Fine & Performing Arts Department

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Acknowledging the vital importance of providing opportunities for developing creativity, the Fine & Performing Arts Department at WRA offers a variety of exciting course options within a discipline based program. It is our desire to offer students the opportunity for either initial exploration or in depth study. The focus of our curriculum is on process and active student engagement as well as performance, while we do maintain a very active performance and show calendar. Students are treated as artists, asked to confront the same challenges and questions that all practicing artists meet, and under the guidance of a faculty mentor/teacher to solve those problems. We strongly encourage students to engage in at least one arts course each year at WRA and many students far exceed our minimum requirement.

Courses

• Art
  The aim of the studio art courses is to encourage all students to develop their creative aptitude and to heighten their sensitivity to the visual world. By solving problems dealing with line, form, color and space, students are actively involved in the process of seeing. By exploring varied possibilities of material and technique as means of expression, students are challenged in their inventive ability. Examples from art history and contemporary issues are used to help students relate their studio efforts to the basic human concerns that all art addresses.

  • Art I

    This course includes both two-dimensional and three-dimensional art. Students involve themselves with drawing, color, painting, print making and other visual concerns. Plaster, clay, wood, mixed media, metal and plastic are introduced for student investigations of form, shape, volume, and three-dimensional structure. Prerequisite: Machine Permission Form required. (half credit)

  • Art II

    Open to sophomores, juniors and seniors. In this course students build on what they learned in Art I. They develop more in-depth drawing, painting, and design skills in the two-dimensional area. Mold making, stone and wood carving, steel fabricating and clay throwing skills are introduced while students devote extended periods of time to three-dimensional areas of their choice. 
    Prerequisite: Art I, instructor's permission, and Machine Permission Form required. (full credit)

  • Art II 2-D

    Open to sophomores, juniors, and seniors. The student works in the two-dimensional area and meets when Art II meets for instruction in this area. Art II half credit may be repeated to complete both 2-D and 3-D over a two-year period.
    Prerequisite: Art I, instructor's permission, and Machine Permission Form required. (half credit)

  • Art II 3-D

    Open to sophomores, juniors, and seniors. The student works in the three-dimensional area and meets when Art II meets for instruction in this area. Art II half credit may be repeated to complete both 2-D and 3-D over a two-year period.
    Prerequisite: Art I, instructor's permission, and Machine Permission Form required. (half credit)

  • Studio Art

    Open to juniors and seniors. The course is offered for students who have exhibited a serious application of their talents in previous art courses. The students work in a studio environment, setting up their own visual problems for a specific material or process. At least three areas of in-depth investigation are required. Each student is expected to put together a portfolio of original work.
    Prerequisite: Permission of instructors, Art I and Art II or Art I and Photography. (half credit)

  • Photography

    Open to juniors and seniors. The photography course emphasizes fundamental technical instruction and encourages personal expression and experimentation. The students develop a sound understanding of the mechanics of photography, and grow emotionally and creatively in their image making. Originality, concept development, design qualities, and craftsmanship are emphasized.
    Prerequisite: Art I, and permission from the instructor. (half credit)

• Dance

  Dance & Honors Dance: The dance program at Western Reserve Academy provides students with both formal training and opportunities for performance. Instruction is given in a wide variety of styles and genres. Dance concerts are scheduled twice each year, winter and spring, giving all students at least two possibilities for performance. While it is understood that many students come to WRA with significant dance experience, Honors level dance requires permission of the instructor; this course is usually heavily focused on ballet. (half credit)

• Music
  • Choir

    The Academy Choir is a traditional mixed choir (soprano, alto, tenor, bass) that performs music from a variety of styles and time periods in both large and small group settings. While emphasis is placed on developing vocal skills and independent music reading, the primary focus of the group is performance. Students perform in a wide variety of concerts: the Midwinter Madrigal Feast, Vespers, a traditional choral concert, and a major work with chamber orchestra, as well as at numerous WRA events. Choir is open to all students without audition. A select ensemble made up of 14-20 members is chosen each year by audition. Students may elect to take this course for more than one year for credit. (half credit)

  • AP Music Theory

    An intensive course intended to cover the material in the average first year of college music theory study; to solidify student's fundamental musical understanding and ability to hear musical ideas internally, and to realize music through singing, playing or writing. The ultimate goal of this course is to give students a basic strong knowledge in how music of the Common Period Practice (Music of Europe from 1600 1900) is constructed and works. (half credit)

  • Orchestra

    The Academy Orchestra is a string orchestra made up of violin, viola, cello and bass players. The group performs standard string orchestra repertoire as well as chamber music; occasionally performing literature for full symphony by combining with members of Symphonic Winds. Yearly concerts also include a masterwork for chorus and orchestra and performance of Handel’s Messiah Students may elect, and are encouraged, to take orchestra for more than one year for credit. (half credit)

  • Symphonic Winds

    Symphonic Winds is Western Reserve Academy’s performing group for brass, woodwind and percussion players. This performing ensemble presents several formal concerts each year featuring traditional concert band repertoire in addition to combining forces with orchestra players for symphonic literature and informal events for pep band. Students are also invited to play in the Western Reserve Academy Jazz Project. Students may elect, and are encouraged, to take Symphonic Winds for more than one year for credit. (half credit)

• Speech & Theater
  • Public Speaking

    In classical times the measure of a man was determined by his ability to speak in the polis, to persuade, to argue effectively, to move men in an ethical direction. Public speaking is just as important today. This course is designed to train students to speak well in public, to assist them to be comfortable and confident when speaking in front of an audience. Learning to construct excellent speeches and the techniques to employ in delivering the speech are emphasized. Speeches cover a wide variety of types and topics. Debate is a major emphasis. We study classical rhetoric, learn how to begin and close a speech, how to develop a sound body, logically developed, and how to employ juncture, pitch, intonation, stress, and how to create a bond with an audience. Listening is strongly emphasized, and students are required to critique fellow students’ efforts. (half credit)

  • Dramatic Performance

    This course uses improvisation and scene study to teach the student actor how to prepare and perform for a theatrical role. It introduces the basic skill of acting based on the individual’s inner and outer resources. Work will focus on the characterization development explored in Stanislavsky’s method of physical action and introduces analysis of text and the physical technique of creating a role. (half credit)

  • Dramatic Technology

    Open to juniors and seniors. This course provides theory, explanation and practice of technical aspects supporting live presentations. Both the basic similarities and distinct differences of mounting and enhancing performances of theatre, dance and music are considered with events at Western Reserve Academy as examples. At least fifty-percent of the course includes hands-on work in the Knight Fine Arts Center preparing for and changing between these events. (half credit)

• Applied Arts
  • Engineering Drawing

    This course examines the universal graphic language of the engineering profession. Students are exposed to a real world scenario through hands-on work using state-of-the-industry software guided by engineering standards. Assignments are designed to take students from the basics of reading a working drawing through the development of a product of their own design. Problem solving, visualization, and analytical skills are emphasized and critical to every assignment. Industry-specific terminology, symbols, conventions, and presentation techniques are included as is extensive work with a parametric three-dimensional mechanical design modeling software package. (half credit)

  • Architecture

    This course focuses on the process of designing for residential architecture. Essential concepts of good design are studied in depth. A hands-on approach to recognizing and applying these concepts allows students to develop their own design idiom. Problem solving skills and analytical thinking are emphasized in solving, justifying and communicating spatial relationships and functional aesthetics. Individuals express their design solutions using both two- and three-dimensional methods including rendering and model making. Industry-specific terminology, symbols, conventions, and presentation techniques are included as is extensive work with a parametric three-dimensional architectural modeling software package. This course can be taken in combination with an independent study option to provide an intensive experience for the especially motivated student.
    Prerequisite: Junior or senior status recommended. (half credit)

  • Woodworking

    This course will provide a traditional woodworking experience for students. Collaborative skills and life-long learning are nurtured as students execute individualized projects, striving for the highest possible level of craftsmanship through this hands-on curriculum. Students will develop a wood-based project of their choice and carry it through to completion. These projects are based on the individual abilities and experience level of the student. Creative problem solving within the constraints of the medium are strongly cultivated and blended with the functional requirements of the individual project. The technical aspects of power tools, shop safety, terminology, and woodworking techniques complete the curriculum. (half credit)

  • Creative Writing

    In this course students learn the basic ideas and tools of craft behind a variety of creative writing genres, namely fiction writing, poetry writing, creative nonfiction, and screenwriting. Students read published examples of short stories, poems, memoirs/personal essays, and screenplays. They also read one full length novel and one full collection of poems by a single author. Most importantly, students create their own pieces in each genre as well. Each marking period consists of peer workshops during which the class as a whole discusses and critiques original works by each student. By critiquing the work of their peers, students in turn become better critics of their own creative work. This is demonstrated as they also study and practice the art of creative revision. This process culminates in a year-end portfolio of all pieces they have written over the course of the year, including an author’s bio, an index, an artist’s analysis, and an in-depth revision response about one piece. (half credit)

  • Advanced Creative Writing

    This course is for students who showed particular talent, passion, and aptitude in Introduction to Creative Writing. Each student chooses to focus on one genre in particular (usually either poetry or fiction writing) and works towards perfecting that genre over the course of the year. Each week consists of a combination of one-on-one conferences with the teacher and a weekly group workshop. Each student is constantly working on new pieces; one new piece is discussed during the one-on-one conference and another new piece is turned in for workshop. Each student is also given a weekly individualized reading based on his/her interests and the direction of his/her voice and style. Revision becomes a focus in the final marking period and culminates in a final, cumulative portfolio. In many ways, this course functions as an intense independent study with a weekly group workshop; it creates a focused, mini writing community. (half credit)

Faculty

Keywords

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	Tom Armbruster Faculty Fine & Performing Arts  |  profile		Lee Blankenship Faculty Fine & Performing Arts  |  profile
	Alan Doe Faculty Fine & Performing Arts  |  profile		Margaret Karam | 1979 Faculty Fine & Performing Arts Senior Thesis Outreach Coordinator Chair, Fine & Performing Arts  |  profile
	Jeannie Kidera Faculty English Fine & Performing Arts  |  profile		Mrs. Donalee Ong Faculty Fine & Performing Arts  |  profile
	Emily Patterson Faculty Fine & Performing Arts  |  profile		Mike Peveich Faculty Fine & Performing Arts Technical Theatre Director  |  profile
	Ed Wiles Faculty Fine & Performing Arts Senior Thesis  |  profile
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