Rock and Roll Sets and Student Exhibition

 I started my Set Design class just two Fridays before the Spring Concert at school, which meant I would only have the help of four students for less than 4 hours total to create four 8 foot tall panels and a 6 foot long submarine. I'd have to do some serious prep-work and between class muscle work to get it done on time.

The theme of the concert was "Rock and Roll", so I did intercontinental themed sets, focusing on the British Invasion. It's hard to imagine how many lives were forever changed the night the Beatles appeared on the Ed Sullivan show, after all. I drew up some plans, and when the students got to class, we projected my drawings onto the Christmas snowflake backgrounds and they traced them in chalk. I painted three of the panels during the week. 

The following Friday they painted the fourth panel, traced, projected, and painted the Yellow Submarine. So we finished in time and still managed to put together the Art Exhibit for all my other students in the lobby!

On the big day, I got to participate in an aerobics themed percussion piece performed by the faculty to Tyler Swift's "Shake It Off," which made for a nice send off before Spring Break!

Mark, Sets, Motown!

8 ft panels with Stevie, Michael, Aretha, and the Marvelettes, let up on stage

Music students have been practicing all semester for a spring concert full of good Motown classics, by musicians such as the Jackson 5, Aretha Franklin, Stevie Wonder, and the Marvelletes. Our birch sets had been painted over four or five times and I didn't want to risk peeling paint; plus I thought it might be nice to keep some of the naked wood; so students dismantled past sets and flipped it around to use the back. I outlined high contrast images of some focus musicians for the students to paint within the lines.

Sometimes we make the mistake of thinking our high school students are married to current genres of pop, rap, or country, but in fact, all of my students love Motown in the background when they work. They all start singing when "My Girl" starts playing.

Our  concert was scheduled for next Friday. We have since been closed the school for at least two weeks to slow the spread of COVID 19, but I am hopeful that the concert will still happen one day, and when it does, the sets are set.