Learning IN the Arts
Supporting Thrust 1: Skills
• Arts-related techniques and skills
• Creative and Critical Thinking Skills
• Communication and Collaboration skills
Signature Programmes
Secondary 1 to 3: Arts Festival
Following a successful Arts Festival in 2015, we held a two-day Arts Festival this year to expose and enrich our students to different Art forms, and provide a platform for our Greenridgeans to discover and develop their own creative capacity through the Arts. To expose students to a new musical instrument, the Secondary 1 students learnt how to play the Ukulele and had some hands-on activities on the instrument. They also had the chance to appreciate interesting art works by visiting the galleries created by the Secondary 3 art students and also the art works by professional artists along Marina Bay, Orchard Road and the Singapore River. The Secondary 2 students tried their hands on the Cajon and learnt how to play rhythmic beats on the instrument. To enrich their experiences in Art, the Secondary 2 students also went on a learning journey to the NUS Museum. After attending a beatboxing masterclass with local beatboxers, the Secondary 3 students worked on creating a mini concert, which required each class to create 1 art work, 1 music composition, 1 fashion attire, 1 poem and 1 dance item based on the theme of ‘X’ which gave us ideas for next year's Spectrum X concert. The Arts Festival ended on a high note with our highly anticipated GSS Star competition!
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Secondary 2: The Musical Project
As the concluding project of the two-year General Music Programme (GMP), the Secondary Two students from GSS have to produce and perform a mini Musical project in Semester 2, using the skills and knowledge learnt during the GMP. During the span of 10-weeks in Term 3, students will have to form a story plot, write the script, compose the music, choreograph the movements, and design relevant props, costumes and stage settings. In Term 4, students will be assessed on their musical performance (by both teachers and peers) according to a given rubrics, and also through a group portfolio which consolidates their plans, final works and reflections.
Aligning to our Arts Education Vision, “Creative and Confident Persons, Impacting the Community through the Arts”, this project aims to develop self-directed and confident students who are able to take charge of their own learning through the process of “Responding”, “Appreciating”, “Creating” and “Performing” the musical project. By having active and authentic musical experiences in producing the musical, this project enhances students’ learning and understanding for the various musical elements, skills and concepts. The project focuses largely on the “Creating” component. This component allows students to expand their creative thinking skills through generating ideas, constructing the plan and creating something original. According to Bloom’s Revised Taxonomy, this experience of “Creating” builds higher order thinking skills.
The Musical Project also encourages collaborative and cooperative learning, as students work in small groups (8 people per group) to complete the given tasks together. The project allows students to share strengths and also develop their weaker skills together. In a less- formal learning setting, students build interpersonal skills as they feel more comfortable and spontaneous to learn and share musical knowledge and skills with each other.
This project not only infuses music learning with other arts forms such as drama, storytelling, art and dance into a single work, it also provides a natural platform to nurture core values (i.e. Responsibility for completing tasks, Respect and Care for team mates). Moreover, as students have to craft their story plot according to the theme of “Good Triumphs over Evil”, students reflect over values of humility, resilience, perseverance and are more aware of the socio-cultural sensitivities.
