-reading task or essay. Core Performance and the three electives are separately assessed and converted to the remaining 70 marks of the HSC examination. Multiple-choice activities in this library are revision aids, not the written exam format.
Past papers on this subject span more than one syllabus. Papers written under an older one still work as practice, but the modules they test have changed — the index labels every paper with the syllabus it was set under.
Music 1 Stage 6 Syllabus (2009) · 2016–2025
The modules, one by one
Each area below lists the concepts named in the syllabus, what the NESA exam asks of them, and the mistake that most often costs marks.
- HSC Concepts of Music — Duration
- HSC Concepts of Music — Pitch
- HSC Concepts of Music — Dynamics and Expressive Techniques
- HSC Concepts of Music — Tone Colour
- HSC Concepts of Music — Texture
- HSC Concepts of Music — Structure
- HSC Aural — Unity, contrast, style and the use of technology
- HSC Contexts — Topics for study and the learning experiences (performance, composition, musicology, aural)
Area 1 of 8
HSC Concepts of Music — Duration
Distinguish an underlying beat from the rhythmic pattern laid over it. Listen for the grouping of beats, changes in tempo, syncopation, repetition, augmentation and diminution. An observation should locate a sound or event in the excerpt and explain how duration shapes its movement, rather than simply list rhythmic terms.
What the syllabus lists under this area · 8 points
- 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
What the exam asks
The written paper assesses aural understanding through recorded excerpts and written responses. Support descriptions and explanations with specific audible examples.
Where marks go missing
Calling a denser rhythm a faster tempo when the underlying beat has stayed steady.
Area 2 of 8
HSC Concepts of Music — Pitch
Describe melodic direction, contour, range and register before making more specific claims about pitch organisation. Relate melody to harmony and distinguish tuned pitch from indefinite-pitch sound. Support observations with a recognisable phrase or point in the excerpt; precise musical descriptions are more useful than guessing a key that cannot be established by ear.
What the syllabus lists under this area · 8 points
- 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
What the exam asks
The written paper assesses aural understanding through recorded excerpts and written responses. Support descriptions and explanations with specific audible examples.
Where marks go missing
Confusing a high register with a wide range, or assuming that every rising melody changes key.
Area 3 of 8
HSC Concepts of Music — Dynamics and Expressive Techniques
Dynamics and expressive techniques form one syllabus concept. Listen for relative levels, gradual or sudden changes, accents, articulation, ornamentation and performance detail. Explain how these shape style, emphasis, tension or release in the passage. A dynamic change and a change in the number of performing layers may coincide but are different observations.
What the syllabus lists under this area · 6 points
- 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
What the exam asks
The written paper assesses aural understanding through recorded excerpts and written responses. Support descriptions and explanations with specific audible examples.
Where marks go missing
Treating dynamics and expressive techniques as two separate concepts when a question asks for two.
Area 4 of 8
HSC Concepts of Music — Tone Colour
Identify the character and production of sound: voice, acoustic source, electronic or synthesised source, and how sources are combined. Describe attack, sustain and other audible qualities when an exact instrument identification is uncertain. Connect changes in tone colour with an entry, substitution, blend or contrast in the excerpt.
What the syllabus lists under this area · 7 points
- 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
What the exam asks
The written paper assesses aural understanding through recorded excerpts and written responses. Support descriptions and explanations with specific audible examples.
Where marks go missing
Guessing an instrument name without supporting audible features, or confusing its tone colour with its musical role.
Area 5 of 8
HSC Concepts of Music — Texture
Texture concerns layers and their functions. Distinguish melody, bass, chordal support, rhythmic accompaniment and countermelody, using only layers actually heard. Track entries and withdrawals, doubling, independence and changing density. Explain how the relationship between layers changes rather than counting instruments alone.
What the syllabus lists under this area · 3 points
- 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
What the exam asks
The written paper assesses aural understanding through recorded excerpts and written responses. Support descriptions and explanations with specific audible examples.
Where marks go missing
Assuming that two instruments always create two independent musical layers.
Area 6 of 8
HSC Concepts of Music — Structure
Trace repetition, contrast, variation and return across the excerpt. Use phrases, motifs, riffs, call and response, or clear A/B labels when the evidence supports them. A change in performing media, pitch, duration or texture can mark a boundary. Do not infer a complete large-scale form from a short passage that contains only one part of a work.
What the syllabus lists under this area · 7 points
- 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)
What the exam asks
The written paper assesses aural understanding through recorded excerpts and written responses. Support descriptions and explanations with specific audible examples.
Where marks go missing
Naming a verse–chorus or multi-movement form without hearing the evidence needed to establish it.
Area 7 of 8
HSC Aural — Unity, contrast, style and the use of technology
Umbrella prompts about unity, contrast, tension, variety, interest or style need an argument through the six concepts. Select specific audible observations, locate them in the excerpt and explain their contribution to the question. Technology may influence the sound through synthesis, sequencing or processing, but claims about production methods should remain proportional to what can actually be heard.
What the syllabus lists under this area · 7 points
- 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
What the exam asks
The written paper assesses aural understanding through recorded excerpts and written responses. Support descriptions and explanations with specific audible examples.
Where marks go missing
Writing a chronological story of the excerpt without explaining how its musical features answer the question.
Area 8 of 8
HSC Contexts — Topics for study and the learning experiences (performance, composition, musicology, aural)
The HSC course integrates performance, composition, musicology and aural through at least three topics. Students study either three topics different from Preliminary, or two different topics and one carried forward in greater depth with new repertoire and a comparative study. Three electives drawn from performance, composition and/or musicology reflect the three HSC topics. The written Aural Skills paper is only one component of the HSC examination.
What the syllabus lists under this area · 6 points
- 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
What the exam asks
The topics frame the course and electives; the written paper uses unfamiliar excerpts and does not require recall of a prescribed piece.
Where marks go missing
Presenting the 30-mark written paper as the whole HSC Music 1 result or assuming there are prescribed works.