Departments

Communication Arts

Students develop the ability to create and synthesize new ideas within the context of creative writing, oratory, photography, cinematography and other technologies. Students use most aspects of Adobe Photoshop, Dreamweaver, InDesign, Illustrator, Apple’s GarageBand, iMovie, iDVD, Microsoft Office, and integrate documents, spreadsheets and presentations into the process of interdisciplinary problem-solving projects throughout the year. Students create written, audio-visual and electronic content for publication, and use technology including various computer software and digital cameras.

Click here for the Middle School Communication Arts website.

Dance

Students learn through movement exploration. They address the development of self-image, social contacts and peer relationships, and begin to examine the social and cultural elements and contexts, and experience expanded cognitive aspects in both perception and creative process. Dance curriculum focuses on training in the disciplines of ballet, jazz, and modern techniques, as well as multicultural dance traditions. Throughout their career at Cab Calloway, students study dance history, psychology of dance, improvisation, choreography, injury prevention, anatomy, physiology, and nutrition/eating disorders.

Drama

The Theatre Arts program is a sequential course of study focused on the five major components of theatrical production: acting, directing, playwriting, producing, and technical theatre. Each year the student is challenged with increasingly difficult projects and exercises to develop skills in these five areas of theatre arts. Students are coached in the correct use of voice, body movement and gesture to produce the sights and sounds of theatre, and they write, direct and act in their own productions throughout the school year.

Instrumental Music

Instrumental music students must be studying instruments of the concert band, orchestra (i.e. woodwinds, brass, percussion or strings), or piano. Students focus on individual achievement and development during class time and group dynamics in extracurricular bands and ensembles. Instrumental music students:

  • Study solo and ensemble literature in the classical idiom
  • Study music theory and music composition
  • Sight sing music in treble and bass clefs
  • Perform at least one solo composition each year

Click here for the high school instrumental music website.

Visual Arts

Through a variety of tools, techniques, and processes, students grow to better understand the interplay of different media, styles, and design principles in the creation of their own work. Learning is designed around primary concepts. One of these concepts is visual literacy, the ability to observe and interpret an awareness and appreciation of design. Students will learn to communicate conceptual ideas through use of a visual, symbolic language. Students will achieve the goal of attaining visual literacy through immersion by participation in self and peer critiques and intense research of specific artists of their own choosing. Students explore a variety of experiences that include drawing, painting, ceramics, printmaking, sculpture, fiber and digital art. Historical references are related to the works in progress. Career opportunities in the field of art are explored.

Vocal Music

Students are taught how to sing in a healthy manner, including techniques for solo and ensemble performances. Emphasis is placed on diction, phrasing, vowel placement, and proper tonal production. Students learn to sing in several different languages that might include Italian, French, German, Latin, and African. Students sing in musical styles appropriate to the Renaissance, Baroque, Classical, Romantic and Contemporary time periods. Students explore basic music theory through sight-reading, ear training, dictation and class discussion. Advanced students study the theory and practice of elementary harmony.

Click here for the Middle School Vocal Music website.