Arts Program



The Bullis School Visual and Performing Arts Program is designed to advance a student’s ability to discover and develop his or her own voice through artistic expression. A student-centered, interdisciplinary approach balances the exploration of artistic traditions, the development of concepts and the building of skills. Using a newly-acquired, aesthetic vocabulary, students learn to express themselves, create and problem solve. The Visual and Performing Arts Department cultivates inquisitive, independent thinkers who synthesize the greater world through the arts.

Lower School arts students take classes in visual art and music, including Beginning/Intermediate Chorus and group lessons in musical instruments in the brass or woodwind families. In music, students focus on the elements of music (silence, melody, rhythm, timbre, dynamics and form), while visual art students learn about the four interrelated disciplines in art (perception, creative expression, culture and heritage and informed judgment).

Middle School visual and performing arts classes include both trimester-long and yearlong courses. Yearlong courses include Youth Chorus, Youth Band, Troubadours, Advanced Band, Music Ensemble, Minstrels, Advanced Band and Music Ensemble. Trimester-long courses include World Art, Storytelling, Painting, 2D/3D Design and Theater Arts.

The Visual and Performing Arts Department curriculum in the Upper School utilizes three sequential levels of skill development, offering a varied program in visual art, dance, music and theater. Level I (Discovering Your Own Voice) focuses on establishing basic skills inherent in and common to all four artistic disciplines and on creative invention and discovering the creative voice. Levels II (Compositional Craft) and III (Application) build on this voice and develop the compositional techniques specific to each discipline.

The Upper School offerings in the visual and performing arts are all electives. Students are required to earn a minimum of two credits in visual and performing arts to graduate. All visual and performing arts courses receive academic credit and are regarded as one of the five academic subjects required each trimester. Ninth graders must select one of four yearlong courses of study in the arts.

 

Music Private Lesson Program

The Bullis School Music Private Lesson Program is an integral part of music education at Bullis School. Private lessons at Bullis School are offered for the purpose of giving each student the opportunity of participation in the Bullis School music ensembles. By offering this program, it is our hope that each student will be encouraged not only to develop individual skill and technique on his or her instrument, but to be a responsible and contributing member of his or her respective music ensemble. It is the belief of the Bullis School that student involvement in the Music Private Lesson Program and in its music ensembles is of great benefit to a student’s growth and development both within the arts and beyond.

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