Glenburnie School - Oakville, Ontario. A private school from Kindergarten to Grade 8.

The Arts

At Glenburnie, our strong Arts Programme facilitates integration of artistic skills with other aspects of academic study. Through artistic activity, students are provided with the opportunity to expand their visual, auditory, tactile and experiential awareness of their world, further heightening sensory awareness.

In music, art, and drama classes, Glenburnie students learn to problem solve, think critically, work creatively, and take risks. Students expand their public speaking and performance skills, improve body awareness, and explore concepts of sensory movement and sound. Emphasis is placed on ‘right-brain’ activity in furthering the development of the creative and intuitive process.

Students also develop a greater understanding and appreciation of the talents, effort, and focus that are required to excel in the arts.

Music

The Kindergarten Music programme is based upon the philosophy of composer Carl Orff. This philosophy takes an holistic approach to music. By integrating speech, song, movement, instrumental play and improvisation, students are encouraged to develop a greater understanding of beat, rhythm, melody and harmony. Ultimately, each student will use these skills in his or her own creative way, building confidence, self esteem and paving the way to independent musicianship.

Primary students experience a rewarding Music programme based on the Orff method. Students gain musical knowledge through active involvement in the creation of music. Students participate in every music class in various ways such as singing, speaking, moving, listening and playing various percussion instruments. A strong focus is placed on the development of rhythm, melody, harmony and dynamics . Students are also introduced to the reading and writing of musical notation and become familiar with musical terminology.

The Junior/Intermediate Music programme at Glenburnie is focused on fostering an appreciation and love of music. Instrumental performance is cultivated through reading notation, playing by ear, and improvisation, while students develop a deep understanding of music making through studies in theory, composition, and history at every grade level. Below you will find some highlights of the music programme here at Glenburnie.

Learning by Rote: Grade 4 students learn an extensive song in a foreign language with separate parts for recorder, ukeleles, and hand drums – and they do it all without ever seeing a note!

Composition: Grade 5 students learn to compose in the renaissance counterpoint style while Grade 7 students compose in the 12-tone style of Arnold Schoenberg.

History: Students in all grades discuss major composers as they occur in the repertoire. In Grade 7, this information is synthesized in a unit where students are shown how historical time periods and styles evolved over the centuries.

Instrumental Performance: In every grade students perform for their peers both as soloists and in small groups. Through performance, students develop self-confidence and the desire to express their unique artistic interpretations of music.

Synthesis: Our philosophy is to make sure students understand how studying the various elements of music is relevant. The Grade 8 programme features an extended project where students transcribe a popular song of their choice using all the theoretical skills they have developed in rhythm, melody and harmony.

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Visual Arts

The objective of the Visual Arts programme is to offer students the opportunity to problem solve, think critically, work creatively and to take risks. Skills are developed sequentially using a variety of tools, materials and techniques.

Kindergarten students are introduced to concept development in activities such as: painting, drawing, design, clay, textiles, collage and murals, mixed media, sculpture masks and puppets and printmaking.

Primary students explore the principles of composition, including rhythm/repetition, movement, contrast, balance, emphasis and variety. The elements of line, shape, colour, space, texture, value and form are explored.

Junior/Intermediate students explore the principles of composition, including rhythm/repetition, movement, contrast, balance, emphasis, and variety. The elements of line, shape, colour, space, texture, value and form are explored at a progressively more advanced level. Art history is integrated throughout the programme. The principles of composition and elements and concepts of the Masters are studied and applied to student work.

Drama

In Kindergarten, Drama, as an integrated component of the Language Arts Programme, gives students the opportunity to acquire new language, use body movement to assimilate new ideas from previous experiences, and develop and extend imagination and empathy. In consultation with our Drama Specialist, our Kindergarten teachers incorporate Drama as a vehicle in the development of confident oral language skills and the application of cooperative problem solving skills.

The goal of our Primary Drama programme is to provide students with the opportunity to explore and risk take in developing communication skills to further enhance both academic and social skills. Exercises, involving both individual and team activities, explore and develop such concepts as verbal and non-verbal communication, identification of emotions and the development of empathy, identification and reflection of main ideas in storylines and thematic activities.

The goal of our Junior/Intermediate Drama programme is to challenge students to explore and risk take to develop a variety of strong and effective communication skills to enhance both their academic and social skills. Older students will be challenged to communicate through increasingly detailed movement and sound, to create a mood or feeling through their language and thought, to listen and reflect upon peers' work as well as to reflect upon and respond to their own work.

Our junior and intermediate students are also given opportunities to develop effective debating and public speaking skills, not only in Drama classes but in conjunction with Core Subject activities, Town Hall Meetings, projects, Current Events, Oral Speech Festivals and Student Government representation.