Tentative Course Outline

Introduction: We're Off To See The Wizard (Aug. 11 - 26)

Film as a "Gesamtkunstwerk" of our time. What is art? Looking at elements or constituent parts. Looking for meaning. Context. The film The Wizard of Oz will serve as our lens.

Unit One: The Elements of Art and Music (Aug. 30 - Sept. 30)

If we are to be scholars of the fine arts, we will need at least a cursory understanding of the technical aspects of each discipline and a vocabulary to describe what we see, hear and feel.

Unit Two: A Brief History of Humanity (Oct. 4 - Dec. 17)

A whirlwind tour beginning with ancient Greece and progressing to modern times, putting art and music in a historical context. Obviously we will sacrifice depth for a gestalt overview or "birds eye view" of how we got where we are today.

Unit Three: World Art and Music (Jan. 11 - Feb. 17)

Tentative focus: The Andes, which is IB Music's set culture. The history books in Western culture leave out a big chunk of the world. We'll take a quick look.

Unit Four: Drama and Theatre (Feb. 28 - Apr. 7)

Hands on. Featuring guest lecturers from our own drama department. We'll learn theatre production history, terminology and techniques by doing.

Unit Five: Film ( Apr. 10 - Jun. 8)

All the arts studied will come into play. We will critically analyze films, and then try our hand at making a class video. Finally a chance for an in-depth project. The result will be as good as we make it. Move over, Spike Lee?
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In addition to these units of study, we will take advantage of found opportunities (guest artist visits, on-campus displays etc.) to study, discuss, analyze and enjoy the arts around us.
Further, students will attend at least one pre-approved outside event (concert, play, art exhibition) per quarter. For each event, they will complete a reflective paper or project.

The goal of the course is that we each become educated and motivated to be, if not artists, discerning and appreciative patrons and consumers of art. And, that we further our understanding of what it means...
...to be human.