Middle School Arts

Providence Academy Middle School Students are exposed to a variety of arts as part of its mission help in the formation of a complete person. Students therefore learn fundamental skills of each discipline in order to produce artistic creations, and gain an understanding and appreciation of the modern world. Arts offerings in the Middle School include visual arts courses, choir, wind band and strings.

Choir

This class will give students an introduction to singing and proper vocal techniques.   Students will also be introduced to concepts in basic music theory.  They will also explore different styles and periods of music. Middle School Chorus sings at one performance each year. (Grades 6-8, partial year.)

Concert Band

The purpose of this elective is for the student to obtain and demonstrate the technical, theoretical, historical, intellectual and emotional elements of intermediate instrumental music literature.  Students also learn teamwork and leadership in an ensemble setting.  The students will perform in concerts throughout the school year and each student will receive an individual/paired weekly band lesson.  It is preferred that the students have former instrumental training, but admittance on an individual basis for those who have never played before is possible with director consent.   (Grades 6-8, full year.)

String Ensemble-Harmonium

Harmonium is a Middle School Strings ensemble for students with at least one year of experience on violin, viola, cello, or bass. Every student is expected to master the music for the concerts through personal practice at home and class practice with the ensemble, and complete one written assignment each quarter. There are three mandatory concerts per year and other performing opportunities throughout the year. Each student also attends a 10 minute private or semi private lesson each week and will be charge $60 for the year (Students taking private lessons outside of school are exempt).

Art Courses

Sixth grade art class begins with the classical art and architecture of ancient Greece and Rome.  The influence of “classical” art is then compared and contrasted during the study of other major periods of Western art that followed.  These include the Gothic period, the Renaissance and the Baroque period.  The last unit of this class reviews the varied styles of the four brief but influential periods that followed the Baroque era: Rococo, Neoclassical, Romanticism and 19th Century Realism.  (Grade 6)

Seventh grade art begins exactly where the sixth grade art class concludes: the second half of the 19th Century.  The four main units of this class cover some of the most popular periods and artists of the modern era beginning with the Impressionists and concluding with the painters of American Realism.  The students learn of the Post-Impressionists and how they would later influence two of the major movements of the 20th Century: Expressionism and Abstraction.  Special attention is also given to the influences of Art Nouveau, Pablo Picasso and the Surrealists. (Grade 7)

The 20th Century is the primary focus of eighth grade art.  This class begins with the study of architecture from the Industrial Revolution to the modern International Style that defined the 20th Century.  The second unit focuses on the major artists and works of 20th Century sculpture.  This is followed by an examination of modern painting since World War II.   Finally, this class concludes with a brief history of photography and its use as an art form.(Grade 8)

*Throughout all of the middle school CKC art classes a variety of drawing assignments and art projects are executed.  All assignments are focused on the basic principles and elements of art and very often relate directly to the current unit of study.