Arts
Fine and performing arts at Geneva are more than electives. They are formation. Students learn to see the world as God made it and respond with creativity, craftsmanship, and a heart for His glory.
We need the arts to remind us that we are a part of something bigger than ourselves.
While we can and should create, our creations are only possible with the tools, the laws, and the gifts given to us by God. As a result, the glory belongs to him!
The mission of The Geneva School fine and performing arts programs is to inspire in students a deep awe of God by developing eyes that see and marvel at his creative precision and beauty; ears that hear and long for his orderly design in music, poetry, and prose; voices that proclaim and sing his glory in story, speech, and song; and hands that serve and build his kingdom with creativity and skill.
Fine and Performing Arts are tightly woven into the fabric of Geneva’s Christian classical education. In each area of study, from Grammar School (K4-6th) to Dialectic School (7th & 8th) to Rhetoric School (9th-12th), every Geneva student is observing, studying, understanding, and, ultimately, creating works of art. We hope that as they explore the various disciplines offered at Geneva, they will see how this exposure is essential to their complete education. In the Dialectic School, students elect a year-long study in art, band, choir, drama, or orchestra.
Visual Arts
Creativity and art-making are central to our being as bearers of God’s image.
They are found in activities such as painting, sculpture, printmaking, and ceramics. But it is drawing that is the foundation of the visual arts. Drawing teaches students to use their eyes most keenly and to see the world as it really is. Students who elect art in the Dialectic School will be drawing a lot! They will be drawing from life and learning to develop close observational skills as they render three dimensions in two.
Band and Orchestra
Music at Geneva teaches students to listen as much as they play, and to hear how their part contributes to the whole.
Students in Dialectic School who elect band (winds and percussion) or orchestra (strings) choose an instrument (or two!) and spend the year developing their playing technique while hearing how their instrument’s timbre contributes to the overall ensemble’s sound. Our goal with each of these ensembles is that students who start in Dialectic School will carry forward into Rhetoric School as they continue to play and develop their skills.
Choir
Students in Dialectic School who elect to take choir develop musicianship and gain confidence as singers.
Since this co-ed group is full of changing voices, careful attention is given to normalize that process. As a result, these students perform three- and four-part SATB (Soprano, Alto, Tenor, Bass) music. The Dialectic Choir performs in the Florida Vocal Association’s Concert Music Performance Assessment, where members receive feedback and ratings from experienced adjudicators around Florida.
Drama
Geneva’s theatre program tells stories on stage that resound with truth; that wrestle with hardships and victories and tragedy and joy; and that celebrate the goodness and grace of God to his children.
Drama classes seek to instruct those Dialectic School students who have identified theatre as a potential area of interest in the basics of acting and theatre production—what it takes to be an actor, how a good crew member operates behind the scenes, what the techniques are that improve stage presence, projection, vocal control, stage movement, and so on.
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