Juilliard Specialist Lessons

Juilliard Specialist Lessons BIS Abu Dhabi students have had the chance to experience exceptional learning opportunities offered by Nord Anglia’s partnership with the world-renowned Juilliard School of Performing Arts. BIS Abu Dhabi students have had the chance to experience exceptional learning opportunities offered by Nord Anglia’s partnership with the world-renowned Juilliard School of Performing Arts.

Music
During our Term 3 Juilliard Virtual Visit to the school, Year 7 Music students learned about the Cuban song Guajeo de Saxos and how musicians interact with each other when they perform and improvise when playing in a band. 

Juilliard music specialist Stephen Dunn joined Ms. Cyster live from New York to teach Year 7, treating them to a special performance of a Cuban-style solo on his trombone. Students were then very inspired to then create their own Cuban-style music and thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to work with Stephen and learn more about the music of Cuba. This complimented their work on Samba music where students have learned ways to perform as an ensemble using self-made musical instruments, building confidence in performing music and thoroughly enjoying the chance to make music together.

Year 9 music students had an opportunity to explore one of the new Core Works from the Juilliard Creative Classroom, John Williams' magical theme from E.T. Students learned about melodic contours and their effect on creating a mood or atmosphere for a cinematic context. This linked with their scheme of work this term on leitmotif and mood, where students have been able to compare their Juilliard core work with that of Jaws and James Bond. John Williams' theme is one of the many excellent Juilliard Creative Classroom Programme’s Core Works that invite students to explore the many ways that music connects with the wider world.

Drama
Drama students in Year 9 and 10 were enthused and inspired after participating in a series of Juilliard Drama lessons delivered virtually from New York by Jen Shirley, Juilliard Drama Specialist. 

Year 9 students were challenged with a lesson entitled "Weight of the Word" focusing on the William Shakespeare play 'Twelfth Night', whilst Year 10 students worked on devising their own pieces of Drama. Students were led by Jen to explore how the use of vocal emphasis of key words can deepen connections to the text and character for both the actor and the audience. 

Year 10 students were asked to investigate how creating multiple options for one moment informs choice making in a devising process. They were challenged to create multiple possibilities from a given prop and then had to decide which of their six ideas were worth refining. This activity really pushed the students out of their comfort zone by encouraging them to be extremely creative and to really think about the process of improvisation.  

Cameron, a Year 10 IGCSE Drama student, stated: 
"I found the lesson we had with Juilliard very useful and exciting. It helped me look at different ways I could express emotions in drama by doing simple actions. The activities we did were fun as well as useful, they were very different to anything we had done before and took all of us out of our comfort zone. However, I felt like that helped improve our confidence. It was a very interactive lesson, and I will be using the techniques we learnt in the future". 

In addition to these workshops, Year 9 students have also been working on a Juilliard Theatrical Clowning Scheme of work this half-term, exploring various practical clowning techniques and researching an array of historical theatrical clowns such as Charlie Cairoli and Marcell Marceau.