High School Arts

The High School Music elective class (Grades 9 / 10) gives opportunities to be creative, take risks and to “dive” into various musical experiences. Students develop instrumental skills necessary for ensemble and solo performance, together with knowledge of how to create a well-balanced concert program. The annual ‘HS Benefit Gig’ is one of the stages where they share their talents and find meaningful community connections.

Using traditional methods of musical composition, together with exploring the possibilities of music technology in our classes, students release their authentic album after visiting the professional recording studio and learning about the basics of Music production.

Our High School Choir is open for students from Grades 9-12 and is an ever-present at the annual CEESA Choir Festival. A private instrumental program (PIP) also runs after school for interested students. The PIP instructors are experienced professionals who follow the AAS core values.

In High School, students work with greater independence and are challenged to devise their own theatre and perform more complex works.

Using a variety of explorative strategies, such as cross-cutting, marking the moment, hot-seating, narration and improvisation, students devise a lively public performance, presented at the end of a 3-day annual theatre festival. As these new tools are mastered, students practice organisational skills alongside their imagination and creativity by working extensively towards a major school production. The year culminates with a short-film project using scripts written by our partners in the Creative Writing elective.

In IB Theatre, students continue making and performing theatre with increasing complexity as they develop their knowledge of world theatre and its key practitioners. Not only must they become able performers, they should also regard themselves as practitioners, amassing a body of evidence to show their development as directors, designers, technicians and researchers.

There are additional acting opportunities in HS Speech & Debate club, which competes regularly in international competitions.

In Visual Arts, students investigate and record the world around them. They create, design and communicate through art. They learn to observe, reflect and appreciate art.

Students explore different techniques and gain different skills in drawing, painting, selecting materials, using collage, rubbing, constructing, modeling and printing. They are also introduced to the visual elements and processes of line, shape, color use, pattern, rhythm, texture and volume.

Art appreciation is awakened by comparing the styles and techniques of various famous painters, as well as exploring peer artwork. A visit to an art gallery is organized during the year and students are given the opportunity to exhibit regularly at school and occasionally at local galleries.

In IB Visual Arts students pursue three goals: a comparison of artwork from different periods of time and different cultural contexts, an extended exploration of different art-making processes (2-D, 3-D, and lens-based art,) and the creation and presentation of their diploma exhibit (art produced and selected over the length of the two-year course).

HS Digital arts explores the principles of design through project-based activities. A Design cycle guides the projects through identifying a needs, creative design development and product evaluation. Illustration, layout and photography are explored, culminating in the creation of the AAS yearbook.

As is our philosophy in the Arts at AAS, each period of study is completed with an exciting exhibit for the school and community.

In Grades 11 and 12, IB Visual Arts (SL, HL) and IB Theatre (SL, AL) are offered.