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Expressive Arts

Welcome to Kelvinside Academy's Expressive Arts Hub.

Here, you can view some of the wonderful performance events and pieces of artwork that have been produced during remote learning, under the strict COVID restrictions that have proved so challenging to all Expressive Arts.

You can enjoy our recent 2022 Spring Concert, the 2020 Remembrance Service and 2020 Christmas Concert using the Recent Performance area below. There is also an Art Feature wall-of-work from recent pupil art and photography portfolios.


Art Gallery

Expressive Arts from Kelvinside Academy on Vimeo.

Flickr album: Art Wall | Height: 450px | Theme: Justified | Skin: Default Skin

Music plays a central role in the life of Kelvinside Academy.

Music students playing brass instruments

Teachers are passionate about the benefits music can bring to all - perseverance, concentration and confidence as well as performance skills and a life-long love of making music with others.

The music curriculum is taught by specialists from Primary 1. In the Junior School all pupils are given the opportunity to learn to sing, play recorder, play glockenspiel and play the violin. Junior School pupils learn from the Kodaly Method of singing and rhythm games.

In Senior School all pupils learn keyboard, guitar and drum kit until the end of S2. Here the emphasis is on group performance before choosing National 5, Higher or Advanced Higher.

Instrumental lessons are a major part of the musical life of the School with many pupils working through all the ABRSM and Trinity Grades to a very high standard. The School fosters links with the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland as well as National Orchestras and Choirs.

The School boasts four choirs, an orchestra, a wind band, a woodwind ensemble, a folk group and a string ensemble all of which regularly perform in the Glasgow Music Festival. However, the musical life of the school extends much further to accommodate all music tastes. In addition to the two main concerts and annual School Show, the department runs a host of formal and informal evenings including open mic nights, solo recital nights and young composer nights.

I begin with an idea and then it becomes something else.

Pablo Picasso

Art lessons at Kelvinside Academy focus on the process of creative thinking and the freedom to come up with your own unique solutions. Art is taught by specialists from J5 upwards, ensuring a smooth transition from Junior to Senior School.

The curriculum covers observational drawing, mixed media studies, printmaking, three-dimensional design, textiles and ceramics. At the end of S2 pupils can choose to take National 5 leading later to Higher and Advanced Higher.

Pupils of all ages are encouraged to take part in art competitions both within the school and on a National Level. Pupils’ work is regularly displayed through School exhibitions and there are regular trips to public exhibitions in Glasgow and throughout the UK. The Department also gets involved in the annual drama production where pupils learn skills relating to stage design.

Art students working with multiple materials

I regard the theatre as the greatest of all art forms. The most immediate way in which a human being can share with another the sense of what it is to be a human being.

                                                                                                                                                              Oscar Wilde

Drama is a very popular option at Kelvinside Academy. The curriculum aims to foster self-confidence as well as empathy and imagination. Learning the art of improvisation is hugely beneficial to pupils as it helps them to understand how to think differently and how to cope when faced with the unknown.

In Senior Prep – S2 pupils are taught mime, pantomime, Commedia Dell ‘Arte as well as collaborating in cross-curricular projects and participating in a scripted screenplay. In S3 pupils can choose to take National 5 drama leading to Higher or Advanced Higher drama.  Pupils regularly visit Theatre productions out with the school.

Pupils are able to enjoy drama throughout their school days and can take part in school shows and lunchtime drama clubs. Our Annual School Show draws involvement from a large age-range of participants who take part in acting, sound, lighting, backstage, costume and make-up to high acclaim.

Drama students at Kelvinside Academy

This is a new SQA course, introduced to Kelvinside in 2019, and is proving to be a popular option with pupils.

The investment in Music Tech equipment has also proved invaluable when sharing our performances on virtual platforms and we also now have an active PodKAst club.  Working towards their National 5 folio, pupils learn how to produce sound and music for film, record sound effects, experiment with creative sound design and learn how to mix and master a complete soundtrack using Logic Pro X.

These audio production skills will serve the students well in the post-Covid world where they will spend more time than ever communicating and working online using digital technologies in both their private and professional lives.

With access to a suite of iMacs, microphones, sound production software and MIDI keyboards, we are well placed in the music department to prepare students for future study and work in sound production and digital media.

 

Higher Photography is available to S5 and S6 pupils and offers them the opportunity to develop a broad range of creative and technical skills in photography whilst creating a portfolio of work. Pupils enjoy the chance to be experimental with a range of photographic assignments, develop knowledge of photographic theory and learn industry standard software with digital technology.Photography students at Kelvinside AcademyThe course challenges pupils to push boundaries through development of camera theory and practical skills, to break out of their comfort zone, while still being encouraged to take creative direction. Pupils thrive on being able to learn from each other, developing a sense of community in the class and finding confidence to explore aspects of photography that are unfamiliar.

Black and white photograph of a cat, taken by a photography student at Kelvinside Academy

Spring Concert 2022

Christmas Concert 2021

 

Christmas Concert 2020

 

Remembrance Service 2020

 

Senior music students at Kelvinside Academy