Performing Arts

Year 7 • PERFORMING ARTS

OVERVIEW MUSIC Year 7 music is a semester length classroom course, incorporating composition, improvisation, listening, theory and performance. Students will have the opportunity to develop their musical knowledge and experience through a series of activities and assessments focused on key foundational musical skills, with an emphasis on: ■ body percussion and rhythm ■ musicianship musical hearing and comprehension ■ rhythm and melody transcription ■ introduction to body percussion, featuring performances ■ introduction to guitar ■ composition and group work ■ listening assignments based on the elements of song forms. DRAMA Year 7 students will undertake a number of character design elements over one semester. Students learn to develop their dramatic skills by imagining and creating roles and relationships that convey characters consistent with performance styles and situations. Students learn improvisation techniques, thinking about physical codes and conventions of character, unpack ideas around The Hero’s Journey and understand how to communicate meaning and status through movement. Improvisation is the Skill Based Assessment while the Superhero Design & Performance Unit is the Weighted Assessment. OVERVIEW MUSIC Year 8 Music is a semester length classroom course, incorporating composition, improvisation, listening, theory and performance. Students have the opportunity to develop their musical knowledge and experience through a series of activities and assessments focused on key foundation musical skills, with an emphasis on guitar performance. ■ musicianship musical hearing and comprehension ■ rhythm and melody transcription ■ continuation of basic guitar course, featuring performances ■ guitar composition, a composition task featuring notated music ■ melody, improvised solos and chordal accompaniment ■ listening assignments based on six elements of music.

Year 8 • PERFORMING ARTS

DRAMA Over the course of the semester, Year 8 students continue to develop their dramatic skills by imagining and creating roles and relationships that convey characters consistent with Performance Styles and situations. Students will learn improvisation techniques, thinking about physical codes and conventions of character and will experience the Performance Style of Commedia Dell'arte and investigate stereotypes. Students will undertake two units of work over the semester. Unit 1 explores Stereotypes and is a Weighted Assessment, Unit 2 explores Comedy Performance and is a Skill Based Assessment.

Year 9 • PERFORMING ARTS

MUSIC SUBJECT LENGTH: SEMESTER UNIT VALUE: ONE

OVERVIEW This course provides foundation skills and knowledge to students interested in improving musical performance and/or a pathway towards VCE Music. It is designed as an introduction to the key knowledge and skills required for VCE Solo Performance. It also focuses on the practical skills for music making. During the course, students will study four units over a single year comprising: performance preparation and playing techniques, musicianship, composition/ arrangement/music technology and contemporary music styles. DRAMA SUBJECT LENGTH: SEMESTER UNIT VALUE: ONE

OVERVIEW The Year 9 course focuses on the techniques and practises of Jerzy Grotowski’s Poor Theatre, which suggests if that the theatre cannot be richer than mass entertainment, then let it be poorer. Students explore both the imaginative world and the human condition through the world of Theatre, devising an exaggerated performance based on a moment of emotional resonance from their life. The world of Drama has no boundaries and therefore students must allow themselves to take risks with thinking and expression. Students start to create a concrete understanding of how play-making skills are used, with particular focus on Improvisation. Students learn to reflect critically on the way they use their expressive skills of voice, movement, gesture and facial expression in developing characters. Students work in partnerships creating their own individual Life Monologues, with each student helping the other in the partnership with their own performance. We explore how Performance Styles create work that moves away from naturalistic and realistic expression. We call it an Eclectic Performance Style. Students develop critical analytical skills through giving and receiving feedback. They learn to use the language and terminology of drama to enhance their own working practices. Students also design their own set and build a shadowbox while exploring how application of symbol can be represented in production areas and create a greater, deeper meaning within performance. This course also develops a student’s confidence, public speaking and interpersonal skills and encourages emotional intelligence and problem solving. There are three summative assessments: Assessment One is based on Improvisation Skills, Assessment Two is a devised monologue performance and Assessment Three is a set design task.

Year 10 • PERFORMING ARTS

MUSIC STYLES SUBJECT LENGTH: YEAR UNIT VALUE: TWO

OVERVIEW This course is intended to provide skills and knowledge to students interested in a pathway towards VCE Music. It is designed as an introduction to the key knowledge and skills required for VCE Solo Performance and VCE Styles. During the course, students will study six units over a single year comprising: performance preparation and playing techniques, the history, literature and context of selected works, theory and analysis and composition.

PERFORMING ARTS

Year 10 • DRAMA

SUBJECT LENGTH: YEAR UNIT VALUE: TWO OVERVIEW Drama is an art form, which is directly concerned with living and the way in which we lead our lives. Through Drama we explore the way human beings think, feel and communicate, learning to understand others and us more fully. Each time we engage in the imaginative world of drama, we enhance our own self and our understanding of the nature of humanity. The course covers varied techniques and practices and explores both the imaginative world and the human condition. The world of drama has no boundaries and, therefore, students are encouraged to take risks with thinking and expression. Drama is about creating meaning from everyday occurrences through the use of various performance styles, theatrical conventions and dramatic elements. Expressive use of voice, facial expression movement and gesture are important in developing characters, which explore this meaning. The performance skills of focus, timing, energy and the actor-audience relationship will help to develop an ability to portray or realise characters. Students will work with text (scripts) and with stimulus (art, films, poetry, concepts and themes) to create their own text. Students will work in groups (ensemble performance) and on a solo performance. Also included is how Performance Styles create work that moves away from naturalistic and realistic expression. We call it an Eclectic Performance Style.

This is a foundation course for VCE Drama Units 1 - 4 and VCE Theatre Studies Units 3 & 4.

DRAMA • Units 1 to 4

OVERVIEW

UNITS 1 & 2 In this unit students study three or more performance styles from a range of historical, social and cultural contexts. They examine drama traditions of ritual and storytelling to devise performances that go beyond re-creation and or representations of real life as it is lived. Students focus on creating, presenting and analysing a devised ensemble and solo performance based on stimulus material that reflects personal, cultural and community experiences. Students will also analyse their own work and the work of professional drama performers. Students apply play-making techniques to shape and give meaning to their performance. They manipulate expressive and performance skills in the creation and presentation of characters through a range of performance styles. They document the processes they use through a folio and experiment with production areas, dramatic elements, conventions and performance styles.

Unit 1 Introducing Performance Styles

(includes four Study Outcomes)

Unit 2 Australian Identity

(includes four Study Outcomes) PERFORMANCE

Key Concepts covered Students will develop skills and knowledge in: ■ Ways of creating, sustaining and developing a role. ■ Ways stimulus material can be given shape and meaning. ■ The processes in character development through improvisation, script work, the methods of Anton Artaud & Theatre of Cruelty, Expressionism, Absurdism and Commedia Dell'Arte and how we collaborate to create performance. ■ The use of expressive skills – voice, movement, gesture, facial expression. ■ The use of performance skills – focus, energy, timing and actor-audience relationship. ■ Application of symbol, transformation of character, time and place. ■ Application of dramatic elements. ■ Production areas appropriate to performance style. ■ Conventions used in performance styles and how they relate to the relationship between actor and audience. ■ Approaches to recording and documenting play-making techniques. ■ Describe and analyse the use of dramatic elements, conventions, styles, and production areas in the presentation of performances. ■ Using stimulus material to create a range of ideas. ■ All of this is explored through the exploration of rituals and rites of passage, status and social roles, from a range of cultural contexts.

ANALYSIS

Key Concepts covered ■ Analyse the application of conventions, elements and style in performance. ■ Analyse the actor-audience relationship in performance. ■ Evaluate the expressive and performance skills used to communicate character to an audience.

PERFORMING ARTS

DRAMA • Units 1 to 4

UNITS 3 & 4

In these units students explore the work of drama practitioners and draw on contemporary practice as they devise ensemble and solo performance work. Students explore contemporary performance styles, practice and associated conventions from a diverse range of contemporary and/or traditional contexts. Students document, analyse and evaluate the stages involved in the creation, development and presentation of their solo and ensemble performances. They will also analyse and evaluate a professional drama performance as well as their own work and the work of their peers.

Unit 3 Devised Ensemble Performance

(includes three Study Outcomes)

Unit 4 Devised Solo Performance

(includes three Study Outcomes) PERFORMANCE

Key Concepts covered Students develop skills and knowledge in: ■ Ways of creating, sustaining and developing a role.

■ Play-making techniques and the processes in character development through improvisation, script work, the methods of Bertolt Brecht and Epic Theatre, Jerzy

Grotowski and Poor Theatre, biomechanics and how we collaborate to create performance.

■ The use of expressive skills – voice, movement, gesture, facial expression.

■ The use of performance skills – focus, energy, timing and actor-audience relationship.

■ Application of symbol, transformation of character, time and place.

■ Production areas appropriate to performance style.

■ Conventions used in performance styles and how they relate to the relationship between actor and audience. ■ Approaches to recording and documenting playmaking techniques.

■ Describing and analysing the use of dramatic elements.

■ Using stimulus material to create a range of solo and ensemble performances.

■ Collaborating on the construction and presentation of an ensemble performance to an audience.

■ Devising a solo performance in response to a given stimulus.

ANALYSIS

Key Concepts covered ■ Analyse the application and use of production areas, conventions, elements and style in performance.

■ Analyse the actor-audience relationship in performance.

■ Evaluate the expressive and performance skills used to communicate character to an audience.

THEATRE STUDIES • Units 3 & 4

UNIT 3: PRODUCING THEATRE In this unit students develop an interpretation of a script through the three stages of the theatre production process: planning, development and presentation. Students specialise in two production roles, working collaboratively, creatively and imaginatively to realise the production of a script.

UNIT 4: PRESENTING AN INTERPRETATION In this unit students study a scene and an associated monologue. They initially develop an interpretation of the prescribed scene. This work includes exploring theatrical possibilities and using dramaturgy across the three stages of the production process. Students then develop a creative and imaginative interpretation, they work in production roles as an actor and director, or as a designer. INTERPRETING A MONOLOGUE In this area of study students focus on an interpretation of a monologue from a scene contained within a script selected from the VCAAVCE Theatre Studies Monologue Examination. Students select a monologue, and study the text of the monologue, the prescribed scene in which it is embedded and the complete script from which the scene is derived. Students apply selected production roles and develop an interpretation of the monologue that is informed by a study of the prescribed scene and the complete script and dramaturgy, including contexts of the play. Students make decisions about how the contexts, theatrical possibilities, elements of theatre composition and theatre styles will inform their interpretation of the monologue. Students work in the selected production roles to realise and present their interpretation of the monologue. They consider the interrelationships between acting, direction and design.

Please note: Unit 3 & 4 Theatre Studies will run in 2023 and each alternative year, thereafter.

PERFORMING ARTS

VCE VET MUSIC • Units 1 to 4

OVERVIEW CUA30915 Certificate III in Music Industry (Sound Production) is offered to students under the auspices of the College of Sound and Music Production (RTO #41549). This qualification is for students who have an interest in music and sound production and are keen to develop skills in a range of areas such as recording, mixing and sound editing. Sound Production Specialisation provides students with the practical skills and knowledge to record, mix and edit sound sources, and operate sound reinforcement equipment for live music events. The program includes core units such as implementing copyright arrangements, performing basic sound editing and developing music industry knowledge. Elective units provide students with the opportunity to learn the essentials of audio engineering and electronic music production. Students gain competencies that will enhance their employment opportunities within the music industry, and a recognised qualification that will assist them in making a more informed choice when considering vocational and career pathways. UNITS 1 & 2

Key Concepts Covered ■ contribute to health and safety of self and others ■ implement copyright arrangements ■ work effectively in the music industry ■ apply knowledge of style and genre to music industry practice ■ repair and maintain audio equipment ■ operate basic lighting.

UNITS 3 & 4

Key Concepts Covered ■ operate sound reinforcement systems ■ record and mix a basic music demo ■ install and disassemble audio equipment ■ mix music in a studio environment ■ manage audio input sources.

VCE MUSIC SOLO PERFORMANCE • Units 1 to 4

OVERVIEW

Music Performance develops the students’ skills in the following areas as a musician and performer. Students learn written theory and create compositions to extend their musical literacy. They also improve their musicianship skills through aural training exercises using singing and listening activities. Students will also extend their ability to listen to music performances (both recorded and live) and give critical responses using musically sophisticated language. The primary objective is to improve as a solo performer on a chosen instrument. To this end, students prepare solo performance programs which explore a variety of music styles and develop skills in rehearsing, refining and executing performances. Students will be required to have learned an instrument prior to taking on VCE Music Performance and will be expected to have weekly hour long lessons with a suitable VCE skilled instrumental teacher in addition to their regular classes. The concepts explored through Units 1-4 are the same with a rising level of skill required throughout the process. UNITS 1 & 2

Key Concepts covered ■ Musicianship and aural – musical hearing and comprehension using singing as a tool to explore and develop understanding. ■ Performance – playing in performance as a soloist, exploring various genres and techniques idiomatic to their instrument. ■ Theory – exploration and development of musical literacy. ■ Composition – exploration and comprehension of the elements of music using a musical notation program. ■ Responding and listening – listening and responding to music performances, exploring and developing musically sophisticated terminology. UNITS 3 & 4

Key Concepts covered ■ Musicianship and aural – musical hearing and comprehension using singing as a tool to explore and develop understanding. ■ Performance – playing in performance as a soloist, exploring various genres and techniques idiomatic to their instrument. ■ Theory – exploration and development of musical literacy. ■ Responding and listening – listening and responding to music performances, exploring and developing musically sophisticated terminology. ■ Singing – exploration and mastery of aural skills through singing practice.

PERFORMING ARTS

VCE VET • MUSIC

CUA30915 CERTIFICATE III IN MUSIC INDUSTRY (SOUND PRODUCTION) This qualification is for students who have an interest in music and sound production and are keen to develop skills in a range of areas such as recording, mixing and sound editing. Sound Production Specialisation provides students with the practical skills and knowledge to record, mix and edit sound sources, and operate sound reinforcement equipment for live music events. The program includes core units such as implementing copyright arrangements, performing basic sound editing and developing music industry knowledge. Elective units provide students with the opportunity to learn the essentials of audio engineering and electronic music production. Students will gain competencies that will enhance their employment opportunities within the music industry, and a recognised qualification that will assist them in making a more informed choice when considering vocational and career pathways. CONTRIBUTION TO VCE/VCAL (VIC SCHOOLS ONLY)

VCE Students who complete Certificate III in Music Industry will be eligible for up to five Units of credit towards their VCE: up to three at the Units 1 & 2 level and a Units 3 & 4 sequence.

VM (VCAL) This program contributes to the Industry Specific Skills Strand and may also contribute to the Work-Related Skills Strand of VCAL.

ATAR Students wishing to receive an ATAR.