Program Offerings

We offer grade-level bands beginning in the fifth grade and continuing through the Upper School. Performances take place throughout the year, including school chapels, holiday concerts, and off-campus competitions. Honors Band is available to 11th and 12th grade only, by audition.

2022-2023 Lower School Registration for Group Strings and Band

Lower School Choir
The Lower School Raving Ravens, an auditioned choir, is limited to students in grades 4 and 5. It was created for the purpose of training students to sing alone as well as in a small performing group. Students who participate in the Raving Ravens are often called upon to sing at special events on and off campus.

Middle School Choir
Choral Music is offered as a class for 6th, 7th and 8th grades. The choirs require no audition other than to determine voicing. In addition to performance opportunities at school and in the community, the choirs learn basic choral technique, music reading and competencies, and incorporate Citizen Leader characteristics to create well-rounded musicians and capable leaders in the arts.

The Middle School Choir performs at concerts, chapel services, or school events. The choir also competes at the Music Performance Adjudication sponsored by NC Music Educators Association in March and has received a Superior ranking for the past several years. Later in the spring, the choir competes at a music festival at Busch Gardens in Williamsburg, VA, where it traditionally take highest honors.

Upper School Choir
The Upper School Concert Choir is a performance choir that requires no audition other than to determine voicing. This choir serves the school by performing at various school functions including Opening Day Ceremony and holiday services. An Honors section is available by audition for advanced students in grades 11-12.

Sixth Grade Drama is a semester program and is an introduction to performance-based skills such as creative movement, improvisation, voice/diction, vocabulary of the stage and acting.

Middle School Drama is offered year round, or as a semester program, which builds on the on the foundations of Sixth Grade Drama while introducing history of the theatre and a more substantial focus on monologue and scene work. Middle School Drama students are required to participate in all class productions, as well as attend Upper School Drama productions.

Upper School Drama is a performance-based course offered each semester, although students are encouraged to participate for the entire year as several projects overlap the break in semesters. An Honors section is offered for advanced students in grades 11-12. Upper School Drama students are required to participate in all class productions as well as attend all Middle School Drama productions.

Sixth Grade Strings offers a continuation of the ensemble training the students experienced in Lower School. This group performs in concerts and plays various performances at chapel services and school gatherings.

Middle School Strings is made up of string players with previous ensemble experience. Middle School Strings perform throughout the year at evening concerts, chapel and school gatherings.

Upper School String Ensemble involves experienced string students in grades 9 through 12. Honors Strings is available (by audition) for advanced players in grades 11 and 12. Performances venues include formal evening concerts, chapel performances, graduation and various campus gatherings.

Ravenscroft offers visual art classes from Pre-K to 12th grade. Classes focus on developing the imagination and technical skills of students. Approaches to art-making stress observational skills in drawing and painting, two-dimensional design principles and elements, sculpture techniques, three-dimensional design and crafts. Ideas and forms of expression are explored to develop the imagination and creative nature of the individual student.

Visual Arts Galleries can be found in the Pugh Family Lobby, the Fine Arts Office Suite, the Lower School, Richards Hall and the Art Hall in Fine Arts Center. Artwork is rotated out as new works come up.

Opportunities include:

• Group violin (grades 1-5)
• Group viola and cello (grades 2-5)
• Lower School String Orchestra (grades 4-5)
• Lower School Choir (grades 4-5)
• Lower School Band (grade 5)