Performing Arts (PERF)
In this unit, students will develop their performance skills through participating in three modularised workshops. The first two workshops will run in parallel with each other and will be rotated: module 1 will focus on improvisation; and module 2 will focus on (western or non-western) music from an oral tradition. Module 3 will then extend students' skills in reading and arranging music, utilising their preferred performing media (voice or instrument). In this third module, they will perform set technical tasks (such as scales and arpeggios) and, in groups, they will arrange and perform one set piece of music from a basic notated score, and they will choose, arrange and perform another piece. They will perform one piece chosen from modules 1, 2, or 3 in a public venue on campus. The unit will also introduce basic music business skills, such as how to advertise and mount a public performance.
Students will extend their performance skills acquired in Music Performance 1 through participating in three modularised workshops. The first two workshops will run in parallel with each other and will be rotated: module 1 will focus on free and notated improvisation; and module 2 will focus on choral performance. Module 3 will extend the skills of reading and arranging music in students' preferred performing media (voice or instrument). In this module, they will perform set technical tasks (such as scales and arpeggios), adding to the skills acquired in Music Performance 1 and, continuing to work in small groups, they will arrange and perform one set piece of music from a basic notated score, and choose, arrange and perform another piece that is different from the music performed in Music Performance 1. They will perform one piece chosen from modules 1, 2, or 3 in a public venue on campus. The unit will also introduce music business skills, such as how to publicise and mount a performance, and how to upload a sample of work to YouTube.
PERF 1010
This unit presents an overview of the basic concepts and applications of electronic and digital music production technology in current music and media arts practice. Students will learn the fundamentals of musical acoustics, stereo recording and mixing techniques, and they will be introduced to MIDI systems and sequencing. Technical concepts are contextualised within a survey of current music production practice.
This unit introduces basic theoretical knowledge such as scales, intervals, chords and progressions. It provides musicianship training in aural, reading and keyboard skills and an introduction to Finale software. Students will learn to analyse harmony and to compose melodies and simple chordal accompaniments in song and theme and variation forms. Keyboard and aural classes will build on the theoretical content presented in lectures.
Students will explore some of the most significant trajectories of popular music of the last 100 years. Each week will look a different facet of popular music history, stretching from the stars of the early years of the recorded music industry to the development of electronic dance music. The unit will touch upon folk, jazz, blues, rock, soul, funk, pop, disco, metal, punk, and hip hop to offer a necessarily incomplete tapestry of music scenes, chains of influence, and theories on the points of origin of styles and genres. Concepts that will be investigated include the relationship of recording and dissemination technologies with popular music creation; the notion of a "mainstream" and its margins; and the idea of a grand narrative of popular music history, including the problems of canonicity.
This unit explores a range of musical works, styles, genres and composers from the Middle Ages to the twenty-first century. It shows how music evolved through the centuries, suggesting that stylistic changes are linked to innovative musical thinking on the one hand and conformity to established practices on the other. The unit asks how and why different genres and styles in different periods in western art music history come to the foreground while others recede into the background. Within a socio-historical context, the unit investigates the practices that produce musical innovation and considers how the various historical epochs have shaped our understanding of music. The unit includes some rudimentary music analysis and key terminologies and music vocabularies.
This unit studies harmony and musical techniques used in a variety of styles, and applies these in the development of song-writing and composition skills. Keyboard and aural classes include practical musicianship training related to the lectures.
PERF 1015 OR
PERF 1001
The unit builds on the conceptual and practical work presented in Music Production, deepening students' understanding of technology in contemporary music and media arts practice. Students will study the digital field recording for sound design and composition, the basic principles of sound synthesis procedures and musical acoustics, and creative sound design and synthesiser patch editing. Technical concepts are contextualised within a critical survey of contemporary music and sound design practice.
PERF 1014
This unit introduces concepts and skills necessary to arrange music in popular-commercial and orchestral contexts. Lectures provide background on the use of instruments, harmony, timbre and texture, and tutorials provide practical exercises in preparation for the assignments.
PERF 2004
This unit provides students with a firm grasp of creative principles and practical experience in the range of compositional techniques and skills required as a composer within a range of commonly employed artistic media and genres (classical, world, popular and avant-garde styles). These skills will provide the basis for professional compositional activity. Students will cover creative and technical issues with reference to a wide range of genres to stimulate across boundary thinking towards personal voice within lectures and tutorials. Practical workshops using compositional principles through student improvisation within creative groups will provide sonic demonstration of compositional ideas. The assessments will include both notated scores and recordings (improvisations; one notated score), in keeping with the Internet distribution age.
PERF 1015
This unit will provide students with an understanding of the historical framing and cultural re-framing of Indigenous Australians in the live arts. Students will be provided with a theoretical understanding of the politics of representation through examining and reflecting on the transitional shifts that Indigenous artists' have made from: cultural performance to theatre productions; 'traditional' storytelling to telling of stories through poetry and writing; ceremonial sounds to music and spoken word performance; documentary film to screen based drama to exploring new technologies and moving image performance. Students will be introduced to a variety of Indigenous artists and their creative works.
This unit replaces 101521- Collaboration and Live Music Performance. Through a series of lectures and workshops, students will pursue two main threads of practical study imperative to any working musician. The first is collaboration, which will be practised in workshops (with repertoire determined by lecturers) and probed in a written task. The second area of study is the development of a suite of onstage skills and strategies including physical gesture, audience communication and facility with musical equipment.
This unit looks at the psychosocial importance of music to our wellbeing throughout our lives and during each day. Delivered in a lectorial format (lecture with practical activities throughout), the unit explores the relationship between music and the body, mind, emotions, mood, memory, communication and creativity from experimental studies through to practice-based evidence. This unit is not necessarily about performing music, although some music making will take place. Rather, it is focused on how music can improve our wellbeing throughout our lives. The ideas and approaches discussed are important across the humanities, the social sciences and the health sciences, as well as to musicians who are looking to use their music in the therapeutic context.
In 2022 this unit replaced by 102858 - Musicology as a Professional Practice. This unit builds a critical theoretical foundation for music while preparing students for more advanced musicological studies. It examines cultural theories, focusing on theories of authorship, identity, discourse, corporeality, aesthetics, and power, and their relationship to music. It explores the intersection of music with technology, considers how musical taste is formed, and looks at the ways in which institutional practices shape music and musicians. It considers the relationships to music of the overarching paradigms of humanism and post-humanism, liberalism and neo-liberalism, and modernism and postmodernism. Completing this unit will teach students how to critically evaluate music, to recognise how power functions in music's historical narratives, and to question the assumptions on which these narratives are based. It provides students with a broadly informed view of current issues in contemporary music practice.
Music is a means through which people create, socialise, consume, disseminate information, engage in power relationships, and agitate for political and social change. People form communities from their shared musical tastes and interests, and hierarchies are formed around particular kinds of music. Music can symbolise and facilitate solidarity, and expresses identity in ways that transcend physical boundaries. This unit examines popular music communities in a variety of contexts, from the local to the global to the virtual. It explores the functions and uses of music that commonly inform human activity, while also considering how these functions and uses have been articulated through recent changes in technology.
Students are required to both perform and compose in this unit. While students may choose to perform their own work, this unit also offers the opportunity for students to experience the particular challenges and rewards offered by the close collaboration entailed in both sides of the composer/performer interface. Each student will choose a balance of performance and composition tasks appropriate to her/his specific musical path. The unit presents basic compositional techniques and canvasses issues regarding the composer/performer relationship through a series of lectures, tutorials and workshops. Students will also continue to develop their event administration skills.
The Musical will involve the examination of the history and development of the stage musical in its social and cultural context. The unit will also explore the structure of the musical as a 'text' and performance genre, looking closely at narrative structure, the structure of songs and the construction of character types and interaction. 'The Musical' will also involve students in the critical analysis of the representation of gender and race in the stage musical.
In 2020 this unit replaced by 102762 - World Music. The unit explores the histories and politics that have shaped the development of Australian music from 1788 to the present day. It critically engages with the historical narrative that perpetuates the dominance of white, post-settler composers and musicians, asking what mechanisms have given rise to some music becoming silenced. How have post-settler musicians approached indigenous music as a challenge that is both aesthetic and ethical? In what ways does the diverse make-up of the Australian population since the mid-twentieth century erode the sharp distinction between the indigenous and the non-indigenous populations in music? Completing this unit will teach students how to critically evaluate Australian music history, to recognise the power of the dominant historical narrative, and to question the assumptions on which it is based. The unit is framed by Attali's theory of noise, which shows how the production, performance, and consumption of music are linked with power and order in society, and introduces Bourdieu's field theory.
In 2022 this unit replaced by 102854 - The Music Industry. This unit builds on concepts and practical work from Music Production and Sound Design. It prepares students creatively and technically to undertake self-directed technology-based projects as composers, sound designers and producers. Students will study professional-level sound studios, multi-track, hard disk recording systems, critical listening, and principles of sonic composition and studio production. Students will propose and complete a major studio-based creative project.
PERF 1018 OR
PERF 1025
In Spring 2022 this unit replaced by 102855 - Music Project 1: Multimedia. This unit will develop digital literacy in electronic music production. Students will acquire an understanding of the fundamental principles of digital and electronic music systems in the context of practical projects with computer-music hardware and software. Students will propose and complete a number of projects based on current trends in electronic music. Engagement in this unit will enhance students' analytical and practical problem-solving skills alongside knowledge of contemporary electronic music production.
This unit examines music from diverse cultures, such as African, Latin American, Middle Eastern, Asian, and the Australia-Oceania region, focusing on the performance, production, and transmission of contemporary fusion music. It explores the cultural-political ways in which the West represents world music as a commodity and considers how the music is inflected with notions of identity, modernity, globalisation, displacement and migration. It charts the ways in which, as a social practice, world music engages politics to promote change, giving voice to marginalised groups. Students will have the opportunity to perform selected rhythms from different cultures. Additionally, they will learn elements of music theory that pertain to the cultures studied in the unit.
In small groups, students will develop a creative music/sound and multimedia project. The multimedia aspects can include any thematically linked subset of video, art, text, lighting, digital technology and installations, sound spatialisation, or algorithmic sound/music generation. Students will learn how to integrate music and sound with multimedia; develop their skills in digital audio and video software and digital technology. Students will gain experience in collaborating on a creative project and contextualising and promoting their work within a broader cultural context. The teaching material comprises pre-recorded lectures and guided workshops, which can be undertaken on campus or online.
This unit offers the opportunity for students to apply musicological skills and knowledge to real-world contexts, such as writing program notes, music reviews, and blogs, researching and retrieving music repertories for performance in various ensemble configurations, researching, analysing and critically writing about music from a range of genres, and adopting key analytical strategies for considering music in its cultural, intercultural and historical contexts. The teaching materials and content in this unit will be designed to closely align with and support the practical projects being chosen and designed by students in two project units (1 and 3) in the Bachelor of Music. The unit will provide students with a broadly informed view of current issues in music practice.
PERF 2018 - Music Culture and Discourse
In this unit students will be given an overview of the music industry, applying music industry theory to real-life situations, and working on real-world projects such as creating a unique image for an artist or band, and promoting and marketing a live gig. Responsibilities, and the pros and cons of going solo or working as a group will be explored together with income generation through record sales, live performance, song publishing, merchandise, and sponsorship. Other aspects, such as artist management, copyright, and contracts, will be covered along with the independent musician and new DIY models for the fast-paced, high-tech world of the future.
This unit assists you in developing your musical competency with a view to applications in education and therapy, since particular types of music skills and applied competencies are required for music teachers and music therapists as they work with students and clients. If you want to develop your musical skills to engage more actively in musical interaction with people, then this is the unit for you! This very practically oriented unit explores applied music literacy and aspects of using music as a tool within the social/educational context, engaging you in vocal, guitar, piano/keyboard and aural activities, as taught by experienced music therapy and education staff. This unit helps you expand your musical potential and career options, supporting you in developing skills to set you up for success in entering your chosen field of study, completing your studies and ultimately being career-ready for your future in the musical context.
What music careers were sustainable in the past? How has the music industry changed over the last 3 decades? What would sustainable music careers look like in the future? Students will work on research projects that focus on music careers and the music industry. They will gain a good understanding of the careers available in music, including the qualifications and skills needed for jobs in music. They will also evaluate the research focused on music careers, including assessing the currency of websites that provide lists of music careers. Students will evaluate the degree to which the Bachelor of Music learning outcomes sufficiently prepare graduates for their chosen careers. Students will be introduced to a range of relevant methodologies. They will be expected to propose a topic, report on the progress of their research, retrieve and critically evaluate an appropriate literature for their project, and discuss the methods intended or used for their data collection and analysis.
Analysis enables students to acquire a deep and rich understanding of music. This unit will focus on the formal designs, rhythmic, melodic and harmonic structures of notated music, and the structures, contexts and processes of non-notated music. It will include notated and recorded music from the popular song traditions, as well as studio recordings, electronic music and improvisation. It will consider the strengths, weaknesses and cultural biases of various modes of analysis, including the use of musical notation. Students will learn to apply these methods in lectures and tutorials.
Music and Critical Thought considers definitions of music and how music is constituted. It asks how we encounter and experience music, and what makes a piece of music aesthetically pleasing and who decides. It asks whether the meanings attributed to music are as much intrinsic as they are cultural. The unit considers emotions and feelings in music, and why we would listen to music if it makes us feel sad. When music is used as an instrument of torture is it still music? How do we view the composer in the musical work? Where does creativity reside in a musical work? Is there a difference between musical thinking and thinking about music? Is music representational or immanent or both? Is music political? The unit provides an historical overview of the important debates and considers the poststructuralist critique of these debates. Students will design a question chosen from the topics covered in the unit, and retrieve and critically evaluate the appropriate literature for their project.
In 2022 this unit replaced by 102859 - Performing as a Professional Musician. Repertoire and Identity in Performance is the third year unit that completes the Music Performance major and sub-major. It gives students the opportunity to conceptualise, perform and feature in a 20-minute project in a concert setting. It is expected that the preceding five semesters of music performance study will be drawn upon to give a cohesive performance that resonates with each student's particular musical identity. A written task, supported by a series of lectures, will encourage students to consider constructions of identity in their own performances and those of others. Through a series of workshops, students will receive feedback on their work in progress from their lecturer and colleagues, completing a circle of practice and critical engagement.
PERF 3025 OR
PERF 3007
This unit is the final stage in the Composition and Music Production sub-major sequences. The unit is also available to Media Arts Production and Creative Industries students. The unit aims to prepare students creatively and technically to undertake self-directed sound composition projects for screen media. The areas to be examined include: sound studio techniques, mix processing for sound recording and screen media, an introduction to surround audio techniques, sound composition (score-based and/or sound-scape) for screen, film spotting for sound, audio-visual interactions, and professional communication/pitching of sound composition proposals. Each student produces a complete sound-composition for screen package including sound composition, sound recording, screen media product (including film), and promotional documentation and samples.
This unit extends on the creative principles and practical experience in the range of compositional techniques and skills in the preceding unit Composition and Creativity. It will have two focuses: songwriting in both popular and art-music traditions to allow for the exploration of lyrics/texts; and composer collaborations with large scores for film, photography and dance. Students will work in a wide variety of commonly-employed artistic media and genres at a higher level than in the preceding unit. They will acquire the ability to write for larger instrumental combinations in cross-artform collaborations and songwriting skills. Practical workshops using compositional principles through student improvisation within creative groups will provide sonic demonstration of compositional ideas in relation to songwriting and other media. The assessments will include both notated scores (with visual media options) and recordings (improvisation; one notated score), in keeping with the Internet distribution age.
PERF 2004
In 2022 this unit replaced by 102857 - Music Project 3: Intercultural Interactions. This unit provides students with the opportunity for industry experience in applied professional contexts. Activities such as performance, composition, teaching, sound engineering, music administration and other industry-related work will occur in integrated learning contexts and/or placement opportunities. This unit also provides training in music business and personal branding, and allows students to work as individuals or in groups, to bring together and build on skills and knowledge developed through their degree.
In 2022 this unit replaced by 102856 - Music Project 2: Creative Performance. In this unit, students will plan, prepare and perform a substantial artistically and technically challenging performance project as featured artist. Students are required to expand their performance practice by utilising electroacoustic media and/or multimedia. The repertory will be self-directed and devised in consultation with the lecturer. Students will be exposed to current digital performance and interface technologies for software and hardware instruments, and real-time digital audio processing.
In small groups, students will plan, prepare, and perform a substantial artistically and technically challenging live performance project. Students' performance practices will be expanded by integrating any thematically linked subset of software, hardware (controllers and synths), video and other multimedia, stagecraft, lighting, spatialisation, algorithms, theory, and improvisation. Students will learn how to integrate music and sound with multimedia and technology; develop their skills in digital audio software and interactive technology; gain experience of working collaboratively on a creative project; and contextualise their work within a broader cultural context. The teaching material comprises pre-recorded lectures and guided workshops, which are undertaken on campus.
This unit provides students with the opportunity for industry experience in applied professional contexts, which include collaboration with musicians and ensembles from diverse communities in relation to the UN cultural diversity mandate. Activities such as performance, composition, teaching, sound engineering, music administration and other industry-related work will occur in integrated learning contexts and/or placement opportunities that have practical creative or project management outcomes. This unit provides training in music business and personal branding, and allows students to work as individuals or in groups to build on skills and knowledge developed through their degree.
Performance as a Professional Musician builds upon preceding units in the Performance sub-major to equip students for performance opportunities in real-world environments. Subject matter canvassed includes arrangement and interpretation, real-world writing about performance, stagecraft and event production. With the guidance of the unit coordinator/tutors, vetted through a professional project proposal process, students will prepare and mount a 30-minute performance project as featured performer. The type of repertoire, instrumentation and personnel will be up to the student and will reflect acquired strengths and aspirations. Through a workshop process, students will be encouraged to refine their performance and to further develop their capacity to give colleagues measured and constructive feedback. Short written tasks reflect real-world expectations of the professional musician in the form of project proposal, program note and festival pitch.
Music Therapy Method provides a background to the historical development and theoretical underpinnings of music therapy, with focus on a broad range of music therapy approaches and orientations including Culture-Centred Music Therapy and Nordoff-Robbins Music Therapy. Human development through the lifespan is studied, along with an overview of disability and disorders. The fundamental principles of self-care and supervision for music therapy practitioners and students are introduced within this unit and continued in later units of the Master of Creative Music Therapy course.
This unit introduces students to research principles and research proposal development as relevant to evaluation and small projects within music therapy clinical practice in a wide range of settings. The unit engages students in reflective practice and critical thinking processes for effective music therapy practice. Multidisciplinary and interprofessional issues are addressed. Professional practice issues are taught and discussed including ethics, standards of practice, self-care, professional supervision, and the music therapy work workplace. The unit provides students with resources and experience with regard to professional presentation and writing skills. The unit is delivered within a lectorial format.
This unit focuses on the delivery of music therapy to infants, children and adolescents with various approaches and settings being explored across the semester. There is an emphasis on the eclectic music therapy approach and how current psychotherapy approaches, practice approaches and music therapy approaches can be successfully combined to meet the therapeutic needs of the music therapy participant/s. An introduction to music therapy research, with particular attention to writing a literature review, is included. The Australian Music Therapy Association (AMTA) standards of practice are overviewed and explored through active group work. In addition, musical analysis, teamwork approaches, creative arts therapy models and group work in music therapy are also explored.
This unit develops skills within the second year of the Master of Creative Music Therapy to understand the aetiology and treatment of a wide range of clinical conditions and diverse needs affecting adult clients, including applications to aged care, mental health, palliative care and music medicine. The role of emotions in therapy and verbal counselling skills are addressed within the time available. This unit draws on evidence and examples from music therapy and related fields, supporting students in developing applied critical thinking approaches and gathering knowledge in a systematic manner culminating in a systematic literature review. In addition, students are introduced to abstract writing and beginning information for research proposal development.
This unit focuses on the development of therapeutic music skills to support the delivery of music therapy to individual and group participants ranging in age from infants to the elderly. Students learn, practice and demonstrate a diverse range of skill sets that can be applied within their SiMPrac field work or Practicum Placement as appropriate. This unit utilises active learning methods within a lectorial format and addresses focus areas including: methods; goals; technology; culture and improvisation.
This unit focuses on the development of therapeutic music skills to support the delivery of music therapy to participants ranging in age from infants to the elderly. Students practice and demonstrate a diverse range of skill sets that can then be applied within their practicum placement as a major component of this unit. Considerations when planning and delivering individual and group programs are explored, along with technology, composition and cultural issues within music therapy. This unit utilises active learning techniques within a lectorial format.
This unit focuses on the development of therapeutic music skills to support the delivery of music therapy to individual and group participants ranging in age from infants to the elderly. Students learn, practice and demonstrate a diverse range of skill sets that can be applied within their SiMPrac field work or Practicum Placement as appropriate. This unit utilises active learning methods within a lectorial format and addresses focus areas including: methods; goals; technology; culture and improvisation.
This unit focuses on the development of therapeutic music skills to support the delivery of music therapy to participants ranging in age from infants to the elderly. Students practice and demonstrate a diverse range of skill sets that can then be applied within their practicum placement as a major component of this unit. Considerations when planning and delivering individual and group programs are explored, along with technology, written case study report writing and cultural issues within music therapy. This unit utilises active learning techniques within a lectorial format.