The Music/performing arts curriculum builds music literacy and instills music appreciation. Students approach both vocal and instrumental music and they give performances for parents and students. There is a small dance component to the music/performing arts curriculum.
The aims of MYP Arts are to encourage and enable students to:
create and present art
develop skills specific to the discipline
engage in a process of creative exploration and (self-)discovery
make purposeful connections between investigation and practice
understand the relationship between art and its contexts
respond to and reflect on art
deepen their understanding of the world.
MYP command terms define a range of learning objectives and assessment criteria in MYP subject groups. These instructional verbs indicate the level of thinking and type of performance (or behaviour) that is required of students. They are closely related to general and subject-specific ATL skills, and they make explicit a shared academic vocabulary that informs teaching and learning.
Investigating
Through the study of theorists and practitioners of the arts, students discover the aesthetics of art forms and are able to analyse and communicate in specialised language. Using explicit and tacit knowledge alongside an understanding of the role of the arts in a global context, students inform their work and artistic perspectives.Developing
The acquisition and development of skills provide the opportunity for active participation in the art form and in the process of creating art. Skill application allows students to develop their artistic ideas to a point of realisation. The point of realisation could take many forms. However, it is recognised as the moment when the student makes a final commitment to his or her artwork by presenting it to an audience. Skills are evident in both process and product.Creating/Performing
The arts motivate students to develop curiosity and purposefully explore and challenge boundaries. Thinking creatively encourages students to explore the unfamiliar and experiment in innovative ways to develop their artistic intentions, their processes and their work. Thinking creatively enables students to discover their personal signature and realise their artistic identity.Evaluating
Students should have the opportunity to respond to their world, to their own art and to the art of others. A response can come in many forms; creating art as a response encourages students to make connections and transfer their learning to new settings. Through reflecting on their artistic intention and the impact of their work on an audience and on themselves, students become more aware of their own artistic development and the role that arts play in their lives and in the world. Students learn that the arts may initiate change as well as being a response to change.Subject groups must address all strands of all four objectives at least twice in each year of the MYP.