Submitted by Donna Hayward and Marcy Webster, HKHS.
2021 Southern Region Music Festival
2020 was a record-breaking year for Haddam Killingworth High School’s music students. We had 64 students accepted into this year’s festival, a 46% increase in acceptance over last year. This accomplishment is especially notable because of the perseverance students displayed learning the piece in both the hybrid and fully remote instructional models. There is no in-person concert this year however, 33 of our accepted students have chosen to continue on to the prestigious All-State Festival audition which they are now preparing for.
Music Classroom Happenings
New digital piano lab! Piano and Music Production students are enjoying our new lab which fully utilizes our one-to-one student Chromebook program because of the 6, brand-new, 88- weighted key pianos that the district has purchased. The instruments have Bluetooth and wireless capabilities making them a powerful tool for students learning basic through advanced piano, theory, and production knowledge and skills.
March Concert: A Journey Through the Decades
Students in Concert Choir, Concert Choir Honors, Swing14, and Decca are preparing for a
virtual concert in March that celebrates popular music from 1920-today! Each ensemble will present a choral selection, prerecorded and edited together. Selections include: Stand by Me, Wake Me Up, Jolene, and Africa. The HS choral department is joining forces with the 8th grade choir directed by Katrina Potts to bring our audience Don’t Stop Believin’ as a grand finale.
The concert will also have a livestreamed component with solo acts representing students from all ensembles and grade-levels. Check the RSD17 HKTV link for viewing options. The concert is scheduled for March 12, 2021 at 6:00 p.m.
Black History Month
H-K HS Jazz Band musicians will be exploring the contributions of cross-over artist Ray Charles. Charles reached the pinnacle of his success with the release of “What’d I Say,” which combined gospel, jazz, blues, and Latin music, bridging the gap between genres and cultures.
Charles was also an advocate for equality in the Civil Rights Movement, eventually ending
the segregation between his white and black audiences. Jazz band students are having a blast playing his upbeat signature song “What’d I Say.”
Art Class Happenings
Mr. Cannan’s Painting students just finished up their “Hero Paintings.” Students are learning about artists like Gustav Klimt whose ornate figurative paintings incorporate repetition and pattern throughout the background and into the figure.
Similarly, contemporary artist Kehinde Wiley utilizes ornate floral decorative backgrounds that activate the negative space and begin to overlap the figure.
They also looked at the work of Shepard Fairy famous for marketing his brand OBEY and the Obama Hope poster. Students will learn how to digitally manipulate a photo by “posterizing” the image to break down the values or colors into simpler shapes.
Advanced Art Projects Art Portfolio Honors
Ryan Thompson and Hannah Petrus-Chapman worked on character design in the Advanced Art class utilizing the materials of their choice. Hannah created a beautiful story of a lonely masked soul whose inner voice leads them to find friendship in a dark, mysterious alley.
Ryan studied the work of different animators and made multiple drawings but this single-panel comic of the footloose and fancy-free bachelorette makes me smile every time I see it. Look for both works of art in this year’s Reflection magazine.
Photos provided by Marcy Webster.
