Music and the Arts

Music and the arts are central components of a Waldorf education. Every student across all four high school grades is expected to sing with the high school chorus, play in an instrumental ensemble, participate in class plays, and work with a wide variety of media in both Fine and Practical Arts including painting, drawing, woodwork, fiber arts, printmaking and more. Studio and performing arts are both integrated into Main Lessons and offered as stand-alone courses and electives in the high school years.

The reason we teach music goes much deeper than simply accessing the performing arts. Through music we refine the capacity to connect, harmonize, and resolve dissonance, to think and feel, to mature, and make sound judgement, to vibrate, tune, and move about the world with wholeness.

The art disciplines begin as early as pre-school, continue in various creative forms throughout the elementary school years, and are energetically pursued in the middle school and high school. Students at Steiner are familiar with drawing as an art form in many of their classes, as reflected in the careful descriptive work in their Main Lesson Books. Main Lessons Seminars in music and the arts include, among others, History Through Art (9), History Through Drama (9), History Through Music (11), Modern Art (12), and Senior Play (12). The arts are, first and foremost, a path for knowledge.

COURSE CATALOG

MUSIC

Chorus (9, 10, 11, 12)
Develop skills necessary to perform music of the highest quality • Match pitch accurately in their given vocal range • Improve their sight-reading skills • Experience a variety of choral music styles, from various countries and cultures, through a careful study of quality repertoire, engaging rehearsals, and performances representative of the highest musical standards possible • Through a careful study of quality repertoire, engaging rehearsals, and performances, students should experience choral music o From various countries and cultures o In a variety of languages o In different styles and genres • Perform with a sense of commitment and responsibility to each member of the High School and our audience • Improve their individual vocal technique and speech diction • Balance and blend individual parts within each section through improved listening skills • Demonstrate knowledge of different vocal-choral styles and the means to articulate, while using the voice in a healthy manner • Experience performing and rehearsing both with accompaniment and a capella.

Guitar and Fretted Instruments Elective (9,10)
Attempt to perform music of the highest quality from different genres and at varying levels of difficulty • Experience a variety of guitar styles through a careful study of quality repertoire, engaging rehearsals, and performances representative of the highest musical standards possible • Gain proficiency and economy with the left hand, versatility and steadiness with the right • Practice both reading and playing by ear, explore different fingerings and memorize parts • Perform with a sense of commitment and responsibility to each member of the High School and our audience • Perform solo or in duos and trios for critical evaluation and to correct mistakes according to suggestions • Learn how to listen carefully to ensemble partners or to peers who are performing • Learn to care for the instrument and to tune it confidently • Alternate roles among lead, accompanying, or harmonizing parts • Improve rhythm, timing, and intonation, playing as a unit • Appreciate dynamics and tone colors by supportive, expressive playing that does not dominate • Attend concerts of good guitar music

Jazz Band Elective (9, 10, 11, 12)
Develop skills necessary to perform music of the highest quality. • Experience a variety of jazz styles through a careful study of quality repertoire, engaging rehearsals, and performances representative of the highest musical standards possible. • Perform with a sense of commitment and responsibility to each member of the Jazz Ensemble and our audience. • Gain an appreciation of the truly original American art form called Jazz. • Improve their individual technique and part playing. • Balance and blend individual parts within each section through improved listening skills. • Improve their sight-reading skills. • Demonstrate knowledge of different jazz styles and the means to artistic individual expression. • Execute jazz rhythms, articulations, and melodic phrases. • Have a working knowledge of major, minor, and blues scales. • Improve their skills as improvisers.

Orchestra Elective (9, 10, 11, 12)
Develop skills necessary to perform music of the highest quality • Experience a variety of orchestral styles through a careful study of quality repertoire, engaging rehearsals, and performances representative of the highest musical standards possible • Perform with a sense of commitment and responsibility to each member of the High School and our audience • Undergo an audition-type experience before a musical panel • Improve their individual technique and part playing • Balance and blend individual parts within each section through improved listening skills • Improve their sight-reading skills • Demonstrate knowledge of different orchestral styles and the means to artistic individual expression • Execute rhythms, articulations, and melodic phrases • Have a working knowledge of major, minor scales

History Through Music Main Lesson (11)
The purpose of this course, as the third of four aesthetics courses in the Waldorf high school curriculum, is to bring together the various aesthetic and historical studies that have happened over the preceding years within the context of music as not only a performing art but also as an expression of the human being in space and time.

ARTS

History Through Art Main Lesson (9)

Black and White Drawing (9)
This course emphasizes the study of form through the observation of light and shadow. Subject matter is varied and may include preliminary still-life studies and a longer major project. Students use charcoal and black pastel to create smooth transitions as well as distinct contrasts of planes. They are encouraged to draw with a wide range of tones, from deep blacks and crisp whites, to the subtle use of intermediate grays. This happens quite naturally once students learn to draw in a painterly fashion.

Watercolor Painting (10)
This block involves the interpretation of a masterwork from art history. Impressionism, Post- Impressionism, and Fauvism are most frequently explored, but works by individual artists from other movements are also used as source material for ambitious studio assignments. Using dry sheets of paper, students learn to build up an image beginning with light coats of color and arriving at a finished picture by applying layers of paint. By the end of the course, students have acquired considerable skill and have gained self-confidence in their abilities to control the demanding watercolor medium.

Perspective Drawing (10)
By drawing using one point perspective, students learn to make a two-dimensional surface appear three- dimensional. Students experience how the vanishing point in the drawing relates to the position of the viewer; they work on drawing from observation, establishing the location of the vanishing point on their paper and constructing the view with lines leading into it. They also learn that other aspects in the view affect the perspective illusion such as light and focus and incorporated these ideas into their drawings, learning to represent them in a line drawing. Given tools for creating linear perspective using a precise mathematical system, the students used the guidelines to create their own image of space.

Graphic Design Elective (10)

Digital Photography Elective (10, 11)

Watercolor and Mixed Media Painting (11)
This course seeks to develop each individual’s skill with the medium of watercolor, both in terms of color and composition. Students learn to mix paint with the intention of achieving subtle nuances of tone as well as vivid contrasts. Pastel and/or pencil, for example, are available to students who wish to incorporate them into their long-term projects, thus creating a mixed-media piece. Students explore form and volume through diversified subject matter.

Art History Main Lesson (12)

Linoleum Printing (12)

Oil Painting (12)
This year long elective course in Oil Painting offered to senior students emphasizes basic studio techniques and skills, while seeking to develop each student’s visual sensibility. Cultivating good craftsmanship as well as artistry is a clear expectation of the course; studies in color and composition continue throughout the year. Still-life arrangements, portraits and self-portraits, and work from photographs and reproductions are examples of the diversified subject matter introduced in this class.

CRAFTS

Woodworking (9, 11, 12)
Woodworking classes challenges students to create a wooden box with a sliding lid. Students are asked to design their box, extrapolate from their drawings the dimensions for their design, and cut a long board into the number of segments needed. They miter each segment, shape the box's lid and bottom, and then glue the box. The corners are grooved and fitted with reinforcing splines that add beauty and strength to the box. During the project, students learn to use marking tools, miter saws, planes and chisels, and produce elegant woodworking joints such as miters and rabbets. They learn the importance of planning and design, accurate measuring, sawing and planning, attention to detail, and how to assemble many interdependent parts to create a beautiful whole.

Sculpture (9, 10, 11, 12)
This course is designed to give students the opportunity to do one major project in stone carving. The students are given a wide range of choices with respect to material, shape, and size, and learn about the nature of the material, alabaster, and sometimes soap stone and limestone. By direct carving into the stone they discover the special properties and the beauty of the material and work to realize their ideas in sculptural form.

Bookbinding (11)
This class begins with the creation of paste papers and marbled papers for the book covers. Students then learn to fold acid free 80 lb. drawing paper, using a bone folder to articulate the folded edges. These are assembled into “signatures” of four groups of four folded sheets, resulting in sixty-four pages. The cover is measured and cut with a box cutter, and then assembled using archival glue and binding tape of various colors. Finally, pages are sewn into the spine of the book and sliced apart with a bone folder, finishing the book. The creation of these books requires artistic and aesthetic consideration as well as precision in measuring and workmanship. Creative decisions include choice of color and pattern in making the paste papers and marbled papers, color of binding tape, linen thread, and the selection of papers for the inside and the outside of the cover. Precise workmanship is required in the measuring and cutting of the cover, the gluing of the papers, the folding, sewing, and the final cutting apart of the pages.

Weaving (11)
In this four shaft weaving block, the students design and wind their warps, and set up their looms. They weave scarves, which are required to have a minimum of three colors and three different weave patterns. Students have to be conscious of making art as apparel, as well as the overall appearance of their work, including durability, cohesiveness of design, and the look of the selvages (edges).

DRAMA

History Through Drama Main Lesson (9)
Students are introduced to the spectrum of Global Drama, beginning with the birth of drama in both eastern and western civilizations. Subjects covered include ancient Greek and Indian drama, the Dark Ages, Medieval mystery and morality plays, Noh and Kabuki theatre, Chinese opera, the oral traditions of Africa and America, and the plays of the Renaissance in Western Europe. The class concludes with a reading of a modern play. The components of this course consist of daily lectures, oral reviews, two exams, a creative project, and the organization of notes and drawings into daily homework, which is eventually transformed into a main lesson book.

Classical Drama Main Lesson (10)

Class Play (10)

Shakespearian Drama Main Lesson (11)
This hands-on workshop provides the opportunity for eleventh graders to experience the genius of William Shakespeare personally, as a companion course to the Hamlet main lesson. The students prepare scenes and monologues of their choice through exercises incorporating the four temperaments as a follow up to the techniques introduced in the ninth and tenth grades. They are encouraged to find meaning and connection to the characters they portray as they discover qualities about themselves as individuals. An evening performance for family and friends is traditionally connected with this workshop and may include other artistic offerings related to Shakespeare, including eurythmy, visual art, and music.

The Senior Play Production (12)
The senior play production takes place at the end of the school year, and is a culmination of the students’ education at the Rudolf Steiner High School. The twelfth grade students contribute to every element of this fully staged production from acting, sets, costumes, and publicity, to the choice of play. Students are deeply committed to the success of this project, as their play is performed for the general public and the school community. The students work as an ensemble to create a lasting portrait of their graduating class. Past productions have included: Chekhovek, Arms and the Man, and You Can’t Take It With You.