Central to the course are the three interacting dimensions of listening, composing and performing. Integral to these dimensions is the literature of music. Within the course, all three dimensions incorporate problem solving, higher-order thinking skills and expressive responses. Listening is the process of audition that involves understanding and finding meaning in music. Aural perception, the associated notational skills and the development of inner hearing are central to this dimension, which also encompasses visual and aural analysis of a wide and varied repertoire and promotes an appreciation of music.
Composing is the planned creation of music.
Usually there is a communicable record made of the composition. Improvising produces new musical inventions in circumstances constrained only by the needs of immediacy and fluency. Performing is musical behaviour that displays musical skills. It involves playing, singing, conducting, improvising, accompanying and moving. Often there is an audience for whom the music is creatively enacted and from whom an appreciative response is sought.