Flash Mob Dance

Click on the video to see the first Sage School Flash Mob Dance!
video

Water Cycle Dances

The Juniors have been working on an in-depth study of the water cycle and how it can be represented through dance. In the videos you will see the final compositions created by Juniors C. After watching a video about the water cycle, students brainstormed ways to show the water cycle through movement. They then shared "movement drafts" of their dances with their classmates and received helpful feedback about the choreography. Finally we added just the right music to compliment the movement.
Matthew, Daniel, Gideon, Henry

Rose, Jackson

Collin, Sami, Alicia, August

Emma, Evie

Kippy, Olivia

Water Sculpture Galleries Added!

Photos from the Junior Water Sculpture unit have been added to the Sage Gallery Page. The weather has been VERY cooperative lately as the Juniors explored subtractive sculpture with snow, and cast sculpture with ice.

Click here to view the Gallery: www.emilymiah.com/sagepage

Cameron

Nataliya

Don't forget--We need a name!

One more week left to submit an idea to name the Arts blog.
A lot of interesting submissions came in today.  Looking forward to picking the most Sage-ish by the end of next week!

Simple Things

This posting to to share the warmup that Juniors classes play when we begin mallet work.  It's called "Sunset" and is written by Konnie Saliba (an Orff Schulwerk teacher--see posting below).

This is a clip of them from Friday.

It's beautifully simple--4 lines put together (one bass line, one melody, and two scaler countermelodies.)  They made me very happy with the beauty in this simple warmup, and I told them I would put them on the blog to make others happy, though it's hard to capture pretty xylophone sounds on my camera.

It's the nature of Sage students often make things as complicated as possible, and when simple things are beautiful, it's important to point them out.
Enjoy!

First Grade Shape Study

The Primes recently choreographed dances based on asymmetric and symmetric shapes. First they brainstormed and drew six shapes for each category and then chose their favorite ones to create a dance. Please click on the following link to see First Grade perform their shape dances.
First Grade Shape Dances

Kindergarteners Explore Musical Instruments

Last week in Kindergarten music, we had one of my favorite types of classes--an instrument exploration day.  Set up like centers or stations, students travel from one part of the room to another for free play/exploration with instruments that are set up in some logical way (by what they're made of, but how you play them, etc.)

To be sure, these classes are loud ones.  But they are less chaotic than you might think--the funnest part of these days is to watch when the students take the instruments at each station and organize an impromptu piece.  I heard Kindergarteners counting each other off, making rhythms for each other to echo, and examining and reexamining unfamiliar instruments to see the best sounds they could create.  When given the opportunity to make a racket, Kindergarteners will.  And just like every other novelty, it shortly wears off and the students begin playing in a way that mimics the work we do during class.  

This video is a minute long and includes still photos from that class.

Are pictures really worth 1000 words?

Make a cylinder that is 6x as long as its diameter. Flatten the ends and attach smaller cylinders that are 1/4th as long as the original cylinder and 1/4th its diameter. The two smaller cylinders start wider near the middle cylinder and then grow narrower before widening again out at the tips. Each smaller cylinder has two incised lines that circulate the circumference in a parallel fashion. One of the cylinders has a hole cut through its diameter, centered between the two lines.

What is it?

Those are the instructions that began a game during the visual art class portion of the MS Arts Tour. One person described a hidden object to other people who sculpted it in clay based on their description. It proved to be a lesson in keen observation, geometric vocabulary, and above all, listening skills! Below are some of the results from the 7th grade game. Lots of fun was had by all!

Why Our Schools Need the Arts

During Winter Break I posted a link to an article that looked not-so-favorably upon the “Mozart Effect.”  Since that time, I’ve had conversations with a couple of parents about this idea.  In my conversations, I found myself referencing one of my favorite arts education books, "Why Our Schools Need the Arts" by Jessica Hoffman Davis.  I thought this would be a good time to give a plug for this book for anyone who is looking for an interesting read.

This book is not necessarily intended for arts education scholars—it’s written in simple English with practical reasons that support arts education for what it can uniquely offer.  It makes no claims of the arts to improve math or reading scores, because those benefits are not the best ones for showing what the arts in education can provide for children.  These benefits in other subject areas (if they exist) are great side effects, but do not hold up in arts teachers’ minds as the best reasons why arts education is essential for all students, or as the unique features of the arts that are driving forces behind arts curriculum choices.

What are these unique features that influence the way we teach the arts?  Davis categorizes them into the sections listed below.  Almost all of the decisions I make as a teacher are framed through these ten features, or variations upon them.  I think it’s a great list.  While I can’t summarize all of the great points in the book, I can assure you that it is worth its cost on Amazon and the very short amount of time it takes to read. 

Product

Imagination

The arts in education invite students to think beyond the given, to imagine, “What if?”

Agency

The arts in education enable students to experience their significance as agents of effectiveness and change, to realize, “I matter.”

Emotion

Expression

The arts in education give students the opportunity to acknowledge, recognize, and express feelings, “This is how I feel.”

Empathy

The arts in education help students to be aware of and attentive to the emotions of others, “This is how you feel.”

Ambiguity

Interpretation

The arts in education enable students to see that there are many equally viable ways in and out of the same subject, to know that even if their views differ from others’, “What I think matters.”

Respect

The arts in education help students to be aware of, interested in, and respectful of different ways of making sense of the world.  They come to know that even if they disagree with peers, “What others think matters.”

Process Orientation

Inquiry

The arts in education teach students about questions that make use of information but go beyond right and wrong answers to, “what do I want to know?”

Reflection

The arts in education help students develop skills of on-going self-reflection and assessment, beyond judgments of good or bad to informed considerations of “How am I doing?” and “What will I do next?”

Connection

Engagement

The arts in education excite and engage students, awakening attitudes to learning that include passion and joy and the discovery of “I care.”

Responsibility

The arts in education connect children to others within and beyond school walls, helping to awaken a sense of social responsibility and action because, “I care for others.”

Finally!

 The galleries have been updated! Please click here to see what the Juniors have been up to on Aviary, how the 2nd Grade Graphic Novels turned out, what the MS students have to say about their choice projects, and what a 1st Grade Care Printmaking project is.

"Cloudy with a Chance of Tourists" by Carson S. 

"The Busy Sea" by Chloe Poku

         

"Stuck on the Mountain" by John P.

"Voldemort's Dunk" by Adam I.

Name the Blog!

At Friday Morning Meeting today, a contest was announced to students for ideas to name this blog.  It seems Sage students can help come up with a catchier, more fitting, properly creative title for this site than, "Sage School Arts Department!"  

We're happy to give them the opportunity.  Students can submit suggestions in the envelope outside of Miss Hogan's room, and when we find a great title that helps show what this blog is all about, we will rename it.  We're looking forward to seeing what students come up with!

What's an Orff???

Every Thursday afternoon afterschool, a group of 3rd graders meet in the music room to sing, dance, and play instruments.  They are the Sage Orff Ensemble.

I've been waiting for this question, but it taken a number of months until finally someone asked this afternoon, "What's an Orff?"

Orff Schulwerk is an approach to music and movement education.  It's namesake is Carl Orff, famous composer known for "Carmina Burana."  As I told the Ensemble today, the way we learn pieces by ear first, and then add notation, is an example of an influence of my Orff Schulwerk training.  Ensembles that use traditional Orff Schulwerk instruments, like the xylophones, recorders, and drums, are often called Orff ensembles.

The pieces that the ensemble plays are in an elemental style.  Elemental music is pattern-based music built on natural speech and body rhythms, familiar melodic patterns, and simple forms that can be learned, created, understood, and performed without extensive technical or theoretical musical training (Nick Wild, 2004.)

The Orff Ensemble will perform afterschool later in the Spring, and may also make an appearance at Sage International Night in February.