The Arts

INFANT SCHOOL

Art & Design

by Libby Henderson, Head of Art & Design (Infant)

Despite the disruption of the pandemic, amazing artwork still took place and one highlight of our year was the Big Draw. The theme, “Drawn to Life”, focused on wellbeing. All children from Nursery to Year 2 drew and made marks in a range of ways using different media, at large and small scales, and in different places. One favourite space was the “Drawing Rooms” – rooms covered in paper from floor to ceiling.

Stephanie Wijaya, our new Art STLA, joined the team in January. She has since worked with children in Year 1 to produce some incredible prints and supported Year 2 with developing their clay skills. In 2020/21, we hope she will be able to work with Nursery and Reception students on projects that were forcibly cancelled this year due to COVID-19.

During the remote learning period, children stayed creative, crawling under tables to paint like Michelangelo, exploring colour like Kandinsky, and creating their own Lonely Beast, inspired by Chris Judge’s book. Once the children had returned to school, we gave them resources to help develop their at-home creations. Children produced collages of The Great Wave of Kanagawa by Hokusai, and their very own Superworm or Jack and the Flumflum Tree-style patchwork sacks, inspired by the Julia Donaldson books. Music

by Delphine Hastwell, Head of Music (Infant)

Events conspired this year to cancel several much-anticipated performances. Sadly, song leaders were unable to visit Chen Su Lan Methodist Children’s Home in Term 1, and Term 2 and 3 events, such as the Year 1 Concert, Recorder Concert, Year 2 Ensembles, and Year 2 Choir performances at Cluny Court andSingapore Zoo, were cancelled due to the

Coronavirus pandemic. However, there was still plenty to celebrate.

The Year 2 Choir, for example, were exceptionally busy in the first half of the year, performing the finale song at a joint concert with Sydney Grammar School in September alongside Junior and Senior performers, and opening St George’s Festival of Music in December with a performance of two songs – one a solo – in front of local families.

To help kick off the festive season at Tanglin, Year 2 ensembles performed at the Friends of Tanglin Christmas Fair, while the Year 2 Christmas Show, held in The Berrick Hall, featured the entire year group singing, dancing and acting, as well as each class performing an instrumental item during a wonderful rendition of The Elf on the Shelf. In the same month, the Nursery Singalong saw all eight nursery classes dressed in red and green performing Christmas songs to and with their parents in Hall 2, which was decorated with

Christmas Trees and fairy lights.

Art & Design

by Peter Hinckley, Head of Art & Design (Junior)

The children in Junior School have the opportunity to access an ever-increasing range of specialist art resources including specialist tools, media and equipment for painting, drawing, textiles and ceramics. Learning in art fosters individuality, creativity, confidence-building and expression. Throughout the year, the children had access to a wide range of media and opportunities to progressively develop their skills and techniques. Our curriculum nurtures opportunities for individual and collaborative work, both within art and across the curriculum.

This year, we expanded the children’s experience in art through visiting illustrators, a collaborative arts project for the Year 6 Production, War Child: We’ll Meet Again – in which the students actively contributed their own art to the set design – a gallery exhibiting the students’ acrylic Poppies paintings, and a collaborative art project for the Year 4 Production; this sadly was postponed due to COVID-19.

Next year, we hope to realise our plans for a Junior Arts night that will include a visual celebration of artwork from Years 3-6, something that wa unable to take place in 2019/20.

Drama

by Theresa Chapman, Head of Drama (Junior)

The Junior Drama department had a busy and successful start to the academic year, welcoming back EPIC Arts from Cambodia. EPIC Arts is an inspirational organisation that promotes diversity and accessibility to the arts for people with disabilities. All students in the Junior School were able to participate in a workshop with the group during House Day and consider their “Every Person Counts” message. Over the following weekend, a group of Junior School students then participated in a weekend festival with the company, devising a performance to present to their families.

The Year 6 unit was abuzz in November with preparations for their integrated arts performance, War Child: We’ll Meet Again. This new project shifted the focus of the annual performance to the Year 6 curriculum, and children were involved in weaving together work from drama, music, English, technology and art lessons into a powerful and thought-provoking original performance inspired by the experiences of children during World War Two.

The Junior Drama department were due to host the Singapore Primary ISTA Festival this year, however this was unfortunately cancelled due to COVID-19 and we look forward to adding this to our calendar in 2020/21. Amidst the negative impact of COVID-19, however, there were some positive outcomes for our Junior dramatists. Remote learning brought about a wave of fresh inspiration and innovation, and students showed an impressive resourcefulness during this time, creating characters, performances and set designs. The power of the arts has certainly shone a beam of light through our community during these uncertain times.

Music

by Fiona Knight Lucas, Head of Music (Junior)

The Junior Music Department has seen another busy and exciting year, with children across all year groups demonstrating their passion and commitment to music making. Our ensembles have seen ever-increasing numbers and the Term 1 performances impressed the community with their high levels of achievement. Solo performers have continued to inspire us all with their talent and dedication through a wide variety of formal and informal recitals, open mic events and concerts. In Term1, the Year 6 Production showcased the musical, artistic and dramatic flair of the entire cohort, who acted, sang and played orchestral and classroom instruments.

Throughout Terms 1 and 2, the Junior School joined together regularly in uplifting community singing. During the Remembrance Service at Kranji War Memorial – a poignant and significant event in Singapore’s calendar – members of the Junior and Senior Chamber Choirs sang with choirs from Marlborough College, Dulwich College and Dover Court International School. All Junior School choirs, alongside the Junior Orchestra, Gamelan Ensemble and Junior Rock Band performed ensemble items at the Junior Festive Assembly with Junior School children singing festive songs.

COVID-19 inevitably cancelled several calendared events, however staff and students found new ways to create and perform. The Junior Chamber Choir, for example, recorded the piece they had prepared for the Botanic Beats Concert and shared it with the community online. A video of the Junior Young Musicians in Concert 2020 – in which 25 students from Years 3-6 performed solos in front of a small audience – was also shared.

Foreword

by Richie Baxter, Head of Arts

The Senior Arts Faculty has offered so many outstanding opportunities for Tanglin’s aspiring artists this year through curriculum lessons, Co-Curricular Activities (CCAs) and visiting artists. Throughout the year there have been numerous events both in school and in the community that have showcased our students’ talents, and we have an outstanding team of teachers and technicians who are dedicated to realising these.

Even during the Circuit Breaker period, there was a burst of creativity to find new and innovative ways for the students to create, collaborate and share their talents. One such highlight this year was our first ever Arts Week. This was done remotely and included online masterclasses from professional artists for Key Stage 4 and 5 students; a competition for which students creatively expressed themselves through the theme of “Community”; a Key Stage 3 Arts Day; and a Tanglin version of the BBC’s Desert Island Discs. We also announced the annual winners of the Outstanding Contribution to the Arts awards from 50 student nominees.

Art & Design

by Robert Le Grice, Assistant Head of Faculty (Art & Design)

Term 1 got off to a lively start, with all 200 students of Year 9 visiting the National Gallery Singapore. This wonderful collaborative project sees the gallery’s rich paintings act as a stimulus and the final “Arts Showcase” generously hosted by the gallery. Year 12 also ventured out on their residential to Luang Prabang. This annual trip challenges the students to live and learn in rural Laos. It’s a busy term for the Sixth Form art students: keeping the coursework flowing, producing portfolios for University applications and attending the many artist and university workshops available. In November, the artist Chen Shitong hosted a series of printmaking workshops, focused on Year 12. We always enjoy the lively and colourful energy he brings into school. November’s huge Singapore International Schools Art Exhibition – ‘IN’ 2019 – saw a selection of 10 students’ artwork displayed. This year’s celebration evening was spectacular, with around 500 students, parents, teachers and guests attending.

On returning from the Christmas break, it was clear the remainder of the year would be challenging. The climax to our National Gallery project was cancelled, but we were still able to honour our annual visit from Ian Murphy in February. His series of drawing and painting workshops with Years 10 and 12 was a resounding success and shed a little light on an increasingly grey outlook. Celebrating Year 13’s IB Visual Art course with an exhibition was another bright moment.

Remote Learning provded challenging to our young artists since so much of their work is active, collaborative and “messy”. Making good use of digital media, the students rose to this challenge and produced some very creative responses on the expressive themes of home, isolation and virus. The return to school was an invaluable time, particularly with the older students. We look forward to a new year in which Tanglin students will show us their talents once again. Dance and Drama

by Kate Edwards, Assistant Head of Faculty (Drama)

2020 has been a year of contrasts in the Senior Drama department. We started the year in a flurry of activity, with visiting artists, teacher training events and performances. Gecko Theatre kicked off the year with a week’s Artist-in-Residence course, and was quickly followed by Jennifer Hartley, Mark Hill and David Cartwright – each of them visiting artists in school who worked with Senior Drama students. The school also hosted more than 30 teachers at the FOBISIA Drama Teacher Job Alike Workshop (JAWS) in September. In October, Years 7, 8 and 9 students gave wonderful performances in a production of Rabbit by David Foxton. A fabulous student-led Dance Showcase took place in November and, in the final week of the term, Key Stage 4 and 5 students presented A Christmas Carol, a production featuring some stunning performances and design work.

The implications of COVID-19, however, had a huge impact on the latter half of the year. The KS3 CCA production of No Regrets was cancelled on the morning of the first performance day in February; a bitter disappointment, but one students handled with remarkable resilience and grace. Much-anticipated theatre trips were cancelled, as was a visit by West End performers James Bennett and Noel Sullivan to work with students on the Senior production of Grease.

Drama is a subject that requires close collaboration and, as such,

all performance examinations had to be postponed for safety reasons. Remote learning has had to be creative and flexible, with answers to the question, “How do you teach meaningful Drama under lockdown?” being developed, revised and consolidated as we proceeded through the Circuit Breaker period.

We remain cautiously optimistic about the coming year; happily, Grease is projected to return for an end-of-year Senior School project and we are all looking forward to a return to practical studio lessons, as well as welcoming James Russell to the department.

Film

by Stephen Coughlan, Assistant Head of Faculty (Media Technology)

Our target for this year was for students to develop their skills in sound design, and gain an appreciation of how carefully planned, recorded and mixed dialogue, alongside sound effects and music, can really bring a story to life. In Term 1, we studied scenes from classic films such as The Godfather and Citizen Kane – as well as a number of more recent releases – to consider how students could apply techniques such as panning and volume changes in their own work. During lessons, students were encouraged to explore the more advanced features in Logic Pro X, such as the automation tool and how to set up a film scoring project window. Other lessons focused on how to ensure location sound was recorded as cleanly as possible, using Zoom H4N recorders. These new skills and approaches were Thanks to the support of the TTS Foundation, one of the highlights of the year was a visit by Ben Lock, an esteemed visual effects producer and story supervisor who has worked for Disney, Aardman Animations, and Industrial Light and Magic. In Term 1, he spent a week sharing the logistics of a professional film shoot. The insight he gave was incredibly useful and made a huge difference to the way students approached their Term 2 production planning. In Term 3, as part of Arts Week, Ben worked with GCSE students, this time via Microsoft Teams meetings. The focus during these sessions was screenwriting, with Ben deconstructing a number of short films and identifying shared underlining narrative patterns that students could use to improve their own storytelling.

It was great to learn that Alumnus Richard Greene-Kelly, who is currently completing National Service, was selected to join the Air Force Information Command (AFIC) at Mindef HQ, a prestigious posting usually reserved for individuals with extensive media production experience. His role is to produce media that promotes the Singapore military, and his duties include creating films, conducting interviews and writing articles. As Richard intends to study film and media production at university, this kind of practical experience will prove invaluable. While several Tanglin Alumni work in the film industry, Richard’s achievement is a first.

Music

by Helen Owain, Assistant Head of Faculty (Music)

This has been an extremely busy year for the Senior Music department, with students continuing to impress us with their talent and dedication to Music.

Term 1 saw many formal and informal performances, both in and out of school, all of which showcased the wonderful diversity of the music that is produced at Tanglin. Formal events such as the Senior Ensemble Concert and Music Through the Ages – which featured the entire Year 7 cohort perform alongside the Senior Ensembles – made for memorable evenings on the school campus, while the performances of two Senior bands at EduTech Asia, at the Suntec Convention Centre, was a wonderful display of talent for the benefit of the local community.

Carolling was also another chance to interact with the community at large. The Senior Chamber Choir sang during the British Club’s annual Tree Lighting Ceremony and gave a lunchtime performance for office workers at Biopolis. There were further performances at Tanglin Mall and The Providore.

Although musical performances were forced into different formats in Terms 2 and 3, students and staff stepped up to the challenge and created some impressive online concerts, such as the Senior Young Musician competition and a Battle of the Bands. Our musicians are continuing to practise at home, and we will be back stronger, and ready to sing and play again next year!