Artists of the Week

The arts at King’s-Edgehill are an inclusive environment that embraces diversity. Not only in who we are but in our choices of what we pursue and how we express that choice. Imagination and creativity foster the capacity to develop ideas, solve problems, provide life skills, and open the door for opportunities. Intelligence and creativity are overlapping skills and through the arts, a person builds confidence, develops perspective, and finds their true nature.

This week, from the Junior School we are recognizing Harper MacInnis '30 and Spencer Armstrong '30.

Harper has been an active member of music class, working hard to develop skills on the clarinet, a brand-new instrument for her! She is always dedicated to learning all she can in music class and is a great help to her peers, as well. Harper also participated in both musicals this year, always demonstrating enthusiasm and commitment in her roles. Keep up the great work, Harper!

Spencer is an extremely dedicated musician. Between jazz band and music class, his trumpet and guitar, Spencer always seems to be playing music. His positive attitude and enthusiastic approach have been allowing him to learn and develop his skills as a musician even further, as well as support his classmates in their journeys. We are excited to see Spencer continue to grow, and show us what he can do!

From the Senior School we recognize Jessica Etou '24 and Bryan Ma '24.

One week before the DramaFest students performed an adapted version of the Senior School play, A Simpler Time. At DramaFest, students were asked to step in and fill some missing roles. Jessica stepped in and learned two new parts all in time for the performance, completely embodying the roles and bringing the characters to life. Each character was unique, and she was able to captivate audiences with her facial expressions and body language. With no time to rehearse, her commitment and passion for the performing arts was evident as she put her improv skills to the test. She jumped into the flow of each scene with her partners and learned her impromptu blocking with ease.

When we arrived at DramaFest, before students were sent off to their workshops, we asked our students if any of them would like to participate in the talent show that night. Without hesitation, Bryan offered to participate. We asked him what he would do, as each act had a timeline of five minutes, and he said that he was going to compose and perform a song in real time using his voice and tablet. That night, we waited in anticipation for the talent show, which was performed in front of a packed theatre. Bryan was the final act of the night performing in front of a packed theatre. He came on stage with his tablet and addresses the audience, "I'm actually very nervous right now, I've never performed in front of such a large audience before." The theatre erupts with positivity, shouts of "you got this!" and "way to go!" along with cheers and applause. Bryan started his performance by banging on the desk, creating multiple percussion sounds and using his tablet to loop this music. Throughout the five-minute performance, he added piano, vocals, and more percussion. The audience loved it! When he ended his song the audience was on their feet cheering and clapping. It takes a lot of courage to perform in front of a huge audience, and even more courage to completely improvise it on the spot.