Music is a Key Learning Area in NSW High Schools
Music is a subject which employs a unique symbolic language to create and recreate aural experiences of past and present societies. It embraces the cultural and spiritual lives of people and, in the 21st Century, has the potential to cross cultural barriers and bring people together, united in a single experience, often of global proportions.
The study of music releases the potential to further develop cognitive and motor skills in the act of making music and builds on students’ interaction with, and sense of belonging to, a group which develops in the preparation and presentation of an ensemble performance. Individually, music can be used to develop a means of personal expression which can involve text, narrative, drama, visual elements and a whole range of tonal colours, all available to interpret the feelings and experiences of a creative imagination.
In Music, students develop their knowledge and skills in the areas of:
- Performance - including opportunities for students to expand their practical music making through the development of topic related repertoire
- Composition - including experiences in improvisation, text setting and the writing of complex musical structures using software notation programs
- Musicology - which involves the study of music from historical periods and genres and the development of score reading and analysis techniques
- Aural - which is fundamental to the successful study of each of the areas above.
All students at Pennant Hills High School study Music in Stage 4: Years 7 - 8. Music is offered as an elective in Stage 5: Years 9 - 10 and Stage 6: Years 11 - 12.
Students at Pennant Hills High School have the opportunity to attend 'HSC Encore' and 'Meet the Music' concerts at the Sydney Opera House. Many of our Junior and Senior students attend State Music Camps and are members of state-based ensembles.
Just prior to the commencement of HSC trials, Year 12 Music students are given a performance opportunity in the form of a Musical “Soiree” in order to test their preparedness for their HSC practical exam.
The school also has a proud tradition of presenting outstanding student productions of popular Musicals, including “Annie (2015), “Oliver” (2018), “Matilda” (2020) and “Shrek” (2022).
