When I arrived at school on Tuesday at 7:30 a.m., beautiful music drifted from the Lower School music classroom to greet me. I peeked inside and, despite the early hour, found students hard at work practicing violins, violas, and cellos. The enthusiasm of the Beginning Strings Ensemble was palpable, and it reminded me how fortunate we are to be able to offer such a rich arts program. At a time when many schools are scrambling for arts funding, Redwood Day has been able to improve and expand our offerings of visual and performing arts -- before, during, and after school.

Specialist and enrichment classes are an integral part of the Redwood Day curriculum. Naturally, students enjoy having the opportunity to explore a wide range of interests. Beyond that, research consistently shows that arts education helps students with brain development, academic performance, life skills, and career opportunities. 

Denise Breland, Lower School Director

Last night, Lower School students shone brightly at our annual Art and Music Night. The Gallery literally became a gallery in the truest sense of the word, displaying the amazing creativity of our K-5 classes. Lower School art teacher Cindy Nelson introduces students to a wide range of historical influences and inspiring media in the  K-5 art curriculum: painting, drawing, papercraft, printmaking, weaving, ceramics, and the list goes on. As you view the projects, you can see students' progression through the grades. In kindergarten, students start with basic building blocks of art, mastering small motor skills as process takes front seat to the (inevitably beautiful!) product. As students advance, projects become more open-ended, allowing students who want to master a particular medium to push their artistic boundaries and move beyond their comfort zone. More projects are directly tied to classroom study topics, and students develop the beginnings of artistic "voice", point of view, and responsibility for artistic choices.

Art and Music Night would not be complete without performances from the Lower School Chorus and Beginning and Intermediate Strings Ensembles directed by Gina Ali, K-4 music teacher. It's amazing to witness the musical growth of these groups since last September -- and hard to believe that these confident performers are the same students who were first learning to detect a steady beat back in kindergarten! Like visual art, the Lower School music curriculum is progressive and developmental and, supplemented by opportunities in strings and chorus, gives students a wealth of opportunities to develop both musical knowledge and skills.

But don't forget: amid all that developmental skill-building, making music is simply joyful! In that spirit, please join us next month for the premiere of our first annual Lower School musical, The Emperor's New Clothes directed by Ms. Ali. Third- and fourth-graders have been working very hard for several months, and we look forward to this newest addition to our music program.