Performing Arts
🎵Powhatan’s Music Education Program Receives National Recognition for the sixth consecutive year.
🎶With robust course offerings in choral, instrumental, and general music, students are able to explore and cultivate their individual interests in music.
Best Communities for Music Education
Powhatan has been honored with the Best Communities for Music Education designation from The NAMM Foundation for its outstanding commitment to music education. Now in its 23rd year, the Best Communities for Music Education designation is awarded to districts that demonstrate outstanding achievement in efforts to provide music access and education to all students.
To qualify for the Best Communities designation, the division’s Performing Arts Coordinator, answered detailed questions about funding, graduation requirements, music class participation, instruction time, facilities, support for the music program and community music-making programs. Responses were verified with school officials and reviewed by The Music Research Institute at the University of Kansas.
Research into music education continues to demonstrate educational/cognitive and social skill benefits for children who make music: After two years of music education, researchers found that participants showed more substantial improvements in how the brain processes speech and reading scores than their less-involved peers and that students who are involved in music are not only more likely to graduate high school, but also to attend college as well. Everyday listening skills are stronger in musically trained children than in those without music training. Significantly, listening skills are closely tied to the ability to: perceive speech in a noisy background, pay attention, and keep sounds in memory. Later in life, individuals who took music lessons as children show stronger neural processing of sound: young adults and even older adults who have not played an instrument for up to 50 years show enhanced neural processing compared to their peers. Not to mention, social benefits include conflict resolution, teamwork skills, and how to give and receive constructive criticism.
About The NAMM Foundation
The NAMM Foundatio n is a nonprofit supported in part by the National Association of Music Merchants and its approximately 10,300 members around the world. The foundation advances active participation in music making across the lifespan by supporting scientific research, philanthropic giving and public service programs. For more information about The NAMM Foundation, please visit www.nammfoundation.org.
Elementary Music
🎧Each elementary music student has at least one music class per rotation.
🎤In the elementary general music classes, students sing, play instruments, learn to read music, create their own music, dance, and participate in performances throughout the year.
🥁Students play percussion instruments, ukulele and other instruments on a regular basis.
PCPS Performing Arts
Powhatan Middle Band
With guidance from directors, students will select and begin instruction on a woodwind, brass, or percussion instrument.
Students will learn to read music and perform a wide variety of music including classical, jazz, and music from film and video games. Students will participate in performances & district orchestra assessments.
👉Offerings:
- Beginning Band (6th Grade)
- Concert Band (7th Grade)
- 8th Grade and 8th Grade Advanced
- Co-Curricular Ensembles: Wind Ensemble, Jazz Ensemble, and Percussion Ensemble
Powhatan Middle Orchestra
With guidance from directors, students will select either violin, viola, cello or bass.
Students will learn to read music and perform a wide variety of music including classical, jazz, and music from film and video games. Students will participate in public performances and district orchestra assessments.
👉Offerings:
- Beginning Orchestra
- Intermediate Concert Orchestra
- Advanced Concert Orchestra
- Co-Curricular Ensemble: Symphony Orchestra
Powhatan Middle Chorus
At the middle school level, students learn to sing in parts, perform a wide variety of choral literature, and perform in public concerts as well as assessment performances.
Throughout the middle school experience, students will sharpen their music literacy skills, learn to sight sing, and learn choreography.
👉Offerings:
- Chorus 6
- Chorus 7
- Chorus 8
- Advanced Chorus 8
Powhatan High School Band Programs
📯The Powhatan High School Symphonic Band is composed of standard concert band instrumentation and performs intermediate to advanced wind band literature. The ensemble performs for on campus concerts, and concert band assessment.
🎷The Powhatan High School Wind Symphony is the premiere performance ensemble of the program performing the highest level of wind band literature. This ensemble performs masterworks both classic and contemporary. The woodwind and brass sections of the Powhatan High School Symphony Orchestra are composed of musicians from the Wind Symphony.
🎹The Powhatan High School Jazz Ensemble is a large jazz ensemble that performs music from the Big Band era through modern music. The jazz ensemble consists of standard jazz orchestra instrumentation including saxophone, trumpet, trombone, guitar, piano, bass, drum set, and percussion. The ensemble regularly competes in regional and national jazz festivals and performs regularly for various community events.
🥁In addition to the curricular ensembles students are able to participate in co-curricular activities like marching band, indoor drumline, jazz combos,
Powhatan High School Orchestra
🎻The Powhatan High School Chamber Orchestra is a string ensemble that performs symphonic, and popular music styles. In addition to performing an extensive repertoire of classical, jazz, and other music styles written for strings, the chamber orchestra serves as the string section for the Powhatan High School Symphony Orchestra.
🎺The Powhatan High School Symphony Orchestra includes woodwind, brass, string and percussion instruments and is composed of the top players of the respective sections. The PHSSO performs a rich repertoire of both classical and contemporary music including music from film and popular styles.