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1. Electives
Included in our wide range
of excellent cultural programmes, we offer Music, Dance and Drama
Electives to University students for credit through the Faculty of
Education and Liberal Studies towards a degree programme. Outstanding
students from our cultural courses form the UTech Art and Theatre
Ensemble and Instrumental Band, which at present, are being trained for
professional off-campus performances.
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Dance
(course outline/ tutor)
Dance is increasingly
being recognized and valued as a form of expression for the building of
the body, the mind and the soul. In view of that, dance is offered to
our students to allow for a more holistic development. This course helps
to extend the participant’s understanding of how the body responds to
rhythm and moreover, they develop an appreciation for the tradition of
dance as an international language.
(i) Furthermore, the
programme is geared at analyzing the history of movement and dance in a
social context, and encourages an enthusiasm for dance in a theatre
situation. Students explore the role of Jamaican and Caribbean dance in
history and society, and they are introduced to the cultures of the
people of different islands, exploring kinship and gender aesthetics of
arts and religion.
Upon completion of this
course, students should have a basic knowledge of elementary techniques
in dance and be able to perform movements with confidence and style.
They should be able to analyze and evaluate Jamaican dance history
within the context of cultural identity and development. Additionally,
they should be able to demonstrate their performance on stage, and their
proficiency in executing various dance forms.
Tutor: Monica Lawrence.
Offered 2 semesters, Mondays: 1-4pm and Tuesdays: 5-8pm
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Music
(course outline/ tutor)
(i) The course is
designed to give foundation training in singing, theory, note reading
and the history of music. Participants are stimulated to create their
own musical compositions through the learning of basic harmony. They are
encouraged to develop an understanding of, and an appreciation for,
musical genres and styles.
(ii) The programme
entails a repertoire from the Caribbean and Africa, as well as other
parts of the world. Exposure to songs of individuals of different
backgrounds can widen their appreciation of the different cultures by
providing insight into their feelings and thoughts and ultimately help
with character building.
(iii) This course
encourages the students to effectively use the voice, the most available
musical instrument, to express their own culture and to explore the
culture of others. It emphasizes the development of each student’s
ability to sing well by providing relevant techniques, principles and
practices.
(iv) After completing
this course, students should have a basic knowledge of the rudiments of
music, and demonstrate an appreciation for the voice as an instrument to
be nurtured and developed. Accordingly, they should understand the
importance of the body parts in the production of sound and demonstrate
an ability to use these resources effectively. Participants should also
be able to use the voice as a vehicle for cultural expression, and
demonstrate the ability to listen to, analyze and respond to music.
Tutors: Pauline
Forrester-Watson, Joy Brown, Gay Magnus, and Marie Cunningham-Clarke.
Offered 2 semesters, Mondays: 1-3pm, Wednesdays: 12-2pm, Thursdays:
5-8pm.
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Drama &Theatre Arts
(course outline/ tutor)
(i) The course is
divided into two broad areas: Introduction to Acting and Theatre, and
Voice and Speech, which are investigated against a backdrop of Caribbean
cultural forms, literature, folklore and theatre.
(ii) Students are
exposed to various topics including transformation, storytelling,
improvisation, physical and vocal training, theatre games, collective
creation analysis and interpretation, dramatic verse and public
performance.
(iii) The course
introduces the students to drama and theatre as a representation of
life, and provides an opportunity for the development of their
interpretative and analytical skills, while simultaneously allowing for
self-development. Caribbean cultural folklore is also explored as a
framework for developing drama, acting, technical theatre and performing
skills.
(iv) At the end of the
course, students should be able to read, interpret and present material
to a variety of audiences in diverse situations. They should be able to
apply the techniques of self-analysis and critique to their daily lives
and demonstrate skills in acting, dramatization, oral presentation and
theatre production. More importantly, they should be able to demonstrate
the achievement of personal growth and development by completing pre and
post evaluations as they come to a fuller understanding of themselves as
individuals.
Tutor: Joan Belfon and
Karen Harriott-Wilson. Offered 2 semesters,
Mondays: 1-4pm, Wednesdays: 1-5pm.
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2.
Extra-Curricular Classes
Drama, Music and
Dance are also offered as extracurricular activities, along with Visual
Arts, Instrumental Band, Drumming and Photography. The extra-curricula
classes are made available to students, UTech staff and the wider Papine
Community, who are interested in expressing self through the arts. There
is no set number of hours for students of the extracurricular activities
to complete. There is a scheduled time and day for each discipline, and
students are expected to attend classes on a regular basis.
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Visual Arts
Students
are able to explore and express themselves through the various forms of
fine and applied arts such as painting, sculpture and papermaking,
jewellery making respectively.
Students are introduced
to basic drawing via an understanding of the anatomy. This allows for a
general feeling and understanding of the rudiments of drawing. They are
also taught art appreciation through painting on canvas and other
experimental techniques, all geared towards a better understanding and
knowledge of fine arts from a professional perspective. Workshops are
conducted in different areas in order to give students wider exposure.
In accordance with the
mission of the Centre to involve the larger community and expose
students to different artistic forms of expression, mural painting is
included as a vital part of the visual arts programme.
Tutor: Oya Kujichagulia,
Wednesdays: 6-8pm
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Instrumental
Band
The teaching methodology
is based on a “modern approach” to music.
Students are taught
different techniques in playing music, theory and musicianship,
individually and together as a group. They are also taught how to
improvise using the basic theory and techniques learnt.
At the end of this
course, students develop a repertoire that includes the blues, Jamaican
folk and popular music.
Students also gain an
understanding of the importance of practice, listening, singing and the
benefits of music education to their overall education at UTech and to
life in general.
Tutor: Maurice Gordon.
Thursdays: 6-8pm
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Drumming
Students are given a
basic understanding of the techniques in drumming. They learn to
reproduce different sound base, open tone and tips from various areas of
the drumheads.
In addition, they are
exposed to timing and tempo, the use of time-lines, rudiments of music
notations; drum rhythm, basic beat system, cross-rhythm and hand
techniques to develop dexterity and flexibility.
They also gain knowledge
in Polyrhymic systems, drum rhythm of Jamaica and Africa - Dinki Mini,
Kumina, Nyahbingi, Ibo, Akum, Gahu etc.
Tutors: Jacky Stewart
and Denver Smith. Wednesdays: 6-8pm, Fridays: 6-8pm
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Photography
This area of the
arts is operated as a club at the university. The students are given an
introduction to the camera, its parts and functions. Lighting and
composition are also explored.
Some of the other areas
covered include: processing the negative and print landscapes, nature
and architecture, still life, portraiture, fashion and glamour, event
coverage and photo-essays, developing and printing, and image capture
and manipulation.
The theoretical aspect
of the course gives the students an understanding of the nature of the
camera to document social environmental issues, and by extension their
personal orientation in the context of these concerns. In view of that,
they perform exercises in photo-journalism
The students are also
introduced to digital photography.
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3.
Tomorrow’s Children Programme
The Tomorrow’s Children
Programme is part of UTech’s community outreach programme, and is
jointly funded by UTech and the Environmental Foundation of Jamaica
(EFJ), in collaboration with the Institute of Jamaica.
The programme is an
outgrowth of the Centre’s Integrated Arts Programme, catering to
children aged 4 – 13 years. During the semester, classes are held on
Saturdays, while the summer programme spans a period of four weeks in
the month of July, on a weekday basis. It has two complementary
objectives:
To bring together groups
of children, who on an everyday basis live in exclusive worlds, and to
resocialise them through the arts to a common understanding of
themselves as citizens of the same country.
To stimulate the
creative imagination of this cross-section of Jamaican children to
explore and develop their internal resources, while simultaneously
encourage them to refine their sensibilities and heighten their
appreciation of their physical and social environment.
These goals are
accomplished through the use of music, drama and speech, photography,
integrated arts, dance, and drumming to teach the children to express
themselves and develop their creative abilities.
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