Curriculum Guides for TADA! Programs

TADA!'s Education Program was established in order to teach children ages 5-17 the basic skills of musical theater: acting, dancing, and singing. Each discipline is explored individually and then they are integrated. Every 8-16 week session culminates in a presentation for school peers.

Our goals are to help students:

understand the ways in which the three art forms of acting, dancing, and singing are syn-thesized to form musical theater pieces
develop strong learning habits through active involvement with classroom themes
learn how to cooperate and work together in order to form a musical theater "ensemble"
have the sense of accomplishment and pride that goes along with the presentation of their ensemble work to their classmates

OUR PHILOSOPHY

We believe our Skills Building Classes help students grow socially, personally and academically. Our approach is simple and effective:

TADA!'s teaching artists work closely with classroom teachers to integrate our work with their curriculum and with the school system's Learning Standards.
TADA! involves classroom teachers as much as possible. Working together enhances staff development in the area of theater arts in the classroom.

We believe students benefit from theater arts in the following ways:

Socialization/Personal Growth	Life-Long Learning Skills
teamwork and tolerance	active listening
communication	public speaking
confidence and self-esteem	concentration
behavioral discipline	problem solving
risk taking	analytical skills
setting and achieving goals	reading and writing
	vocabulary

OUR TECHNIQUES

TADA! utilizes the following techniques in order to help students achieve the maximum possible benefit from the work:

Teaching artists create a safe, comfortable environment to help students confront any fears they may have of public expression. Each student is encouraged to use his or her own unique, creative voice.
Teachers consistently reinforce the importance of teamwork and tolerance so that each student is included and treated fairly.
Fast paced rehearsals ensure success in maintaining discipline. Students are active and "on their feet" right away.
Teaching artists carefully consider the age/maturity and reading/vocabulary level of the students when giving them direction or critiquing their work.

OUR SKILLS-BUILDING CURRICULUM

A typical 1-hour class structure is presented below:*

Activity Description

CLASS PREPARATION

(approx. 5 min. ) Teachers outline the class schedule so students know what will be expected of them throughout the class.

WARM-UPS

(approx. 20 min.) Physical warm-up teaches correct posture, body awareness, flexibility and stretches for each major muscle group.
Vocal warm-up teaches breath control, diction, tonality, rhythm, posture, and good vocal production, while increasing vocal range.

ACTING

(approx. 20 min.) Acting/movement games emphasize creativity and character development, diction and projection, and improvisation.
Students either work individually or are divided into small groups. Again, the ability to communicate with one another and work as a team, as well as individually, is essential.

STAGING MUSICAL NUMBERS

(approx. 40 min.) Concentration skills are developed as students are required to dance, sing, and act.
Students must retain all the information they have learned during the session and apply it to the final task of staging a musical number. First, students do a "read-through" of the selected text (which further reinforces their reading ability). Then, teachers assign roles and begin work on character development through discussion of a scene. Students learn all about theater terminology: blocking and stage directions, projection and cheating out, the concept of the "fourth wall", etc.
Teachers also help students put each scene in the context of the time-line of the play (i.e. what happens before and after the scene) in order to further help them understand the material.

THE END OF CLASS

(approx. 5 min.) Each class ends with a discussion in which students are given a chance to talk about what they have learned, teachers take time to mention any individual or group break-through, and any assignments for the next class are explained.

The following is a summary of the basic concepts from each discipline that a student will be ex-posed to during the course of a 16-session TADA! skills-building class:

Dance
Posture and body awareness
Stretches for each major muscle group
Hand-eye coordination
Interpretive movement
Different styles of dance
Dance terminology (plie, releve, etc.)

Singing
Awareness of jaw and tongue
Vocal freedom and relaxation
Diction and pure vowel production
Rhythm and tonality
Breath control and awareness
Musical terminology (piano, forte, etc.)

Acting
Neutral posture and body awareness
Awareness of environment
Sense memory skills
Improvisation and creative expression
Character development
Acting terminology (character, intention, etc.)

Musical Theater
Projecting the voice and "cheating out"
Stage directions and blocking
Ensemble techniques
Rehearsal discipline
Who's who on a production team (director, choreographer, musical director)
Musical theater terminology (libretto, score, etc.)

MATERIAL USED

One of the main strengths of TADA!'s Education Program is that material is drawn not only from popular Broadway and off-Broadway musicals, but from the company's own repertoire of original works containing songs specifically written for performance by children. TADA! has a catalogue of 52 original plays containing over 250 songs. The following is a partial list of songs that may be used in skills building class:

TADA! ORIGINAL SONGS

B'rer Fox Trot ("Rabbit Sense")
Find the Dream in You ("Prop Shop")
Give Your Love Away ("Little Moon Theater")
How to Understand Your Parents ("How to Eat Like a Child")
Individuality ("Little Moon Theater")
Making History Today ("History Mystery")
Never Give Up ("Little Moon Theater")
Pirate Song ("Maggie and the Pirate")
Sleepwalker ("Sleepover")
The Answer is Snow ("Gift of Winter")
We Refuse of Fall Asleep ("How To Eat Like a Child")

EVALUATIONS

A student's experience doesn't end when the last song is sung at the school presentation. After the presentation teaching artists evaluate the progress that individual students have made within their respective disciplines. TADA! staff interviews representative students to capture their subjective experiences of the program with emphasis on their feelings of self-confidence, self-esteem, and their ability to cooperate with others. TADA! teaching artists also meet with school personnel to determine the success of the class from a curricular standpoint. A short parent survey is also taken at the end of the16 sessions to measure the parental level of satisfaction.

Activity	Description
CLASS PREPARATION
(approx. 5 min. )	Teachers outline the class schedule so students know what will be expected of them throughout the class.
WARM-UPS
(approx. 20 min.)	Physical warm-up teaches correct posture, body awareness, flexibility and stretches for each major muscle group. Vocal warm-up teaches breath control, diction, tonality, rhythm, posture, and good vocal production, while increasing vocal range.
ACTING
(approx. 20 min.)	Acting/movement games emphasize creativity and character development, diction and projection, and improvisation. Students either work individually or are divided into small groups. Again, the ability to communicate with one another and work as a team, as well as individually, is essential.
STAGING MUSICAL NUMBERS
(approx. 40 min.)	Concentration skills are developed as students are required to dance, sing, and act. Students must retain all the information they have learned during the session and apply it to the final task of staging a musical number. First, students do a "read-through" of the selected text (which further reinforces their reading ability). Then, teachers assign roles and begin work on character development through discussion of a scene. Students learn all about theater terminology: blocking and stage directions, projection and cheating out, the concept of the "fourth wall", etc. Teachers also help students put each scene in the context of the time-line of the play (i.e. what happens before and after the scene) in order to further help them understand the material.
THE END OF CLASS
(approx. 5 min.)	Each class ends with a discussion in which students are given a chance to talk about what they have learned, teachers take time to mention any individual or group break-through, and any assignments for the next class are explained.

Dance	Posture and body awareness Stretches for each major muscle group Hand-eye coordination Interpretive movement Different styles of dance Dance terminology (plie, releve, etc.)
Singing	Awareness of jaw and tongue Vocal freedom and relaxation Diction and pure vowel production Rhythm and tonality Breath control and awareness Musical terminology (piano, forte, etc.)
Acting	Neutral posture and body awareness Awareness of environment Sense memory skills Improvisation and creative expression Character development Acting terminology (character, intention, etc.)
Musical Theater	Projecting the voice and "cheating out" Stage directions and blocking Ensemble techniques Rehearsal discipline Who's who on a production team (director, choreographer, musical director) Musical theater terminology (libretto, score, etc.)