Casx (Creative Art School of Excellence)
The Creative Arts School of Excellence
The Creative Arts School of Excellence (casX) offers a bridge between schools, cultural organisations and creative practitioners, providing school children in Redbridge and other local boroughs with opportunities to develop their creativity in learning and by taking part in cultural activities of the highest quality.
Throughout the entire training of your child at casX, one of the key focus points will be for us to aid you, as parents, in developing the character of your child, whilst accompanying them on this part of their journey in their faith and skills development.
By introducing and building these 'partnerships', all our tutors, parents and children will be given the opportunity and time to come together, with other like-minded children and develop their creative skills both across and beyond the formal curriculum.
There will be strong emphasis on developing the mentoring relationships between your child and us. This is a vital ingredient and is embedded in all the various programmes, classes & tuition we provide.
At a later stage, we will be offering a form of accreditation for the work our young people produce. These really are early days for us!
We want to promote Creative Learning
Creative learning is simply any learning, which develops our capacity to be creative. It equips young people with the knowledge and skills they need to succeed in today's world: nurturing ways of thinking and working which encourage imagination, visionary thinking, independence, tolerance of ambiguity and risk, openness, the raising of aspirations and most importantly, mirroring our Creative God whose creativity is seen in all of nature.
Steve & Velveta have been in the industry for many years now and with your help as parents, we need to ensure we're not setting young people up with false expectations about achieving success in the media industry. Music will be a 'hobby' for most young people and we believe it is important to encourage this, though we also need to ensure our programmes include a 'reality check'.
Visionary:
The Creative Arts School of Excellence is an ambitious project and the methods behind the development of your child in their chosen instrument 
will allow them more than mere creative ability. With mentoring and spiritual growth being key aspects of the Academy, we know your child will catch the vision of the Academy and the relationships they will develop with their tutors, and will run with this in their own relationships outside the Academy.
What we can guarantee:
Therefore, we can guarantee casX will offer your child and all our students:
Attainable Aims - goals they are always working toward and achieving
The right people to help train and develop every student
On-going mentoring of each student by the staff of The Academy
Core Values:
Some of the core values we believe in at casX are:
- Creativity connected to worship
- Inspiring tuition
- Mentoring / relationships
- Fun and enjoyment
- Engaging activities
- Encouraging the children in all they do
- Accessible to anyone regardless of previous experience
- The stretching of their musical understanding
- Practical lessons
- Skills-based teaching
- High quality tuition
- Character building
The various training modules we will be offering are:
-
Keyboards (Piano & Synthesisers)
- Drums & percussion
- Voice study
- Guitar (acoustic & electric)
- Recording
- Music arranging & scoring
Modules on Offer throughout our Residential Conferences:
Keyboards:
-
Individual keyboard lesson
- Improvisation, reading and creativity
- The difference between Acoustic Piano and Synthesisers
- Using synthetic sounds
Band Clinic:
-
The function of the instruments in the band/song
-
Breaking down the various styles of music via demonstrations
-
Preparation for working in a recording studio
-
Visits to a recording studio (sitting in on sessions)
-
Bass n Drums clinic
Vocal Group Tuition:
-
'How to sing gospel'
- Vocal harmony
- Microphone technique
- Reading music
- Vocal blend
- Working in the recording studio
- Visits to a recording studio (vocal sessions)
- Singing as part of a choir
Sequencing:
-
- Introduction to synthesisers and sequencing (using computers to create & record music)
- Introduction to musical arrangements
- Basic scoring - drum notation, percussion, bass guitar etc.
- Advanced synthesis & sequencing
- Advanced musical arrangements & scoring
Song Writing:
-
Writing a simple melody
- Rhyme scheme
- Colour and texture using chords (basic to advanced)
We will also look at the 'Life of a Pop Star' :
-
Contracts
- Dress-code
- Regular Practice session
- Working with a band
Music Theory
Understanding Music Theory
-
Time values (note lengths)
- Bar lines and Time Signatures
- The Stave
- Note Lettering
- Correct Fingering
- Bass & Treble clef
- Rests
- Accidentals
- Dots & ties
- Grouping Notes Correctly
- Simple Rhythms & Melodies
- Semitones and Tones
- Scales
- Keys (e.g. notes involved in the key of "C")
Performance Direction
Guitar
-
Bass guitar from beginner to professional
- Electric & acoustic guitar from beginner to professional
- Lead guitar techniques
- Finger picking techniques
- Hammering-on, Licks & Tricks
- Rhythm styles (e.g. soul, funk, rock)
Drums
-
Warm-up techniques
- Bass drum accenting
- Linear phasing
- The importance of time
- Rhythm styles
....... plus more
