SUBMITTED PHOTO Fourth-year Medicine Hat College education students put on their production of the short baseball-themed music, "It's a Hit," which they did start to finish in eight days.
jappel@medicinehatnews.com@MHNJeremyAppel
Medicine Hat College education students put on a short musical last week they had begun working on just eight days prior.
Instructor Colleen Whidden says the project was part of her musical education course.
The course is for all education students, not just those who are aspiring music teachers, she says.
The students did all the work on the play – singing, dancing, acting, directing, choreography and set design.
Whidden says this will give her students valuable organizational skills, which are transferable to anything they teach.
“Plus, it’s just fun to do” she said.
A hands-on learning experience of this nature serves to show, rather than simply tell, the students how to teach.
“That’s a really sound way of them actually learning the skills they will ultimately take into their future careers as teachers,” said Whidden.
The baseball-themed play itself – “It’s a Hit: A Musical of Innings and Winnings” – was selected by the instructor for its brevity (about 25 minutes) and music selection.
“The music is really quite tuneful, so it was easy for them to learn in a very short period of time,” she said.
The short turnaround time for its production was similarly an asset.
“They have no time to forget anything,” Whidden said, adding that it also makes it easier to get props without having to hoard them and get time in the theatre.
“By design, it actually works really well to do a musical in a short time.”
She says some of the students were skeptical initially, but it grew on them throughout the process.
“By the end, they appeared to enjoy the actual experience of them being on stage, and actually doing the sing, dancing and acting, as well as doing all the aspects of what it takes to put on a musical,” said Whidden.
