Unit Synopsis
Building on your knowledge from Language of Modern Music 1, you will further develop your skills and knowledge of the language of modern music as derived from both the western art-music tradition and contemporary popular music styles. You will study music theory elements covering introductory aspects of pitch, rhythm, pulse, tempo, articulation, harmony and expression. You will apply this knowledge in a range of activities applicable to this study.
Details
| Level | Undergraduate |
|---|---|
| Unit Level | 1 |
| Credit Points | 6 |
| Student Contribution Band | SCA Band 2 |
| Fraction of Full-Time Student Load | 0.125 |
| Pre-requisites or Co-requisites |
Prerequisite: MUSC11405 Language of Modern Music 1 Important note: Students enrolled in a subsequent unit who failed their pre-requisite unit, should drop the subsequent unit before the census date or within 10 working days of Fail grade notification. Students who do not drop the unit in this timeframe cannot later drop the unit without academic and financial liability. See details in the Assessment Policy and Procedure (Higher Education Coursework). |
| Class Timetable | View Unit Timetable |
| Residential School | No Residential School |
Unit Availabilities from Term 1 - 2026
Attendance Requirements
All on-campus students are expected to attend scheduled classes - in some units, these classes are identified as a mandatory (pass/fail) component and attendance is compulsory. International students, on a student visa, must maintain a full time study load and meet both attendance and academic progress requirements in each study period (satisfactory attendance for International students is defined as maintaining at least an 80% attendance record).
Recommended Student Time Commitment
Each 6-credit Undergraduate unit at CQUniversity requires an overall time commitment of an average of 12.5 hours of study per week, making a total of 150 hours for the unit.
Assessment Tasks
| Assessment Task | Weighting |
|---|---|
| 1. Written Assessment | 15% |
| 2. Online Test | 25% |
| 3. Written Assessment | 15% |
| 4. Online Test | 10% |
| 5. Online Test | 35% |
This is a graded unit: your overall grade will be calculated from the marks or grades for each assessment task, based on the relative weightings shown in the table above. You must obtain an overall mark for the unit of at least 50%, or an overall grade of ‘pass’ in order to pass the unit. If any ‘pass/fail’ tasks are shown in the table above they must also be completed successfully (‘pass’ grade). You must also meet any minimum mark requirements specified for a particular assessment task, as detailed in the ‘assessment task’ section (note that in some instances, the minimum mark for a task may be greater than 50%).
Past Exams
All University policies are available on the Policy web site, however you may wish to directly view the following policies below.
This list is not an exhaustive list of all University policies. The full list of policies are available on the Policy web site .
Term 2 - 2025 : The overall satisfaction for students in the last offering of this course was 100.00% (`Agree` and `Strongly Agree` responses), based on a 22.73% response rate.
Feedback, Recommendations and Responses
Every unit is reviewed for enhancement each year. At the most recent review, the following staff and student feedback items were identified and recommendations were made.
Source: Staff relfection
Increase the integration of contemporary genres in the exemplars.
To incorporate more jazz, pop, rock, and electronic music exemplars alongside classical exemplars to ensure relevance to modern musicians.
This feedback has been addressed by updating contemporary texts and industry-relevant jazz, pop, rock, and electronic exemplars alongside classical materials.
Source: Student evaluation feedback
Flexible theory test times
Continue to offer multiple theory test times to cater for students that require flexibility.
The unit has been updated to maintain multiple theory assessment time options, ensuring flexible access for students with varying schedules and learning needs.
Source: Student evaluation
Auralia practice tests
To provide Auralia practice tests during the term.
In Progress
On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:
- Create instrumental parts using music notation software
- Analyse music scores with regard to harmonic, melodic, and rhythmic elements
- Identify pitch, rhythm, keys, scales and chords and melody through aural related tasks
- Apply contemporary music theory relating to pitch, rhythm, keys, scales and harmony.
| Assessment Tasks | Learning Outcomes | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | |
| 1 - Written Assessment | • | |||
| 2 - Online Test | • | |||
| 3 - Written Assessment | • | |||
| 4 - Online Test | • | |||
| 5 - Online Test | • | |||
| Graduate Attributes | Learning Outcomes | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | |
| 1 - Communication | • | • | • | • |
| 2 - Problem Solving | • | • | • | |
| 3 - Critical Thinking | • | • | • | • |
| 6 - Information Technology Competence | • | • | • | |
| Assessment Tasks | Graduate Attributes | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 10 | |
| 1 - Written Assessment | • | • | • | ||||||||
| 2 - Online Test | • | • | • | • | |||||||
| 3 - Written Assessment | • | • | • | ||||||||
| 4 - Online Test | • | • | • | • | |||||||
| 5 - Online Test | • | • | • | • | |||||||