Focus on Performing Arts

Foundation

This term our students have expanded their musical knowledge in forms and structure through the use of folk dancing and playing unpitched Orff instruments. Some of their favourite dances include “Chimes of Dunkirk” and the “Heel, Toe, Polka”. Besides learning simple choreography, students have applied this knowledge to identifying different forms in other music. A highlight for them was to use the same choreography on their song requests. Some of which are rather questionable, but I believe will be refined as they spend more time in the Performing Arts room. We also translated our knowledge on musical form to analyse the music of John William’s Star Wars Suite. We demonstrated this knowledge by using our parachute to come up with different actions for each theme. 

Grade 1 & 2 Students

Grade 1 and 2 students have been working on drama this term. They have had fun learning about “tableaux” or “freeze frames”. How to “cheat out”, use “levels” and “facial expressions” to convey emotions and characters. We also used process drama to create a dramatic work exploring ethics in society. Students were given roles in our village and were made to think about their motivations. A moral dilemma was introduced to their blissful village, and their characters had to make choices in line with their motivations. It was interesting to watch students explore vice under the veil of their characters. We then talked about ethics and values and how the introduction of our SWPBS values would impact the decisions made in our “village”. This detour into values education turned out to be a fruitful one while we waited for the detour our recorders took around Australia to get to Fairfield Primary School. It was inspired by a mentor of mine Suzanne Choo and you can find out more about her research here https://www.suzannechoo.com/research. 

In addition to this, our Grade 1 and 2 students can now translate their skills in their upcoming concert on Tuesday 18 August at Kew High School. 

• Grade 1s will commence their show at 6pm.
• Grade 2s will commence theirs at 7:15pm.

Being so close to Book Week, we will be using the theme of this year’s book week, 'A Symphony of Stories'. We always welcome parent volunteers for stage design and costume making. if you are interested in assisting email Olivia via Compass, or pop into the Performing Arts room after school one day.

Grade 3 & 4 Students

What a circus spectacular! The dancing, the tricks, the balances! Our students in Grades 3 and 4 have spent the term working with the fabulous and fun team from The Circus Crew, to learn and perform their new skills. It’s been incredible to see the students demonstrate how resilient, respectful and safe they are when learning new and challenging skills. They have also embedded their knowledge of choreographic techniques, as we devised class dances during Performing Arts lessons, which were also shared at our performance.

The concerts are such highlights for us as Performing Arts teachers and Thursday night was another chance to share how talented and enthusiastic our performers are at FPS. We’re all looking forward to seeing what the Grade 1/2s share with us next term!

Grade 5 & 6 Students

We have wrapped up our music work for the term by creating bands, choosing instruments, researching songs and finally rehearsing and sharing our work back to the class. All of the musicians in Grades 5 and 6 have shown incredible perseverance, collaboration and musicality. 

Students in Grades 5 and 6 have now selected their musical for term four... The Wizard of Oz! We are refreshing our drama skills in preparation for the auditions for the main speaking roles. All students will be involved in making this show phenomenal – whether it’s a speaking role, dancing, a singing ensemble or behind the scenes, everyone will be contributing! We can’t wait to share more details withnext term.

Choir

With 43 committed members, our choir has been taking their singing skills to great heights. Singing it rounds and canons? We have nailed this by singing “I like the mountains” and the perennial favourite “Fruit Canon”. Singing in counterparts? Too easy! We have tackled “One Bottle of Pop” and “In Harmony”. We are currently learning to sing in two harmonious parts. We have our Grade 6 members to thank, taking the lead by taking sectionals in the courtyard outside the Performing Arts room. Being the only teacher in class also means that many students across the year levels who play musical instruments have to step up! We recently jammed to “Beds are Burning” and “Viva La Vida”. Various helpful musicians volunteered and said, “I can play guitar Olivia, I can play keyboards Olivia, Olivia I can keep time on the cowbell!” What a dream or perhaps they have all worked out that I am not great at singing, conducting and playing an instrument at the same time! We cannot wait to show you all we have achieved at our ART FOR ALL performance. 

Band 

We have had a very strong team in band, many of said musicians in choir also thankfully rock up for band. We have been working together to arrange music. With the pentatonic scale, students have realised that every ostinato they create is beautiful and melodious. We have now started improvising on the blues scale and are learning the how to play a running bass. We have tackled some tricky rhythm in “I wanna be like you” from the Jungle Book. Once again we cannot wait to perform for all of you at our ART for all performance.  

Keri Spence & Olivia Li

Performing Arts Teachers