Students Enrolled in Visual Arts and Music Pilots Show Off Talent
With the help of an empty church, its venerable pipe organ and a challenging new Advanced Music course, North Nova Education Centre student Maria Gourd feels she has finally hit the high note of her musical education.
"It's just so awesome to finally be challenged," said the 17-year-old trumpet player and vocalist, one of 10 students participating in the province's Music 11 pilot. "After so many years of music lessons and so many years studying trumpet, and the piano, and performing in choir, the normal music program was not challenging enough."
The Advanced Music course for Grade 11 students, which is being piloted at Park View Education Centre, Riverview High, Queen Elizabeth High, Sackville High, and North Nova, gives musically gifted students a more independent learning environment, access to instruction from local musicians and theatre groups, an opportunity to do cultural research, and time to prepare for an end-of-semester recital.
Ms. Gourd said the independence and the high-quality instruction is putting her on the path to fulfilling her dream of a career in musical theatre.
"This is so specific to what I want to do. When I heard about this course I just said, holy cow. I am so stoked."
Ms. Gourd now divides her time between the classroom and a nearby church where she and classmate Sarah Svendsen rehearse and work on musical arrangements. Ms. Svendsen plays the church pipe organ. Ms. Gourd provides the vocals and plays the trumpet.
The pair, along with other Advanced Music 11 students from across the province, will be showcasing what they've learned tonight, March 23, with a recital in Halifax.
"The advantages are huge for these students. These are kids who are very driven and very accomplished both in their music theory and as performers, and it gives them an opportunity to set a deeper study in the work they are doing," said their music teacher Janice Alcorn. "The other great thing about this course is it's very connected to the community. The community is their classroom because they do so much of their work outside the school."
But it's not just music students benefitting from an advanced course of study in the fine arts. Advanced Visual Arts 11, now being piloted at Horton High School, Park View Education Centre, Sir John A. Macdonald High School, Amherst High, and Sydney Academy, is also getting top reviews from both students and staff.
"It's been hard, but it's fun," said Horton High student Ellen Whitman, 16, a budding painter. "I'm getting so much out of it."
The two advanced courses allow the schools to better accommodate high-achieving students, giving them an opportunity to excel.
Education Minister Jamie Muir said the Visual Arts and Music 11 programs, just two of a dozen advanced high school courses promised by the government, will be rolled out provincewide in September.
"I'm very happy that we are able to provide this kind of opportunity for art and music students who excel at the fine arts and need to be challenged to do even better," he said.
In total, 20 students from each of the pilot schools will be showing off their accomplishments today, March 23. Art students will have their work on display at the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, beginning at noon. Music 11 students will be performing their work tonight in a closed recital at The Music Room on Lady Hammond Road.