Denton ISD Fine Arts

Empowering Artistic Growth. Every Student. Every day.

March 2019

District Winter Guard Showcase, March 22

Denton ISD presents its first district-wide Winter Guard Showcase at Braswell High School's gymnasium on Friday, March 22, beginning at 8:00pm. The show includes performances by the winter guard programs from Braswell HS, Calhoun MS, Denton HS, and Guyer HS. This is an outstanding opportunity for the friends, families, and fans of these students to see all of these groups in one venue. Come experience the creativity and skills these students have put together with their directors in their programs for the indoor winter guard competitiion season.

Youth Art Month Exhibition at GDAC, March 7-23

The Greater Denton Arts Council is hosting its annual exhibition of artwork created by Denton ISD elementary art students to celebrate March as "Youth Art Month". The exhibit will be displayed in the GDAC Gough Gallery at Patterson-Appleton Arts Center at 400 E. Hickory St. in Denton, March 7-23. National Youth Art Month is a month of promoting visual artwork and art education in the United States. Families and children of the Denton community are invited enjoy the work of DISD elementary school students in this delightful exhibition. Many thanks to GDAC and to DISD's elementary art teachers for coordinating this event.

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UIL Sweepstakes for DISD Music Programs

Denton ISD's secondary music programs perform their UIL Concert and Sight-reading Assessments during the 2nd semester. This performance is an academic state assessment for our music programs in a similar way that the STAAR measures student understanding and mastery in other academic subjects in which written tests are more appropriate. Our bands, choirs, and orchestras have a specific date where they must give two performances for three-person panels of UIL adjudicators evaluating the performances according to the UIL music rubrics. The first performance is a concert performance of three prepared pieces from the UIL Prescribed Music List. The second performance is a sight-reading performance of a piece of music the students and director have never seen before. Each level of music group reads a specified level of sight-reading piece that has been composed specifically for this school year's sight-reading assessments. Groups are assigned a division rating 1 through 5 according to the UIL rubric. Groups that earn a Division 1 in concert or sight-reading receive an award. Those that are rated Division 1 in both Concert and Sight-reading receive the UIL Sweepstakes Award.

We are extremely proud of the outstanding UIL performances by our orchestras, MS choirs, and MS bands. The HS bands and choirs perform their UIL assessments in April. So far in 2018-19, DISD music programs have earned 91 Division 1 ratings, with 16 of those groups receiving Sweepstakes. Click these links below to see a list of DISD's music groups that have already performed this UIL assessment and received Division 1 ratings.

Middle School Band UIL Results

Middle School Choir UIL Results

HS and MS Orchestra UIL Results

15 Art Students Qualify for State VASE

15 high school art students from Denton ISD have qualified for the state Visual Art Scholastic Event to be held at San Marcos HS, April 26-27. Congratulations to these outstanding student artists and their teachers from Braswell and Guyer HS. The Visual Arts Scholastic Event (VASE) recognizes exemplary student achievement in the Visual Arts by providing art students and programs a standard of excellence in which to achieve. January 2019 marks the Texas High School VASE 25th season. The first VASE event was held in 1994 with just over 400 student entries; in 2018, over 35,000 artworks were entered in VASE. Students create artworks, write about their creative processes and understanding of visual art, and articulate information about their artwork during an interview with a VASE juror, who evaluates their work using a standards-based rubric.

414 First Division Medal Winners at UIL Solo and Ensemble Contest

January and February, band, choir and orchestra students from Braswell, Denton, Guyer, and Ryan High Schools performed in the Region 2 UIL Solo and Ensemble Contest. 216 band students, 109 orchestra students, and 89 choir students were awarded 1st Division medals from UIL totaling 414 1st Division medals for Denton ISD high school musicians. 104 band students, 65 choir students, and 53 orchestra students have qualified for the Texas State Solo and Ensemble Contest, totaling 222 from Denton ISD. Many thanks to Denton ISD's music directors and private lesson teachers for preparing students for this UIL contest. Congratulations to these outstanding students for their achievements.

Denton ISD 5th Grade Honor Choir Concert

On Friday, February 22, the Denton ISD 5th Grade Honor Choir performed an outstanding concert for a packed house of family and friends at the Strickland Middle School Auditorium. 5th Graders were selected by audition from all 23 of Denton ISD's elementary schools to form the Honor Choir. The students were led by guest conductor, Phyllis King and accompanist, Patti Freeman. Many thanks to all of our elementary school music teachers for coordinating this event and for helping their respective students to prepare their music for the performance.