MARCH 2023

Each month we will be sending out a brief update so you are informed of the happenings at RIS MS!  

We will feature a content area each month... Enjoy!

INTRODUCTIONS TO THE PERFORMING ARTS TEAM

Performing Arts are alive and well at RIS. This year marks the return of live performances with audiences at the PAC. Since the beginning of the year, our community has been gathering to celebrate theatre and music at both concerts and school-wide events. Watching students collaborate epitomizes the hands and heart pieces of our POPS. Students involved in the arts report that they feel valued and engaged with their peers, their teachers, and with the community life at RIS.  While students learn techniques of instrumental, choral, and dramatic arts in our courses, the sense of belonging they gain from becoming an indispensable member of an ensemble, and the confidence they gain from performing together, is the real magic of our classes. Read on to learn more about what we’ve been up to this year! 

Choral 

If you love to sing, play, laugh, and learn music with others, then choir is a great place for you to be. RIS middle school choirs are having a great year under the direction of new teacher, Ms Jenn. With an emphasis on developing strong vocal skills while singing interesting music with a contemporary and global scope, students have enjoyed practicing and performing together around the school. Middle school musicians are welcome in the choir room all year long for Choir 6, 7, and 8 classes as well as during Focus Block for Pop Ensemble and Folk Harmonic where we sing while playing a variety of instruments.We look forward to collaborating with ES and HS students this spring for assemblies, a song writing project, and for a concert with the MS bands in May. Singing is for everyone and our voices continue to add to community celebrations and spirit. 

Band 

The 6th-8th Grade Band program is having an awesome year!  At RIS, students begin band together in 6th Grade.  This is when students select instruments and begin to learn to play.  The RIS Middle School Bands feature flutes, clarinets and bass clarinets, alto, tenor and bari saxes, oboe, bassoon, trumpet, trombone, euphonium, tuba, and percussion.  

In December, we presented our Winter Concert featuring each grade level of band.  Our concert showcased the beginners both playing their first note, and performing a variety of short songs including “Theme from Star Wars”.  The Seventh Grade wowed the audience with their energy with “Dragon Slayer,”and sophistication with “Themes from the Nutcracker.”  The Eighth Grade’s collective humor, depth, friendship, and musicality showed with their song selections, “Black Forest Overture” and “Brazilian Sleigh Bells.”

Before break came, we even snuck in some caroling where we wore festive decorations and “Decked the Halls” (or breezeway” for some Elementary Classes.

February 17th, the 6th - 8th Grade Bands performed for Elementary School students.  Their program featured “Theme from Jurassic Park,” “The Wellerman” and many other short tunes which showcased the sound of each instrument as well as each section in the band.  

We are having an AWESOME year making music together.  Come see us in action!

Our Spring Concert will take place on Thursday, May 18th at 1:30 p.m. in the PAC.

Theater 

Drama is offered in all three grade levels, where students develop and refine performance skills, acting techniques, and general theatre knowledge and vocabulary. Drama provides students with a variety of opportunities to explore and develop their creativity, imagination, and self-expression. Students experience the processes of creating, rehearsing, performing, and responding to a wide range of dramatic literature, themes, contexts, and styles that nurture curiosity, risk-taking, innovation, critical thinking, problem solving, communication, and collaboration.

In the first semester, Grade 7 students worked in an ensemble to create several presentations that they performed in class and at a lunchtime assembly.  In the second semester, Grade 6 and Grade 8 students are developing acting and improvisation skills to continue their ensemble work.  All grades levels will have a culminating performance that will be presented for an audience.  

There was also a Flex Block Drama group in the first semester called the “555 Club” that specialized in practicing Improvisational Comedy and performed a variety of comic skits in the HS Breezeway in December.