Overview

"I'm destined for greatness; you are too.." The opening line of RSA's school song written by Thomas Burkett, sings of the sense of joy, anticipation and enthusiasm one feels walking through the halls at RSA. Students attend music classes every day in which they sing, dance, play xylophones, recorders and unpitched instruments. Thematic instruction integrates social studies units with the music, folk dances, stories and customs of world cultures. Elective classes, taught by experts from the community, offer further musical instruction such as violin, show choir, ballet, jazz and tap dance. Weekly assemblies provide abundant opportunities for all the students to sing and play fun songs, rounds, canons and folk and classical music. Parents and teachers organize our Theme Days which culminate the study of a world culture or period in history such as Africa, the European Renaissance or U.S. History. Our school has at least one campout per year where we always sing our camp songs.

RSA has been fortunate to be housed on a campus which is well-suited to our instructional needs. Classrooms and offices are contiguous. We have a professional quality theater on campus which we use extensively throughout the year. We are able to attend community events in this theater such as dance concerts and theatrical productions.

Nuts and Bolts of Music Instruction

Orff Schulwerk is the foundation of music instruction at RSA. Developed by the composers Carl Orff and Gunild Keetman, it begins with singing, dancing, clapping chanting, telling stories, reciting poems and playing rhythm instruments. As students progress they play melodic instruments, explore more complex creative movement, work in groups to create their own music and dance pieces. They learn composed music as well as improvisation. They learn music theory, harmony, notation and music history.

Current brain research indicates that children need a balance between emotional and intellectual stimulation to develop as healthy human beings. Music instruction at RSA engages the senses and the emotions, uses patterning, processes parts and the whole simultaneously, and respects each child as a unique human being with varying strengths and preferences. Students work together to create ensemble and multi-disciplinary musical pieces. Every student is allowed to explore his musical interests and abilities in a joyful and non-threatening environment.

Performances

RSA students have participated in many community events. They have performed at Reading Day in the Mall, entered a float in the Redding Christmas Light Parade (and took 1st place!), and entertained the seniors at their rest homes. Every year, our drama, music, dance and stage production classes stage a musical such as "Annie", "Beauty and the Beast", and "The Lion King". The RSA show choir recently participated in America Sings, a massive gathering of choruses from all over the western United States. In February 2004, primary and intermediate students sang, danced and played Orff instruments at the 2004 State Leadership Conference of Charter Schools in Sacramento.

Our Goals for the Future

1. Complete our Orff instrument instrumentation
2. Expand our curriculum to include jazz, blues and a more sophisticated study of classical music by adding chromatic instruments
3. Create a piano lab
4. Build a state-of-the-art fine arts school

For the past five years, the Orff instruments have been the tools we use to teach music theory and the accompaniment for our performances. These include glockenspiels, xylophones, metallophones, recorders and unpitched instruments. The primary and intermediate music departments have been sharing them which creates three problems:

1. Instructional time with the instruments is diminished
2. Quality of instruction is compromised when children share instruments
3. Moving expensive high quality instruments between music rooms creates wear and tear

Our older students need a new challenge. We wish to expand our curriculum to include jazz, blues and a more sophisticated study of classical music. The instruments we own are built in a C scale with F# and B flat added, giving us six scales to work with, but not all 24 major and minor scales. We need to complete our two class sets with chromatic Orff instruments. An additional vibraphone would provide the true jazz sound. A trap set (snare, tenor, bass drum and high hat-clap cymbals with foot pedal) is a must for jazz instruction.

We would like to have a piano lab with eight to twelve pianos, computer monitors and head sets so the teacher can monitor each student. We would need the software to allow the self-driven students to learn to play, compose, and orchestrate music which can be played in classroom ensembles.

Our crystal ball suggests that we will need to build our own facility. Though we are a K-8 charter school, we are under the auspices of the Shasta Union High School District. As enrollment and programs change, the district may need to close the curtain on RSA to make room for other high school programs. We hope to build a permanent school which meets all of our needs: adequate-sized classrooms, separate adjacent workspace for teachers, library, computer lab, science lab, and multi-use room with a fully-equipped stage. We need conference rooms for special education instruction, SST and IEP meetings and small group practice sessions, a shop for building and storing sets, props and costumes, a teacher's lounge, cafeteria, playground and grass field.

Further study is necessary to determine the feasibility of including a performing arts center which would be shared by the community. During our five years at Shasta Learning Center, RSA has learned to use a theater with professional grade sound and lighting systems, curtains and scenery rigging. We feel that marriage of school and community benefits both in many ways.

Redding School of the Arts has fulfilled the dream of hundreds of families for a school which recognizes the need to educate children through total, active involvement in the arts. RSA now has a new dream...to build a facility which will live on through the generations to encourage each student to think outside the box, to work and play together as a team, to value his own uniqueness and to enrich his life by participating in the arts.

"...where you believe in me, beside you I will sta
We can make it 'cause we're together at RSA."