Spotlight on the Performing Arts

By: The Student Life Department

Art

All art minors start at a different individual level and the skill level present in individuals does not change anything about the class. All students have the same projects but the finished product is where the talent variations of students vary. Projects may slightly vary between grades along with due dates but the projects are mostly the same. After a project, students fill out a reflection sheet going over key parts of a project and asking the student how they think they did on it. Art majors have more project options and instead have a yearlong course with more opportunities. We are doing many things with blending

Dance

Everyone learns ballet and modern dance but 8th graders are the only ones doing musical dancing to add on to this.

6th grade minors The 6th grade is just starting yoga and is learning the different kinds of stretches. They were also learning about yoga. They are learning about the history of jazz and the positions. The 6th grade minors have even started choreographing their own jazz solo dances. At the Fall Dance Concert, 6th grade B group performed Rather Be and 6th grade A group performed Crazy.

7th grade minors are doing modern dance and expanding their knowledge about it. They are also learning more about people like Martha Graham and Alvin Ailey. At the Fall Dance Concert, they performed Feel Alive.

7th grade majors have just finished lots of dances and finished performing them at Performing Arts Day, the dance concert, and the band concert (which all went well!). They are now starting a unit on Ballet, the biggest unit in the whole year. At the Fall Dance Concert they performed Us Against the World.

8th grade minors are learning to turn movement into dance and learning different types of dance. They are currently doing abstract dance and the units they finished are ballet, jazz, and modern dance. For modern dance, they needed to explain the meaning behind the dance and why the costume was important. At the Fall Dance Concert, they performed Love Lockdown.

8th grade majors have worked with the band to perform Fragile, they have also worked on other pieces. They also participated in GCS Dance Day with high schools from across the county and performed their two main pieces, Fragile and Game of Love.

Theater

The 6th graders are acting in duologues which are monologues for two people.

The 7th & 8th grade majors are working on acting, displaying emotion, annunciating, character building, . They were learning about monologues and duologues along with the 6th graders. They had a performance at an NC Junior Thespian Festival and a “thespy” is a short scene, a board about a set, or a costume board. If you chose to do a scene your acting skills were put to use and could develop. If you did play writing then you would learn to give depth to characters and make the script more meaningful. Then they learned audience etiquette when watching other performances. They have units on costume design and stage makeup coming up for the rest of the year. Cast and Crew are also working on “Beetlejuice”, their spring musical. Their learning targets vastly helped with their character-building lessons and emotional portrayal which have improved our performances. They have also improved their play writing skills by tweaking their lines less with their practice.

On top: Our most recent musical: Junie B. Jones for Theater majors.

Below is a musical we did over the summer: The Little Mermaid jr

Modern Music

Modern Music production is a fairly recent class, and it was not added too long ago. While orchestra and band focus on specific instruments, Modern Music Production instead takes all the common instruments and sort of puts them in a group. Some examples of instruments that we play are the guitar, drums, bass, and more. Every few weeks, Modern Music hosts something called an “Open Mic.” Open Mic is an occasion where a bunch of students come together, some to watch the performances, and some to perform. These students can register, however, after a while, completely new performances are accepted. In Modern Music, we are currently learning about how to create and replay songs, and also about different chords, and how to make them on different instruments. We are also working on drums, and how we can make different simple beats on them.

Band

In 8th grade, band students are split up into two classes, the advanced class and the standard level class. The advanced class is a selected mix of the top students of each instrument. The music played is harder and expectations are higher. The standard level also plays interesting pieces although they do not require as much work to master.

Some pieces that are currently being learned and soon to be performed at the upcoming fall concert include The Tell-Tale Heart, a composition based on the poem sharing the same name by Edgar Allan Poe, Fragile, a piece in the UnBroken project which focuses on mental health, Defying Gravity, a band arrangement based on the popular song from the musical Wicked, and Santa Meets Sousa, a piece mixing Christmas and marching band music from John Philips Sousa.

In 6th grade band the students are learning to play their instruments and reading music. They are working out of the Standard of Excellence book and learning the first three notes, in concert pitch: Bb, C and D. They will have their winter concert after Winter Break.

Orchestra

6th graders are currently focusing on correct intonation and technique. The 6th-grade orchestra is using Essential Elements for Strings, Book 1, and is progressing through note-reading and note identification. Recently, they are beginning to play folk songs and understand music theory. 6th grade orchestra has also received their official sheet music.

The 7th grade orchestra has recently participated in the Performing Arts where they performed the Kerfunken Jig and Swallowtail Jig. Also, they have been working on 6/8 time and dotted quarter notes. Their pieces for Carowinds are Sleeper's Wake, Afterburn, and Ventus.

Currently, the 8th grade orchestra is also working on their pieces for Carowinds, Sleeper's Wake, Afterburn and Ventus with an additional piece. There is an intense debate about the last thing they should play.

Piano

The piano is a self-paced class so each person does something different and isn’t specific to your grade level. They all will learn notes and rhythms and pieces but the more advanced students will play more advanced pieces. The notes and rhythms they learn help them compose their pieces, which is called the composition project. Beginners have to use C Major, E Major, or G major but advanced students can use different keys and rhythms.

Chorus

In Chorus, they learn to sight-read notes and the rhythm scale, both following and not following the scale (do, re, mi, fa, so, la, ti, do). They are also working on their concert pieces. Everyone got a sneak peek at one of their pieces for the concert, which was the medley of Defying Gravity and Go the Distance.

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