Fine Arts The arts can transform the classroom environment, making learning a lively, invigorating experience. With their emphasis on creative discovery and their ability to stimulate a variety of learning styles, the arts engender enthusiasm and motivation for learning. The arts also teach discipline, the value of sustained effort to achieve excellence, and the concrete rewards of hard work.     Elizabeth Murfee

Theory, supported by research and practice, informs us that the arts are a necessary and integral part of the curriculum. Many voices calling for education reform regard the arts as "serious and rigorous academic subjects." Cognitive scientists theorize that the arts, in calling on our imagination, critical acumen, and creativity, "convey knowledge and meaning not learned through the study of other subjects." This new way of knowing and thinking becomes the framework for a broader understanding of the other core subjects. The arts, then, act on two levels academically to enhance the curriculum, and are also beneficial on a psychological level through several therapeutic qualities, hence the positive social-emotional ramifications.

At Renaissance Preparatory School, we teach dance, music, theatre, and visual arts as serious and rigorous academic subjects on their own, and we also integrate the fine arts into units with other core subjects.


Dance Discovering the aesthetics of kinesthesia

At Renaissance Preparatory, The Dance participation curriculum begins with stretches and simple ballet exercises, and continues through more advanced ballet, historical dance, and contemporary dance.. Students can choreograph their own dance to Medieval, Renaissance, or Baroque music.

The non-participation part of the Dance curriculum involves attendance at one ballet production of a major ballet company, and one production by a modern dance company per year, with an eye towards analysis and critical response.


Music "Music hath charms to soothe the savage breast." William Shakespeare

The study of music is divided into two classes: Music Literacy and Music History. In the Music Literacy class, the students engage in active and passive music experiences. The basic skill of maintaining a study pulse through understanding of complex rhythmic patterns is taught using hands, drums, and other student created instruments. The foundation of true music literacy is born through the solid understanding of rhythm and pulse.

Further literacy in this subject area is gained through the study of melody and harmony. While studying intervals as the keyboard and with the voice, students will learn to sight sing simple melodic lines. Harmony will be studied beginning with the quality of triads and moving on to cadential dictation. The concept of timbre will be investigated through student made instruments as well as conventional music instruments, both modern and period.

Each performance experience is chosen to expose the student to a wide variety of music ensembles and composers. In preparation for the program, a study of the appropriate time periods, composers' biographies, and the structure and scores of the pieces on the program are undertaken with an eye towards informing critical listening and thinking skills. A post concert discussion completes the experience.


Theatre Playing with literature and imagination

"Drama and theatre are rooted in the universal human impulse to play, to imitate, to enact, and to make-believe."
Illinois State Board of Education

The State Standards in Fine Arts Education specify participatory and non-participatory skills that must be acquired through two modes of instruction - Drama and Theatre. Drama is defined as a classroom activity involving performance and performance literature that does not involve a culminating production in front of outside observers, but is, instead, an exploration for the sake of learning. Creative drama is constructivist activity in the classroom which brings students to a more rigorous meeting of all disciplines. Theatre is the production of a dramatic work with all technical elements for an audience extending outside the classroom. The Renaissance Preparatory School's drama program encompasses all three - drama, creative drama, and theatre - in empowering students in the acquisition of the desired participatory and non-participatory skills.

The participatory skills include, but are not limited to, performance, directing, play writing, technical theatre, and a study of theatre history, literature and criticism. Pursuing these skills yields the added benefit of character education through interpersonal skills and group effort.

The non-participatory skills, best described as "audience skills," include critical thinking and listening, modes of expression such as the oral or written critique, and audience etiquette, yielding the added benefit of character education through intrapersonal skills and self-management.

"As an academic discipline, theatre traditionally includes the study of acting techniques, scene study, theatre history, literature and criticism, design and stage craft, play writing, play production, and theatre attendance."
Illinois State Board of Education


Visual Arts Exploring the tactile aesthetics

"Pyramids, cathedrals and rockets exist not because of geometry, theories of structures or thermodynamics, but because they were first a picture - literally a vision - in the minds of those who built them." Historian Eugene Ferguson

The visual arts curriculum at Renaissance Preparatory School follows the same paradigm as the other Fine Arts by incorporating both participatory and non-participatory elements. The participatory portion of the visual arts curriculum consists of an exploration of technique in all media, with particular emphasis on gaining the vocabulary of the field. Only through experience in the tactile arts can one appreciate form, perspective, tone, shading, and other concepts based in the imaginative arts.

The non-participatory portion of the visual arts curriculum encompasses art history, art appreciation, and art theory. Through visits to local museums such as the Art Institute of Chicago, the Museum of Contemporary Art, and University of Chicago's Smart Museum, the students may experience resident treasures and special exhibits which enhance their knowledge. Often art museums are a special focus on an Intensive, such as a visit to the Concord Museum in Concord, Massachusetts for an exhibit of folk art, and a visit to the Museum of Women in Art in Washington, D.C. for a special Grandma Moses exhibit.

"When I examine myself and my method of thought, I come to the conclusion that the gift of fantasy has meant more to me than my talent for absorbing knowledge." Albert Einstein

Course Description 1 year; 1/2 credit
Course Content and Objectives: Simple kinesthetic exercises, stretches, and movement. Basic ballet training in the positions of the feet, positions of the arms, and simple steps and exercises such as rond de jambe a terre. English Country Dances.
1 year; 1/2 credit
Course Content and Objectives: More advanced ballet; introduction of more sophisticated historical dancing. Learn basics of choreographing historical dance.
1 year; 1/2 credit
Course Content and Objectives: Ballet technique as it applies to the Minuet and other Baroque dances. A refinement of technique with historical dances. Continue choreography with major project.
1 year; 1/2 credit
Course Content and Objectives: Quadrilles, Sets, Progressives, and American Ballroom Dancing. Sophisticated choreography to music from several time periods. Interdisciplinary project with literature or drama.
1 year; 1/2 credit
Course Content and Objectives: Through the study of rhythm and melody, two of the six elements of music, the student will begin the journey to music literacy. By performing student compositions and published works, using only rhythm and melody, the students will work together for a sound base upon which to build further music skills.
1 year; 1/2 credit
Course Content and Objectives: By incorporating the next two elements of music, harmony and form, the students will continue to grow in their music literacy skills. Students will create their own compositions, demonstrating their understanding of rhythm, melody, harmony, and form. Also students will study the sonata form from the classical period as well as the fugal form of Bach.
1 year; 1/2 credit
Course Content and Objectives: The final two elements of music, timbre and texture, will be studied in this course. Students will be introduced to many different instruments and will also be exposed to as many groupings of these instruments as feasible. The study of form will be continued as students explore the development of the symphony and theme and variation forms from early classical through the late romantic period.
1 year; 1/2 credit
Course Content and Objectives: The goal of this course is to have the students incorporate all six elements of music to create their own compositions. The compositions will be performed either by the student, other students, or perhaps visiting musicians. The composition techniques used by 20th and contemporary composers will be explored.
1 year; 1/2 credit
Course Content and Objectives: AN introduction to theatre: History/ Literature/ Criticism; Performance; and Technical Design. Exercises in kinesthesia, imagination, and voice; improvisation; basic principles of characterization; basic tech.
1 year; 1/2 credit
Course Content and Objectives: History of theatre: Greek, Roman, Medieval, Renaissance, Italian, French, Restoration, Victorian, and contemporary drama. Exercises in kinesthesia, imagination, and voice; readings in contemporary and classical dramatic literature with textual analysis; scene study; problems in staging; and the technical aspects of theatre.
1 year; 1/2 credit
Course Content and Objectives: Understanding technical theatre and the job of the director. Exercises in kinesthesia, imagination, and voice, readings in contemporary and classical dramatic literature with textual analysis; problems in staging with particular focus on developing a personal directing style; and the technical aspects of theatre with focus on the design process.
1 year; 1/2 credit
Course Content and Objectives: Elizabethan and Jacobean Theatre. Exercises in kinesthesia, imagination, and voice; readings in Elizabethan and Jacobean literature with textual analysis; scene study; problems in staging; and the technical aspects of theatre.
1 year; 1/2 credit
Course Content and Objectives: In laying down the basics for a sound technical training, through use of charcoal drawing, pencil-drawing and oil pastel, students explore the four key areas of visual art: life-drawing, still-life, design, and imagination composition. Students learn to identify, discuss and use elements of value and perspective; use of color schemes, harmonies and contrasts; basics of composition, and how these elements can come together to create an illusion, convey a meaning or express an idea. Students also discuss and compare the development and function of these four areas of visual art through history from the Byzantine era to modern day and how evolving technologies have affected the world both in terms of media and content.
1 year; 1/2 credit
Course Content and Objectives: As students continue to develop their knowledge of technique and use of art media, they continue to explore the function of aft within societies both past and present. Through life-drawing, portraiture, and still-life, students further expand their skill in drawing and trompe l'oeil, while also exploring the relevance of these techniques as they evolved in Byzantine, Early and Late Renaissance, and Rococo art. Through imaginative composition, the students learn the "story-telling" function of the art of these eras and how the culture and society of the time shaped that function. Comparing and contrasting this with the works of the Impressionists, Post-Impressionists, and Expressionsts, and the social commentary of current art work, which the students also explore in their own works of creative expression. In graphic design, students learn some of the function, tools, and techniques used in the world of commercial arts, and the innumerable ways in which art saturates and influences our popular culture. As former National Endowment for the Arts Chairman, Bill Ivey, said, "If our children don't learn to shape images, images will shape them."
1 year; 1/2 credit
Course Content and Objectives: Within a course that continues to be based in technique and practical work, students further expand their skills in the use of traditional and non-traditional art media and mixed-media work. The use of development of these media and art forms are studied in a historical context. The social relevance of art works both in past and present cultures; how the arts change in response to a changing society are major themes. As skills develop, students begin to find their own style and their own artistic voice, empowering them to develop their own messages for a fuller understanding of themselves and the world in which they live.
1 year; 1/2 credit
Course Content and Objectives: Students continue to refine skills and expand their media base as they delve into more complex art works. Choosing a particular theme or message, students research and plan how they will convey this message. Students are exposed to the idea of interdisciplinary work (such as installation pieces, performance art, or live art) and discernment in choosing media, tools, and technologies that best communicate their ideas. They may also add these new dimensions to their personal work. During this time, students are also learning how careers in the arts are expanding as new technologies and art forms are developing. Portfolios can be worked upon should a student choose this direction.