Scotch College

The performing arts: an enriching tradition

Messrs Ritchie and Ferguson give their insights into the multiple benefits of the performing arts to the boys of Scotch, and their own satisfaction from teaching drama and music at Scotch.

WORDS: MS KEIRON JONES – HEAD OF YEAR 11 Photography: Ms Jocelyn Pride

Scotch College has an enviable reputation for its music, drama and other performing arts. From the humble space in the Scout Hall and the beautiful but ultimately inadequate Mackie Hall, Scotch has sought to provide for boys myriad opportunities for creative expression. Now firmly ensconced in the James Forbes Academy, the concerts, plays and musicals go from strength to strength, sometimes defying the natural law of ‘schoolboy talent’ to reach truly professional levels of endeavour.

The building of the James Forbes Academy was a courageous and emphatic statement that the performing arts are pivotal to a well-rounded person’s development. Indeed, in terms of educational space, there can be few more heroic buildings in an Australian school that signal an abiding commitment to the performing arts. However, buildings are only as useful as the people who use them, and to gain a brief insight into this part of the curricula and co-curricular program, I spoke with Mr Stephen Ritchie, Head of Drama, and Mr John Ferguson, Director of Music.

In your opinion, what are the benefits of the performing arts?

SR: The benefits are both educational and social, and, in fact, it’s almost impossible to have one without the other. I love the high level of performance skill that students can achieve when challenged. We also need to keep in mind why students express their interest and enthusiasm for theatre and we try to harness this. Students commit themselves to long-term rehearsals and performances for both social and creative reasons.

Not all boys are really talented performers, but the fact that they are serious about pursuing a role or participating in a play is deeply rewarding. The Geoffrey McComas Theatre allows us to stretch the students’ potential to the highest level, both on stage and backstage, so I feel the benefits are technical and creative as well as social. We’re very fortunate because we are in no way limited by the architecture or technical infrastructure.

In terms of their stage skills, the performers gain an invaluable vantage point from which to see their own personalities. They can look at themselves from an external point of view, whereas students often perceive the world from the inside looking out. And, to be honest, they often expect the world to respond immediately to their needs! Role-play challenges students to view personality and character from an objective point of view.

In terms of the backstage crew, they gain a whole new range of skills. They learn manual skills to start with, which gives them the ability and purpose to participate in a group creative process. Their tasks provide them with an enforced environment in which self-discipline is paramount. It skills them for later life in these broader objectives and it arms them, too, for later life to participate in creative activities. It also builds a tolerance of theatre, which is probably the oldest form of group expression.

JF: The benefits include an understanding of the great works of art. We only really understand someone like Beethoven by playing his music. The fact that we focus on playing great music gives students the chance to be in the presence of genius.

What do you think the performing arts add to the boys’ academic lives?

SR: The performing arts build confidence in students and add weight to their faith in themselves and their ability to achieve. They come to appreciate that their academic lives are not the sole purpose for being at school. Boys prove to themselves that their lives can accommodate far more than they would ever have thought were they to limit themselves to just the disciplines of the academic life. They have to learn time management, personal discipline and resilience. This affects the way they approach their studies. There is no correlation at all that there is a detrimental effect on results; indeed, the opposite is true.

JF: Because the performing arts are such a precise thing, requiring great intellectual and high levels of discrimination, boys who are successful at music are usually very successful in other academic pursuits. Music requires attention to detail and an understanding of selves under pressure. As music also demands an understanding of risk management, all of these insights are worthwhile. This is borne out in results where so many of our high fliers are also very skilled musicians. It’s also because music, being such an intellectual pursuit, attracts these kinds of students. Even boys with limited talent really thrive, and this flows on to their academic life. Countless studies have shown that music is beneficial to the whole human being, but we don’t teach music just to improve boys’ maths scores!

How much do you liaise with the music school?

SR: With regard to musicals, we do one every two years and so at these times there is strong cooperation. Lots of people have to be informed, coordinated and involved. Singers, musicians, performers, backstage crew and so many other people have to synchronise their efforts to an extraordinary degree. At such times, sometimes it seems as though the administrative tasks are more critical than being a director!

So students gain a real cross–curricular, cross–artistic insight. Musicians in particular may find this so, because normally they are on stage, but in a musical they are in the pit: highly audible but invisible! This is a very different experience and perhaps a little isolating; they never get to see the show of which they are such a critical part. I sometimes wonder if they feel a little ‘disconnected’ from what is happening on stage.

How much do you liaise with the drama school?

JF: Well, music students are sometimes a very ‘different breed’ from drama students! We don’t liaise all the time but for musicals we do. Musicians certainly feel part of any musical and take great satisfaction in utilising their skills to be such an integral part of the musical productions. Their advanced skills are called upon every evening. There is a wonderful camaraderie in the pit which perhaps people don’t see or appreciate. So they don’t feel any sense of ‘disconnection’ but there’s no doubt that they are a unique body unto themselves.

What gives you the greatest sense of achievement?

SR: The ongoing involvement of students from Years 7–12. The process of nurturing boys through a range of experiences remains deeply satisfying after all these years. Individual performances are also rewarding. These students, whether skilled or unskilled, talented or untalented, gravitate to the activity and they are hugely enriching to work with. Sometimes I nurture a ‘personality’ not a ‘talent’ but, in the end, the whole range of students becomes a rich experience for me. Watching them over the years is what is really gratifying. I’ve taught boys at Scotch for 32 years, so I’m possibly teaching the sons of boys who were my first drama students!

JF: The greatest satisfaction for me is when boys suddenly find an insight into great works of art that they wouldn’t have had any chance of experiencing otherwise. For example, one mother said that the first time her son went to rehearsal he reported back: ‘It’s worse than detention!’ However, when he mastered the piece of music he was walking six feet tall! Also, a group of boys got a Facebook page going about the recent performance of Planet suite, sharing their appreciation for the work. The boys choose the works throughout the year, and that also pleases me greatly. No matter how challenging the pieces, they seem determined to get there. GS