Activities

String Ensemble

Junior string ensemble provides an opportunity to those string students - violin, viola, and cello - who have sufficient note-reading skills and solid technique on their respective instruments. The course of instruction is designed to introduce the students to orchestral literature and technique. The students learn to follow conducting patterns and play independent musical lines. During weekly rehearsals, the students develop ensemble skills including playing different parts, balancing melody and harmony, and matching bowing technique and style.

Junior string ensemble students perform during some Chapel services, the 4th-5th grade Christmas concert and a spring concert, as well as at community service concerts during the year.

Fourth-Fifth Grade Choir

In the 4th-5th grade choir, members continue to develop singing skills through reinforcement of the foundational techniques begun in the earlier grades.

Focus on intonation, a pleasing sound, and correct diction are primary. Independent skill is encouraged through regular part-singing, including 3, 4, and 5 part anthems, canons, or folk songs.

Students learn to sing in several languages by performing works in Latin, German, Spanish, French, Italian, and English.

The choir enhances and leads student body singing through the performance of descants and anthems in the regular Chapel services throughout the year, as well as special services such as Nine Lessons and Carols, All Saints Day, and Ascension Day.

The choir’s two main concerts are held at Christmas and in the spring, but it also performs at local community events during the school year.

Membership in the 4th-5th grade choir is by audition only. Students must possess the ability to sing on pitch by themselves and with others, show professionalism and attentiveness in a group setting, and consistently attend rehearsals. While students may audition at various times throughout the year (as determined by the director), if invited into membership, the student must be able to commit to the full or remaining season.

Highland Dance

As part of the physical education program, students continue instruction in Scottish Highland dancing. This program provides a unique way for them benefit from a superior form of physical exercise, to promote personal grace, and precise muscle control, to develop a sense of rhythm and coordination between body and mind, and to offer for their enjoyment a disciplined and moral dance form.

Private Music Instruction

Private music lessons in piano, voice, organ, violin, viola, cello, flute, and guitar are offered. A very fine group of teachers has been engaged to provide this convenient service. Quarterly and yearend recitals are held to provide students several performance opportunities.