The Arts, Health, and Wellness Study Guide for the GACE

Performing Arts

The performing arts include music, dance, and theater.

Beginning students use these arts to learn how to:

follow directions
work together
produce sound and rhythm
work in front of an audience
learn to read a new method(s) of notation (especially in music)

Intermediate students use these arts to learn how to:

communicate with sight and sound
collaborate with other students
express emotion and cultural heritage
use nontraditional performance methods (This is best explored in high school or later.)

Music

Children benefit from exposure to music and musical instruments. Early exposure to music improves:

concentration
brain activity
fine motor skills
mathematical skills

The ability to identify and maintain the rhythm of the music is an important skill to obtain early. It can be developed by simply clapping along with the music.

Basic Music Concepts

In even the very earliest music classes, elementary school students can learn the foundations of music and how it is represented visually.

Notation

Musical notation is a series of symbols on a musical staff.

The symbols show:

lengths of notes
pitch
rests
what sort of note gets a single beat
how many beats per measure
musical key (not a concept for the youngest of students)
tempo
volume
repeats

Other Elements

Older students will be exposed to more complex musical ideas, such as:

melody—a sequence of notes
harmony—a sequence of notes (or multiple simultaneous notes) that form an interval(s) with the melody
chord—a combination of one melody note and one or more harmony notes or zero melody notes and multiple harmony notes

Musical Instruments

Musical instruments fall into three basic categories:

melodic instruments: xylophone, flute, recorder, etc.
rhythm instruments: drum, triangle, block, etc.
chording instruments: piano, guitar, autoharp, etc.

The first instruments that are developmentally appropriate for young students are the rhythm instruments, with which they can keep the beat of the music. Older students may experiment with simple xylophones and learn to play the recorder. More complex instruments are usually not studied until middle school, except in private lessons.

Vocal Music

Vocal music is an easy and cheap way to introduce a student to music. The human voice is native to the body. Not everyone has access to an oboe, but we bring the human voice with us.

In addition to building confidence, vocal music exposes a student to public performance—which can be a gentle introduction to public speaking. Along with the core lessons produced with all performing arts (e.g., following directions, working together, collaboration, etc.), vocal music introduces students to:

breathing techniques
proper posture
pitch matching
diction
rhythm

Intermediate students will learn:

harmony
expressive singing

Vocal music includes:

echo songs
folk songs
choral music (for the intermediate students)
close harmony, such as barbershop quartet (mostly for high school students)

Dance

Dance combines music and movement. It involves the interpretation of sound and kinesthetic activity. Through dance, students gain awareness of body, motion, music, and rhythm.

Young students can be taught to move in groups in time with the music. Simple sing-alongs can be combined with body motions and/or clapping. Advanced students can be given dance solos, set dances (square or line), or paired dances (ballroom). Older students (high school) can learn to interpret and dance in various styles.

Set dances (square dances with a “caller” or line dances) are more advanced than group dances, as they require all the dancers involved to be able to perform all the dance steps. Ballroom dancing is even more difficult and is usually for the most advanced students.

Dance provides an excellent opportunity to engage in curriculum integration, especially in terms of science and health classes (e.g., discussing the human skeleton and muscle groups).

Vocabulary

In addition to the basic vocabulary of music (i.e., rhythm, tempo, etc.), dance has its own special terms divided into three basic categories—body, movement, stage picture.

Body

Many people believe that dance is only concerned with “where to place the feet.” However, the entire body is used in dance:

feet
legs
hands
arms
core (the center of chest)
finger position (intermediate students)

Movement

Movement is divided into two groups: locomotor and non-locomotor

Locomotor movement describes moving across the space:

walk
run
hop
jump
gallop

Non-locomotor movement describes what a dancer does without moving from one space to another:

bend
twist
stretch
turn
sway
balance

Dancers can perform both locomotor and non-locomotor movements at the same time.

Stage Picture

The stage picture is more difficult to describe. It involves what the audience sees. Largely the responsibility of the choreographer, it involves:

general space
spacing of the dancers on the stage
placing a featured dancer separately (intermediate and high school performances)

Techniques

Beginning students are introduced to body awareness & basic movement:

posture (standing tall, relaxed body, relaxed shoulders)
engaged core (Stabilize your torso by pulling your abdominal muscles in and up; this is different than “sucking in your gut.”)
understanding how the body moves (kinesiology)
balance

Basic Positions

For the beginning student, the basic position is standing straight, feet shoulder-width apart, toes pointed forward, knees slightly bent, hands at the side, head up, and ready to move.

Ballroom dancing (intermediate dancing) involves pointing the toes slightly outward.

Ballet teaches specialized positions.

Theater

Students can benefit by watching and performing theater. Reading scripts in front of other students, memorizing short dialogues, and other similar actions can improve a student’s self-confidence and lead to improvement in other areas. Imaginative play can help students express themselves.

One of the first types of theater arts that younger students usually perform involves retelling commonly known fairy tales. The stories of “The Big Bad Wolf” and “Little Red Riding Hood” are commonly performed for the very reason that they are easy to understand and are part of the common culture. A teacher with a tiny number of intermediate students might turn to puppetry. This allows three to four students to represent a dozen characters.

Here are some of the concepts appropriate for discussion in elementary school, as children are ready to understand them:

Character

Characterization is important in theater. Without character, the performance will be two-dimensional, uninteresting, and bland.

What is the character’s self? What is the backstory? How do they move? Why? Does the character have a limp? Why? What brings a character to be standing on the stage?
What are the character’s motivations? What are the character’s goals? Why are they here? What do they hope to accomplish? What is stopping them? What are their obstacles? Are these obstacles internal or external?
What is the character’s world view? Is the character a medieval peasant with a fixed place in society? Is the character a 1950s beatnik with only an interest in wine and song?

Ebenezer Scrooge has a clear backstory. Because of this, he has a distinct look and distinct body movements. His body posture and facial expressions are a direct result of his backstory.

Memorizing lines is one of the simplest things that an actor needs to do. Character is difficult. Costuming can help, but without character there is no performance.

Setting

What is the location in both space and time? Indoors? Outdoors? Battlefield? Royal palace? Every actor should understand when, where, and why.

Dialogue

Sometimes there are pages and pages of words to memorize. Memorizing dialogue is a skill that an actor needs to develop. More importantly, the character must make the words sound realistic. The words must be spoken clearly, distinctly, and loudly (not shouted). Singing teaches how to project the voice, and this skill is transferable.

Conflict

No one would watch a movie titled “The Village of the Smiling, Happy People.” Such a movie would be boring. Conflict moves the story forward. Watching the hero defeat the dragon is why people stay engaged.

Plot

Plot is how the story is told. It is what the audience sees. It shows what happens, who is involved, what problems arise, and how those problems are resolved.

Usually a plot’s structure is:

exposition (beginning)
- introduction of characters
- setting (location and time)
- situation
- main conflict introduced
rising action
- story moves forward
- additional conflicts are added
climax (turning point)
- conflict at its peak
falling action
- conflict resolved
- consequences of actions
resolution (end)
- final outcome
- loose ends tied up

Plot is different than story. Story is what happened. Plot is how it is told. Let’s look at the example of Ebenezer Scrooge. The plot is what the audience sees. However, the Spirit of Christmas Past shows Ebenezer Scrooge a series of flashbacks. In the story, what the Spirit of Christmas Past shows Ebenezer Scrooge comes before the main body of the play. But, the plot puts these flashbacks into the middle of the play. Plays for children almost always show the plot in the same sequence as the story.

Theme

The theme of a play is the central idea of a play and the reason the playwright wrote the play. It is the message (or lesson) that the playwright wants the audience to understand. It is the deeper meaning behind the characters, events, and conflicts.

A theme is usually not stated directly; the audience discovers it through what the characters do, say, and experience. Themes are often subjective, subject to interpretation, and occasionally controversial.

Influences on the Arts

Art does not exist in a vacuum. Societal influences of all sorts affect art production and interpretation.

Geographic Regions

Art produced in 16th-century Japan was vastly different than art produced in 16th-century Europe. These are in the same time period but with vastly different styles, such as painting, music, and dance styles, largely because the two places are separated by oceans of water.

However, art produced in 16th-century China was extremely influential on the art produced in other Asian countries, because those places are physically close. Similar things can be said about the music and dance of the same period.

Historical Periods

The paintings of the medieval period were flat and two-dimensional. In the Renaissance, artists learned about forced perspective, in which background objects are shown smaller than those in the foreground. The paintings became three-dimensional and more interesting. Similar things can be said about music and dance.

Developments and Innovations

In the late Renaissance, new pigments and painting techniques changed art dramatically. In music, the instruments became more refined and produced cleaner tones. The lute was replaced by the guitar. The sackbut was replaced by the trombone. The harpsichord was replaced by the piano, and music was improved.

Uses of the Creative Arts

The creative arts are used to help students express themselves. They improve a student’s self-confidence. They can improve a student’s understanding of the world and other class subjects (using curriculum integration). The very nature of creative art (especially music, dance, and theater) introduces the student to performing in front of an audience; this can reduce public-speaking anxiety.

Communication

Some forms of art require no words to communicate ideas, concepts, or emotions; ballet is a prime example. Other forms of art are very “wordy.” Reader’s theater is a prime example. Students should be able to view art and express an opinion about what the artist is trying to say or express. This might be something as vague as “it makes me feel sad” or “it is very colorful and happy.” These will be opinions. There will not be any wrong answers.

Self-Expression

There are significant opportunities for a student to express feelings and emotions while on stage. Dance and theater allow for ample opportunity to express characterization.

Art of all sorts, the performing arts in particular, allow for themes and ideas to be expressed. Some of those ideas can be controversial and can have themes that cause an audience to ponder new ideas and question old ideas.

Connections

Creative art doesn’t exist in a vacuum, especially in modern times. As the world becomes more computer driven, technology is becoming a larger part of both society and art. There are plenty of opportunities to tie art to other subject matter using curriculum integration.