CHS Blog

Just outside the SLC, near the traffic circle, is “Cindy’s Garden.”  During her many years at CHS, Mrs. Cindy Keegan often reminded us, “It is SO important for students to be a part of something bigger than themselves.”  We do this really well in the Visual and Performing Arts department.  Each and every student’s singing voice is heard, every instrumentalist has a part to play, every actor has a role to fill and no one is “sitting on the bench.”  At the art show this month, every student’s work is displayed, considered and celebrated.  Each person makes a contribution that is integral, unique and irreplaceable.

At Christian Heritage School, we believe that the visual & performing arts are learned skills that every student can acquire and develop at any age.  It is not something only for the “talented few.”  This is why, at CHS, all students, grades K - 8 take visual arts and music classes as a part of their weekly curriculum.  Students this age are discovering what they excel at and what it is they enjoy doing.  In grades 9 - 12 at CHS, roughly ninety percent of the student body enrolls in at least one arts class annually.  The largest classes in the upper school are all arts classes.  This year, the high school concert choir roster is literally fifty percent of the entire high school student body!  

If you are looking for your student to excel in the arts at the highest level, we have opportunities for you here at CHS.  This school year, we had many students participate in regional and all-state music ensembles.  We have current seniors being accepted into nationally recognized visual arts programs.  Since the school was founded, many CHS students have gone on to pursue careers in the arts as a vocation and a profession.  Currently, three teachers in the Visual and Performing Arts department are CHS alums.  CHS students and alums have performed on some of the finest stages in New York City and have been featured on television programs like “America’s Got Talent.”

That said, the primary goal of the Visual and Performing Arts department is not to produce the next generation of professional artists and musicians.  Rather, the objective is to show each student that he or she can be artistic.  There is a place for everyone, regardless of ability, in an arts class at CHS.  Artistry and musicianship are learned skills that all can improve.  

When a student participates in an arts class, their brain is engaged in learning in a way that is totally unique in the midst of the school day.  As a singer, instrumentalist, painter or photographer, the student is working and engaging the brain in three different realms at the same time:  psychomotor, cognitive and aesthetic, or more simply put, “body, brain and spirit.”  In arts classes, learning is more physically active and participatory than other academic areas.  Students are “doers” first when they are in an arts class–they are musicians, they are artists, they are creators.  The cognitive side of the brain is engaged in arts classes, too.  Musicians are literally reading and performing a written and aural universal language.  Performers have countless details to consider as they work in real time.  Artists and creators have to contemplate not just how they will capture and present their work, but also how others will receive it.  Artists of the highest caliber are thinkers, too.  Finally, arts classes engage the learner in the area that is feelingful and inspiring.  Works of art touch the human spirit in ways that are totally unique.  Learning of all kinds impacts the brain.  Not all the facts, words and numbers covered in a school day impact the spirit and touch the soul the way work in the arts can do.    

The human ability to create and participate in artistic mediums and expressions of all kinds points back to our Creator.  Our Heavenly Father is the ultimate artist and creator of all things beautiful.  When we engage body, brain and spirit as artists, we are reflecting, celebrating and bringing honor to our creator.  It was His idea first and we are his image bearers.

Something unique to a successful concert, art show, musical, or even chapel service is that each student artist and musician must be excellent at his or her part.  Each CHS arts instructor capably sets up all students for artistic success.  It takes each student, performing his or her role with technical accuracy and excellent artistry, to create a solid presentation.  In arts classes, students learn diligence, creativity, critical thinking and patience all simultaneously.  Most importantly, they are learning “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men…it it the Lord Christ you are serving”  Colossians 3:23

Upcoming Spring Concerts: 

• High School - Thursday, May 9, 7:30pm
• Lower School - Wednesday, May 15, 8:15am
• Middle School - Thursday, May 16, 7:30pm

Brett Flowers serves as the Visual & Performing Arts Department Head.  This is his seventeenth year at CHS, where he directs band students in grades 4 - 12.  Brett also teaches a high school Music Tech elective class and a UCONN dual enrollment course in Music Theory.  Prior to coming to CHS, Brett taught in the public school system in Andover, MA and served as an adjunct music instructor at Gordon College.  Brett received his Bachelor of Music in Music Education from Gordon College and his Master of Music in Saxophone Performance from Temple University.  His wife is a CHS alum and four of his daughters are current students at CHS.