Duke Ellington School of the Arts Project

Instrumental Music students receive classical training in applied music, music theory (reading and writing) and piano, and participate in performing ensembles. Major ensembles include: Wind Ensemble, Jazz Orchestra, Chamber Orchestra, and String Ensemble. Smaller ensembles draw from students in each studio. Students perform annually as soloists at monthly recitals and prepare a 20-minute solo recital in their senior year. Music electives for third- and fourth-year students include composition, music technology, and music history.

Students studying Visual Arts at the Duke Ellington School of the Arts learn the elements of art and visual design while also preparing academically for college and for life. They take courses in drawing, painting, sculpture, computer science, and printmaking. Whether they become professional artists or designers or not, Ellington students are exposed to historical and contemporary styles from different cultures to broaden their frames of reference and perspectives. They also learn about the role of art in a democratic society. In the process of visual arts training at Ellington, we work to enhance students’ self-confidence and artistic consciousness, so they become good citizens of the art world and of humankind.

Museum Studies"Installing a museum exhibition is conduction of a symphony orchestra."- Walter Hopps, Founding Director of the Menil Collection in Houston, to the New York
Students in the Museum Studies program learn and practice the major functions of museums—collection, preservation, conservation, exhibition and public education—in courses such as Curatorial Skills, Photography, and Computer Graphics. Not only do students learn to record art and culture through various media; as seniors in high school, they also have the chance to work alongside museum staff on major projects at the Smithsonian Institution and other Washington museums. The program also offers educational travel to study museum practices in New York, Los Angeles, Madrid, and Barcelona. Many Duke Ellington School of the Arts alumni are working as exhibition designers, museum educators, and curators around the United States.

The Literary Media and Communications Department works towards training the 21st century artist/writer in creating Trans/Narratives, which represents our new paradigm. The creative energies that have produced technological behemoths such as Face book, Twitter, “i/Technologies”, blogs, “YouTube”, social media as a whole, require the ability to engage multiple skill sets. The necessity of having multiple skill sets, multiple platforms to render creativity is essential in competing within a global economy. LMC terms this rendering, Trans/Narratives, and is what our entire curriculum and training is premised on. A student interested in poetry will also train in other creative forms including fiction and non-fiction, the essay, short story, micro-fiction and creative non-fiction, as well as print and web-based journalism, blog, playwriting and screenwriting, performance, film theory, documentary filmmaking, social media, and web narrative. This ability to create and render narrative,

Vocal music students receive vocal training in classical style (four years) and are required to take music theory (Sight singing and music reading and writing, four years), a choir (four years chosen from: Female Ensemble, Male Ensemble, Jazz Vocal Styles, Chamber Singers, Show Choir) and class piano (sometimes combined with music theory). Electives include Opera Workshop, Dance Orientation, Introduction to Acting, Songwriting, Music Composition, Music Technology, Music History, and African-American Music History. Students are required to attend elective classes as chosen or assigned. Students perform occasionally as soloists (as designated by their teachers) on recitals, and if they demonstrate excellence in their semester jury, on Honors Recitals, and prepare a solo recital in the senior year.

In courses on topics from lighting and sound to costumes and management, this department is raising the next generation of technicians, designers, producers, and arts managers. Working on professional arts and performance projects, students gain hands-on experience with state-of-the-art tools and equipment. Well grounded academically, TDP students also receive firsthand experience using current equipment in a professional atmosphere. This real-life practice gives students a competitive advantage as they pursue post-secondary degrees or start their careers. TDP provides a pre-professional training program that focuses on instruction in five core areas of live entertainment: audio, lighting, scenery, costumes, and management. TDP majors pursue a graduated sequence of increasingly demanding courses in Technical Production, Theatre Operations, Theatre Fundamentals, Theatre Management, and Design, to include a capstone class in Entertainment Careers and Professional Development.

We are looking for students who are committed to contributing to the world in which they live and developing their artistic and intellectual abilities. The study of theatre is a life-long activity and requires the student to develop multiple skills across many disciplines. In addition to rigorous training in acting, movement and speech, students study theatre history, dramatic literature, playwriting and directing. We place emphasis on individual growth, discovery of personal strengths, critical thinking, process oriented work and the ensemble approach to making theatre. Our program is demanding and requires a high level of commitment from our students. In addition to opportunities to perform onstage at Ellington our students have extensive opportunities to work with professional artists and theatre companies from around the country and the world.