Evening Arts Program
Performing ArtsAfrican Drumming • John Hughes • Tuesday This activity offers an opportunity to learn traditional hand drumming techniques and multi-part rhythm structures from Guinea, Senegal and Mali. We will also explore techniques for improvising and soloing. The school has some drums for this class, but if you have your own Jembe/Djembe, Ashiko or Conga, please bring it! Bluegrass • Phil Bloch • Thursday Bluegrass is acoustic American music with a high, lonesome sound and an emphasis on driving instrumentals and close, heartfelt three-part harmonies. This is for students interested in forming a Bluegrass band; all participants should play an instrument and/or sing. Bluegrass instruments include guitar, 5 string banjo, fiddle, mandolin, slide guitar, and bass (preferably acoustic), but other instruments may be considered. We’ll do a little bit of listening and talking and a lot of playing; you'll pick up a great deal of practical and useful stuff along the way. We'll develop all aspects of the music, from improvising solos on your instrument or singing in your vocal range, through how to play fills and backup and how to arrange a song, to how to make your bluegrass music sound like the real thing. Dance Ensemble • Patricia Wilson and Kalya Yannatos • Wednesday 1:30-4:30 The Putney School Dance Ensemble offers experienced dancers the exciting opportunity to be part of a community of dedicated dancers. We will be making new dances and adding to our company repertoire for performances in the Winter and Spring Dance Concerts, as well as "on tour" at various local venues. Please note: though offered as an evening activity, rehearsals are Wednesday afternoons. The 1:30-3:00 rehearsal is with Patricia Wilson, making dances that draw from Modern Dance and the Dunham-based jazz style of her afternoon classes. The 3:00-4:30 rehearsal is with Kalya Yannatos, making dances that draw from both modern and ballet. We encourage you to sign up for both (2 credits), but you may sign up for just one, (1 credit), please do specify clearly on your sign up form. Please note that we will also work for two blocks during the Winter Project Week. Dancers should be in Level 3 dance classes or receive permission from Patricia or Kalya. Full year commitment required. Dance Ensemble Too • Patricia Wilson • Monday Monday Night Ensemble is an opportunity for Level 2 dancers to gain experience as dancers and performers. Weekly rehearsals, learning a new dance choreographed by Patricia Wilson, will lead to performing in the Winter Dance Concert. All dancers should be taking Dunham/jazz classes in the afternoon, and preferably ballet too. (Dancers from the academic modern class are welcome too). Drama • Karla Baldwin and Janine Hamilton • Monday & Tuesday plus Sunday afternoon • 2 credits All students, faculty and staff are invited to audition for the fall and/or the spring production. Students are expected to devote some time to memorization and review throughout the week. Most cast members should expect to meet on Sunday afternoons during most of the semester. Rehearsals will also run later than the regularly scheduled evening times. The drama activity will continue during Project Week as a double project. Hip Hop • Anthony Manuel (Fall semester) • Thursday Taught by guest teacher, Anthony Manuel, (see bio under Afro-Modern), this class will build your hip hop skills and challenge you to grow as a dancer. All levels welcome. Jazz Ensemble Ensemble • Draa Hobbs • Monday 5:00-6:00 & Wednesday 7:30-9:00 (+ 30 minutes independent practice) 2 evening credits The Jazz Ensemble provides instrumentalists of varying experience with an opportunity to explore and perform jazz repertoire in a wide range of traditions and styles. Students with skills (or taking lessons) in jazz improvisation will have the chance to develop into strong and confident soloists by participating in this group. This ensemble performs at events throughout the school year, including Harvest Festival, Winter Concert, and
Family Weekend. Prerequisite: the ability to play major Madrigals • James Wallace • Thursday Madrigals is a small vocal ensemble that derives its name from the fact that it originally performed only English madrigals. The current repertoire includes music from many genres, including motets, folk-songs, and modern a cappella arrangements, but the name has remained the same. This ensemble is open to students by audition only, however, everyone is encouraged to audition. Audition dates/times will be posted electronically to the community by the instructor. Full year commitment desired. Student musicians often find it difficult to carve practice time out of their busy Putney schedules. This activity provides students with the opportunity to build 90 minutes of dedicated practice time into their schedules each week. Students who are taking private music lessons and who are at the advanced beginner level or beyond have priority in admission to this activity. Orchestra • James Wallace • Wednesday and Friday (2 credits) Open to all players of orchestral instruments from the advanced beginner level and up, this ensemble is dedicated to music for string, chamber, and full orchestra (including works with chorus) from many different genres and historic time periods. This group has recently performed works for strings such as J.S. Bach's Harpsichord Concerto in D Minor, Mozart's Mass in C Major (K. 259), and Holst's “St. Paul's Suite”. Students are often featured as soloists. Prerequisite: basic ability on a string, wind, brass, or percussion instrument; the desire to share and experience music making. Full year commitment desired.Sing! • James Wallace • Tuesday Many people will say," I have a terrible voice” when the truth is they've never been taught how to use their singing voice at all. Sing! offers students the opportunity to improve their own vocal skills and increase their ability to participate meaningfully in all-school Sing. It is also the laboratory in which singers are prepared for more advanced choral ensemble singing. The activity will function as a group voice lesson; basics of good vocal production, diction, and music reading will be taught. All musical examples will be drawn exclusively from the Sing book. This is your chance to learn how to sing well and to get to know all the songs (and your parts) in the Sing book so you can become one of the leaders at all-school Sing! Songwriting • Tyler Gibbons • Monday As a class we'll investigate the elements that go into crafting songs: lyrics, melodies, rhythm, chord progressions, arrangements, and sounds. We'll work on
Visual and Literary Arts and CraftsBlacksmithing • Roger Ballou Monday/Tuesday/Friday (pick 2 of 3) • 2 credits Students will learn basic blacksmithing techniques through the creation of functional objects. As confidence and skill increase, students will undertake more advanced projects under close guidance. There will be a lab fee, plus individual charges for special projects and materials. Ceramics • Naomi Lindenfeld Monday/Tuesday/Thursday (pick 2 of 3) • 2 credits In this activity, which is open to all levels, students are encouraged to explore a variety of methods that are possible for the means of expression with clay. Starting with basic hand-building and wheel-throwing techniques, students have the opportunity to move on to increasingly complex projects of their choosing. Along with the different construction methods, students are introduced to a range of surface decoration possibilities such as texturing, carving, painting with slips and stains and glaze application. Students work is high-fired in a gas kiln. Creative Writing • Jessica Wollinsky • Thursday Explore self-expression through an informal writers' workshop. We will dabble in a variety of genres, including fiction, creative nonfiction, and poetry. Prompts and exercises will be offered as a way to get started, or you may work on your own project. Participants should be prepared to share their writing from time to time with the group. Culinary Arts • Marty Brennan-Sawyer • Tuesday Developing a repertoire of basic cooking skills and the education of the palate are life-long endeavors important to everyone. This activity will take a hands-on approach to the world of cooking, food and taste. We will begin each class by introducing a basic cooking or baking skill that will be used as a foundation to explore a wide range of food styles throughout the term. Soups, breads, meats, pastry, vegetarian and ethnic cooking, we'll do it all. We will also begin to develop a sense of the gastronomic culture of food through an exploration of related historical, social, political and artistic subject matter. Weekly tastings will be an important part of the activity and the participants will often leave with food to share. Figure Drawing • Brian Cohen • Thursday Devoted exclusively to drawing the human form directly from observation. Students will observe and express the structure, gesture, anatomy and form of the live model in a variety of drawing and printmaking media. We will look at precedents in art history and add substantially to college and art school portfolios. Jewelry • Jeanne Wulsin-Bennett Monday/Tuesday/Thursday/Friday (pick 1 of 4) The emphasis in this activity is on making silver jewelry, but students may make other objects as well. We will also work with other metals such as brass, copper, and materials that can be combined with metal. Students will acquire skills in basic hammering, sawing, and forging as well as setting stones in bezels, and finishing techniques. There will be a small fee for materials. Knitting • Lisa Newhouse • Monday Students will increase their competency while they enjoy a congenial evening. All levels welcome, though an emphasis placed on beginner and intermediate levels. Literary Magazine • Nathan Zweig and Ellery Lamm • Friday The Literary Magazine is being brought back to life! Join a team of writers, artists, photographers, editors etc. who will design our magazine and publish a variety of creative talents from our community.Painting • Sue Brearey • Friday Photography: B&W • Lynne Weinstein • Monday or Thursday This activity is open to anyone regardless of experience. The emphasis will be on making images with traditional black & white film, paper & 35mm cameras. For those with no experience, it will be an opportunity to learn the basics of how to shoot, process and print in the school's darkroom. For those with a background in traditional photography, this activity is an opportunity to explore the medium further. Having a 35mm camera is helpful, but we have a few cameras to loan as well. Materials: Film and paper will need to be purchased by the student, and is available in the school bookstore. Photography: Digital • Sophia LaCava-Bohanan • Tuesday or Thursday We will explore image making using digital techniques. This class will focus on individual ideas and how they relate to the world, using a camera and computers as creative tools. Emphasis will be placed on producing a cohesive and thematic body of work for final presentation. Presentations and discussion on contemporary and historic photographic work will be included. Skills learned will be how to effectively use printing, scanning and editing software for production of photographic art. Students should have access to use of a digital camera. Printmaking • Helen O’Donnell • Tuesday In this printmaking class students will work with a variety of etching techniques. They will explore hardground and softground etching, aquatint, spit bite, sugar lift, and white ground. Depending on experience, students will make many small plates, using a different technique on each plate, or make one image that incorporates all the techniques. Students will be encouraged to explore the various possibilities of printmaking and image making.Programming • Joey Keogh • Monday and Friday Sculpting with Plaster • Rodrigo Nava • Tuesday and Friday • 2 credits Used by the Egyptians, Greeks and then Romans this material has been part of the fabrication of sculpture for over 5000 years. Students will learn the many uses of plaster for the creation of sculpture. We will explore plasters many sculptural properties: mould making and casting, construction and composition as well as reductive processes of carving all with this extremely versatile age old material. All levels of experience are welcome. Sculpture: Metal • Jeff Burt • Thursday If you have the urge to express your creative self by cutting, bending, denting, grinding, welding and polishing metal, then you may have a future as a metal sculptor. Take this activity to confirm the suspicion and you won’t be disappointed. Sewing, Quilting and Fiber Arts • Melissa Johnson Thursday This activity will cover a variety of basic sewing skills. Students can choose to focus on quilting techniques or learn to sew clothing from commercial and original patterns. Instruction in embroidery, alterations and embellishments will also be offered. All levels of experience are welcome. Spinning Workshop Workshop • Patty Blomgren • Monday This activity will cover the basic principles of spinning wool on a wheel. Students will discuss characteristics of animal fibers— primarily wool, but also mohair and angora. They will learn about basic tools and equipment, about washing and carding or combing, yarn design, and, if there is time, about color and dyeing. Each class will include a lot of time spinning. Stained Glass • Gordon Jones • Monday and Friday • 2 credits Lathekin, potmetal, fid, cullet, muff glass, flashed glass, reamy glass, streaky glass, seedy glass, glue-chipping, fusing, slumping. Those are some of the terms used in the art and craft of stained glass. In this two-evenings per week group, you will learn how to design a panel, how to cartoon and make a cut-line, how to cut and join glass, and even paint and fire it; and you will learn how then to marry this most brittle of materials with the relatively soft copper and solder. I plan to have you weave stained (colored) glass together with painting (obvious), print-making (less obvious), etching and engraving, jewelry (least obvious of all). I will also teach you how to marry the even-toned and cheap plexiglass with the uneven and breathtakingly mysterious handmade glass, pieces of which are sometimes referred to as antics. Our starting point will be somewhat above the tawdry baubles which pass for stained glass in the windows of gift shops. If you care to see how far stained glass might go, which means how far it might take you, Google on over to Johannes Schreiter as a foretaste. Weaving • Melissa Johnson • Tuesday and Friday Students will learn the fundamentals of weaving by designing and making individual projects, which may include scarves, clothing, blankets, rugs or tapestries. Other fiber-related techniques can also be explored. Beginners are welcome—patience, not experience, is the necessary ingredient. Costs will vary. • 2 credits Woodworking Abijah Reed • Monday and Thursday Instruction and suggestions are offered on design, construction techniques, and the uses of both hand and power tools. Everyone must complete at least one project by the end of the semester. Beginning and experienced woodworkers are welcome. Yearbook • Dondo Cuerdon • Wednesday afternoon 1:30-4:30 • 2 credits This is a year-long project with real deadlines and real disappointments at the end, if it isn't done—or isn't done right. Would you like a real job with real responsibilities? You'll work with a team of dedicated student journalists who will document the school year in photos and words, then put on your designer hat to make it all fit within the confines of the budgeted pages using the latest in computer layout and digital photo software. You'll also wear the ad sales hat in soliciting income from parents and businesses to offset the cost of the publication to your peers, and the production manager hat as we negotiate the printing process. At weekly editorial meetings you'll update your colleagues on your progress and brainstorm with them to overcome the pitfalls, missteps, and Mr. Murphy moments big jobs such as this one present. You will emerge with a fine yearbook and a pile of real job skills you can add to your resume, should you ever want a job in the publishing industry. Whiners, slackers, and dilettantes need not apply. We need multi-taskers. |
