Curriculum | Faculty
Fine Arts
The understanding and appreciation of the finest works of man’s creative spirit are necessary for a complete education. Effective instruction in the arts provides the student with technical skills and motivation to develop an awareness of his environment, to increase his aesthetic and cultural understanding, and to communicate creatively his image of himself and his world. All of these aims serve to produce in the individual an appreciation for the relationship of the arts to every aspect of daily living.
Fine Arts Curriculum
Art 7 | Art I | Art II | AP Art History | Digital Design | Film Production |
Music Theory and Composition | Men's Choir | Recording Arts |
Speech Communications | Theater Production
Course Descriptions (alphabetical) Art 7
One Semester, Grade 7
With a single, semester-long project, this course offers students a first experience in the development and building of a sculpture. Students draw to develop an idea for a full-size head, construct an armature derived from their drawings, model cement over the armature to refine the form, and finally cover the form with mosaic tiles.
Art I
Full Year, Grades 9-122-D Design
First Semester
This introductory course in studio fundamentals includes intensive study in painting, drawing, 2-D design, and printmaking. The course content is structured systematically throughout the year, walking students through the basic elements and principles of design, beginning with drawing fundamentals and gradually progressing through more sophisticated concepts and more complex media.
Printmaking
Second Semester
This course reviews the basic elements and principles of design along with fundamental drawing techniques. Dry point Intaglio printing is continued, while etching and engraving techniques are introduced. Students will continue to work with relief printing through linoleum and wood blocks, and students will be introduced to different silk screening processes. Each student is encouraged to experiment with various printmaking media and to develop an appreciation for the history of printmaking.
3-D Design
First Semester
Three experiences — classroom discussion of images of architecture from a variety of cultures and historical periods, the building of a plaster sculpture of a house, and the presentation of a ten-minute PowerPoint talk to their classmates — give students an introduction to the vocabulary of architecture and its role in their environment.
Sculpture
Second Semester
Through both classroom discussion of several key images from art history and the building of four sculptures in a variety of materials, students are introduced to three important ways of making sculpture as they grow to understand the interplay between an expressed volume and the space that contains it.
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One Semester or Full Year, Grades 10-12
This course is offered to students who wish to continue their art education after completing Art I. They may choose from Topics in Printmaking or Topics in Sculpture. Permission of the department is required.
PhotographyOne Semester, Grades 11-12
The course begins with instruction in basic camera operation and darkroom procedures, continuing throughout the term with extensive class instruction and independent effort in both. Students expand their technical knowledge and skill, as well as their artistic perception, as they complete assignments covering various topics and themes. Each student must provide his own 35mm SLR camera and supplies.
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Full Year, Grade 12
This course is a survey of humankind’s artistic expression in painting, sculpture, and architecture from the cave paintings of the Stone Age to the abstract compositions of our day. Students develop sophisticated ways of seeing the monuments of Western civilization, and, by mastering skills of analysis and description, they claim for their own this rich cultural legacy. This course prepares students for the AP examination.
Digital Design
One Semester, Grades 9-12
This course teaches effective design and communications through digital technology. Foundational design elements and principles common to all media and taught in art classes are discussed and used in the context of this course. Students are taught introductory design theory and use a variety of print and computer-based technologies to explore those design principles.
Film Production
One Semester (Tuesday Evenings), Grade 12
This course provides a basic understanding of film as a creative artistic endeavor and emphasizes the collaborative arts involved in producing film. The course develops basic skills in scripting and planning for film, camera operations, and image manipulation through lighting and editing. Students apply digital film technologies and computer software in the process of digital film production.
Music Theory and Composition
Full Year, Grades 11-12
These courses are designed for students who wish to improve their mechanical and compositional skills in music. They are geared toward an understanding of all types of music, including the serious genres as well as popular forms such as rock and jazz. Such topics as chord structures and progressions, chart reading and writing, harmonizations of given melodies, and complete original compositions are considered.
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Full Year, Grades 9-12
The choral ensemble at MUS, Beg To Differ, gives upward of 20 performances a year for community organizations and other schools and goes on a concert tour of France every third year. The group has released four CDs. Having won numerous national awards in competition, the ensemble also has been featured on an international CD of the best high-school
a cappella groups. Students may be admitted after a favorable audition.
Recording Arts
Full Year, Grades 11 and 12
The instrumental and recording studio production program allows an auditioned ensemble to explore, historically and musically, genres of late 20th century music from rockabilly to rock ’n ’ roll and from fusion to funk. Students learn the process of teaching, arranging, performing, and tracking their own recordings for a CD in our digital recording studio.
Speech Communications
One Semester, Grades 11 and 12
This is an introductory course in public speaking that stresses the organization and presentation of the extemporaneous speech in a variety of settings. Students completing this course are able to incorporate public speaking into situations they might face in their personal and professional lives.
Theater Production
Full Year, Grades 11-12
This course introduces the student to the process of play production, provides the student with the skills necessary to produce plays, and develops in the student an appreciation for the theater arts.
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Fine Arts Faculty