Visual & Performing Arts
Bullis School’s visual and performing arts program is designed to advance students’ ability to discover and develop their own voice through artistic expression. A student-centered, interdisciplinary approach balances the exploration of artistic traditions, the development of concepts and the building of skills. Using new vocabulary, students learn to express themselves, create and problem solve. The Visual and Performing Arts Department aspires to cultivate culturally literate, inquisitive and independent thinkers who synthesize the greater world through the arts. Scroll through the course listings below. A chart showing the courses available in the visual and performing arts is available by clicking here.
“Our programs support the most advanced artistic skills, while giving everyone a chance to excel. Students find their niche and rise to a new level of achievement. They discover things about themselves that neither they nor anyone else knew they had in them.” — Cheryl Terwilliger, Chair, Visual and Performing Arts Department
The Visual and Performing Arts Department curriculum utilizes three sequential levels of skill development, offering a varied program in Visual Art, Dance, Music and Theater. Level I (Discovering Your Own Voice) focuses on establishing basic skills inherent in and common to all four artistic disciplines and on creative invention and discovering the creative voice. Levels II (Compositional Craft) and III (Application) build on this voice and develop the compositional techniques specific to each discipline.
The Upper School offerings in the Visual and Performing Arts are all electives. Students are required to earn a minimum of two credits in Visual and Performing Arts to graduate. This requirement may be fulfilled by earning any combination of credits in the arts disciplines: Visual Art, Dance, Music or Theater. All Visual and Performing Arts courses receive academic credit and are regarded as one of the five academic subjects required each trimester. Ninth graders must select a yearlong course of study in the arts and may choose from the following: a music ensemble, a dance ensemble or Arts Foundations, a series of three trimester classes: Introuction to Dance, Introduction to Visual Art and Introduction to Acting or Basic Stagecraft.
Level I Courses
Dance
This course is designed for students who have had little or no dance background. Students have the opportunity to explore and practice the principles of dance technique, improvisation, and composition, working toward developing awareness, freedom and control in the use of the body as an instrument of expression. Students learn basic technical skills and creative aspects relative to a variety of dance styles. Technical expertise and artistic expression are enhanced through reflective practice, study and evaluation of one’s own work. Students focus on building the skills of coordination, balance, body alignment, flexibility, strength, endurance, musical awareness, phrasing, precision and rhythmic accuracy. Credit: 1/3
Music
Chorale (yearlong)
Chorale is a select mixed choir that seeks to expand the musical knowledge of students while enriching cross-curriculum study. Using standard choral repertoire from across the musical eras, as well as newly discovered ethnic pieces, this ensemble explores literary devices, cultural and historical settings, scientific and mathematical implications, performance practices and team building. This group performs both on and off campus. (Prerequisite: audition/interview) Credit: 1
Concert Band (yearlong)
Upper School Concert Band class is designed to help students progress toward the attainment of the advanced woodwind, brass and percussion objectives. The emphasis is on the concept of large ensemble playing. Instrumentation of the group will be at the discretion of the instructor. Students are expected to buy or rent their own instrument and private lessons are expected for all students in this course. Percussion students will need to purchase a stick bag containing several kinds of sticks, mallets, etc. They will also expected to have a drum pad and either a bell kit or piano for use at home. (Please see the instructor for details.) Attendance at evening concerts, extra-instructional time sectionals, and occasional evening rehearsals is expected in this course.(Prerequisite: attainment of intermediate woodwind, brass, string, and percussion objectives and audition) Credit: 1
Digital Music I and II
These courses are designed to introduce students to the constantly evolving world of electronic and digital technology. Students will explore music through synthesizer keyboards, computers, digital sound design and written composition using a direct, hands-on-approach. These courses cover the physics of sound, the history of electronic music, sound synthesis, functions and operations of synthesizers, music composition and sequencing software, and digital recording and editing. Students will be required to create compositions, manipulate sequencing software and edit recordings of live performances. Credit: 1/3
Percussion Ensemble (yearlong)
The Percussion Ensemble is designed to teach the fundamentals of percussion technique to beginning and intermediate students through the study of the standard percussion repertoire. Members of the class also will function together as an independent ensemble that will present their own repertoire on and off campus in concerts and events. Students may participate in the Percussion Ensemble for multiple years; some also may be invited to participate in Concert Band, Jazz Ensemble or Jazz Workshop. Percussion students will need to purchase a stick bag containing several kinds of sticks, mallets, and accessories. They will also be expected to have a drum pad and either a bell kit or piano for use at home. (Please see the instructor for details.) Private lessons are expected for 9th and 10th grade students in this course. Attendance at evening concerts, extra-instructional time sectionals, and occasional evening rehearsals is expected in this course. Credit: 1
Theater
Basic Stagecraft
This course is an introduction to the fundamental elements and technology of theatrical production. Emphasis is placed on concepts related to technical theater, including stagecraft, scenic design, lighting design and set construction. Topics include history, theater organization, tools and materials, design and construction basics, scenery construction, lighting, rigging, sound, scene shop safety, stage management and the collaborative process. Students divide their time between regular classes and practical, hands-on work in the scene shop and work spaces. Students apply what they are learning by developing and constructing the actual elements of the current production and/or one-act production. Credit: 1/3
Introduction to Acting
The primary goal of this course is to introduce students to the art of acting. More specifically, it allows students to recognize their own personal responses to the environment, specific emotions or a given situation, and utilize these reactions in creating individual and unique characters. Acting is a matter of choices, and students learn to make creative, actable and quality choices based on increased self-awareness and universal understanding. This class focuses on developing both vocal and physical awareness through sensory and emotional responses. Using improvisation, monologues, scene work and script analysis, students focus on developing and communicating an understanding of their own experiences and empathy for both peers and people in worlds beyond their own. Credit: 1/3
Visual Art
Introduction to Visual Art
The focus of the introduction to art course will enable the student to learn a variety of drawing and painting techniques, the elements and principles of design and introductory color theory. The student will become familiar with tools, mediums and ways of thinking about art. Students will discover how people use a common visual language to express their own unique perspectives. The class explores the elements of both two- and three-dimensional art, which can be applied to any media or art form. Credit: 1/3
Level II Courses
Dance
Dance Ensemble (year long)
Designed for the intermediate level dancer, this class will build upon the movement foundation established within the Introduction to Dance course. Students will acquire a broad movement vocabulary that includes challenging ballet, jazz, hip-hop and modern dance terminology. In addition, students will explore turns, leaps, jumps, falls and recovery, partnering and advanced floor work. Emphasis will be placed upon increasing strength, balance, flexibility, rhythmic training/musicality, quick-slow movement dynamics and the head-tailbone connection. This class will also incorporate low intermediate level exercises from Lester Horton’s Coccyx Balance Series for maximum core strength and improved posture. Students will have the opportunity to perform on and off campus. (Prerequisite: Introduction to Dance and/or teacher approval) Credit: 1
Music
Chorale (yearlong)
Chorale is a select mixed choir that seeks to expand the musical knowledge of students while enriching cross-curriculum study. Using standard choral repertoire from across the musical eras, as well as newly discovered ethnic pieces, this ensemble explores literary devices, cultural and historical settings, scientific and mathematical implications, performance practices and team building. This group performs both on and off campus. (Prerequisite: audition/interview) Credit: 1
Jazz Ensemble (yearlong)
Upper School Jazz Ensemble is designed to help students progress toward the attainment of the advanced woodwind, brass and percussion objectives in relation to the musical study of Jazz. The emphasis is on the concept of large ensemble playing. Participants will need to purchase or rent an instrument and private lessons will be expected for all students enrolled in this class. Attendance at evening concerts, extra-instructional time sectionals, and occasional evening rehearsals is also expected in this course. Instrumentation of the group will be at the discretion of the instructor. (Prerequisite: attainment of advanced woodwind, brass, string and percussion objectives, audition, concurrent membership in Concert Band or Concert Band/Jazz Workshop) Credit: 1 (with concurrent membership in Concert Band or Concert Band/Jazz Workshop)
String Ensemble (yearlong)
The String Ensemble is designed to assist students in the development of advanced string objectives. Students perform a variety of works written for smaller ensembles with the goal of developing greater independence, facility and group skills. Participants will need to purchase or rent an instrument and private lessons will be expected for all students enrolled in this class. Attendance at evening concerts, extra-instructional time sectionals, and occasional evening rehearsals is expected in this course. Instrumentation of the group will be at the discretion of the instructor. (Prerequisite: attainment of advanced string objectives and audition) Credit: 2/3
Theater
Advanced Acting (yearlong)
This advanced-level acting class assumes that students already have a working knowledge of basic acting techniques. Through exploring a variety of acting styles and techniques in character development, students are able to distill a personal system that enables them to create and communicate unique characters. Specific topics covered include: selecting and developing suitable material for auditions; preparing and analyzing a monologue or scene; using observations and personal experiences to create believable characters; searching for the truth in an action, a situation or a character; creating a score to activate the physical life of a character; creating an environment out of empty space; writing a resume; guideposts to creating an organized and functional approach to acting. The first trimester focuses on monologues, the second trimester on scene study and the third trimester on performance improvisation. (Prerequisites: Introduction to Acting) Credit: 1
Advanced Stagecraft Techniques
This course offers an opportunity for students to learn and apply intermediate design theory in one of three major technical areas: scenic design, lighting design and sound design. Classroom theory is applied first to conceptual design projects in the student’s chosen area of concentration; this work culminates in a practical project, perhaps one as ambitious as creating the actual design of a major production. Concentration is on concept, design and communication of ideas through rendering, drafting and model making. Areas explored include color theory, lighting, fabrics and application to theater and dance. The class also explores the collaborative process between the designer, the director and the entire artistic team. Students apply what they are learning by developing and constructing the actual elements of the current production and/or one-act production. (Prerequisite: Basic Stagecraft Techniques) Credit: 1/3
Visual Art
Digital Art I (Introduction to Photoshop)
This digital arts course offers students the opportunity to access the computer as both a creative tool and medium for self-expression. Using the latest Adobe Photoshop software and Mac computers, a variety of stimulating and challenging photo, design and special effects-based projects are explored. This course encourages students to understand and incorporate both the “basics of design” and “sequence procedures” within their work. Individual creativity, technical savvy and imagination are developed while exploring subject matter which includes portrait, collage, and fantasy-based imagery. Credit: 1/3
Digital Art II (Advanced Photoshop and Digital Photography)
This advanced course expands on knowledge and creative know-how acquired in Digital Arts I. Students continue to explore and develop creative skills using Adobe Photoshop coupled with other digital art-based software. Students are exposed to more in-depth portrait, landscape, architectural, and still life subject matter. New 3-D lighting and digital effects are encountered. Continued creative discovery abounds in projects that include hand-drawn imagery for use as fine art and graphic applications such as poster art, graphic design and book illustration. (Prerequisite: Digital Art I) Credit: 1/3
Digital Video
This one-term course introduces the art and science of digital video production. Students will learn to plan, shoot, edit and compress digital video for distribution through the World Wide Web. Proper operation of a video camera to produce video that maintains visual continuity is emphasized. Students will create individual as well as group video projects. Credit: 1/3
Drawing
Drawing is the foundation for all artistic expression. This course emphasizes the fundamental drawing techniques and skills needed for further work in various media. In it, students develop a visual vocabulary that they will utilize in exploration of literal, visual and expressive qualities of drawings. Students learn about line, proportion, perspective and chiaroscuro, as well as about the variety of materials and techniques used in drawing. Credit: 1/3
Ceramics I and II
Ceramics is a short introduction to working with our most basic elements: earth, water, fire and air. Students work with clay in all its forms and experiment with both functional and ornamental designs. Students are introduced to fundamental methods of forming clay and the age-old hand building processes of pinch, coil building and slab construction. After the hand-building repertoire is learned, the basic techniques of wedging, centering and throwing clay on the potter’s wheel are developed. Finally, students become familiar with the process of firing the electric kiln and, when possible, are introduced to the primitive pit-fire method of firing in the Native American tradition. Credit: 1/3
Painting
This course is designed to introduce students to painting through the use of a variety of materials and techniques. Students learn about tone, color intensity and basic color theory, with examples from the history of art. Mediums investigated include acrylic and watercolor, as well as surface preparation. Students learn and discuss the principles of design and find practical uses for them in their work. Credit: 1/3
Photography I and II
Photography focuses on the use of the photographic medium as a means of personal expression and communication. Students gain a thorough understanding of the camera and how it can be used as a creative tool. They learn the technical aspects of photography, including the different parts of the 35mm SLR camera, how to properly expose and develop film, how to create good black and white prints and how to make contact sheets and black and white enlargements. Students have extensive opportunity to work with basic darkroom processes and techniques. The second-level course emphasizes the creative aspects and the aesthetics of good photographic composition. Emphasis shifts from photographic craft to the artful capture and strong composition of a variety of subject matter. Students are encouraged to experiment with different film formats and printing techniques. All students are asked to maintain a portfolio of their work and to keep a journal as a way of illustrating their ideas and writing critiques. Credit: 1/3
Level III Courses
Dance
Advanced Topics in Dance
This option allows advanced students to explore additional topics as an extension beyond the current departmental offerings. Areas of special interest, with teacher guidance and direction, may be developed into trimester courses of study.
Credit: 1/3
Music
Chamber Singers/Chorale (yearlong)
Chamber Singers is a highly select, mixed ensemble of 12-16 voices that are chosen through a rigorous audition process. This ensemble explores the chamber music from the Renaissance era through the vocal jazz idiom of the current age. Throughout the course, attention is paid to historical context, artistry, language, performance practice and the theoretical foundations of a given piece. Performing both on and off campus, the group serves as ambassadors for Bullis School. Private lessons will be expected for all students enrolled in this class. (Prerequisite: audition/interview; one year of service in an Upper School choral ensemble, concurrent enrollment in Chorale) Credit: 1 (with concurrent enrollment in Chorale)
Jazz Workshop (yearlong)
Upper School Jazz Workshop class is designed to help students progress toward the attainment of the advanced woodwind, brass and percussion objectives in relation to the musical study of jazz. This group is intended to provide the very advanced student with additional playing and performance opportunities, as well as the development of small ensemble and improvisational skills. Private lessons will be expected for all students enrolled in this class. (Prerequisite: attainment of advanced woodwind, brass and percussion objectives, audition and concurrent membership in Concert Band/Jazz Ensemble) Credit: 1 (with concurrent enrollment in Concert Band/Jazz Ensemble)
String Workshop (yearlong)
Upper School String Workshop class is designed to help students progress toward the attainment of the advanced string objectives in relation to the musical study of chamber music. This group is intended to provide the very advanced student with additional playing and performance opportunities, as well as the development of small ensemble skills. The offering of this group may vary from year to year and will be based on the discretion of the instructor. The String Workshop is a performance group where emphasis is placed on individual growth and good ensemble playing. Works studied range throughout the standard classical repertoire. Private lessons will be expected for all students enrolled in this class. (Prerequisite: attainment of advanced string objectives, audition, concurrent membership in String Ensemble) Credit: 1 (with concurrent enrollment in String Ensemble)
Advanced Placement Music Theory (yearlong)
AP Music Theory is an exciting and demanding course, equivalent in content, scope and work requirements to an introductory music theory course at the college level. This course is intended for highly motivated students who are seriously interested in the study of music. Through the AP program, instrumentalists, singers and composers will build a solid foundation in their musical understanding. This course requires a commitment by the student to practice and work diligently to reach the instructional goals set forth by The College Board. The primary educational objectives of AP Music Theory are to gain and increase aural and visual skills in music reading and sight singing, to excel in dictation and keyboard harmony, to develop writing skills through composition and to acquire a broad perspective of music by the study of the literature. The course carefully follows the prescribed content required to prepare students for the AP Music Theory examination. After the exam in May, individual research projects will be assigned. An assessment test and interview with the instructor will determine the eligibility of juniors and seniors who wish to take the course. (Prerequisite: advanced musical study and departmental approval) Credit: 1 Offered in alternate years, beginning in 2008–09.
- top -Theater
Advanced Topics in Theater
This option allows advanced students to explore additional topics as an extension beyond the current departmental offerings. Areas of special interest, with teacher guidance and direction, may be developed into trimester courses of study.
Credit: 1/3
Theatrical Design and Production (yearlong)
This course continues the work introduced in Advanced Stagecraft Techniques with additional focus on design theory and practicality. Topics include set, light and sound design, and technical direction of all elements. Students work on and present projects consisting of complete designs and working drawings of scenery and lighting from selected works of theater. The emphasis is on the implementation of concepts and ideas in physical production. Students are paired with student directors to produce a one-act play. Students build a finished portfolio and resume including picture designs and other production elements. (Prerequisite: Advanced Stagecraft Techniques and approval of the instructor) Credit: 1
Visual Art
Advanced Placement Art History (Consortium Course)
AP Art History is designed to provide an understanding and enjoyment of architecture, sculpture, painting and other art forms within historical and cultural contexts. Students examine major forms of artistic expression from the past and present and from a variety of cultures. They learn to look at works of art critically, with intelligence and sensitivity, and to articulate what they see or experience. The course includes visits to various local museums and galleries. No prior exposure to art history is required. This course prepares successful students to take the College Board Advanced Placement exam in art history, which is required. (Taught at St. Andrew’s) Credit: 1
AP Studio Art/Advanced Studio Art
In this studio course, intermediate and advanced students develop technical proficiency, awareness of artistic sensitivity and sensibility and an understanding of the process of making art. Based on the interaction of the elements and principles of design, students will create a range of artworks. Through various studio projects, students develop their own voices, utilizing skills attained in earlier art courses. Drawing from observation will be practiced on a regular basis. Emphasis will be on the creation of a body of work that conveys the student’s investigation, growth and discovery. Projects will utilize a variety of techniques and materials in the areas of drawing, painting, collage, digital imaging and mixed media. Students who choose the AP option will also work to develop and submit a portfolio based on the requirements of the College Board. (Prerequisite: two Level II visual art courses and departmental approval) Credit: 1
