Arts, Music, Drama and Film

The Visual Arts, MediaDrama and Music programmes at SIS are a pathway to self expression, collaboration and unleashing deep creativity in our students.

The Visual Arts programme offers students the opportunity to explore culture, understand context and practice critical thinking. Students study and acquire skills, techniques and processes involved in making artworks and they curate their own exhibition to communicate with an audience. This means students cover the Visual Arts from every angle by studying artists, artworks and techniques, by engaging in experimentation, in ideation, by creating their own portfolio of artworks and by communicating what they have learnt though their own expression and exhibition.

What might students know and understand in visual art?

  • Art styles, movements, artists’ practices, and specific artworks
  • The use of specialist terminology and principles required by the visual art form being developed, for example, the vocabulary of expressionist painting
  • The language of visual communication

What skills might students develop in visual art?

  • Technical skills, skills of observation and practical aspects of visual art that allow students to incorporate ideas into their own work
  • Skills to investigate and respond to art styles, art movements, artists’ practices and specific artworks
  • Knowledge of existing visual art practice(s) to influence and shape their artwork

How might students think creatively in visual art?

  • Through creative approaches to art-making
  • Through manipulation of medium and tool to influence the presentation of artworks
  • By developing series of visual images to document thought processes in the creation of art

How might students respond to, or through, visual art?

  • Use of stimuli or a personal concern that can be interpreted using an art form, style or genre
  • By developing an artwork in response to the works of a particular genre, style or artist
  • By deconstructing the elements of art in an artwork and reconstructing, reinterpret them differently
Three boys drawing with crayons
Children passing crayons to each other
Two girls talking about a picture they are drawing with their teacher

The Drama programme engages students in growing their creative, reflective and communication skills through practical work. Students enjoy an active relationship with the theatre through autonomous learning and exploration. Emphasis is placed on the creative process as an essential component of their artistic development through continuous investigation, planning, goal setting, rehearsing, performing, reflection and evaluation.

What might students know and understand in drama?

  • Theatre from a variety of performance practices, genres, movements or styles
  • The context and conditions from which drama emerges
  • The language of drama, the production elements, and how they interplay in developing and communicating ideas and feelings through drama

What skills might students develop in drama?

  • The various artistic processes involved in “making drama”, that is, the processes involved in transforming a performance concept into live action
  • The various planning processes and methods of structuring the actual “making of drama” such as brainstorms, storyboards, scripts, rehearsal schedules and techniques
  • The production elements to translate ideas into dramatic form, for example, dramatic writing, direction, costume, lighting, scenery, use of masks, sound and so on

How might students think creatively in drama?

  • Through storyboarding narratives, designing sets and props, interpreting text visually
  • By improvising scenarios and creating collaborative drama
  • Through creative writing, character design and creating alternative endings to performances

How might students respond to, or through, drama?

  • A stimulus and/or a personal concern could be interpreted using a dramatic form, style or genre, for example, a text, a song, a photo, a newspaper article and so on
  • By developing a performance to address a particular theme, concern or issue within a context
  • By reviewing theatrical performances and production elements encountered
Two student performers rehearsing

The Music programme offers students access to musical experiences that develop thinking skills, intuitive skills, practical abilities, communication and collaboration. But especially the programme allows students to understand the significance of music to the cultures of the world and, by engaging in practical work, to develop understanding of how the act of making music is a significant and universal aspect of human expression.

SIS offers a fantastic range of musical opportunities ranging from choirs to various ensembles and individual instrumental and vocal tuition. The Music department even has its own Saturday morning theatre school, which offers tuition in dance, drama and singing.

After School Music Activities includes singing in various choirs, or playing in Orff Ensemble, String Group ( both Junior and Senior grade levels), Junior Ukulele and Recorder clubs.

Of course there is a PTA choir for parents and staff, of which our current Director is an active member!

Joining in with all any of these groups offers the opportunity to perform in our public events throughout the year, such as Graduation, End of Year, UN Day and our recently founded Spirit Concert celebrations.

Music can be heard all around the school with our Instrumental/Vocal Program which provides individual lessons with a tutor in any number of instruments including strings, piano, drums, guitar, woodwind, brass and voice. This program has top music industry professionals not only from across the globe but from Sweden’s leading orchestras, Royal Household Band and premier concert houses, who come each week to instruct our students. Students on this program can take part in music recitals twice a year to showcase their work.

What might students know and understand in music?

  • Traditions and musical heritage from different parts of the world, for example, popular music, the music industry, musical theatre, developments in music technology
  • Current and emerging musical practices
  • Methods of recording and communicating musical ideas such as various notation systems

What skills might students develop in music?

  • Their ability to develop and carry out performances
  • Skills, techniques and processes to create their own music, finding ways to capture it in performance, notation, recording or presentation
  • An ability to experiment with sound sources, improvisation, practice and rehearsal routines

How might students think creatively in music?

  • By experimenting with the artistic processes involved in making music
  • By initiating, exploring and developing projects that are rewarding and challenging
  • By creating their own music or improvising sections added to published musical scores

How might students respond to, or through, music?

  • By developing their own musical style inspired by a particular genre or artist
  • Through participating in “listen and respond” activities
  • By creating music that demonstrates their exposure to various musical cultures
A row of guitars
A class learning the recorder

The Media programme gives students the chance to understand better the power of media as a tool for expression and investigation by learning about and creating media themselves. They get to examine film as an art form, to explore the evolution of film, discover film production, collaborate in making a film themselves and create projects and reports on fall aspects of film which also allows students to develop planning and organisational skills within a highly motivating context.

Access to technology in the arts have given the tools of visual art a very broad palette. Digital technology, as in digital art, photography and time-based art, add to traditional practice and bring an extra dimension and meaning to the students’ experience in the visual art.

What might students know and understand in integrated visual art & media?

  • Art styles, movements, artists’, photographers’ and film-makers’ roles in society
  • The use of specialist terminology and principles required by the art form being developed, for example, the vocabulary of photography, film terminology and basic camera functions and settings
  • The language of visual communication
  • The relationship between media and audience- communication
  • How screen language can be used to express ideas- how to edit film

What skills might students develop in integrated visual art & media?

  • Technical skills and practical aspects of visual art and film that allow students to incorporate ideas into their own work
  • Skills to investigate and analyse art styles, artists’ practices & film genres
  • Skills and techniques in scripting, cinematography, sound recording and editing to create film
  • The skills to work both independently and collaboratively in defined roles taking responsibility for a film project
  • How soundtracks, illustrative & descriptive sounds are an integral component of a media experience

How might students think creatively in integrated visual art & media?

  • Through creative approaches to art-making & planning processes for making media- storyboards, synopsis, scripts, shot logs
  • Through exploration of for example photography, digital art making and experimenting with the artistic procedures in the media-making process
  • Through developing their own personal signature styles in creating media (how to tell a story through the film media)

How might students respond to, or through, integrated visual art & media?

  • Use of own ideas and intentions interpreted into an art form, style or genre within photography and media
  • By experimenting with various styles and genres in visual art & media
  • By critiquing the work of various artists, photographers, film-makers or other media makers