Music & Arts
Music
At Kindle Farm, we consider the skills of self expression, teamwork, and mastery that music provides to be an invaluable part of our school culture. Through their work in music, students develop communication, teamwork, perseverance and other important skills. Students can experience music at Kindle Farm in a variety of ways. They have the opportunity to learn about drumming, guitar/bass playing, electronic music and instrument making in small group settings during afternoon activities. They also have access to a music room on campus where they can sign up for informal jam sessions during their break times.
In addition, Kindle Farm utilizes the Stone Church in Brattleboro as it’s music studio for more formal instruction in drumming/percussion, music theory, music appreciation, music technology, rock band and individual lessons. The focus of this work includes:
Drumming
Using a hands on approach, students learn about meter, tempo, rhythmic subdivision and drumming composition in a group setting.
Music Theory
In these sessions we examine the language and notation of music. Students are introduced to the basic elements of music through rhythm, harmony, melody and song structure.
Music Appreciation
Students learn about music from around the world. They look at how historical events and cultural traditions influence the composition and instrumentation used in creating a particular music.
Music Technology
Students learn to work with several music creation and recording software programs, including Acid Pro, Magix Music Maker and Reaper. These programs allow them to record themselves on a variety of instruments, sample sounds and to create original works.
Arts
Currently, Kindle Farm takes opportunities throughout the school day to engage students in Visual Arts work. During academic work, students work on a range of skills from observational drawing in science to multi-media illustrations of texts in Humanities and sketching solutions in math. During Afternoon Activities, students have an opportunity to be involved in Visual Art based courses such as Silk Screening, Nature Art and Introduction to Drawing and Painting. Throughout these classes and activities, students work on the skills of visual arts alongside the skills of creating, performing, responding and connecting. We have a plan to draft a formal visual arts curriculum in accordance with the National Arts Standards this coming summer, to be implemented in the fall of 2019.