PERFORMING Arts

Music education is essential to Hewitt’s lower school program. Our girls sing, play instruments, and participate in movement activities that encourage kinesthetic learning. We base our music curriculum on the Orff-Schulwerk method (which focuses on percussion and movement) and the Kodály method (which uses a child-developmental approach to sequence). After the children become familiar with a new musical concept, they learn how to notate it. We also review concepts through games, movement, songs, and exercises.

The girls practice notation by playing a variety of instruments. By fourth grade, students hone unison singing and learn two-part and choral music. Students expand their musical vocabulary using terminology surrounding dynamics (i.e. crescendo, decrescendo, piano, forte, etc.) and tempo (i.e. ritardando, accelerando). Building on their recorder playing from third grade, fourth grade students learn beginning ukulele.

We expose students to a wide range of musical genres through recordings and field trips to live performances around New York City, building a lifelong appreciation of diverse musical traditions. Over the course of their lower school careers, students have opportunities to attend a Young People's Concert performed by the New York Philharmonic, a Broadway musical, and a student performance at Jazz at Lincoln Center.

With a founding head of school who grew up on the cobbled streets of Shakespeare’s birthplace in Stratford-upon-Avon, and whose infectious passion for performance inspired her to establish a school where theater and drama would enhance and enrich the entire curriculum, Hewitt has long celebrated the role of the performing arts. They play a central role in keeping vital traditions alive while also bringing the best research on music, drama, and dance education to bear on the curriculum.

In middle school, we provide students the option to study instrumental music through our handbell choir and string ensemble, offering students the option of a year-long study of handbells, strings (violin, viola, and cello), or vocal choir. In addition, the middle school stages several theatrical productions a year. Our drama program forms an important cog in the wheel of our public speaking program, as girls gain confidence on the stage and learn various modes of speaking and acting.

Dance also provides a resource for our girls in movement and positive body image just as they enter puberty. Middle school dance combines dance foundation, technique, and strengthening with compositional work aimed at expanding creativity and out-of-the-box thinking. The department also offers electives in instrumental music and a cappella singing.

The performing arts program at Hewitt has deep roots, given our founder Caroline Hewitt’s love of drama and music. Musical study becomes a passion for many students, and our upper school supports a very active vocal choir, handbell program, chamber orchestra, and Renaissance Consort club. We extend numerous performance opportunities, including winter and spring concerts and events at off-site venues.

The drama program features a dedicated band of actors who study the craft in depth over the course of four years, exploring different types and levels of acting technique. Many of our students participate in our fall play and winter musical, which recently have featured Chicago; Clue; Legally Blonde the Musical, Jr.; and Caryl Churchill’s Top Girls. By offering performance-based workshops, field trips, internships and meetings with outside professionals, Hewitt presents students with opportunities to experience the professional world of theater. Additionally, extensive opportunities to work alongside professionals behind the scenes in stage crew allow young women to experience the full range of theatrical work in our professional-quality theater. 

The high school dance program exposes students to ballet, modern, and jazz technique; repertoire and stylistic approaches; and the use of dance as a tool for communication. Students in Dance Composition study the choreographic process from initial improvisation to final dance piece by mapping out the composition process, selecting and rehearsing dancers, and making final artistic decisions for live performances.