QCAA Music Extension case studies
QCAA Music Extension · Put your knowledge to work in context.
Music Extension is a Queensland senior subject for students who have already built a solid foundation in Music and want to work at a deeper, more independent level. It is typically taken in Year 12 alongside the parent Music syllabus, and it suits performers, composers and musicologists who are ready to direct their own work rather than follow a set repertoire list. The QCAA Music Extension case studies are 5 cases and about 2,095 words.
1Choosing an investigation focus under a tight timeline
A student must complete an Investigation and Response task in 9 school weeks (about 27 lessons) worth 20% of the subject result. She plays cello at approximately AMEB Grade 6 and has two competing ideas: (a) a study of how Shostakovich uses the DSCH motif across three movements, and (b) an investigation into how her own practice routine affects intonation accuracy in thumb position.
476 words, about 2 min2Balancing a composition project against performance demands
A student is completing a Performance or Composition project worth 25%. He has composed a 4-minute work for string quartet and wants to add a fifth instrument (bass clarinet) in Week 6 of a 10-week block, arguing it will 'deepen the texture'.
428 words, about 2 min3Using secondary sources without overclaiming
A student is writing a musicology essay on how a 19th-century composer's song cycle reflects contemporary ideas about nature. She has found an online article asserting the composer was 'deeply influenced by Romantic pantheism', a programme note claiming the cycle is 'a spiritual autobiography', and a scholarly book chapter that says the evidence for the composer's philosophical reading is 'thin and largely inferred from the songs themselves'.
421 words, about 2 min4Diagnosing an aural transcription error
In an aural task, a student transcribes a four-bar excerpt played three times. The excerpt is in a minor key, begins on the tonic, and has a syncopated rhythm.
376 words, about 2 min5Programming repertoire that meets stylistic breadth
A student is assembling a 12-minute performance program for assessment. The criteria reward stylistic breadth, technical control, and coherent programming.
394 words, about 2 min