Performing Arts
The Middle School offers many curricular and extracurricular performing arts opportunities. Classes are taught three to four times per eight-day cycle, with instruction in piano, music theory, music composition, world music, popular music and more. Middle school performing arts ensembles include two rock bands, jazz band, orchestra, choir, percussion ensemble and a musical theater troupe.
- Music at the Middle School
Integral to the interdisciplinary curriculum in the Middle School, the music program is a fundamental part of every student’s middle school experience and ties into established themes in conjunction with other academic areas of study. Students learn to read and notate music; to listen to, analyze and describe music; to compose, arrange and perform music; to give and receive feedback; and to evaluate music. Most importantly, students develop an ability to utilize music to understand themselves and others, that builds a deeper level of empathy for fellow human beings. All middle school students collaborate to produce the annual Winter Concert with sung repertoire related to their grade-level curriculum.
Middle School Instrumental Ensembles: Middle School Jazz Band, Middle School Orchestra, Masters of Rock, Boom!
Middle School Choral Ensembles: The Glee Club, grade-level choirs, MastersSingers, Preludes
Fifth Grade
Students will study the art of opera from every angle: production to performance, to theory and practice, and will end the year by performing an original opera. In our state-of-the-art Piano Lab, fifth graders master a variety of hand positions through sight-reading, improvisation, performance pieces, and technical exercises. Utilizing these skills, students will compose original music for the fifth grade puppet opera.
Sixth Grade
Students begin with an introduction to folk music and to basic music theory in a practical setting, while preparing for the Middle School Winter Concert. Students will compose, arrange, sing and play a variety of folk music while examining music theory in context. The year will end with an original collaborative song cycle composed and performed by students.
Seventh Grade
Students learn about music from Africa, Central and South America, the Caribbean, the Middle East and Asia. The course includes an exploration of rhythm and percussion, piano lab, ukelele and drum circle. A final project investigates each student’s musical identity.
Eighth Grade
Students study American popular music styles, including folk, bluegrass, country, blues, jazz and rock. The course includes exploration of drum set, bass guitar, electric and acoustic guitar and electronic keyboard. The year ends with a collaborative project: the production of an arts expo with original songs written and performed by student bands.
- Theater at the Middle School
All middle school students take a theater/movement class once per cycle. Dramatic arts are also integrated in interdisciplinary projects in other courses such as: the fifth grade opera project, the sixth grade Hudson River project, the seventh grade Ellis Island reenactment and the eighth grade constitutional convention simulation. In the fall season, Preludes, the middle school musical theater troupe is offered as a co-curricular. In addition, seventh and eighth graders have the opportunity to rehearse and perform in a winter musical production as a physical education option. - Dance at the Middle School
Students explore multiple styles including ballet, modern, jazz as well as other culturally rooted forms of movement expression. Students also have an opportunity to collaborate on creating their own choreography. Fifth and sixth graders have a unit in dance as part of their drama and movement classes.
