Assessment Type 2: Explorations (40%)

Students develop and extend their understanding of music by:

• exploring how music is made
• exploring musical styles, influences, and/or techniques
• experimenting with styles and techniques, based on their findings and discoveries
• synthesising their findings in a presentation and commentary.

Students provide evidence of their learning in a portfolio that comprises:

• a presentation of a set of short performances, compositions, and/or other musical products (for example, digital uploads; DJ set recording; the features of an original, handcrafted musical instrument)
• a commentary on the processes of exploration and experimentation that they have used, and their key findings.

The set of short performances should be presented to a live audience. All performances must be recorded, and the set of performances should be between 8 and 10 minutes.

Note: In performances, students may present their work(s) on an instrument or an electronic performance triggering device. Students who perform using loop pedal, MIDI sequencing, or digital audio work station live may choose to double their performance with instruments.

A set of compositions should be between 4 and 6 minutes. Compositions may be produced in a digital format or as an audio recording, using a form of contemporary music notation appropriate to the style.

A crafted musical instrument should demonstrate playability and range of expression, in 3 to 4 minutes.

The commentary that accompanies the portfolio should be a maximum of 6 minutes if oral, 1000 words if written, or the equivalent in multimodal form.

For this assessment type, students provide evidence of their learning primarily in relation to the following assessment design criteria:

• understanding music
• exploring and experimenting with music
• responding to music.