Performing Arts

At Holte School, we offer a wide range of Performing Arts activities including, Music and Drama lessons at KS3. We are fortunate to have several specialist staff in Music and Drama, who are supported by a Music technician. We also have a number of specialist teaching spaces, including two Drama studios, and a large main assembly hall suitable for performances, in addition to specialist music classrooms and a recording studio.

 

Key Stage 3

During Key Stage 3 (Year 7 & 8), we teach Music and Drama as separate subjects. This enables our pupils to fully explore both curriculum areas. Within both of these subjects, performing is mandatory as this skill develops confidence, performance and speaking techniques which can be applied in a variety of situations and subject areas across our curriculum.

Performing Arts – Drama

Staffing:

Mr A Roberts – Teacher of Drama

 

The Drama Department

 

Drama at Holte School plays a vital role in the process of successful learning. It also plays an important function in the personal, social and moral development of pupils and generates a vibrant and creative culture throughout our school. 

Drama provides all students with a number of transferable skills that will not only help them throughout their school life, but well into their own futures.

Team work, creativity, speaking, listening, evaluation and analysis are all at the fore-front of what we do in Drama at Holte School as we provide a curriculum that enables our students to learn about themselves and the world they live in.

Schemes of Learning in Drama

Autumn Term 1   7 weeks	An introduction to Drama: Drama Skills	Learn how to work as a team - start to use some basic Drama skills and learn Key Vocabulary.
Autumn Term 2	Pantomime and script work Preparation for Mid-Year exams	Learn about the origins of Pantomime. Create, write and perform your modern day Pantomime. Learn how actors, directors and designers bring to life a script to perform to an audience.
Spring Term 1 Total 12 weeks
Spring Term 2 6 weeks	Physical Theatre: Storytelling	Let loose your imagination when learning on how to tell a story using not just words!
Summer Term 1 & 2	Summer showcase End of year examination	An opportunity to work within a group and develop a piece of scripted or devised drama for the end of year exam. Keep a logbook to document the process and learning points, then evaluate the final piece.
YEAR 8
Autumn Term	Style and Practitioners	An introduction to two key practitioners Brecht and Stanislavski. Create a research log which shows how you are researching and developing your own ideas for a different style of performance. Develop a performance for the Mid-Year assessment.
Spring Term	Musicals Mid-Year Exam preparation and Performance	Introduction to Musical theatre Go to the theatre to watch a musical Study the style and form of musicals. Develop an interpretation of a set scene.
Summer Term	Jobs in theatre	Roles and Responsibilities within the theatre industry. Devise your own play, in your chosen style.

 

Autumn Term	Introduction Style Genre Practitioners	Performance styles and genres/particular focus and workshops on Brecht, Naturalism and Physical Theatre.
Spring Term	Reading/workshops of 3 plays Blood Brothers, Curious & Teachers	Read the play. Explore style of performance Watch a performance of the play. Develop performance techniques with the style. Log books to document exploration of the play and style.
Summer Term	Reading/workshops of 3 plays Blood Brothers, Curious & Teachers	Read the play. Explore style of performance Watch a performance of the play. Develop performance techniques with the style. Log books to document exploration of the play and style.

Key Stage 4

BTEC Tech Award in Performing Arts (Acting)

https://qualifications.pearson.com/en/qualifications/btec-tech-awards/performing-arts.html

The Award gives learners the opportunity to develop sector-specific knowledge and skills in a practical learning environment. The main focus is on four areas of equal importance, which cover the:

• • Development of key skills that prove your aptitude in Performing Arts such as reproducing repertoire or responding to stimuli.
• • Process that underpins effective ways of working in the Performing Arts, such as development of ideas, rehearsal and performance.
• • Attitudes that are considered most important in the Performing Arts, including personal management and communication.
• • Knowledge that underpins effective use of skills, process and attitudes in the sector such as roles, responsibilities, performance disciplines and styles.

Components

Learners are required to complete and achieve all the components included in the qualification.

Pearson BTEC Level 1/Level 2 Tech Award in Performing Arts

1 Exploring the Performing Arts

Learners will develop their understanding of the performing arts by examining practitioners’ work and the processes used to create performance.

 

2 Developing Skills and Techniques in the Performing Arts

Learners will develop their performing arts skills and techniques through the reproduction of acting, dance and/or musical theatre repertoire as performers or designers.

3 Responding to a Brief

Learners will be given the opportunity to work as part of a group to contribute to a workshop performance as either a performer or designer in response to a given brief and stimulus.

Drama suggested reading list

Year 7	Year 8, 9	Year 9, 10, 11
Term 1 Jean Dorey; Etienne Decroux; Jean-Louis Barrault; Marcel Marceau; Robert Speller; Pierre De Fontnouvelle The Mime R. Speller, 1961 Allardyce Nicoll Masks, Mimes and Miracles: Studies in the Popular Theatre Cooper Square Publishers, 1963 Jean Louis Barrault Reflections on the Theatre   Rockliff, 1951 Simon Murray Jacques Lecoq Routledge, 2003 Keywords: Facial expression, movement, gesture, levels, mime, interaction   Michael R. Booth. Theatre in the Victorian Age Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991 Michael R. Booth. Victorian Spectacular Theatre 1850-1910 London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1981 W. Davenport Adams, ‘The Decline of the Pantomime’, The Theatre 1 February 1882 Gerald Frow. “Oh Yes It Is!” A History of Pantomime London: BBC, 1985 Keywords: Audience Participation, interaction, stock characters, Modern references          Term 2 Artaud, Antonin, The Theatre and Its Double, Calder and Boyars Ltd, 1970 (original translated publication is trans. Mary Caroline Richards, Grove Press, 1958) Barba, Eugenio A Dictionary of Theatre Anthropology, Routledge, 1991 Grotowski, Jerzy Towards a Poor Theatre,(edited by Eugenio Barba), Methuen, 1976 Hodge, Alison, Actor Training, 2nd ed., Routledge, 2010 Lecoq, Jacques, Theatre of Movement and Gesture, trans. David Bradby, Routledge 2006 Oida, Yoshi, and Marshall, Lorna, The Invisible Actor, Methuen, 1997   Keywords: Unison, timing, synchronization, body, shape, manipulation, team work Term 3 - Johnstone, Keith Impro: improvisation and the theatre 2007 - Staveacre, Tony Slapstick: the illustrated story of knockabout comedy 1987 - Robinson, Davis Rider The physical comedy handbook 1999 , 1919-1960 - Wilmut, Roger Kindly leave the stage!: the story of variety 1985 - Wright, John Why is that so funny?: a practical exploration of physical comedy 2006 Keywords: Comedy, commitment, slow motion, movement, physicality	Term 1, 2 & 3 Script performance (7 weeks - Blood Brothers)   Robert McKee, Story Christopher Vogler & David McKenna, Memo From the Story Dept: Secrets of Structure and Character Todd Klick, Something Startling Happens: The 120 Story Beats Every Writer needs to Know J. Michael Straczynski, The Complete Book of Scriptwriting   Keywords: Facial expression, Movement, Gesture, Interaction, Voice, Accent   Bordman, Gerald. American Musical Theatre.   Green, Stanley. Broadway Musicals Show by Show: Sixth Edition.   Kantor, Michael and Maslon, Lawrence. Broadway: The American Musical.   Stempel, Larry. Showtime: A History of the Broadway Musical Theatre.   Miller, Scott. Strike Up The Band: A New History of Musical Theatre.   Jones, John Bush. Our Musicals, Ourselves.   Keywords: Chorus, Unison, Voice, Movement, Choreography, Verse, Character, Song   Adorno, Theodore and Max Horkheimer. The Dialectic of Enlightenment, (2002). Arendt, Hannah. The Human Condition, (1959). De Certeau, Michel. The Practice of Everyday Life, (2002). Morley, David. Media, Modernity and Technology: The Geography of The New, (2006). Keywords: Stereotype, Prejudice, Perception, Culture, Ethos, Attitude, Relationship	Term 1   Aston, Elaine & Savona, George, Theatre as a Sign-System: A Semiotics of Text & Performance (London: Routledge, 1991 Carlson, Marvin, Performance: A Critical Introduction (London and New York: Routledge, 1996) Counsell, Colin & Wolf, Laurie, Performance Analysis: An Introductory Coursebook (London: Routledge, 2001) Freshwater, Helen, Theatre and Audience (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2009 Kelleher, Joe, Theatre and Politics (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2009 Keywords: Greek Theatre, Bollywood, Choral, Movement, Unison, Shakespeare, Staging, Commedia Dell’ Arte Term 2   Merlin, Bella, The Stanislavsky Toolkit (London: Nick Hern, 2009) Whyman, Rose, Stanislavski – the Basics (London: Routledge, 2012) Stanislavsky, Konstantin, An Actor’s Work (London: Routledge, 2008) Bogart, Anne and Landau, Tina, The Viewpoints Book, (New York: Theatre Communications Group, 2005) Lecoq, Jaques, The Moving Body. (London: Methuen, 2002) Whitmore, John, Directing Postmodern Theatre (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1994) Performance:   Keywords: Characterization, Movement, Voice Andrews, John F. William Shakespeare: His World, His Work, His Influence. 3 vols. New York: Scribner, 1985. Eastman, Arthur M. A Short History of Shakespearean Criticism. New York: Random, 1968. Holland, Norman, et al. eds. Shakespeare's Personality. Berkeley: Univ. of California Press, 1989. Styan, J. L. Shakespeare's Stagecraft. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1967. Young, David. The Action to the Word: Structure and Style in Shakespearean Tragedy. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1990.   Keywords: Elizabethan, Globe   Term 3   State of the Nation: British Theatre Since 1945 by Michael Billington Stages in the Revolution: Political Theatre in Britain Since 1968 by Catherine Itzin (Methuen, 1968) Other Theatres: The Development of Alternative and Experimental Theatre in Britain by Andrew Davies (Macmillan Education, 1987) Taking Stock by Max Stafford-Clark and Philip Roberts The Royal Court Theatre and the Modern Stage by Philip Roberts (Cambridge University Press) Keywords: Issue, Reflection,

 

Careers in the Performing Arts Drama – How can Drama benefit you?

Jobs directly related to the Performing Arts include, among many others: actor, community arts worker, dancer, music therapist or theatre director.

The majority of professionals in the industry work within the context of short-term or freelance contracts moving between different jobs and different fields. Due to the way the industry works, many opportunities come from word of mouth rather than job advertisements. Jobs can be found through networking, attending auditions, collaborating with other artists or even putting on your own shows.

Salaries depend largely on the type of role and the size of production and are enormously difficult to calculate. A theatre actor's wage, for instance, depends largely on the size of the theatre.

However, it doesn’t stop there, and those with qualifications within the Performing Arts don’t always fall into the main occupations. Other careers include:

• • Broadcast/media sector
• • Presenters
• • Journalism
• • Creative writing/scriptwriter
• • Theatre stage management
• • Management/leadership roles
• • Marketing
• • Youth work
• • Law
• • Events Management
• • Teaching/Training (Further education or school)
• • Tourism
• • Public Relations

 

MUSIC

 

 

 

 

 

 

Extra-Curricular Music

We also offer a range of extra-curricular activities in the Music Department. These include lunch time, before and after school sessions in:

• Keyboard club
• Choir
• Music Technology
• Guitar Lessons
• Drum Kit Lessons
• Dhol Drum Lessons

Guitar and Choir sessions are instructed by Mr B Gabbidon

Keyboard Club is instructed by Mrs C Allen-Smith

Music Technology is instructed by Mr M Spiers

Drum Kit and Dhol Drum sessions are instructed by The Music Service (External)

 

Music Wider Reading

www.musictheoryacademy.com

www.musictutsplus.com

https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/subjects/z9xhfg8

The History of Jazz by Ted Gioia

History of the Blues: The Roots, the Music, the People

Book by Francis Davis

How Music Works by David Byrne

The Cambridge Companion to Electronic Music

 

Music Careers

Artist Management – Negotiates business deals on behalf of the artist. Also has input on the creative and marketing ends of an artist.

Audio Engineer - Audio production specialist concerned with how sound is manipulated, recorded, and mixed in an audio recording.

Blogger - A journalist, writer, or commentator who writes about a specific subject and sells products, memberships, and advertising space on their websites.

Business Management - Starts and/or oversees the day-to-day operations of a music business, including a performing arts venue, nightclub, music store.

Promoter - Individual or company that is responsible for organising a tour or performance.

Film Music Composer - Commercial music composer who specifically works to make music as the background for film and television.

Instrument Sales - Working at a music store or distribution website to sell instruments and associated music equipment, like bows, music software, and amplifiers.

Marketing: Traditional and Digital Marketing - Working with an artist, publicist, college institution, or other musical entity to effectively market their products, concerts, etc. Includes a savvy understanding in both traditional marketing methods as well as digital marketing practices, such as social media and integrative marketing.

Music Teacher - Teaches music at a public or private primary, secondary schools or higher education.

Music Journalist/Critic - Someone who professionally reviews music performances, albums, and entertainment industry news.

Music Supervisor - Someone who oversees all of the musical choices for a visual medium, including television, video games, advertisers, and films. Not to be confused with a commercial music composer.

Music therapy - Music therapy is an evidence-based clinical use of musical interventions to improve clients' quality of life. Music therapists use music and its many facets— physical, emotional, mental, social, aesthetic, and spiritual— to help clients improve their health in cognitive, motor, emotional, communicative, social, sensory, and educational domains by using both active and receptive music experiences.

Publisher Sales Representative - An agent from a publishing company trying to sell published compositions to labels and artists for recording and selling.

Record Producer - Oversees all aspects of producing an artist’s album.

Session Musician - Musician who plays on recording projects for different artists, labels, etc.

Social Media Strategist - A social media savvy marketer who works with a company to promote their content via social media.

Solo Musician - Musician who performs as a complete soloist (like a pianist) or as the central figure with an accompanying musician or ensemble.

Stage Management - Organising and putting together a music, theatre, dance, or multimedia production. Involves coordinating stage personnel, production managers, and more.

Video Game Composer - Composer for the soundtrack and background of video games