Music Tri-arts Class

The tri-arts classes at both Kingswood and Vaughan middle schools are unique. 6th through 8th grade students who have chosen not to participate in band, orchestra and choir classes are required to take the tri-arts course. This course consists of study in three art areas: music, drama, and dance. Visual art is covered in a separate course.

Students attend tri-arts class every other day for 40 minutes. Students spend 1/3 of the year in each section on a rotational basis. Each class averages 15 students. Once students have taken the tri-arts class once, they have the option of repeating the sequence in grades 7 & 8, or they can elect to take year long drama or dance. A course proposal is in the works to allow students to take a year long Music Workshop course in grades 7 & 8.

I teach the music portion of the tri-arts classes. My classroom at each school is located in the library computer lab. Students can work with a variety of older Casio and Yamaha synthesizers (with built in speakers) along with Super Duper Music Looper and Acid Music Studio software published by Sony. The curriculum I teach is taught emergently from the students' original musical creations and is based upon Lucy Calkins' writing workshop model.