HSC Music 2 case studies

HSC Music 2 · Put your knowledge to work in context.

Music 2 is a NSW Stage 6 (Senior Years 11–12) Creative Arts course published through the NSW Curriculum maintained by the NSW Education Standards Authority. It is designed for senior secondary students in New South Wales who are preparing for the Higher School Certificate, and it suits candidates who want a rigorous, academically demanding music pathway rather than a broadly introductory one. The HSC Music 2 case studies are 5 cases and about 4,514 words.

The Overwritten Aria: Rebalancing a Program Under Time Pressure

A Year 12 Music 2 student has a 12-minute performance program for the HSC trial. The program is: a Baroque aria (4 min), a Romantic piano transcription of a song (3 min), and an own-composition work for voice and piano (5 min).

890 words, about 4 min 2

The Modal Modulation: A Composition Student's Harmonic Dead End

A Music 2 composition student is writing a 4-minute work for string quartet and has reached bar 48. The piece begins in D Dorian, moves to a contrasting section in F Lydian at bar 25, and is intended to return to D Dorian for a recapitulation at bar 60.

958 words, about 5 min 3

The Unmarked Score: Source Criticism in a Musicology Elective

A Music 2 student is preparing a musicology presentation on a short keyboard work from the early nineteenth century. The only score available is a modern reprinted edition with no editorial preface, no source list, and no critical notes.

908 words, about 5 min 4

The Transposed Dictation: Hearing Through a Modulating Melody

In an aural skills class, students hear a four-bar melody played twice on piano. The melody begins on G, uses the notes G–A–B–D–E in the first two bars, then in bars 3–4 introduces F natural and C natural, ending on G.

847 words, about 4 min 5

The Over-Edited Recording: Judging an Own Composition Against the Brief

A Music 2 student submits a 5-minute composition for flute, cello, and percussion, accompanied by a recording. The brief requires: (a) a clear structural contrast between two sections, (b) idiomatic writing for each instrument, and (c) a score that accurately represents the recording.

911 words, about 5 min