THE ARTS - California Association of Independent Schools · THE ARTS California Association of Independent Schools C o n t e n t s Spring 2006 Faculty Newsletter is published by the

THE ARTS

INSIDE:

...and more

Spring 2006Faculty NewsletterCalifornia Association of Independent Schools

Chasing Vermeer

Why Dance?

Teaching Film

Student Composers

Faculty Newsletter Spring 2006

From the Editor

EEEEE

— Sandee Mirell

lliott Eisner, professor of education and art at Stanford University, and a noted proponent of the value of thearts in education, sees our profession as being guided by two visions of what’s important. He tells us, “One of thesevisions, the production vision, is rooted in the search for order that characterized the aims of the Enlightenment and wasmost acutely expressed during the industrial revolution.” The other, says Eisner, is focused on the “search for the uniquespirit of man” and arose out of the romanticism of the later part of the 19th century.” When schools seem to be failing,the “formalist” vision prevails, he says, but this view “imposes significant limits on our conception of education’spossibilities.” Pundits and prognosticators from virtually every field predict that the 21st century is going to call forradically different strategies. It already has. Eisner is not the only one to see the arts as the most promising roadto travel.

Eisner lists six important lessons to be found in the arts, and two seem to apply particularly to the articles that follow. Thearts are naturally and inherently collaborative. They teach us to “look for interacting relationships…theway qualities are related to each other.” Further, they demonstrate “the importance of pursuing multiple solutionsto a problem.” Human potential lies not only in our thinking capacity, but perhaps even more importantly, in ourcapacity for feeling.

Our first four articles provide examples of the various kinds of collaborative opportunities the arts can provide,from being an integrative factor in the curriculum of a whole school, integrating subjects in a fourth grade classroom toproviding a collaborative opportunity between schools. Two schools whose arts programs received local recognition inthe Los Angeles area, Viewpoint and Buckley demonstrate the first point, a detective story about a stolen Vermeerpainting the second point, and the performance of an all-schools Honor Concert, the third.

Bridging the two qualities Eisner delineates, is an article on a visual arts project that collaboratively addresses the topicof inspiration and influence, and how these combine with individual vision to produce totally unique works ofart based on the same theme. Teams of students individually create an art piece within 24 hours then pass it along to thenext person on their team as a trigger for that student’s piece.

With respect to the arts as a means of pursuing multiple solutions to a problem, we learn how relatively traditionalclassroom assignments, when the arts are involved, can help teach about feelings and character education.In the following three articles, we find seniors making a short film, and inadvertently creating an outlet for their feelingsabout leaving high school. Middle-schoolers in music class learn about four different styles of music, and as well aslearning the different between a blues beat and the salsa, they learn about the capacity of music to affect the emotions.

Literature is an art though not titled as such, and two of our authors show how it can be used to develop student“voices” and identities, to enhance a long-standing character development program. Finally, we are reminded,the arts are about power and transformation – and they are fun! Our culminating articles demonstrate how studentsdiscovered in themselves, through theatre arts, the power of their bodies, minds, and spirits, and howdance might affect young students to grow up to become ‘possibilitists’ -individuals who believe in the possibility of abetter world.

Not bad for a “frill.”

THE ARTS

California Association of Independent Schools

C o n t e n t s

Spring 2006

Faculty Newsletter is published by the California Association of Independent Schools

1351 Third Street, Suite 303, Santa Monica, CA 90401

310.393.5161 fax 310.394.6561 www.caisca.org

Winning the Bravo ......................................................................................... 1

Culture Concerts............................................................................................. 4

Chasing Vermeer............................................................................................. 6

Honor Music Festival a Great Success..............................................................8

Teaching Film ................................................................................................. 10

Why Dance? ...................................................................................................12

Student Composers at Menlo School .............................................................. 14

The Most Importand American Authors........................................................... 16

Character Development and Writing - A Winning Combination .......................18

Power Tools......................................................................................................19

Dissolving Communication Boundaries........................................................... 21

--1--


Winning the Bravo

WWWWW

by Margaret Bowles

Associate Head for Academic Affairs, Viewpoint School [email protected]

Winner of local music awardoutlines ways to developmentexcitement for the arts.

trator and musician, because my support for the artsprogram at Viewpoint is a natural expression of my loveof music and my active participation in music as anamateur flute and piccolo player.

From the time I first made a clear tone on the headjoint of my first school flute, I have loved playing the flute.I am still the chubby ten-year old whose school musicteacher said she had a good embouchure for a flute, tookquickly to the flute, grew to play in school orchestras, re-citals and solo festivals, persisted in junior high and highschool when music was not what “popular girls” did,boosted her practice time to keep up with the Bay-Areawide competition, and took her flute to UC Davis just as itwelcomed liberal arts students, where I got to play in ev-erything from newly composed chamber music to Mozartin the university symphony, even though I majored in En-glish Literature, which I also love. I recall chills down myspine during high school performances with a summerschool band and the Northern California Honor Orchestra.

hat did it mean to Viewpoint School to win the2004-05 Bravo Award from the Los Angeles CountyMusic Center this year?

Validation for the time, effort, and treasure that ourfaculty and students expend on our arts programValidation for our decision to build strong visual arts,filmmaking, music, theater, and dance programs be-fore we had great facilities in which to house themRecognition of our wonderful faculty and studentsas the judges visited their classes and performancesNew excitement and energy for our students, ourteachers, and our parents as they practice, rehearse,perform, and celebrate their artsNew energy for the fund-raising efforts for the newperforming arts centerRecognition of the importance of the arts in all ofour lives.For me, personally, our winning the Bravo award was

a wonderful celebration of my life as teacher, adminis-

··

··

··


--2--

“This program would make an arts

magnet school, but do you have an

equally strong academic program?”

The effort of the group, the ca-maraderie of my musical friends, theemotional fulfillment of playinggreat music and practicing hard toconvey musical ideas to an audiencewere thrilling then as now, and I havealways wanted the students in ourcare to experience those same“high” moments. I have also contin-ued to play all of my life, studyingwith great teachers when I havetime, playing in community groups,joining other amateur chamber mu-sicians for camps, workshops, andhouse concerts, and I know that alove of the arts, begun at an earlyage, is the love that lasts a lifetime.

Where do I see and experiencethis same excitement in our stu-dents? I see it in the earnest inten-sity of first grade students perform-ing “The Little Fir Tree” year afteryear, and in the upper school’s Gal-lery Night, a student-initiated artshow for parents and friends held inthe Prinn Library annually. Synergybetween depar tments developswhen our theater arts departmentproduces small, bilingual perfor-mances of the work of Pablo Nerudaand Jacques Prévert, when studentmusicians join professional musi-cians in the pit as they accompanythe upper school musical, when myjunior English class attends and re-views that same musical, Guys andDolls, as a part of their curriculumin Modern Drama.

As the audience grows to includemore and more students at the annualdance concert, “In Concert,” held un-til now in the Rasmussen Family Pa-vilion, our gym converted to theater forthe weekend, I know excitement isspreading. How exciting it will be tohave that concert in the new CarlsonFamily Theater this spring! I feel pal-pable excitement when the film andvideo department premiers new shortfilms, and the library, or pavilion fillwith students eager to see theirfriends’ work. I see it when the upper·

school string players join all of theothers, grades 5 through 8 on thesame crowded stage, to play a fiddletune together, and the senior boysin the orchestra just beam as theyhelp the 5th graders tune and settlein to play.

How can a school develop thisexcitement for the arts? There aremany effective ways that teachersand administrators can support artsprograms in their schools.

When building the masterschedule, start with the arts. Buildthe wind ensemble, chorus, orches-tra, AP Studio Arts, and advancedsingleton arts classes first!

Then build classes with the artsteachers who cross between divi-sions, and only then the rest of yourcourses.

Be sure that the arts curriculumis truly sequential, and that thecourses in your secondary divisionmeet the University of California re-quirements for accredited courses inthe arts.

Pay attention to state and na-tional standards in the arts, as manyof them are pertinent to curriculumdevelopment. Applications forawards such as the Bravo Award willrequire commentary on the use ofthese standards.

·

·

·

·

Bravo Award judge talks with Viewpoint student


--3--

given athletics; both programsbuild students’ confidence, team-work , phys ica l and emot ionalhealth. In addition, the arts buildboth intellectual skills and aes-thetic discernment.

Excitement built as we finishedour application for the Bravo Awardand moved on to become one ofseven finalist schools. As we plannedthe day of the judge’s visit, arrang-ing some special rehearsals, re-prises of performances, visits toclassrooms K-12 in all of the artsand some English, French, math, andSpanish classes, we did stop to askourselves if all this effort would

nalism program came forward to cre-ate displays of all of their reviews ofstudent performances, which weresubstantial and impressive.

When the February day came,the atmosphere at school was trulyelectric. Our judges were enthusias-

Provide excellent professionaldevelopment for teachers, some ofwhich may not be regular universitycourses and professional confer-ences. Send them to theater ordance festivals, excellent art exhib-its and film festivals.

Keep the arts curriculum up todate and support summer work-shops in curriculum development,especially if interdisciplinary work isto take place.

Attend students’ productions,concerts, film showings, and gallerypresentations. Encourage parentsand students to attend, too.

Be sure students see profes-

·

sional artists work and perform, bothat school assemblies and in off-cam-pus venues.

Bring professional artists oncampus as artists-in-residence.

Give the arts the same supportprove worth our work. Even the jour-

tic and knowledgeable. They askedexcellent questions about assess-ment, parental support (yes, theymet with the parents who supportour program), and student time com-mitments. They looked to see thatthe arts were embedded in all stu-dents’ programs, and they askedwith wonder, “This program wouldmake an arts magnet school proud,but do you have an equally strongacademic program?” With pride, ourheadmaster, Robert Dworkowski,could truthfully say that we do, in-deed, and that our students areacademically stronger for our artsprogram. And the sun shone that

day in an o ther wiserainy month!

When it came timefor the announcementbanquet, we took teach-ers, parents, and trust-ees with us to theBiltmore for a memo-rable evening. Now weall know what it feels liketo win an “AcademyAward” because we didwin that night and stoodup to cheer together.

editediteditediteditor’s noor’s noor’s noor’s noor’s nottttte:e:e:e:e:The Bravo Award wasestablished in 1983 andis awarded annually toteachers and schools for“creativity, innovationand excellence in arts

education.” Winners use the arts asa means to enhance academicachievement, collaboration andteamwork, and cross-cultural com-munication and understanding. TheBuckley School won the award in1999 and an article from Buckleyfollows.

·

·

·

·

··

A Viewpoint teacher answers a judge’s question.


--4--

by Ellen Mahoney and Vincent Houser , Visual Arts and Performing Arts Chairs

[email protected] and [email protected]

Culture Concerts

From composer-of-the-month in elementary schoolto award-winning liveconcert program spanningthe grades – and the globe.

of the visual and performing arts. These themes oftentie in with concepts that are to be covered in the classesas a unit of study resulting in a student performance atthe concert.

The themes have ranged from showing the creativeexpressions of a specific society to the contribution ofjust one performing artist and one visual artist. Mem-bers of the history department often present historicalbackground at the concerts, and English teachers haveparticipated by assigning literature of the time. The en-thusiasm for the concerts has spread. For instance, thescience department is participating in a concert aboutthe current Mars exploration with an enactment by thedrama class of the radio play War of the Worlds.

A wide range of performing artists from the creativecommunity of Los Angeles has participated in our con-certs. Musicians who have performed include pianist Dr.Judith Stillman, Cajun violinist Lisa Haley, composerJoan Hwang and arranger Michael Boddicker.

Dance presentations by Nzingha Camara were partof the concert on West African dance, and Ron Browntaught the Horton /Ailey technique which culminatedin a performance of a section from Ailey’s Revelations.In the past two years we have had concerts performedby the dance companies, Grupo Capoeira Brazil, Diavolo,and The Gruvaloos. In addition to their performances inthe concerts, the performing artists often teach master

hat started as a series of composer-of–the-month concerts for the lower school at Buckley hasgrown into a twenty year tradition of providing live con-certs that cover the performing and visual arts fromaround the world and across the centuries for gradeskindergarten through twelfth grade. These three annualCulture Concerts have brought our own performing artsstudents together professional performers from through-out the Los Angeles area giving the students an oppor-tunity to showcase their talents.

In combination with the performing arts, an art pre-sentation highlights the visual arts of the period. Werun two concerts each time so that the concert is ap-propriate to the audience: a fifty-minute concert forgrades 6-12, and a shorter version for grades K-5.Theconcerts are funded through grants, support of the par-ents association, and school funds. Our intent with theprogram is to show our students the close connectionbetween the events of an historical period, and the artthat is created during it. Also demonstrated is how ideasare shared across the disciplines of the visual and per-forming arts.

Each spring the visual and performing arts facultyshare ideas on artists and themes they wish to show-case for the concerts. We have an extended plan of sev-eral years’ of concerts to ensure that we cover modernas well as historical material, and include all disciplines

WWWWW

perience of hearing and seeing liveoutstanding per forming talentranging from opera singers andblues bands to dance companieshas been fantastic. Weaving to-gether the range of ideas and artforms has given the students anunderstanding of a culture throughthe reflection of it in its arts. Con-certs focused on the arts of the dif-ferent ethnic groups representedin our school have been greatlyappreciated by the community.

On the flip side, the concerts ontopics from America have helpedmany of our students understand thecultural history of our own country.Producing the concerts together hasresulted in the visual and perform-ing arts departments developing aclose working relationship, and afruitful sharing of creative ideas. Theschool’s long-term support of theCulture Concerts is a mission-fulfill-ing demonstration of the four-foldplan of education at Buckley thatvalues the arts as a necessary partof a child’s education.


--5--

classes in their disciplines. On sev-eral occasions the musicians anddancers have spent several weekswith a class working on a piece thatwas then presented at the CultureConcert.

Preparation for the concertsdoes take a commitment of time.The research for the historical partsof the concerts involves purchasingbooks, DVDs, and images. These ref-erence materials become part of theschool and art studio libraries. Theart teachers work with the perform-ing art teachers to distill the com-mon threads between the two disci-plines for each concert. In present-ing the visual art part of the concert,the images are chosen to illustratethe main points of the topic and totell the story of the art. Several timesthe Culture Concerts have combinedwith an art exhibit from artwork doneby grades K – 12 in a range of artclasses based on the art, crafts, andtechniques from the specific country.

Many benefits have come fromthe Culture Concerts series. The ex-

“In addition

to their

performances

in concerts,

the

performing artists

of ten

teach

master classes

in

their

disciplines.”

A list of some of our favorite concerts shows the wide range thatwe try to bring to the event.

New American Forms – Frank Lloyd Wright and Martha GrahamPersian Culture – Persian dance and manuscripts

Los Angeles Hispanic Art and SalsaDisco Music and Andy Warhol

American Sounds and Images - Grant Wood and Woody GuthrieFrance in Revolution - Beethoven and Jacques DavidRock and Roll and the Design of the American Car

Composer John Cage and video artists Nam June PaikThe African- American Experience - gospel music and sculptor

Betty SaarBreaking New Ground – dance group Diavlo and Maya Lin

New Shapes, New Sounds - Architecture of Frank Gehry andminimal contemporary music

The Irish - dance, music, and artRevolution in Fashion and Jazz in Paris 1920

Cajun music and the Blue Dog


--6--

by Paula Symonds and Amanda Perla

Fourth Grade Teachers, San Francisco Children’s Day School

[email protected]

Chasing Vermeer

A mystery about a stolenpainting links art, languagearts, math, and secret codes.

(who figures in the book) for possible extension activi-ties and looked up problem solving activities withpentominoes. We enlarged and reproduced each of thechapter illustrations, and the map of the Chicago neigh-borhood in the book so the children could easily seethe setting and made a giant copy of the letter thatlaunches the tale. We also made a large chart of thecode used in the story and reproduced enough studentcopies of each coded letter. Then we were off.

We told the children we would be reading a mys-tery, that they were to be detectives, and they were totry to solve the mystery. They were given their detectivenotebooks, and asked to record anything they thoughtmight be important. As we read, we passed the copy ofeach chapter’s illustration to peruse for clues.

During language arts we did research to learn aboutVermeer. We looked at his paintings, and at choice timestried to copy them to get a feel for the problems thisgreat painter tried to solve. We asked the children tointerview their parents for homework, to see if any ofthem had ever received a life-changing letter. We askedthe kids also to write us a life-changing letter, and amongthe results, one of us was drafted into the navy, the other

ave you ever wanted every child in your class tohappily take notes when you read, or look words up inthe dictionary without being assigned the task, or ask ifthey can please do a research project? If you haven’tthen you need to read Chasing Vermeer by Blue Balliettto them.

Each day in our fourth grade class we have storytime. It is a 15-minute period set aside for a teacher-read story. Finding just the right book that no one hasread can be a challenge. Chasing Vermeer is just whatthe teacher ordered.

Chasing Vermeer is a mystery that challenges thereader to connect seemingly unrelated events in orderto reach a solution. It involves two children, three let-ters, Johannes Vermeer and his ar t, codes, andpentominoes (shapes that use five square blocks joinedtogether with at least one common side). The childrenmust find a missing painting. To do that they must movefrom clue to clue eliminating useless information anddead ends to save the day.

We prepared for reading Chasing Vermeer by mak-ing a detective notebook and a set of pentominoes foreach child. We researched Vermeer and Charles Fort

HHHHH


--7--

got a ride in the space shuttle, andreceived the president’s BestTeacher of the Year award.

As part of the story - and mys-tery - the strange and eccentricCharles Fort, and his even strangerbook Lo!, are mentioned. So thechildren did research on CharlesFort and really liked him. They werenext assigned the task of workingtogether, using the dictionary to tryand translate parts of Fort’s book,the whole text of which is on theInternet, into understandable lan-guage just as one of the charactersin the story had done. As a result allthe children grew to have a new re-spect for the English language, andadded the word “crackpot” as wellas many others to their vocabulary.

As coded letters emerged in thestory we put up the large chart ofthe code so the children could de-code the messages. We also hid acoded message in the daily calen-dar to add even more spark to thereading. The children were encour-aged to write notes to their friends(!) in code. Soon the children werelooking for clues everywhere!

In keeping with the theme of

“…the story

is like

a hallway

with

way

too many

doors

to

choose from

to

get out.”

the book, we asked the children todefine art and, as a character in thestory did for a homework assign-ment, they were asked to choosesomething in their house theythought was a piece of art, and todescribe it in writing without nam-ing it. We then read the descriptionsin class, and the children tried toguess what was being described anddecide whether they agreed that itwas art. As a result of this assign-ment many of the children visitedmuseums on their own looking forVermeer, for pictures of people get-ting letters, for pictures of peoplewriting letters, and for pictures byother Dutch Masters. We also plan afield trip to the DeYoung Museum fora similar hunt and to the Museumof Modern Art to see many examplesof what others think art to be.

During math and before school,the children used the pentominoesto solve problems, explore area, andlook at tiling. Because there are 12pentominoes the number 12 be-comes important to the charactersin the story, so we had the childrenexplore the number 12 in all itsmany wonderful ways. Blue M & M’salso become important in the story,so we had the children sort M & Mpackages to determine the percent-age of blue M & M’s in a package,and the probability they would pullout a blue one simply reaching intothe package blindly.

The children learned, as one putit, that “the story is like a hallwaywith way too many doors to choosefrom to get out.” They learned to begood listeners, to discriminate be-tween what is important and whatis not, and to take notes while some-one was talking. They learned theimportance of pattern as a problem-solving tool, and most of all they ex-panded their horizons and had funwith reading.


--8--

OOOOO

by Kristin Herkstroeter

Music Department Chair, Viewpoint School

[email protected]

Honor Music Festival a Great Success

Band and choral groups from 12 CAIS schools uniteto give a concert

n February 3 and 4, 2006, 85 students from twelveSouthern California CAIS schools met at ViewpointSchool in Calabasas to participate in the second annualHonor Music Festival. Students came from La Jolla,Ventura, Pasadena, Long Beach and points in between.It was a very exciting weekend for students, teachers,and parents alike.

The student participants were chosen by their schoolmusic teachers and performed as members of the Fes-tival Band, Chorus, or String Orchestra. Each ensemblewas led by an outstanding conductor from a two Califor-nia state colleges. The band was conducted by Dr.Lawrence Stoffel, Director of Bands at California StateUniversity Northridge; the chorus was led by Dr. AnnaHamre, Director of Choral Activities at California StateUniversity Fresno; and the string orchestra was directedby Dr. John Roscigno also from California State Univer-sity Northridge, where he serves as Director of Orches-tral Studies and is the Music Director of the Youth Or-chestras.

Rehearsals began on Friday afternoon at 4:30 pm.Students were nervous at first as they were unsure ofwhat to expect. One of my students, a Viewpoint seniorwho was a member of the violin section of the stringorchestra, was convinced that everyone was going toplay better than she, but as soon as the group beganplaying those trepidations were dispelled. Studentsquickly realized that they fit into their groups well, andfocused on learning and doing their best. They workedhard, and made remarkable progress in a very shortamount of time.

The conductors worked magnificently with the stu-dents. They were able to stretch the students musically,and helped the students learn an incredible amount ina very short amount of time. Watching the growth inmusicianship of the Festival participants was quite re-markable. The conductors commented to me how muchthey enjoyed working with the students. They were par-

ticularly pleased with how well the students respondedto their suggestions, and how smart the students were.

The students also had a wonderful experience. AViewpoint senior who played trumpet in the band, saidthe experience was both fun and unique. “It was reallyexciting to learn music in less than 24 hours and thenplay it in front of an audience. It was a unique experi-ence to play with students from other schools. Whenwe met as a whole band, we bonded instantly.” Friendsof a Viewpoint freshman soprano, who sang in the cho-rus, questioned her eagerness to give up her free timeFriday afternoon and evening and all day Saturday, butshe reminded them that she was not giving up anything;she was gaining a memorable experience. “It was amaz-ing to meet so many other students who shared my pas-sion for music.” By lunch on Saturday, students fromdifferent schools were starting to hang out together,learn more about each others’ schools, their school’smusic programs, and each other.


--9--

Psalm and Fugue for String Orches-tra by Alan Hovhanness which fea-tured the viola section. An exception-ally strong viola section, somethingnot common in high school groups,played beautifully. The string orches-tra concluded their portion of theconcert with George FredericHandel’s Concert Grosso in G, Op. 6,No. 1. This work featured solos per-formed by the principle first and sec-ond violins, and cello. The soloistswere chosen during auditions on Fri-day afternoon, so the soloists werenot given much advance notice. Theyeach did a remarkable job.

The concert concluded with theband. Lawrence Stoffel had wonder-ful rapport not only with the studentsin the band, but also with the audi-ence, which made the listening ex-perience even more enjoyable andvaluable. The band performed fivepieces including Timothy Broege’sRhythm Machine, Fred Allen’s Whenthe Stars Began to Fall, an arrange-ment of Johann Sebastian Bach’sPrelude and Fugue in d minor byMoehlmann, and an arrangement ofJoseph Haydn’s famous St. AnthonyDivertimento by Wilcox. They con-cluded the concert with Karl Kling’smarch, Hosts of Freedom. The groupsounded fabulous. There were anumber of solos throughout thepieces, and in each case the stu-dents rose to the occasion andplayed very well.

As word of the festival spreadswe hope to involve more music stu-dents from more schools throughoutSouthern California. If anyone is in-terested in having their upper schoolmusic students participate in the2007 Honor Music Festival andwould like to be added to the emaillist, or if you have any questions,please contact me [email protected]. I hopeto see many more of you at nextyear’s event.

This event was particularly excit-ing for the members of the chorus.This was the second year of theevent, however, this was the firstyear the festival included a chorus.Having the chorus was a wonderfuladdition to the festival. When someof the choir members were first in-formed of the event last fall, theywere particularly excited andpleased to be included.

The concert was the first largemusical concert in ViewpointSchool’s new Carlson Family The-atre, which opened in early January.The concert was a resounding suc-cess. Student, parents, and teacherswere very excited not only by thequality of the performances of eachgroup, but also the progress the stu-dents had made musically - and inless than 24 hours time! I personallywas amazed at how much bettereach group sounded with such ashort, but very concentrated re-hearsal times.

The variety of repertoire the con-ductors chose was wonderful. The

chorus began the concert by singingA Pentatonic Alleluia by RossWhitney. This was particularly re-markable as it was sung a cappellawith students beginning to sing inthe audience and then slowly walk-ing towards the stage. Those of ussitting in the front portion of the the-atre could hear each singer individu-ally as they passed us. Each of themhad a remarkable voice, and wassinging their parts beautifully. Thewomen of the chorus performed thefamous Call of the Flowers fromLakme by Leo Delibes. The entirechorus also sang two Japanesefolksongs in Japanese, a languagenot typically sung by high school stu-dents. The chorus concluded theirportion of the program with a beau-tiful rendition of Exsultate justi inDomino by Grant Adams.

The string orchestra began theirperformance with the first move-ment from Edward Elgar’s Serenadefor Strings, a standard in the stringorchestra repertoire. The concertcontinued with the Psalm from the

Honor Festival Band gets ready to play


--10--

AAAAA

by Catherine Dunn

Film Department Chair, Viewpoint School

[email protected]

Teaching Film

A short filmabout getting into collegebecomes a gatewayto expressingconflicted feelingsabout moving on

young man’s face, frozen in various guises andsizes, stares out of all the computers in the film roomat Viewpoint School. The Film IV students have just fin-ished the production on their twenty-minute short LockerSpace, and finally the real work of editing has begun.Their film is ostensibly about “Peter”, a senior at a col-lege prep school, who realizes that where you get intocollege is not as important as how you get into college.Really, however, the short will turn out to be a heartfeltand cathartic farewell to the students’ high school ca-reers. But that epiphany is still months away, and rightnow all they’ve realized is how hard the editing of thisproject will be. Currently, the room is filled with concen-tration over a new editing program, the occasional dis-appointment over a botched shot or an errant boom,and so much excitement that, as clichéd as it sounds, itis almost palpable.

This enthusiasm is the main reason I love teachingfilm. Students come at filmmaking from an emotionalangle, and not the mostly intellectual approach thatother classes demand. Yes, we try to discuss Aristotle’stheories of storytelling from The Poetics, and even at-tempt to make cross-disciplinary connections to English

and science classes. And yes, there are also the rulesand formulas of the more “academic” classes. But infilmmaking, rules are mastered only to be broken andformulas are only technical entities to be manipulatedto get a smooth transition or a clean shot.

Instead, as I have come to realize, the heart of a film-making class is emotional. Films are made not becausethe artists have something to say, but because they havesomething they are feeling and must express. The studentdirectors of Locker Space created an outlet for their con-flicted feelings of leaving high school and leaving theiryouth behind. The film won awards at student film festi-vals, not just because it was very good technically, butmostly because it manipulated its viewers into experienc-ing the exact sensibilities of these filmmakers.

How do you teach emotion in class? I have struggledwith this question for years, not always successfully. Thehard part is that as soon as you start to break a senti-ment down into its parts, you run the risk of intellectu-alizing it. But even so, the students and I have long dis-cussions on how a certain shot arouses specific feel-ings in the viewer, and how those feelings evoke thepersonal philosophy of the director. One assignment


--11--

that brings these ideas a little closeris the active, analytical watching ofStanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Od-yssey. The long ending of colors andlights exploding on the screen fol-lowed by Dave’s incomprehensiblemetamorphosis into the Star Child ismore than enough to put any teen-ager asleep. But I go out of my wayto warn the students that they arenot supposed to understand the con-tent of the end, and, in fact, mostlikely will be bored by it. Once theyhear this odd statement comingfrom a teacher, strangely they relaxand are able to see the end for whatit is: an homage to form. For prob-ably the first time in a lecture, ateacher has told them just to experi-ence the class. and figure out howthey feel about Kubrick’s philosophyof form and the subconscious. Nopuzzling it out, no intellectualizing it,no proving to the teacher that youare the best and deserve an A. Justreacting to the movie. Through theirfeelings they come to a deeper under-standing of their own views on the di-chotomy of form and content in film.

In an interview about 2001,Kubrick said that he “tried to createa visual experience, one that by-passes verbalized pigeonholing anddirectly penetrates the subconsciouswith an emotional and philosophicalcontent.” He goes on to inform theviewer, who is trying to make sense ofthose odd sequences at the end, notto; then he says that he “intended thefilm to be an experience that reachesthe viewer at an inner level of con-sciousness, just as music does.”

“Aesthetic emotion…

may complete the knowledgethat the intellect only begins…”

This inner subconscious is where artstarts, and it is an art teacher’s role toget the student there.

The very first assignment in Film-making I is a series of still shots thatcreates an emotional story, and alsointroduces the tenets of mise en sceneand shot selection. (ed. note: “articu-lation of cinematic space”) Ninthgrade students, fresh from summerand middle school, look at the blankstoryboards completely flummoxed.They then look at me with that “whatare you asking us to do?” look on theirfaces that we’ve all come to know.After they work through the assign-ment and analyze their final cut, how-ever, the most successful studentsrealize that somewhere in the shots,they have invariably explored the un-settling feelings of what it is like to benew to high school. Happily, their jour-ney as artists has begun.

This potential, emotional under-standing is not the only benefit of artsin an “academic” curriculum. Aes-thetic emotion, the heart of an artclass, I believe, has an epistemologi-cal function. I have come to think that it

may even complete the knowledge thatthe intellect only begins, and harmonizethe various orders of knowledge into aunique synthesis for each student.

Do the students understand allthis? Probably not, since I am not evensure that I completely do; though I doknow that many kids have come backinto the filmmaking room to tell me andthe other teachers that something wesaid in class really helped them outside.

Just the other day, one junior an-nounced that our discussion of structurein the documentary Spellbound “madehim like AP US History better.” He saidhe realized that “the study of all historyis more documentary than documenta-tion,” and this awareness had taken theedge of fear off the class and let himcome at it with a new passion. That iswhy I teach art. Not for the awards orthe standing ovations at the student pre-miere of Locker Space, but for the af-fecting connections that true artists canmake with the world, academic andemotional.

That, and the fact that I just lovemovies.


--12--

Why Dance?Why Dance?Why Dance?Why Dance?Why Dance?

Dancers are integrated into every strand of life atCPS including International Day, Grandfriends Day, Di-versity Evening, Black History Month, Music Tour, col-laborations within the art departments, and servicelearning in senior centers and elementary schools. Wenow have an advanced performing dance group calledPDG that performs throughout the Bay Area. Last year,in our spring dance concert, we were able to involve over65 CPS students in that performance alone!

So, why dance?If we start with “Why dance?” I would say because

it is fun, relieves stress, and provides a balance to theacademic life at CPS. Dancing enables you to be insideinsideinsideinsideinsideyour body, to have a mind-body connection, and to bepresent physically while you develop a healthy supplebody that is both strong and flexible. (An example of anoutsideoutsideoutsideoutsideoutside of body experience is an individual reading whileworking out on the treadmill. Sure everything is work-ing, but are you aware of anything beyond the time?)

Moving is the first thing we do to express life andthe last thing we do before we die. I distinctly remem-ber my feelings about dancing as a child. I felt so free,like I could fly! The gift of adolescence is that you arestill close to those primal feelings. I am very fortunateas a teacher to be able to work with these lovely indi-

Dance as a vision of what is –

and what might be.

By Stefani Berger

Fine Arts Department Head, The College Preparatory School

[email protected]

hen I first came to CPS eleven years ago, I wasfortunate to take over a dance program that had beenstarted 22 years before by an incredible woman namedVirginia Mathews. In her youth, Ginny danced with Mar-garet Jenkins, a S.F. dance icon, and also dedicatedherself to developing a first rate dance program at CPS.During that same time I had been teaching in New En-gland and later throughout the Bay Area in professionaland public institutions. Each of us had a newborn, I mysecond, Ginny her third, and we were both ready for adramatic change in lifestyles. Ginny wanted to move outof the Bay Area with her family and establish herself ina new way as an independent artist. I, on the other hand,was looking for an institution to become a home baseso that I could consolidate my ideas and vision for teach-ing adolescents the joy of dance. Voila! Like magic, wewere able to achieve our dreams by literally tradingplaces.

Eleven years later Ginny is living in Sebastopol withher family. She has firmly established herself as a vi-able artist and brought her incredible experience as adancer to that fortunate community. I have been ableto take the CPS dance community in new directions thatinclude diversity, and generally broadening the conceptof what it means to dance.

WWWWW


--13--

viduals called teens. I can share withthem the intentional and intellectualmovement called dance, and alongthe way we can be in the momentand have a great time.

But if we ask “”Why DDDDDance?”then the answer is a much more pro-found one. 20th century moderndance is an art form unique to Ameri-can culture. Teaching this art en-ables me, as an educator, to pass ona vision of artistry that was startedin the early 1900’s by pioneers likeIsadora Duncan, Martha Graham,Katherine Dunham, Lester Horton,and Alvin Ailey (to name a few).

Isadora Duncan was one of thevery early feminists. Modern dancefor her was about shedding the fan-tasy of ballet as a dance form for theprogressive social reality of the fe-male body more in tune with thetimes. For her there wereno toe shoes to bind thefeet, or tutu’s to corsetthe body, but rather acombining of the naturaland spiritual as a form ofgrace and femininity.

Martha Graham ex-plored the human tragedyas expressed through theclassic Greek plays, be-lieving they were a reflec-tion of the human condi-tion that still exists today.Katherine Dunham com-bined American moderndance with Haitian danceand culture to broadenthe contemporary con-cept of what dance couldexpress. She alone cre-ated the field of dance an-thropology.

Lester Horton formedthe first inter-racial dancecompany in L.A. sixtyyears ago. This was arevolutionary conceptforthose times that stillchallenges us today. He

was greatly influenced by NativeAmerican spirituality and ritual, andwas able to integrate this into hischoreography. Alvin Ailey created adance company dedicated to the cel-ebration of African American heri-tage. He believed that an entire seg-ment of our history was missing: therecording of a whole people’s con-tribution. Each of these artists be-lieved that dance, as an art form,should be held up as a mirror to re-flect all of society. They believed thatas a society we are no better thanthe art that we create, and that themedium of dance was the truest of allart forms to express this belief.

My personal studies of moderndance have shaped my professionaland personal life. As I’ve matured asan artist, a teacher and a parent, I’veformed my own vision of what I want

to pass on. I believe that to be trulyhuman is to develop the physical,mental, spiritual and artistic self; Ibelieve that in order to grow aspeople, we must give of ourselves tohelp the greater community, and inmy case to do it through the artistryof my dance.

I am daily sobered by the harshrealities of our world where destruc-tion seems to be such a powerfulagent for change. I hold in my heartthe hope that through my work andmy art, I can affect young studentsto grow up to become ‘possibilitists’themselves, individuals who believein the possibility of a better world.Dance is an art form that can helpto influence people to believe inwhat may be possible. I’ll continueto teach students about the dancerswho had a vision for a better world

and how they dedi-cated their lives to thatvision. We’ll also drawstrength and inspira-tion from the new gen-eration of dancers whocarry on. We’ll work in-side our bodies creat-ing even stronger con-nections between themind, body, and soul.

I love teaching atCPS. It is, for me, theperfect union of au-tonomy and support.Every day I celebratemy good fortune to bein such a creative envi-ronment where mywork is respected and Ihave the opportunity towork with such giftedstudents. No matterwhat project we’reworking on, we alwayshave a great time, be-cause dance is, ulti-mately, fun. It just feelsgreat to move, todance!


--14--

IIIII

by Liz Cirone

Middle School Music Director, Menlo School

[email protected]

Student Composers at Menlo School

Middle school students

are challenged

to compose music

in four different styles -

and they love it!

ous Latin rhythms and learn about this style of music.Before delving into the cartoon-scoring activity, studentslearn about the importance of classical music in car-toons. They will study different musical forms (i.e. ABAor ABACA) and observe how music has the ability to ex-press a mood, ultimately having an effect on the listener.Finally, the 7th graders spend two days in the computerlab with our technology teacher learning about a com-puter software program called GarageBand. Instructionis first given on how to use the program (which manystudents are already familiar with) and then studentsare free to experiment and import midi files intoGarageBand. Once they have a basic understanding ofall four rotations, they are ready to begin composing!Listed below are the four rotations:

111112-Bar Blues2-Bar Blues2-Bar Blues2-Bar Blues2-Bar Blues: During the blues rotation, studentslearn to play the 12-bar blues on electric guitar, bass,piano and drum-set. Each student decides what he/shewould like to play. They have to write a 3-line stanzawith lyrics that are relatively “sad” in nature. One stu-

understand notes and beats a little better.”“I learned a new scale.”“I learned about Johann Sebastian Bach”“I couldn’t believe how many different sound effect in-struments there are!”“I now know how to improvise on the maracas!”

These are some of the answers students gave whenasked what they learned from their experiences in mu-sic composition. The 7th grade music curriculum atMenlo Middle School is designed to challenge studentsto compose music using four various styles. Studentsrotate through the different activities and spend fourdays completing their compositions. On the fifth day,students perform their compositions for the class.

Each composition rotation is preceded by a two orthree day lesson designed to introduce the assignment.For example, the class will study a brief history of theblues, listen to blues music, and learn the 12-bar bluespattern. Students will then listen to examples of vari-

“

form about allfour rotations. Al-

though the cartoonrotation is a highly

popular choice, the oth-ers are not far behind.Each rotation allowsstudents to composemusic in a very differ-ent way; from readingrhythms, creating mu-sic, learning a new in-strument or experi -menting with sounds,so they are all highlyexcited about each ro-tation.


--15--

dent will sing the lyrics on a micro-phone while being accompanied bythe rest of his/her team. Betweenthe second and third stanza, one stu-dent will improvise on the bluesscale. He/she can choose to “scat”sing, improvising on the blues scaleon either the guitar or piano. In thepast, we have had some blues titlessuch as: Bad Hair Day Blues, Air-plane Blues, & Fast Food Blues!

Latin RhLatin RhLatin RhLatin RhLatin Rhythmythmythmythmythm: During the Latinrotation, students learn to play aLatin rhythm on a particulardrum. Their Latin rhythmoptions are: rhumba,samba, naningo,mambo, chacha cha, slowm a m b o ,and Afro-C u b a n .They firstchoosewhich in-strumentthey wantto play bylooking atthe assignedrhythm for thatinstrument, andthen have to learn toread their rhythm chart to correctlyplay their rhythm. Once they havelearned their own rhythm on their in-strument, they begin to play togetherwith the group. When they have theirentire piece learned, each studentthen will improvise for 2-4 measureson their instrument. I will accompanythem on the piano as they play, mak-ing for a very entertaining concert.In some cases, they sound like a pro-fessional music group!

CarCarCarCarCartttttoon:oon:oon:oon:oon: The cartoon rotation isthe most popular one. After study-ing the importance of classical mu-sic in cartoons, students create thesound effects and background mu-sic for a pre-determined cartoon clip.They can choose to play their back

“In some cases,

students

enjoy

their own

creations

more than

the

original!”

ground music on any instrument in-cluding: the piano, Orff instruments,and in some cases, a violin or cello.Students then create the sound ef-fects for every movement in the car-toon, including dialogue (if needed).They have never heard the cartoonwith sound until after their projectis completed. In some cases, stu-dents enjoy their own creations morethan the original!

GarageBand/PGarageBand/PGarageBand/PGarageBand/PGarageBand/PooooowwwwwerPerPerPerPerPointointointointoint: Dur-ing this rotation, students import apiece of classical music into theGarageBand software program, and

then add their own rhythms andsound effects, ultimately bring-

ing it into the 21st century!They can make a beauti-

ful violin solo sound likean electric guitar witha techno-beat in thebackground. In addi-tion, they will create aPowerPoint presenta-tion about the com-poser of that piece.

They must create fourslides and include inter-

esting facts, importantworks and pictures of their

composer. As we listen to theircomposition, we watch the

PowerPoint presentation!The class reviews their

“peer evaluation” sheets atthe end of the nine weekquarter, and chooses whichfour compositions they en-joyed the best. Those fourare then presented tothe school at afine arts as-s e m b l yalong with ac o u p l ec l a s ssongs. Atthe end ofthe program,I ask students tofill out an evaluation


--16--

IIIII a car dealership; the students can visit places of greatsignificance or of minor importance. No two studentscan visit the same place, and each student must visitone site in each of the four regions. A student can go toSantee Alley in the fashion district and write about themerchandise for sale and the people who sell it, or thestudent can talk about the people who shop there. Or,the student can focus on the path of a stray dog casu-ally making its way from one end of the Alley to another.The student writes about his or her Santee Alley.

But this isn’t just a glorified journal entry. The lyricessay, as D’Agata writes, has an “overt desire to engagewith facts, melding its allegiance to the actual with itspassion for imaginative form.” To help the students givetheir essays shape, they have to include a research ele-ment (with two cited sources) to their papers. They mayinvestigate the history of Santee Alley, or perhaps thegrowing number of Latinos living in Los Angeles. TheLos Angeles essays are dialogues with the city, not meremonologues.

As for the other essays in the project, the literaryanalysis essays, the students create their own readinglists; they won’t write about the texts we read in class.

The Most Important American Authors

Mitch Kohn

American Literature, Crossroads School

[email protected]

In addition to learning about

the pantheon of American

authors students are given an

opportunity to join it

in their own ways.

n my first year of teaching 11th grade American lit-erature, I made my reading list – Whitman, Dickinson,Twain, Kerouac, etc. – then realized I had forgotten themost important American authors of all: my students,who needed to join, in their own way, the pantheon ofAmerican writers.

As I worked to devise a yearlong project that wouldreflect the students’ voices, I considered how I wantedthose voices to sound. I wanted each writer to fine-tunehis or her own voice, while developing its range at thesame time. So while part of the project would involvewriting the typical analytical essays about literature, theother half would entail the writing of personal, lyric es-says. (We use the collection The Next American Essay,edited by John D’Agata, to study this genre.) Over thecourse of a school year, each student writes 7 to 9 es-says. They begin with a Los Angeles essay, follow it witha literary analysis essay, and then repeat the pattern.

The Los Angeles essay is a lyric essay relating tostudent visits to different sites in Los Angeles. I dividedthe city into four regions (Westside, Downtown, Valley,Central), and each student picks a place to visit in eachregion. The site can be the Hollywood Walk of Fame, or


--17--

There are four categories of Ameri-can literature to choose from: novel,play, non-fiction, poetry/concept al-bum. The non-fiction category fo-cuses on literature about place, suchas Colson Whitehead’s The Colossusof New York, or a series of articlesappearing in a magazine such as theL.A. Weekly. The students learn toconsider how professional authorswrestle with their hometowns.

I’ve expanded the poetry cat-egory to include concept albums:CDs such as Bruce Springsteen’s TheRising, or Come on Feel the Illinoise!by Sufjan Stevens that use New Yorkafter 9/11 and the state of Illinoisas jumping off points for personaland sociological reflection. An al-bum like Van Lear Rose, a collabo-ration between country music leg-end Loretta Lynn and indie rock starJack White, investigates the historyof American music and the idea ofautobiography in an original and vi-tal way. The mixture of lyrics andmusic makes for American literatureof the most urgent kind, especiallyto teenagers.

The students begin the secondsemester by looking at their first fouressays and searching out a themethat strikes them from their seem-ingly disparate works. Students dis-till their themes to one word: synes-thesia, food, façade. What’s inter-esting is that a theme always sur-faces in a student’s choice of litera-ture and place, even when thosechoices have been made indepen-dently from essay to essay. The stu-dents develop their themes into in-troductions to their still-to-be-com-pleted books in which they must re-fer to the places they visited in thecity and the texts they’ve read.

At that point, they can assembletheir essays (all of which have beenrewritten – for a total of either 14 or18 drafts!), photos of the placesthey’ve visited, directions to the sites

other artwork they might want to in-clude, an “About the Author” mini-biography, and a master Works Citedpage. In addition, some studentshave included CDs to listen to while“on the road,” and one student evenincluded a short film of his variousjaunts, complete with soundtrack.

This project has its obvious re-wards: one of my weaker writers lastyear wrote a truly amazing Los An-geles essay early in the second se-mester, and that epiphany markeda turn in his writing the rest of thesemester. The freedom of the lyricessay form gave him the confidenceto attack his more formal writing.

The project also has its unex-

pected benefits. Parents tell me thatthey actually got to travel around thecity with their children, and for thoseparents who grew up in Los Angeles,it was the first time their childrenactually wanted to hear their talesof what it was like to live here allthose years ago. And some studentshave used a variation of their lyricessays for their college essays, amore practical – but no less valid –use of the project.

What I’m given at the end of theschool year is a pile of the most amaz-ing texts written by a wildly talentedgroup of American writers. We have astrong tradition of great writers in thiscountry. We always need more.

“WhatI’m givenat the end of

the school

year is a pile

of the most

amazingtextswritten by

a wildly talentedgroupof American writers.”


--18--

ity themes, such as “Gratitude Attitude” by TeresaJennings. Each grade (K-6) selects one quality to presentat assembly six times per year. For each quality the pre-senting class engages in a multi-pronged effort, which in-cludes the writing prompt.

TTTTTHEHEHEHEHE CHARACHARACHARACHARACHARACTERCTERCTERCTERCTER QUQUQUQUQUALITALITALITALITALITYYYYY BULLETINBULLETINBULLETINBULLETINBULLETIN BOBOBOBOBOARDARDARDARDARDThe bulletin board is large and affixed to the outside

of our main office building where visitors and all schoolpersonnel can see it daily. This year it will feature syn-onyms and antonyms for all six qualities. At home, work-ing with parents, all students complete a synonym/ant-onym list for each quality. A composite list is generated inthe classroom when the homework is discussed. The sixcomposite sheets – one from each class – will becomethe bulletin board display.

AAAAANNNNN ASSEMBLASSEMBLASSEMBLASSEMBLASSEMBLYYYYY PRESENTPRESENTPRESENTPRESENTPRESENTAAAAATIONTIONTIONTIONTIONThe assembly presentation is prepared with help from

our performing arts teacher and can take many differentforms. The classroom teacher and the performing artsteacher collaborate and decide on an appropriate way topresent their chosen quality. It can be a skit, poem, song,cheer, etc.

TTTTTHEHEHEHEHE SCHOOLSCHOOLSCHOOLSCHOOLSCHOOL-----WIDEWIDEWIDEWIDEWIDE WRITINGWRITINGWRITINGWRITINGWRITING PRPRPRPRPROMPTOMPTOMPTOMPTOMPTThe presenting grade for each character quality for-

mulates a writing prompt for the entire student body. Forexample, one class selected “attitude” and the promptwas: “If you have something to do that you don’t like, howdoes having a positive attitude help you accomplish it?”Classroom teachers select two students from each gradeto read their responses aloud during the monthly assem-bly, where parents and prospective parents are often inthe audience.

Responding to a writing prompt requires thought, re-flection, and self-examination. Embedded in the responseis a call to action, or a way to change behavior. The otherstudents’ responses showcase ways to think about apply-ing character qualities to behavior. The task requires stu-dents to think about their behavior as it relates to a cer-tain character quality, and awareness is the first step inchanging behavior when change is necessary.

The Promising Practice recognition was awarded atthe CEP’s 12th National Forum in Atlanta, GA held at theAtlanta Hilton last October. The community of PeninsulaHeritage School is proud to be a recipient for their writingprompt, because among the many educational goals westrive for, exemplary character and excellent writing topthe list.

t PHS, writing has become an integral tool for char-acter development. Following the Chinese proverb “I hearand I forget; I see and I remember, I write and I under-stand,” students write on six different prompts through-out the year, one for each of our six character qualities.

This year our school has been recognized with a Prom-ising Practices Awards from the Character Education Part-nership, a national forum based in Washington D. C. Prom-ising Practices Awards are given for implementing uniqueand specific strategies in character education, and Penin-sula Heritage School won for the writing segment of ourcharacter development program.

Three years ago the school-wide writing prompt ideawas presented as the brainchild of our new head of school,Patricia Callier. At the end of that school year, the facultydecided to merge the valuable prompt idea with our char-acter quality effort, and since that time we have been hardat work developing engaging prompts that tap into char-acter development.

For more than forty years Peninsula Heritage Schoolin Rolling Hills Estates has had in place a character devel-opment program. In the early years the school recognizedten character qualities that were emphasized throughoutthe year. Eight years ago as the result of a retreat attendedby the faculty and the members of the Board of Trustees,a committee was formed to re-evaluate the program andthus, was born a new slate of six qualities to emphasize.

The list of ten was shortened to six to give adequatetime and attention to each trait. The character quality listwas revamped to reflect the six most important qualitiesfor a successful school day. For us these are: caring, re-spect, attitude, gratitude, self-control, and perseverance.These elements are all parts of a concerted effort to im-merse our students in the application of our six characterqualities. At our assemblies good citizen ribbons areawarded to students who exhibit any of the six qualities.

The theme for the 2005–06 year is “All Roads Lead toGood Character at PHS.” The word “roads” is a metaphorthat conveys that no matter who they are with, everyoneat PHS is invested in the development of every student’sgood character. We teach that the word “act” is embed-ded in the word “character” and it refers to how they actwhen nobody is watching, conveying that is not contingenton extrinsic motivation, but simply the right way to act.

The six qualities are discussed and addressed in allclassrooms and with all specialty teachers. For example,the music teacher introduces songs with character qual-

by PJ Charnofsky

K-5 Librarian and Character Development Coordinator, Peninsula Heritage School

[email protected]

Character Development and Writing – A Winning Combination

AAAAA

--19--


dynamic role model for young women interested in tech-nical theatre. With a mentor, a saw and a pair of goggles,a student may discover her own power—physical, men-tal and emotional—to build, construct, create, and de-fine worlds of fantasy and illusion.

There are other theatrical “tools” besides saws anddrills that may inspire young women to discover theirpowers. In the last few years, our students have madediscoveries about themselves with the help of guests,experts in their fields, who we have brought to campusto enrich the rehearsal process. For our all-femaleMacbeth, we invited Lisa Wolpe, artistic director of theLos Angeles Women’s Shakespeare Company to con-duct several workshops in cross-gender application toassist our students to become warring soldiers andwitches in the Scottish mist. Under her guidance, thestudents experimented with voice and movement, dis-cussed socio-political issues of Elizabethan England, andexplored the nuances of Shakespearean language.Through dialogue and movement, the students discov-ered the power of their minds and voices as manifestedin action.

On alternative Saturdays, they worked with our phys-ics teacher, Chris Vivo who also teaches fencing and isan expert in stage combat. In their first session with a

PPPPPower Tower Tower Tower Tower Toolsoolsoolsoolsoolsby Claire Hackett

Performing Arts Department Chair and Director of Theater Arts, Marymount High School

[email protected]

The power of the arts

to transform

is experienced

by young women

in theatre arts program.

n a recent Saturday morning, the Marymount cam-pus was anything but quiet. A basketball game thun-dered in the gym, families arrived for admissions inter-views, the robotics team donned goggles and gloves toconstruct their entry into this year’s competition. As theorchestra, cast and crew gathered at different points inand around Cantwell Hall to rehearse the spring produc-tion of Wind in the Willows, a few students from therobotics team sauntered up the steps and began togather around the production crew busily laying outpower tools and materials. At first there was a silence,then the questions began: “Is that a new saw?” “Whatdo you use that one for?” “Can I try this one?”

All the students working with these power tools areyoung women ages fourteen to eighteen. With a saw inher hand, goggles perched on top of her head; a crewmember steadies a board and draws an imaginary linedown its center, finally letting the sharp whir of the sawsting the air. The electricity of the saw sets up a vibra-tion in her that translates into a feeling of control. Hermentor, supervising the activity, is also a woman. Ourhead of Technical Theatre, when not overseeing theaction of paintbrushes and power drills, teaches the stu-dents how to design lights and sound for a show, how tostage and house manage efficiently. She provides a

OOOOO

cally to make connections, thepower of intellectual discourse,power of the body and voice trans-lated to power of articulation andachievement. After the last perfor-mance of Antigone, when the setwas struck and the cast sat in acircle on the bare floor that had onlya few hours before been the streetsof Thebes, the students discussedtheater and transformation. Theaterhas the power to transform an audi-ence, to change ideas, to inspire newinsight, to provoke emotions orthoughts never entertained before.In a school, theater also has thepower to change the students en-gaged in production. They leave thetheatre richer in mind and body andspirit. Whether with a power saw ora workshop on choral movement,the students discover the power theyhave to think, to speak, to act, andto transform.


--20--

real broad sword designed and builtfor stage and film, Chris encouragedthe students to take fierce arcingswings at his head and body. “Youwon’t hurt, me,” he reassured them.“I know how to protect myself.” Theirfirst attempts were accompanied bygiggles and “I’m sorry,” and “I’mscared!” By the time they reachedperformance, however, the youngwomen battled with an intensity andconfidence that startled audiences.One student later explained thatwhen she first had swung the swordover her head, she had been fright-ened of what she felt surgingthrough her body, until she recog-nized that what she felt was power—not just power to do battle, but anunleashed recognition that she haswithin her grasp the power toachieve anything she wants.

For this year’s production ofSophocles’ Antigone, we broughtmore specialists to campus to aug-ment our preparations. During therehearsal process, students at-tended four on-campus Saturdayworkshops to prepare themselves toperform. Our dramaturge fromUCLA, a translator of our text fromGreek into English, spoke to the stu-dents about the nature of drama-turgy, conventions and performancespaces of the ancient Greek theater,and the characters in Antigone. Anassistant curator of antiquities fromthe Getty provided the students withimages of Getty antiquities, and foot-age of contemporary choral danceand chant to further enrich the stu-dents’ understanding of their ownwork as it reflects past and presentproductions of Greek tragedy.

With each presentation, the stu-dents engaged in discussion that chal-lenged them to think more deeplyabout their contributions to the pro-duction. When they attended the nextworkshop with a professor from theUCLA School of Theatre, Film and Tele-vision, involving intense physical and

“Whether with a power saw, or aworkshop on choral movement, the

students discover the power they haveto think, to speak, to act, and to transform.”

vocal preparations for the rigors ofchoral work, the students had astrong base of knowledge fromwhich to work. As they strode acrossthe floor, beating drums and chant-ing in complex rhythms, they wereagain able to translate intellectualdiscourse into action. In additionalmeetings with the costume designerwho answered questions about boththe practical and artistic choicesbehind the costume design and con-struction, and with their director onthe issues of social justice that arethematically central to our under-standing of the play, the studentsgained a densely woven fabric ofideas and images to inform theirperformances. They also discovereda power within them that came froman integration of body, mind and spirit.

For each one of these experi-ences, students discovered a kind ofpower: the power to think analyti-

--21--


IIIII

by Anne-Marie Sykes

Fine Arts Director, Cate School

[email protected]

Dissolving Communication Boundaries

Dissolution of traditional boundaries among the media anddisciplines of the fine arts spurs visual arts teacher to createan innovate project

lor game, it was played by several people, each of whomwould write a phrase or draw an image on a sheet ofpaper, fold the paper to conceal part of it, and pass iton to the next player for his contribution. The techniquegot its name from results obtained in initial playing, “Lecadvre exquis boira le vin nouveau” (The exquisite corpsewill drink the young wine).

One of the more interesting cadavres exquis wasreproduced in a special issue of ‘Variétés’ titled “LeSuréalisme en 1929.” One of these begins with awoman’s head by Tanguy, which dissolves in to a junglescene by Max Morise, returning to a female anatomyschematically indicated by Miro, and terminating in“legs” in the form of a fishtail and an engineer’s triangleby Man Ray. Like a giant telephone, or Chinese whispergame, the consequential visual journey provided aunique cultural commentary of its time. Over the lastten years, many of the signs and symbols used by

’ve spent a number of years looking for a project thatwould cross all the fine arts, and that could be the cata-lyst for extending to the performing arts and other dis-ciplines. During the last ten years, many of the tradi-tional boundaries among media and disciplines in thefine arts have dissolved, and for an arts student today,the choices of visual expression and presentation havebecome increasingly multi-faceted and innovative, withso many more choices than for any other generation.

With that in mind, I saw a spectacular project inLondon last summer, done by graduate students. Al-though the outcome was pretty sophisticated, I saw noreason why our students could not have a similar expe-rience, because I believe that the process to be muchmore important than the outcome. Among Surrealisttechniques exploiting the mystique of accident was akind of collective collage of words or images called theCadavre Exquis (Exquisite Corpse). Based on an old par-


--22--

artists in communication, havemultiplied into an immense andcomplex network of images, fig-ures and emblems.

Cate School has a three-yeararts requirement: Foundation Artsrequired of all ninth graders and newtenth graders, plus two more yearsof arts electives. Our project “Relay”based upon this Surrealist parlorgame, Exquisite Corpse, has allowedstudents in all of the fine arts to beunited in a major project, each cre-ating an artwork within 24 hoursbefore passing it on and creating atrigger for the next contributor. Wehad three teams of 10 students,each from all of fine arts disciplines- mainly upper level students in thatparticular discipline. The eleventhartist in each group was a guestalumnus - a photographer, a painterand a sculptor.

The project plays with the ideathat we all interact with and influ-ence each other. Here at school and

over the course of our lives, we comeacross an idea, we see somethingthat sparks our imagination, or wehear a conversation that influencesus to create something totallyunique.

At 2:45 p.m. on a given day, thefirst student from each team wasgiven a ‘trigger’ word that he, or sheused as inspiration for an artwork.We used the words “Morning,”“Dream” and “Journey.” Studentshad 24 hours to complete theirpiece, and at 2:45 p.m. the follow-ing day, the work was given to no.2student to respond to. Only the firststudent ever knew the trigger word.The process continued until all 10students had responded – 10 dayslater. For his or her twenty - four hourperiod, each “Relay” student wasexcused from all academic commit-ments and sports. It was only whenthe exhibit was hung did that all theartists learned the trigger word, andsaw all the works in sequence.

Trigger Word: Morning

The project brought togethergraphic artists, photographers, digi-tal artists, ceramicists and sculptors,passing on the baton of ideas fromone to another, exploring the notionof influence, interactivity and inspi-ration. The finale was an exhibit inour Bruno Gallery. The responsefrom our viewers at Cate was quiteextraordinary. Usually non-artists willpolitely glance at our exhibits andmove through the show quickly. Onthis occasion, it was the studentsand faculty from the other academicdisciplines who spent considerabletime scrutinizing each student pieceas they tried to figure out its inspira-tion and influence. There was suchtremendous interest in the project,and a very enthusiastic responsefrom all the students, that we arerepeating it this year, with 44 stu-dents, including younger arts stu-dents, dancers and musicians. The ex-hibit will be shown in the Bruno Gal-lery at Cate, from April 1 – May 20.

Documents

THE ARTS - California Association of Independent Schools · THE ARTS California Association of Independent Schools C o n t e n t s Spring 2006 Faculty Newsletter is published by the