Colorado Springs Conservatory Performing Arts Studies

The Colorado Springs Conservatory performing arts studies offer a comprehensive curriculum in music and theater emphasizing small group participation on site at the Colorado Springs Conservatory.

Throughout the school year the curriculum will include basic components of theater and dance such as: improvisation, monologue, team building and collaboration, scene studies, playwriting, stage combat, theater history, dance technique and movement, musical theater repertoire.

Music studies include: Performance class, piano studies in the Yamaha digital piano lab, guitar, rhythm, composition, music theory, music history, composition and various instrumental and vocal ensemble studies.

CSC studies will culminate in a student showcase at the end of the school year in May 2011.  The showcase will include performance ready material that is both original and existing in all subjects; music, theater, dance, and visual. Stage set pieces will be created by the students to include murals and various objects that allow the students to experience the visual art component of stagecraft.  

The curriculum offered at the Colorado Springs Conservatory is specific to achieving and excelling in the Core Standards for the Arts in the state of Colorado in a most creative and rigorous fashion. The instructors at CSC are experts in their field and are passionate about educating the next generation. Students are held personally accountable at every level and are asked to apply materials learned as they relate to performances which allow for immediate and accessible learning.

CORE STANDARDS FOR THE STATE OF COLORADO

Music

1. Students will sing (or play on instruments) a varied repertoire of music, alone or with others. 
2. Students will read and notate music
3. Students will create music
4. Students will listen to, analyze, evaluate, and describe music
5. Students will relate music to various historical and cultural traditions

Theater
1. Students develop interpersonal skills and problem-solving capabilities through group interaction and artistic collaboration.

2. Students understand and apply the creative process to fundamental skills of acting, playwriting, and directing.

3. Students understand and apply the creative process to skills of design and technical production.

4. Students understand and relate the role of theatre arts to culture and history.

5. Students analyze and assess the characteristics, merits, and meanings of traditional and modern forms of dramatic expression.

6.  Students know and apply connections between theatre and other disciplines.

Visual Arts
1. Students recognize and use the visual arts as a form of communication.
2. Students know and apply elements of art*, principles of design*, and sensory* and expressive* features of visual arts.
3. Students know and apply visual arts materials*, tools*, techniques*, and processes*.
4. Students relate the visual arts to various historical* and cultural* traditions.
5. Students analyze and evaluate the characteristics, merits, and meaning of works of art.

CSC PARTNER programs are innovative and unprecedented private/public collaborations that are breaking new ground in public-private collaborations for the benefit of students and families throughout our community. Each PARTNER program is a direct extension of the CSC CORE program and provides the same unique curriculum and opportunity to students from several school districts and civic organizations as part of their regular school day.

History:
The Colorado Springs Conservatory Partner Program Project (CSCPPP) began in the 2007-2008 school year with two CPCD/Head Start classrooms serving 34 children. The success and growth of the children in our initial collaboration with CPCD/Head Start along with a unique partnership established between Colorado Springs School District 11 (D-11), the D-11 middle school, Galileo School of Math and Science and the Colorado Springs Conservatory enabled the CSCPPP to grow to 234 students from two school districts and two civic organizations in the 2008-2009 school year.
Philosophy:
The CSCPPP builds upon the results of an enormous amount of research indicating the ability of music and creative studies to enhance social abilities; heighten spatial awareness and intelligence; its power to improve concentration and speech abilities; its propensity to advance reading and language skills; and the significant increase in SAT scores among students who sing or play an instrument. A Columbia University Study discovered that students in the arts were more cooperative with teachers and peers, more self-confident, and better able to express their ideas regardless of socioeconomic background [(1999) The Arts Education Partnership]
The concept and implementation of the CSCPPP warranted the attention of Mr. Daniel Pink, author of A Whole New Mind. Mr. Pink attended the schools open house and facilitated the ribbon cutting of the Galileo School of Math and Science (home of the Colorado Springs Conservatory) on September 25, 2008. During his visit Mr. Pink spoke to educators business leaders, superintendents and city, county and state officials on the shift from the Information Age -- with its premium on logical, linear, computer-like abilities -- to what he calls "the Conceptual Age," where "right-brain" qualities like empathy, inventiveness and meaning predominate.
The curriculum and quality of education provided by the CSC affirms research results and supports Mr. Pink’s concept. The work of CSC has been validated through the success of its students and is the foundation of success we are passing along through the CSCPPP.
How it Works:
Students in the CSCPPP are transported by bus  weekly from their schools (Harrison District 2 High School, Urban League preschool and elementary school, Head Start preschool) to CSC for Arts Enrichment studies with the outstanding CSC faculty. Preschool students attend two hours weekly with middle school students attending one hour each school day and high school students attending a full five-hour day weekly with studies in: piano studies in the Yamaha Digital Piano Lab; composition/literature; singing; performance class; eartraining; dance; music theory; music history; music appreciation through art; basic theater fundamentals (improvisation, ensemble work, movement and theater games)
The above components facilitate the student’s ability to realize the long term objectives as they relate to the cognitive, affective and psychomotor domains.
CSCPPP allows these students to experience the CSC program as part of their school day curriculum. These partnerships encapsulate CSC programs to create a learning environment that excites and motivates the students by integrating the arts with each of their own school’s curriculum. CSC is a unique organization and although it partners with K-12 public schools, it does not receive any public school funding or Amendment 23 dollars.
CSC has a strong effective collaboration with principals, school officials and community activists/leaders that recruit potential partners, students and families who can benefit from this type of program. 

CSCPPP engages every student with programs, opportunities, and an environment that instills the value of inclusion while educating and developing a strong sense of worth and confidence. The CSCPPP provides the students something they did have in their lives before with a culture that embraces diversity providing a life changing, safe-haven of acceptance and encouragement giving direction and purpose for many students who might not otherwise realize their own personal value and potential.
The CSCPPP strives to combat the negative influences that surround the youth of today with a positive environment, a desire for achievement, strong mentorship and life-tools that improve their lives through self-sufficiency and a respect for the development of their community. Through the CSCPPP, students develop stronger social, academic and creative skills that help to prepare them for success in school and life. These life skills and attributes directly impact our youth’s ability to direct their lives with confidence which will promote the success.
Creative Outcomes:
The CSCPPP is based on developing and cultivating creativity, design, empathy, ingenuity, ownership and follow through, all aptitudes crucial to the overall success of students in the 21st century. CSCPP creates a learning environment that excites and motivates students by integrating the arts into their school day studies.  As students embark on academic projects in areas such as robotics, mass, forensics, and space, the CSC faculty works closely with classroom teachers and community partners to bring connection and creativity to these projects through music, composition, drama, and art.  This concept can be seen in the youngest classes through storytelling, song making and art to the oldest students who have conceived such community projects as “All State/All High School Battle of the Bands”, an original video for the 2007 State of the City Address titled “Colorado Springs Hidden Treasures” and “Intention Prevention”, a peer-based drug prevention program.

CSCPPP middle school students have presented original music compositions that were performed both in groups and individually, designed art work, choreographed dance pieces and produced theatrical and dramatic works for public presentations as they related to their school day studies in simple machines, catapults, forensics, rockets, robotics.
CSCPPP High school students integrated elements of their school day curriculum into a final presentation piece included original piano composition, original song literature, dance and theater as well as an art component.
By valuing student creativity and allowing them ownership of their ideas and work, the CSCPPP arts enrichment curriculum engages students on a proactive level that encourages them to flourish in the classroom and beyond.
Harrison School District 2 - www.hsd2.org
Colorado Springs School District 11 - www.d11.org
CPCD/Head Start - www.cpcdheadstart.org
Colorado Springs Urban League - www.springsurbanleague.org