German School Fine Arts Programs: Specific Disciplines
Figure 1.--We notice quite a number of impages of German school dramacproductions from the first half of the 20th century through into the 1960s. This image probably comes from the late-1950s. For some reason by the 1970s they seem less common. A reader wonders if it may be 'Midsummer night's dream'. A reader writes, "If you notice the boy's tights there seems to be a horizontal line running mid-thigh. Maybe that is how the tights were made or could it be his undergarment showing through. It is also possible that maybe they are stockings over tights? HBC's thinks that this was the way the tights were made, although we are not sure why. Note that the color or dit does not change either above or below this line.
We have not noted specialist classrooms like art rooms, but our archive is limited. Presumably schools had art rooms, especially secondary schools. Nor have we noted much attention to music which s especially interesting given the importance of music in German life. Learning musical instruments seems more a home activity and private tuition than a school activity. Presunably some schools had music rooms and organized performace groups, but we have little information. There must have been drama programs, although we do not know if it was class room or extra-curricular programs. We do see scenes from productions. Some schools seem to have had auditoriums where theatrical performances were staged. Some plays may have been staged in the gymnasium, used as a multiple purpose room. We note quite a range of productions. Some are clearly productions with younger children. Costuming is often imaginative. The plays for the younger children seem rather creative. Given the age of the childrem this was not just secondary schools. We also see more sophisticated plays staged by secondary-age students. We know nothing about dance programs in German schools. Hopefully our German readers will tell us about their school programs.
Art
We have not noted specialist classrooms like art rooms at German schools, but our archive is limited. Presumably schools had art rooms, especially secondary schools.
Dance
We know nothing about dance programs in German schools. There may have been dance activities for very young children in the classroom, but we hsve never notice any school dance programs.As far as we know there were no dance programs at boys' schools. We are less sure about coed schools or girls school.
There must have been school drama programs. We have seen numerous images of school drama productions, primarily from the 1920s-50s. We do not know know if it was class room or extra-curricular programs. We do see scenes from productions. Some schools seem to have had auditoriums where theatrical performances were staged. Some plays may have been staged in the gymnasium, used as a multiple purpose room. We note quite a range of productions. Some are clearly productions with younger children. Costuming is often imaginative. The plays for the younger children seem rather creative. Given the age of the childrem this was not just secondary schools. We also see more sophisticated plays staged by secondary-age students. The images we have are not identified, but we are almost sure they are school drama productions. Where but at schools would there have been nice stages an auditoriums available for children to use. A Canadian reader has provided us a set of school drama images. It was a unknown play production with a Renaissance setting. Many of the school plays for younger children seem to be plays that the teacher perhaps with students help made up rather than actual Renaissance plays.
Nor have we noted much attention to music which is especially interesting given the importance of music in German life. We do not know if music was a part of the curicula or if so just how deeply they got into music theory. We know there was singing in primary schools, but we do not know much more than that. Hopefully our German readers can cast some light on this.
We note that modern schools incudev both music and vusual arts in the currucul, but we do not know much about what the music classes consusted of or what was included in the currucula before World War II. (Major changes occurred in German education after World War II.) Learning musical instruments seems more a home activity and private tuition than a school activity. Presunably some schools had music rooms and organized performace groups, but we have little information. We have noted some after-school choral grouos, but we do not know if there were school choral programs during the day. We believe that an important part of music edivation to the extent it existed. Club activity was elective. What we might call extra-curricular activities today. We suspect that much of the actual music learning, at least instrumental learning took p;ace in cluns. And this would have dependened on the interests and abilities of the teachers willing to devote their attention and time to working with thevstidebnts. And club work would have been unpaid.
