The IB Music syllabus, with its broad scope and lack of clear focus, can often leave students feeling confused and anxious. Worry no more! In this guide, we’ll break down everything you need to know to master the syllabus and excel in your studies.

The IB takes a holistic approach to teaching music, meaning that your school teacher plays a key role in shaping the course. While teachers are given a great deal of flexibility, the IB does provide some guidelines for structuring the curriculum. In this post, we’ll explore those guidelines to help you better understand how the course is designed.

The IB Music syllabus is made up of three core components:

For Higher Level (HL) students, there is an additional component that dives deeper into modern-day musical creation, called The Contemporary Music Maker .

Music

Syllabus components

This component is about learning how music fits into different cultures, time periods, and settings. You’ll listen to and study a variety of music styles , from classical to folk, pop, jazz, and world music. The goal is to understand how music reflects the society it comes from and how it has changed over time.

Exploring music in context

This component focuses on creativity. You’ll experiment with new ideas, techniques, and styles, either by composing your own music or by improvising and performing. The goal is to explore unfamiliar areas of music.

Experimenting with music

This part of the course is where you’ll showcase what you’ve learned by performing or composing music. It’s about presenting your skills and creativity, through live performances and creating original compositions that reflect your development as a musician.

Presenting music

For HL students, there is an additional component called The Contemporary Music Maker, which focuses on collaboration and innovation within the context of contemporary music-making . This task encourages students to engage with modern musical practices, blending technology, creativity, and collaboration to produce innovative projects.

The contemporary music maker

Areas of inquiry

Music for sociocultural and political expression

Music for listening and performance

Music for dramatic impact, movement and entertainment

Music technology in the electronic and digital age

2 Music for listening and performance | IB Music Syllabus

Extended Essay

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French A (Lang & Lit)

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Chinese A (Lang & Lit)

Dutch A (Lang & Lit)

German A (Lang & Lit)

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Italian A (Lang & Lit)

Japanese A (Lang & Lit)

Korean A (Lang & Lit)

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Portuguese A (Lang & Lit)

Russian A (Lang & Lit)

Swedish A (Lang & Lit)

Thai A (Lang & Lit)

Vietnamese A (Lang & Lit)

English A (Lit)

French A (Lit)

Spanish A (Lit)

Arabic A (Lit)

Catalan A (Lit)

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Czech A (Lit)

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Dutch A (Lit)

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Malay A (Lit)

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Norwegian A (Lit)

Polish A (Lit)

Russian A (Lit)

Swedish A (Lit)

Turkish A (Lit)

Ukrainian A (Lit)

Vietnamese A (Lit)

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Spanish B

Arabic B

Chinese B

Danish B

Dutch B

German B

Hindi B

Indonesian B

Italian B

Japanese B

Malay B

Norwegian B

Portuguese B

Russian B

Swedish B

Tamil B

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French ab initio

Spanish ab initio

Arabic ab initio

Danish ab initio

Dutch ab initio

German ab initio

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Italian ab initio

Japanese ab initio

Russian ab initio

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Music for listening and performance

Syllabus concepts to know