Mixing Art, Dance, Visual Theatre and Music – BORG Dreierschuetzengasse
A major aim for us was that all our school’s branches should be involved in the realization of our cultural project. And as diverse as his contributions to our beautiful country, so diverse should the depiction of Archduke Johann’s impressive innovations and changes be realized in our cultural project. Therefore, using a variety of didactic methods students were initially given the freedom to come up with as many ideas as possible. Soon everybody agreed on the production of a stage performance turned into a video, starring students from all our branches as this seemed to be the most attractive to everybody.
Next, it was decided that actors should be adequately donned for the performance which led to the design of a logo for pullovers and T-shirts created by students from 7th grade (Science class) realized in the art lessons together with their teacher. The amazing design can be seen below:
Through investigation into Archduke Johann’s life, students found out about historically important aspects they aimed to include in the stage play that should later on become the basis for the video on Archduke Johann’s life.
Dialogues for the script were written during studio classes by students from 8th grade while the scientific depiction of the process of steel production in a blast furnace was created and then realized by students from grade 6 (Science classes). Additionally, students from our Art classes created an artsy depiction of the railway construction process of the Vienna – Graz – Trieste connection, even using movable parts to imitate the construction progress. Furthermore, pictures of places and buildings Archduke John initiated and/or shaped were collected and selected. Students from the music class recorded the background music for the play and those from the drama class used the dialogues written by the students from the science class as a basis for the script they developed together with the drama teachers. Students interested and/or talented in the fine arts created the props. In the end, all was combined to create “John on Stage”. Finally, the video was realized with students being actively involved in the filming and editing process. Students were highly motivated as they were given a lot of freedom to be imaginative and a say in the creative process. Yet, when it comes to music, arts and drama scenes in general, the teacher sometimes cannot help but consider skills, experience and motivation in the nomination process. How should a student play the trumpet scene without knowing how to play the instrument? A good means to avoid disappointment among students who want to participate but do not have the knowledge or the skill needed is to give the learners the freedom to select pieces of music together with the teacher and/or let them get together in interest groups to form ensembles according to their skills so they can develop some scenes on their own.
Sometimes, however, the teacher should interfere in order to make sure students do not choose what they are not best at or overwhelm themselves by volunteering for too many responsible tasks and thus adversely impact their performance at school. Keeping the aforementioned aspects in mind responsibly and by reasonably explaining choices various parts can be addressed quickly without any further discussions.
When planning, organizing and creating a major large-scale project like the cultural project for Perfect, it goes without saying that it is of tremendous importance to rehearse and practise regularly. But always keeping track of school assignments, tests, exams, excursions – in a nutshell the average schoolyear – is essential. Additionally, those responsible for the project also have to remember that other teachers should be informed about rehearsal dates as well as project and studio class days as not to interfere negatively with lesson plans. Schedules and rehearsal periods have to be communicated in a reliable and visible, well-structured manner. Further to that, all teachers must be informed about the project’s progress and steps ahead. Still, a little flexibility on all school levels is needed in case progress is not as expected for multiple reasons.
To make sure participants don’t lose interest and excitement it is important to discuss their well-being, ask for comments, ideas or criticism and find out how they feel about the project’s progress on a regular basis so they feel supported, understood and appreciated.