Performing Arts
Unveiling the Path of Self-Discovery Through Performing Arts
We believe that the arts provide a unique pathway to self-discovery and self-understanding. Through our program, students have the opportunity to engage in a creative, disciplined, and collaborative process that goes beyond the traditional classroom setting.
Where Courage and Perseverance Take Center Stage
Our program is designed to promote self-confidence, perseverance, imagination, reflective thinking, and intuition through a collaborative approach. Just like in math and science, performing arts participation ignites inquiry and cultivates skills and understandings that enrich students' exploration of and contribution to the world.
Nurturing Artistic Growth Through High Standards of Excellence
At King, we follow the National Performing Arts Core Standards & Competencies, and this framework guides our curriculum. These standards include creating new artistic ideas and work, interpreting historically and culturally significant material, imbuing artistic work with personal meaning and external context, and understanding how the arts convey meaning.
Harmonizing Growth: The Power of Collaborative Learning
Our curriculum is rooted in the ensemble model, where students learn and develop in a group environment. This model offers numerous benefits, including social development, cooperative learning, sequential learning, and performance orientation. Through shared struggles and achievements and cooperative teamwork, students develop responsibility, focus, and an understanding of their impact on the success of the ensemble.
Melodies and Mirrors: Exploring a Cultural Tapestry
In our program, inquiry is at the heart of learning. We explore a wide range of repertoire from around the world, encompassing varied genres and allowing students to connect with different cultures and expressions. By studying and performing this repertoire, students gain insights into past and present societies and explore individual expressions of the world.
Stepping Stones to Artistic Success
Our curriculum is tailored to different age groups. PreK-5 focuses on developing strong aural skills and learning the basics of music notation. In the Middle School, there is a focus on skill and music language development, with the integration of history and culture into repertoire and units. In the Upper School, students have the freedom to explore multiple paths of interest within the performing arts, and we provide guidance for those interested in pursuing the arts in college.
Guided by the Greats: World-Class Faculty, Limitless Possibilities
Our faculty is world-class, with members who have performed on major stages worldwide and have taught and led workshops at universities, music camps, and conferences throughout the country.
Meet the Performing Arts Team
Lower School Rhythms
As soon as students enter the Lower School, they are introduced to music. Beginning in Prekindergarten and continuing through Grade 3, students focus on developing audiation skills and honing their ability to hear and understand music. They learn about pitch and rhythm, timing, and notation. By Grades 4 and 5, students are ready for string instruments, band, and choir. Grade 5 students produce a musical in the school’s state-of-the-art Performing Arts Center, stepping into the spotlight for the first time. King also offers after-school enrichment programs so students can deepen and accelerate their learning.
Middle School Instrumentals
Students in the Middle School continue to build their band, string, and choir skills as they develop an understanding of the language of music. They explore history and culture in music throughout their repertoire, which grows to include drama, theater, and instrumentals. All middle school students can participate in a fall play and a spring musical. In Grade 8, students can immerse themselves deeper in the arts by choosing to major in Performing Arts with a focus in band, strings, choir, or theater. Students also have the option of majoring in both Performing and Visual Arts.
Upper School Productions
The upper school curriculum allows for multiple paths of interest, from musical performance, including band, choir, strings, guitar, and piano, to musical productions, sound engineering, music theory, songwriting, theater, or technical performance. Students can also study independently and earn a distinction in one of the many options available. Further, students interested in studying performing arts after King have a support team to help them prepare for the unique college application process.
Community in Harmony: Amplifying Impact
Beyond the classroom, our performing arts students are deeply immersed in the community, bringing cadence to King events and service to the broader community. Our Upper School Jazz Combo’s improv makes every community gathering effervescent, including Family Service Day, Homecoming, State of the School, and our biennial gala. They bring that same fervor to service efforts like King-based Project Music, an after-school program that provides free instruments and instruction to local youth, and the El Sistema Residency, an intensive workshop that uses music to connect students of different socioeconomic backgrounds. From events to service, the program infuses the community with music as it showcases top-notch performances across all grade levels.
