Remote Learning in the Arts

As they say in show biz, “The show must go on… LINE!” And, in the Arts, teachers and students have made the most of learning in the virtual world. Whilst remote learning raises its own challenges, learning in the Arts subject areas has continued to be creative and engaging. From Year 7 to Year 12, students studying Dance, Drama, Music, Media, Photography and Visual Arts have been developing their skills in their chosen areas in ways that continue to foster creativity and imagination.

Dance has made use of the virtual world with Year 8 students learning basic skills. Students have learnt everything from turns to the moonwalk to the woah and used these moves to create their own solo performance piece.

Working remotely doesn’t mean you can’t collaborate across subjects. Senior Media and the Years 9/10 Dance classes are working together to create a music film clip! The dancers have been creating “random videos” for the Media students to use as stock footage. From running in the rain to dancing in the kitchen, the wide range of videos have certainly kept everyone entertained. This raw footage will be edited by the Media students to create a unique film clip and each clip will showcase something different to highlight the creativity involved in creating film.

Drama students have been creating performances at home including make sock puppets to tackle the ’great toilet paper crisis’! Year 7 students have shown their creative craft skills to make playful sock puppet characters, scary masks and even spotlights using their phones and a toilet paper roll. These props have been used in performances to showcase their voice and characterisation skills.

The 9/10 Photography and Media students have been exploring the technical aspects involved in film. Students have learnt about and explored the Foley artists technique for creating sounds in film. That’s right, everything you hear in a film is created! Students used household items to create the sounds involved scene. To replicate walking on gravel a bag of muesli was crunched; students snapped dry spaghetti and even explore how dripping water on different surfaces can sound like blood drops. 

The creativity continues in 9/10 Music with students working on a collaborative recording! Each student has chosen an instrument and a section of a song they wish to record. The next step is to record the sample using Garage Band and Miss Robinson works her producer magic to combine the individual tracks. The finished product? A polished music track that was created independently but sounds together.

Students have been exploring creating perspective through drawing and interactive activities in Visual Arts. They have learnt about linear perspective and creating a drawing of their bedroom that includes a vanishing point and one-point perspective. Art students have also created ‘life-size sketches’ of a scene with perspective, using coloured tape on an exterior surface, like a wall, to practice creating leading lines or vectors, scale and the illusion of depth in a scene.

These types of activities offer ways for students to engage with their learning in practical ways to foster critical and creative thought processes. The students continue to be challenged in their learning environments through the dedicated work of our Arts teachers. Congratulations to all – the creative results are exciting for the continuation of the Arts!

Mrs Sarah Smith
Leader of Learning and Wellbeing (The Arts, Van Thuan)