All Gordon students receive a thorough exposure to music and theater in the classroom, and receive ample opportunity to pursue particular interests in the after school and electives programs.
All Gordon students participate in weekly music classes taught by professional musicians in the music studio. The curriculum includes choral and instrumental music, music theory and appreciation, original composition and notation, and improvisation. Music teachers and classroom teachers all actively draw the connection between this material and classroom work, from the cultural contexts of different music to the math that lies at the foundation of it all.
The theatrical arts are used throughout Gordon’s curriculum to help realize the goal of producing students who are comfortable expressing themselves, verbalizing their thoughts in front of a group, and learning to view the world from perspectives other than their own.
From Kindergarten to fourth grade, every student participates in a grade-wide production presented to the entire school, and the Middle School years are rich with opportunities to pursue individual interests further. While performances are often of exceptional quality, students are taught to value – and enjoy – the process as much as they do the product.
Early Childhood’s play-based curriculum offers a particularly rich, but gentle approach to theatre with imaginative free play, role-playing, and ample opportunities for children to view each others’ play and work and to internalize their theatre experiences into their own dramatic free play.
Children in Kindergarten often present an impromptu puppet play for their teacher and classmates. Young Kindergarten presents a shadow puppet play and performs it for their parents at a breakfast meeting. Some children are adept at learning lines whilst others need gentle help and support from their peers and teacher. The emphasis is upon a shared experience without theatrical angst or jitters.
In Lower School, student perform plays that are tied closely to classroom texts as varied as Frog and Toad by Arnold Lobel to Joseph Bruchac’s How the Dogs Became Companions to the People. These performances range from spontaneous, student-scripted skits to grade-wide extravaganzas presented for the entire Lower School. Invariably, visual art teachers and librarians are drawn in to collaborate.
In Middle School, theater skills are woven tightly into the classroom curriculum. Role-playing is used to explore literature like Of Mice and Men, as well as social studies issues in mock debates. Students are expected to collaborate on oral presentations, skits and short films as culminating projects. Literature is explored in depth as students are asked to memorize a Shakespeare soliloquy, then rewrite it in the modern vernacular.
One memorable example is the fifth grade weeklong immersion in the culture of ancient Egypt through the making of artifacts, costumes and scenery that support their study of the period. This week is an inherently theatrical endeavor and it mirrors the production week of any play or performance. Students are actively engaged in working as a team or ensemble to present their work and mastery of their subject before visiting parents, faculty members and students. The presentation is environmental in nature since it involves audience members walking through the staging of the finished projects. Students wear costuming from the period and become both elucidators and performers of their material.
see also:
Plays and Musicals
Music Lessons