Program Updates – Art and Music – November 2024
Art:
The art room is buzzing with creative energy. The 6th grade have completed their Elements of Art book and made covers using a faux rice paper watercolor technique. Last week we started a unit on Egypt. We watched videos of ancient art and architecture then started planning our patterns and designs for a black and gold scratch art project. We’ll also be writing hieroglyphics on actual papyrus!
In 7th grade, we finished up a project inspired by Surrealism. We made collages from magazine images to emphasize our new vocabulary: juxtaposition, scale, and transformation. We made sure to include these elements in our artworks. This week we’ll be adhering colorful glass tiles into plexiglass (in a picture frame) and then applying grout to create beautiful mosaics inspired by artist Alma Thomas and architect Frank Lloyd Wright.
The artists in 8th grade continue to explore and experiment with supplies and tools in the altered book project; the amount of originality is truly inspiring with this class! The books have grown from blank flat surfaces into 3-D explosions of color and texture.
In other art news: Paint handprints have been a popular theme and even Barbara got in on the action! Meanwhile, in the art club, we’ve been having lots of fun with a variety of arts and crafts including these painted rocks. This week we’ll be learning about embroidery. As usual, the art room at lunch is an open studio and students have a great time pursuing their artistic interests with their friends.
Music:
6th Grade Band and Orchestra:
6th grade has been working on reading and playing quarter notes, quarter rests, half notes, half rests, whole notes, and whole rests and identifying pitches in their correct clef. They have been working on playing with their stand partner, as an entire ensemble, and as a soloist. Last week in music, students began in class mini performances. This is where students picked a selection out of their music book, practiced it on their own, and then one by one came up to the front of the class, introduced themselves, and played their selection. It was such a joy to see students taking on the challenge of playing an instrument in front of their class and how supportive their classmates were of one other.
7th Grade Band and Orchestra:
In 7th grade we have continued working on fundamentals of playing in time and tune, ear training, and sight reading. We are pushing the limit on difficulty for pieces by including new pitches, rhythms, and dynamics for students this semester. Band is playing 3 pieces, “Moonlight Bliss”, “Furioso”, and “Scottish Festival”. Orchestra is also playing 3 pieces entitled, “Farandole”, “Dragon Hunter”, and “Gap of Dunloe”. For each ensemble, there are section features and supporting roles that students must identify. We are continuing to work on the balance of the ensembles and playing with our most beautiful tone as we up the difficulty levels.
8th Grade Band and Orchestra:
In 8th grade we have continued working on fundamentals of playing in time and tune, ear training, and sight reading. We are also continuing our work with learning 3 new challenging pieces in each ensemble, which will be performed at Winter Arts Night in late January. Band is playing “Andalucia”, “Cantina Band”, and “Castles and Dragons”. All 3 pieces allow each section to have a chance to be in the spotlight and also times to be the supporting roll. Orchestra is playing “Hungarian Dance No. 5”, “Themes from How to Train Your Dragon”, and “In the Bleak Midwinter”. These 3 pieces all have very different styles and students are learning how to play with a wide dynamic range and with multiple bowing techniques to achieve these styles.
All Grades Choir:
In choir, we have 4 songs of varying styles and all selected by students. We are continuing to work on how to read choral music, as it looks quite different than the music for their instruments. Students are growing their skills of how to sing songs in multiple parts and how to sing harmony to the main melody. Students are assigned Part 1 or Part 2 for most songs, and it switches up on different songs so that everyone gets the opportunity to sing melody and harmony. We don’t assign traditional voice parts such as “Soprano, Alto, Tenor, and Bass” at this time as student voices are still developing and we do not want to confine them to one voicing type while their voices are still changing.
