Pistachio mom Posted June 8, 2016 Share Posted June 8, 2016 Course Description Elective: Music Production 9: Opera Studies - Trial by Jury Credit Earned: 1/2 credit Course Description: This course is a performance of Guilbert & Sullivan's Trial by Jury. Trial by Jury is part of a public performance of two short operettas performed by the ########## Repertory Opera in ########, ## on April 15, 16, and 17. Grade earned by hours of participation in audition, rehearsals, performances, and volunteer participation in a fundraiser ball for the opera company. Student sang the part of one of the bridesmaids for the operetta. She also participated by singing in a Masquerade Ball fundraiser for the same opera company on April 9, 2016. Applied Music Skills include: -audition with solo performance -online research and study past performances of this operetta -demonstrate unified ensemble skills -rehearse under conductor directions -respond to conductor cues -perform melody phrases accurately -sight read music in ensemble -perform with balance and blend -perform with group -assist with set/costume details -perform in costume with choreography -attend all required and extra rehearsals Course Grade Music Production 9: Opera Studies - Girl Pistachio - completed 04/16 Audition 100% Research, prop & costume assistance 100% Rehearsal participation 100% Performance participation 100% Course Average = 100% 60-75 hours = 1/2 credit Final Grade for Opera Performance 9 = 100 = A A = 90-100% = 4.0 B = 80-90% = 3.0 C = 70-79% = 2.0 D = 60-69% = 1.0 1 Carnegie Credit = 120 -150 hours of student work Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pistachio mom Posted June 8, 2016 Author Share Posted June 8, 2016 Hi everyone, I specifically need some ideas of how to better show my daughter's grade than by the percentages. I would rather not list counted hours even though I do have a tally (73) because I may not be able to put hours on all of my elective courses. I want to be consistent, with all of my course descriptions as a whole. Any ideas? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
regentrude Posted June 8, 2016 Share Posted June 8, 2016 (edited) Too long and too wordy. I'd cut out the list of skills (it's quite obvious that these are things needed in order to perform in a musical) and make the entire course description a paragraph only. I'd also cut the detailed parts of the grade and the grading scale (grading scale will be on the transcript) and simply list the grade as A. I never listed the number of hours in any of my course descriptions. Nobody cared. Edited June 8, 2016 by regentrude Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eliz Posted June 8, 2016 Share Posted June 8, 2016 I agree with Regentrude. I would cut all the information about how the grade was determined and the number of hours. Reduce the information to one short paragraph describing the basics of the course. I would keep all you written here for your records if needed later. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pistachio mom Posted June 8, 2016 Author Share Posted June 8, 2016 (edited) I did some combining and totally cut out the box about percentages. It looks a lot cleaner. I appreciate the feedback. I am following Lee Binz' template for a "delight directed learning" course. I just want to skip the hours and percentages so to write up all of the electives the same way. I complied the specific skills off of numerous public high school course descriptions. Edited June 8, 2016 by Pistachio mom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JanetC Posted June 8, 2016 Share Posted June 8, 2016 We also made the choice that a course description was not a grade book. There was just the final grade in the transcript. I also didn't put hours of study per class, just the minimum required for one high school credit in the cover sheet. Just FYI, if you use bullets, assume that's what will be read. Don't hide anything essential in the paragraph. (This from watching what adcoms did when I showed them my documents at a college fair. They immediately skimmed to the bullets.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
klmama Posted June 8, 2016 Share Posted June 8, 2016 I'm just curious why you would want to count this as a course instead of as an extracurricular? Would she otherwise be low on credits? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pistachio mom Posted June 8, 2016 Author Share Posted June 8, 2016 Because she wants to be a music major in college, I think listing this experience as a credit, rather than an activity, gives more validity to her homeschool transcript. She also learned a lot. It was hard music to learn, and she had to work hard. I want to highlight the fine art strengths since shining on a standardized test will not display her strengths. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
regentrude Posted June 8, 2016 Share Posted June 8, 2016 (edited) Because she wants to be a music major in college, I think listing this experience as a credit, rather than an activity, gives more validity to her homeschool transcript. She also learned a lot. It was hard music to learn, and she had to work hard. I want to highlight the fine art strengths since shining on a standardized test will not display her strengths. If she wants to be a music major, I would list this as an extracurricular! I would have listed it on the transcript if the student had to use it to fulfill the fine arts requirement - as a musician, she probably has plenty of credits in this area, and that half credit just gets buried in a sea of other music credits. She will have room on the college application to elaborate on her extracurriculars; a half credit on the transcript with a brief mention of the course title does not make it stand out. The college may not look at your course descriptions. As an extracurricular, it can stand out and shine. As a half elective credit, it gets buried. Also, if she wants to major in music, would not an audition determine acceptance rather than transcript anyway? I assume as a music major, she would have a list of her performances with various ensembles as a sort of "portfolio" item, wouldn't she? Edited June 8, 2016 by regentrude Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
klmama Posted June 8, 2016 Share Posted June 8, 2016 Unless she doesn't have other music-related credits, I would definitely use it as an extracurricular so it will have more exposure. It shows she cares enough about music to be heavily involved in a musical endeavor that isn't "required" for school. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DebbS Posted June 8, 2016 Share Posted June 8, 2016 (edited) My daughter is a freshman in the fall majoring in vocal performance. I chose to put her voice lessons and music theory courses on her transcript and her performances in extra-curricular activities because many scholarships are weighted towards the students who have a variety of these. Many students will have the same GPA as your daughter, but it's the outside activities that will distinguish her from the others. My daughter received several merit scholarships within and outside of the music department, so listing her vocal performances, competitions, theater performances, dance and costume shop work in addition to a few other non-music related activities as extra-curriculars seemed to have worked to her advantage. Edited June 8, 2016 by DebbS 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pistachio mom Posted June 9, 2016 Author Share Posted June 9, 2016 (edited) Thank you for the feedback. I do plan to put recital type of performances and competitions on the activity list. This really took a lot of hours of prep work, it seems like more than just an activity. I am still learning how to know when to list something as an "activity" versus a "credit." I will think about what you all have said. Music is her love, and her gift from God. She would be in as many musical performances as I let her, but alas - she is not an only child..... Is there always a difference between an activity and a credit? Can something be both? or can the activity be related to the credit. I could have listed this as voice performance and grouped this with her one semester of voice lessons. I could rewirite the credit as voice performance and then list the opera as an activity. But I put this on instead of the voice lessons since she was only able to take lessons for 6 months of the school year because her teacher moved. She won a scholarship for this next year, so it will make financing the voice lessons along with her other 2 instruments will be easier. Fine arts credits will not be a problem for her. She will have some every year God allows lessons to work out financially. I am not expecting her to have trouble being accepted to a college. She has good grades, her test scores are fine so far. She just can't always get the test done in the time limit. So I do not know how ACT/SAT will turn out for her. We will study, but on the other hand - I want to help her show her strengths in ways that is not standardized. I want to do everything I can to keep good records to help her have a shot at scholarships. Probably like many of you.. This is my first high school student so I have much to learn about the best way to write the paperwork. Regentrude and DebbS, thank you both for your insight. Edited June 9, 2016 by Pistachio mom 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
regentrude Posted June 9, 2016 Share Posted June 9, 2016 Is there always a difference between an activity and a credit? Can something be both? or can the activity be related to the credit. I could have listed this as voice performance and grouped this with her one semester of voice lessons. I could rewirite the credit as voice performance and then list the opera as an activity. But I put this on instead of the voice lessons since she was only able to take lessons for 6 months of the school year because her teacher moved. An academic credit usually has an instructional component. An extracurricular activity does not have to. Some things could be listed as either a credit or extracurricular, but you should not double dip; you cannot list the same activity as both a credit and extracurricular - you have to choose. I have an athlete and list all his classes as extracurriculars so he can have them stand out and elaborate; I use other physical activities as his PE credit which will sit on the bottom of the transcript and only be notice if somebody needs to check a box. His various martial arts classes and competition records will shine much better as extracurricular. Colleges want to see students who pursue an extracurricular area of interest with passion. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pistachio mom Posted June 9, 2016 Author Share Posted June 9, 2016 Ok. I think I am understanding what you mean. Since in our case, we will have the fine arts more than covered - listing this opera, or string ensemble participation, or a play in the extracurricular activities will probably be more wise in the long run if we already have a general credit in this area. With this in mind, I took the string ensemble out of her violin perfomance credit course description in order to re-list it as an extra curricular. I just changed the violin credit value to 1/2 credit to reflect the change. This idea will probably apply to a lot of different situations. Sports or fine arts. Maybe even science or history if someone participated in the local museum type of specialized camps for high school students. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Julie in MN Posted June 9, 2016 Share Posted June 9, 2016 This course is a performance of Guilbert & Sullivan's Trial by Jury. That first sentence seems off to me. As a non-theater major reading it, I first wondered if all she did was attend a play. If you shorten the description as others have suggested, I'd give that first sentence more "education-ese." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pistachio mom Posted June 9, 2016 Author Share Posted June 9, 2016 Thanks. I actually made a typo that I already fixed. It should be Gilbert. And I can adjust that sentence to make it clear that this is participation in the performance, rather than attending a performance. I am leaning towards just listing this as an extracurricular activity since she does not need the credit for the sake of meeting a graduation requirement. So, I may not need the course description. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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