Music and Drama
uxton offers a large and diverse range of performing arts options, from Western African dance to jazz ensembles to our annual All-School play. Through top-tier instruction by our art staff and the commitment of our students, we are able to offer a program that is both welcoming and high-caliber.
Students can take part in music, drama, and dance through both classes and afternoon and evening activities. All of the performing arts perform at our Fall and Spring Arts weekends, where family, friends, and the whole Buxton community get to celebrate their talent and hard work over the past term.
Students who are interested in playing chamber music may participate in one of a number of group ensembles. They vary in size and instrumentation and are individually coached by the music faculty. Duos to seven-piece jazz ensembles form each semester to rehearse and perform student composers’ work as well as standard repertoire. Rudimentary sight-reading ability is necessary. Performances are given several times each year.
Chamber orchestra is open to all students who have an interest in playing music in a larger group. A wide variety of instruments can be accommodated in the chamber orchestra. Repertory works are performed during the Fall and Spring Arts Weekends, and in the winter the orchestra provides music for the touring All-School Play. Recent performances have included Bach’s Orchestra Suites in C and D, Handel’s Water Music, Mozart’s Eine Kleine Nachtmusik, and Schubert’s Rosamunde Overture; waltzes and rags by Scott Joplin; and arrangements of pieces by George Gershwin and Duke Ellington.
Choral activities and vocal ensembles are open to all regardless of prior experience. Twice a year, major choral works are undertaken. An additional piece involving all students and faculty is performed at Graduation. Vivaldi’s Gloria, Mozart’s Missa Brevis K.220 and Requiem K.626, Schubert’s Mass No. 3, Gounod’s Messe Solennelle de Sainte Cécile, and Carl Orff’’s Carmina Burana have been performed in recent years.
This activity explores West African, Afro-Caribbean, modern, ballet, and other creative influences in dance, focusing on traditional-folkloric and contemporary influences in original student compositions. Several levels of classes run from November through May, accommodating beginners as well as experienced dancers. Individual and group choreography performances are given during the Fall and Spring Arts Weekends.
Studies include hand and stick techniques, traditional arrangements, and individual compositions. Areas to be considered are West African, Afro-Caribbean, and contemporary influences in original student compositions. Performances with dance are held during the Fall and Spring Arts Weekends.
These productions are cast at the beginning of each term and involve students of all grades who wish to be considered for a part. There are no requirements for participation. Casting is at the discretion of the directors, but we strive to involve as many different students as possible. We also take into consideration the needs of the actors. One student might be ready for a challenge, so we will cast them in a difficult role on purpose. Another might be trying out for the first time and we want to celebrate their courage by giving them a small part. These plays rehearse two evenings a week, for two hours each time (though not all students are required to be at every rehearsal for the full two hours). Other students, as volunteers, are in charge of lights, sets, props, and costumes. Some of the work for these crews happens during the evening rehearsals, some happens during Work Program hours. Adults are involved in these crews as well, but students are, and need to be, the primary participants.
In this course, we will study the origins and development of the jazz idiom. We will listen deeply to selected recordings from the history of jazz, learning to engage critically, thoughtfully, and articulately with this unique form of music. This will require that we develop an understanding of the historical and cultural contexts in which this music emerged and transformed. Why did jazz music emerge in America in the 1890s? Why did people around the world so readily adopt this new sound as their own? A selection of readings will help us begin to answer these questions. Throughout the semester, students will keep a listening journal, recording their thoughts and reactions to our example recordings— selections of traditional jazz, big band swing, bebop, hard bop, post bop, free jazz, fusion jazz, spiritual jazz, smooth jazz, and so on, recorded by men and women from around the world as early as 1917 and as recently as last week.
In this class, students will learn the fundamentals of music theory— pitch, rhythm, melody, and harmony. We will start the semester by learning to read and write traditional music notation, but we will prioritize ear training: cultivating our ability to hear, identify, and sing scales, modes, and intervals. Throughout the semester, students will have the opportunity to experiment with several different approaches to music composition and improvisation. Students need not have any prior musical knowledge to enroll in this course, as we will be starting from the very basics. Those with more advanced knowledge are welcome to participate, and will be challenged with material matched to their skill level.
This class will be an exploration of place-based, interactive theater, both indoors and outdoors. We will learn about these types of theater through reading plays, writing scenes, and acting in the things we’ve read and written, as well as learning about outdoor lighting, sound, and other theatrical techniques. We will discover new and exciting places to set scenes and plays, both those already written and those we will write ourselves. A portion of this class will be dedicated to participating in the Forest of Mystery in Brattleboro, VT (a really cool interactive & fantastical production in the woods) as a part of the cast or tech crew.
This class will drift towards the interests of those involved. While we will dip our toes into each aspect of a production, students can focus on their particular interests (acting, tech, writing, etc.) and work together to make the most cohesive theatrical team possible. Performing is not a requirement of this class.
This class is an introduction to theater tech, designed to teach students the skills and terminology of the various technical fields of live event and theater production. Topics covered will include light and sound design, costume design and construction, stage management, carpentry/set building, and prop making. Come prepared to learn an overview of each! This class is introductory, but is also open to students who have experience in one area of theater tech and want to learn more in an unfamiliar area.
Along with hands-on work in our theater, we will visit local theaters to see how they run their tech, and speak with professionals in various tech-related fields and positions.
Depending on the number of students, we will round out the term by designing a production (lights, sound, set, props, costumes, etc.) as a team.
Lessons in piano, voice, and most instruments can be arranged.
Testimonials
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"Buxton has given me the freedom to be the person I want to be, make the art I want to make, and learn the things I want to learn. At Buxton we learn not only in the classroom, but in the community. We learn how to be good to each other and how to support each other. Buxton has so much to offer students, both inside the classroom and outside of it."Great Barrington, MA
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“At Buxton you get to focus on what you want to be learning; whether it is social skills or in-depth studying- you learn to take responsibility of your education.”Troy, NY
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“Living your education means to not only learn things, but to use what you learn in your everyday life.”Mexico
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“To me, living your education means to be independent, to take charge, to not be afraid of asking for help, to learn from your peers, to love to learn, to take what you have learned from a loving environment and take it into the world.”New Hampshire
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“Your education is more than just your time in class, it’s your life as a whole. Learning is not limited to a teacher teaching you something in a classroom.”Missouri
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“To me, at Buxton, it’s not boundaries that you make, but the ones you break through.”New York, NY
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“At Buxton, I can choose what I want to do with my education. I can design my own path and invest my time studying topics that I’m really interested in.”New York, NY
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“At Buxton you can experience your intellectual development in a community that accepts your perspective of the world.”Mexico
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“I felt instantly at home when I stepped on the campus. At Buxton, we are in school 24/7. We learn things in the classroom, but we really learn valuable things outside of the classroom. We learn how to work with others and respect each other’s spaces. Our education surrounds us and we learn new things everyday.”Albany, NY
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“I chose Buxton over public school because I think I function better in a smaller environment. You’re able to get to know students and faculty on a deeper level, which is rare.”Williamstown, MA
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“Students should be happy when they are learning. They should not feel like studying is a burden to them. You learn things from your living space and environment - you are learning every second you are living.”China
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“Buxton has shown me that it is possible to forge close bonds with teachers as well as students. It also gives you the ability to try new things in an environment where there is no judgment.”Puerto Rico
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“I chose Buxton for a small community-based education with focus on the individual as part of the world at large, along with the learning settings.”Boston, MA
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“I love the atmosphere and how tightly knit the community is. At Buxton you take what you learn in the classroom and use it in everyday life - you learn from the world around you and see how you can make it better.”Boston, MA
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“At Buxton you bring your education into everything you do, and learn important, relevant things that you can utilize all the time.”New Lebanon, NY
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"In the last year, Buxton has become my home. It has provided me with a place where self-exploration is encouraged in and out of the classroom. I have made unbreakable bonds with faculty and my peers."
Albany, NY
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"To me living your education means enjoying it to the fullest. Do the things that make you uncomfortable, like activities, clubs, or sports you wouldn't normally participate in. Like the saying goes, "you miss 100% of the shots you don't take."
Boston, MA
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"Buxton has given me room to fully realize what inspires me and the resources to create it. The next big grade is no longer a constant worry. I have more space to be and do what I want."
Williamstown, MA
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"Buxton has given me the freedom to be the person I want to be, make the art I want to make, and learn the things I want to learn. At Buxton we learn not only in the classroom, but in the community. We learn how to be good to each other and how to support each other. Buxton has so much to offer students, both inside the classroom and outside of it."
Great Barrington, MA
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“A sense that everybody matters, that you are in a community where everyone can make a difference and reach their full potential, where you are interdependent and you work together, and most importantly where you understand that you can do whatever you want to do and whatever it is that you do, you have got to make a difference. I think that, more than anything, defines my experience at Buxton.”Governor of Vermont, Buxton Alumni
