Grade 9 Creative Arts & Sports Study Notes

Foundations of Creative Arts and Sports

Creative Arts and Sports is made up of three parts:

• Visual Arts — drawing, painting, craft, photography, and design
• Performing Arts — music, dance, drama, and theatre
• Sports — athletics, games, and physical fitness

This strand answers two questions before any skill is taught: what careers and businesses can you build in these fields? And what are the basic parts that connect all these areas?

What this strand covers

• Sub-strand 1.1 — Careers, roles of professionals, and entrepreneurial opportunities
• Sub-strand 1.2 — Elements of plays, physical fitness, music notation, and scale construction

What is a Career?

A career is a job, profession, or trade that a person does to earn a living.

Careers in Creative Arts and Sports let people earn money from what they love. They can satisfy a person's passion and provide a good source of income at the same time.

Careers in the Sports Field

People with talent and training in sports can choose from many careers. These careers are found in schools, clubs, hospitals, media houses, and sports agencies.

• Professional athlete
• Sports coach
• Sports agent
• Sports journalist
• Sports broadcaster
• Sports news anchor
• Athletic director
• Sports marketing manager
• Sports event coordinator
• Fitness trainer
• Sports scientist
• Exercise physiologist
• Sports nutritionist
• Strength and conditioning coach
• Sports psychologist
• Rehabilitation specialist
• Sports medicine practitioner
• Performance analyst
• Performance physiotherapist
• Games and sports teacher
• Sports designer

Careers in the Music Field

People with musical talent and training can choose from many careers. These are found in recording studios, schools, hospitals, radio stations, TV stations, event companies, and theatres.

• Music composer
• Music performer
• Choreographer
• Stage director
• Music therapist
• Music director
• Sound technician
• Music agent
• Music production specialist
• Dance photographer
• Voice over artist
• Music teacher
• Theatre critic

Careers in the Theatre and Drama Field

People with talent and training in theatre can choose from many careers. These are found in theatres, drama schools, TV production companies, and film studios.

• Casting director
• Playwright
• Set and stage manager
• Lighting designer
• Prop manager
• Drama teacher
• Voice coach
• Production manager
• Publicist
• Backdrop designer

The Sports Coach

A sports coach works with athletes and teams to improve their performance.

Roles

• Trains individuals in a team to improve their physical fitness
• Makes programmes, plans, formations, and tactics for the team to perform at their best
• Gives advice to the team during competitions

A sports coach helps develop athletes' physical abilities and discipline, contributing to stronger and healthier communities.

The Pianist

A pianist is a musician who plays the piano professionally.

Roles

• Performs a solo recital — plays alone on stage to show their skill and artistry
• Provides accompaniment — plays alongside other musicians such as singers, instrumentalists, or a choir to support their performance

A solo recital is when the pianist performs alone and the audience comes to hear them specifically. Accompaniment is when the pianist plays in the background to support and complement another performer.

Pianists contribute to cultural events, religious services, concerts, and music education.

The Graphic Designer

A graphic designer creates visual materials for communication and promotion.

Roles

• Creates and designs promotional items such as banners, posters, fliers, and book layouts
• Creates illustrations for books and websites
• Edits photos and videos

Graphic designers produce the visual materials that schools, businesses, publishers, and organisations use to communicate with the public — every poster, book cover, and website banner is their work.

The Photo Journalist

A photo journalist tells news stories through photographs.

Roles

• Takes photographs that effectively communicate a news story
• Researches and plans which photographs to take to accompany a story
• Edits photographs for use in a newspaper, magazine, or publication

A photo journalist is different from an ordinary photographer — they must capture images that inform the public about a real event, not just take attractive pictures.

The Drumist

A drumist (also called a drummer) is a musician who plays drums professionally as part of a musical group.

Roles

• Plays drums in accompaniment of a musical group
• Sets the tempo and provides rhythm to the performance

Tempo is the speed of the music — how fast or slow it goes. The drumist controls this so all musicians in the group stay in time with each other. Without the drumist, the group would lose its rhythm and fall out of time.

The drumist provides the rhythmic foundation that holds the whole musical group together.

The Play Director

A play director oversees and controls the entire process of producing a play — from finding actors to managing the final performance.

Roles

• Auditions actors — invites actors to perform a short piece to find out who suits each role
• Casts actors — decides which actor plays which part
• Assembles designers — brings together the set, lighting, costume, and prop designers
• Provides the director's vision — sets the creative concept for the whole production
• Coordinates rehearsals and manages the production schedule

Auditioning is the testing step — actors try out for roles. Casting is the decision — the director picks the right person for each part.

A play director brings together people, design, and performance to create theatre that entertains, educates, and addresses real issues in society.

Comparing the Six Career Paths

The table below compares the six professionals studied in this sub-strand — their field, where they work, and what they contribute.

What is an Entrepreneurial Opportunity?

An entrepreneurial opportunity is a way of creating a business idea after identifying a need for products or services in a community.

In Creative Arts and Sports, entrepreneurial opportunities allow a person to start and run their own business using their talent and skills — instead of working for someone else.

The key difference between a career and an entrepreneurial opportunity is ownership. An entrepreneur is their own boss, sets their own fees, and earns directly from clients.

Photography

Photography as an entrepreneurial opportunity involves offering photography services for events such as weddings, graduations, birthdays, and special occasions. Photographs can also be sold online or in art galleries.

A photography entrepreneur owns their equipment, sets their own prices, markets their services, and keeps the income they earn.

Sports Coaching

Sports coaching as an entrepreneurial opportunity involves training teams to win competitions and educating players on techniques in their field.

An entrepreneur sports coach works independently — running their own private training sessions and earning directly from clients, rather than being employed by a school or club on a salary.

Performing Music

Performing music as an entrepreneurial opportunity includes performing live at events, recording music, and writing music. Examples include singing at events, playing instruments, and composing songs.

A music entrepreneur earns from performance fees, music sales, and song licensing — allowing others to use their compositions in exchange for payment.

Performing a Play

Performing a play as an entrepreneurial opportunity involves scripting and performing plays at events for entertainment or education. Actors may also perform in community forums to raise awareness about important social issues.

Income comes from payments by event organisers and from audiences who buy tickets to attend performances.

Dance Choreography

Dance choreography as an entrepreneurial opportunity involves creating sequences of dance steps and moves, then training and organising dancers to perform at events and festivals. The choreographer and dancers are paid for their services.

A choreographer can also record dance tutorials and upload them to digital platforms, earning income based on the number of views their content receives.

Two income streams

Key Points — Careers in Creative Arts and Sports

• A career is a job or profession done to earn a living; careers in Creative Arts and Sports can satisfy passion and provide a good income.
• Careers fall across three fields: Sports (coaches, athletes, scientists), Music (composers, teachers, technicians), and Theatre and Drama (playwrights, directors, designers).
• A sports coach trains, plans, and advises; a pianist performs solo or accompanies; a graphic designer creates visual materials; a photo journalist captures news photographs; a drumist plays drums and sets the tempo; a play director auditions, casts, and coordinates the whole production.
• An entrepreneurial opportunity means running your own business to meet a community need — not working for an employer.
• The five entrepreneurial opportunities are: Photography, Sports coaching, Performing music, Performing a play, and Dance choreography.
• A choreographer earns from performance fees at events and from online tutorial views on digital platforms.
• Creative Arts and Sports are real professions — not just hobbies — that people build full livelihoods from.

What is a Play?

A play is a story that is acted out through characters in situations that imitate human life. It is written and designed to be performed in front of an audience on a stage.

A play is divided into acts and scenes for dramatic effect. An act is a major section of the play. A scene is a smaller division within an act, usually set in one place and time.

A play consists of both written elements (found in the script) and performance elements (seen and heard on stage). The eight elements of a play are: story, theme, plot, characters, language, conflict, resolution, and setting.

Story and Theme

Story

A storyline is a sequence of imaginary events arranged in time order. One action takes place, then it is followed by another. The storyline is what happens in the play from beginning to end.

Theme

The theme is the main idea that the story in a play revolves around. It is the central message the playwright wants to communicate to the audience.

Example: A play about a student who is bullied at school has bullying as its theme. Every event in the story connects back to that central idea.

Plot and Characters

Plot

The plot is the sequence or order of happenings in a story in a cause-and-effect manner. It involves a series of actions and reactions between characters — if one character does something, another responds to it.

The plot is different from the storyline: the storyline tells what happens, while the plot explains why it happens and how one event causes another.

Characters

Characters are the imaginary beings involved in the action of a play. They can be people, non-living things, or non-human beings such as animals.

Each character has a role to play in driving the events of the story forward.

Language and Conflict

Language

In a play, characters are given speech and actions. These form the language of the play — they are used to pass meaning from one person to another.

Language in a play is not only words. The costumes the actors wear and the scenery they perform in are also part of the language of the play.

Conflict

Conflict is a problem, clash of ideas, or difference in opinions within and between characters in a play. Conflict drives the story forward — without it, there would be no tension or interest.

Example: In Onyango's Ball, the conflict begins when Shifwabi snatches Onyango's ball. This clash between Shifwabi and Onyango and Kimani creates the tension that the audience wants to see resolved.