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Fine Arts
At Middletown High
School, students have great opportunities
available to them in music. Beginning with
foundational courses, students can enroll in Music
In Our Lives, Concert Choir, or Concert Band.
Students can work with their House Guidance
Counselors to develop a sequence in music as well,
which would include one or more of our performing
ensembles, along with adding Music Theory and
Advanced Music Structure. The advanced performing
ensembles (Wind Ensemble, Men's Chorus, Women's
Chorale, and Chamber Singers) require an audition
and permission of director for placement.
Students enrolled in the performing ensembles can
also work towards and gain opportunities to
audition for All-County, Area All-State,
All-State, and NYSSMA, which are honors
opportunities where students represent Middletown
High School at the local, regional, and state
levels. Student members of the in-school
performing ensembles also attend required rotating
vocal and instrumental lessons during the academic
school day. These lessons are an extension of the
daily ensemble work, and help students to develop
independent musical skills and review ensemble
literature.
Students may choose,
through audition and permission of instructor, to
enroll in specialized enrichment sections of AT Wind
Ensemble, AT Concert Band, AT Chamber Singers, AT
Women's Chorale, or AT Men's Chorus, which require
additional performing and academic requirements.
These opportunities are offered to students who hold
dual memberships in the in-school performing
ensembles, and also the extra-curricular Pipers and
Marching Band ensembles. Students should speak to Mr.
Bennett or Mr. Austin if interested in these options
and are willing to make the additional academic
commitments to fulfill AT requirements.
In addition, the Music Department has added several
new courses to their offerings which include, Music In
Our Lives, Guitar I, Guitar II, Piano I, and Group
Voice. So, there are plenty of creative musical
options for students attending Middletown High
School. Middletown High School's musical
extra-curricular activities include, Pipers (song &
dance Show Choir), Marching Band, Jazz Band, and the
annual Spring Musical Productions. The advanced
performing ensembles also look forward each year to
taking part in national Choral and Instrumental music
competitions. We have traveled to many different
locales during the past few years including, Orlando,
Florida, Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, Nashville,
Tennessee, Key West & Cozumel, Virginia Beach,
Virginia, Toronto, Canada, and Cincinnati, Ohio.
Student members of the ensembles will have
opportunities to fund-raise in order to take part on
these trips. The trips are not a requirement, but are
a great opportunities for our ensembles to perform,
to be evaluated, and travel together to different
locations around the country.
The Music Department at
Middletown High School is growing by leaps and
bounds! For further information, contact Gregory
Bennett, K - 12 Music Department Chair (326-1571) or
gbennett@ecsdm.org.
Click here
to link
to the Fine Arts site.
Visual
Arts
It is our goal as art educators to
develop visual literacy while giving students the
opportunity to experience the excitement and
satisfaction of artistic achievement and individual
expression through the exploration of art history, art
criticism, and art production focusing on techniques and
skills.
The art department offers a wide variety
of artistic venues from foundation to advanced courses
and specialized electives to assist students in
achieving their artistic paths. Either Studio in Art,
Studio in Art Honors, or Foundations in Media Arts may
be used to fulfill the 1 Art credit for graduation.
Either of these courses are also prerequisites for other
courses in the art department. Course selections
include: Drawing and Painting, Adv. Drawing and
Painting, Computer Graphics, Advanced Computer Graphics,
Ceramics, Sculpture, Fashion, Cartooning and
Illustration.
Coming to the Middletown School District
in the 2008/2009 school year are the Scholastic Art
Awards. This prestigious adjudication awards process
will allow students to exhibit their artwork and win
awards at the Regional and National levels. This is an
exciting addition to our program as colleges look highly
upon award recipients.
For further information regarding course
information please see your high school art teacher or
contact Dana Herm, K-12 Art Department Chair at (845)
341-5400. |
