The arts: food for the soul.
All through the Hudson experience, student academic lives are anchored by the arts. From a Lower School day that begins with song to Upper School studios, stages, and ensembles, creative work is how Hudson students learn to think, to express, and to belong.
It begins with a song.
In the Lower School, music is a daily activity built on the Kodály philosophy: children sing authentic music from many cultures and eras, and instruments extend what their voices begin. A Reggio Emilia approach lets the youngest students explore big ideas through paint, blocks, drama, and the maker materials of the Shared Space. By Middle and Upper School, that foundation grows into full theatrical productions, choirs and ensembles, studio and digital art, and college-level coursework.
Explore Academics
Traditions that shape a Hudson education.
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Every Day Starts with Music
Lower School mornings open with Morning Gathering, and music is a daily activity in every grade. Built on the Kodály philosophy, our program puts singing first, with songs drawn from many cultures and eras of history.
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The Shared Space
Our Lower School maker space is a studio where children encounter materials and artistic techniques of every kind. In the Reggio Emilia tradition, these expressive languages weave imagination together with cognitive skill.
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Family Art Night and Lower School Concerts
Families gather every year for Family Art Night and the Lower School Winter Concert, joyful celebrations of our youngest artists and musicians.
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The 5th Grade Play
Fifth graders stage the beloved Greek Skits as they prepare for the National Mythology Exam, then mount a full-scale production drawn from their history and literature classes, constructing sets, painting scenery, and sewing costumes along the way.
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The 7th Grade Play
Each winter, seventh graders take the stage for a production all their own, performed for the whole community, part of a Middle School theater tradition that has included classics like The Inspector General.
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Middle School Arts Showcase
Middle School artists and musicians share their work all year long, from the Winter Concert and Winter Recital to Ensemble Night, where Middle School Chorus and the all-school Jazz Ensemble take the stage.
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Upper School Arts Electives
Upper Schoolers go deep in courses like AP Studio Art, AP Art History, Digital Imaging and Design, Music Composition, Music Theory, Acting I and II, film, and Elements of Technical Theater Design. Every student completes two years of music and the arts, plus an arts elective, to graduate.
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The Fall Play
Our After School Theater Program mounts two full productions a year, open to every Upper School student, with directors who focus on process over product. Recent stages have seen Constellations and Proof.
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The Spring Musical
The all-school musical brings grades 5–12 together on one stage each spring, a Hudson tradition whose productions have included Fiddler on the Roof and Rosie & The Radium Girls.
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Music Practicum
Aspiring musicians study privately on campus with professional music masters, in voice, piano, guitar, violin, cello, clarinet, flute, saxophone, trumpet, bass, and percussion, and perform in ensembles like Select Choir and the Jazz Performance Ensemble.
The stage is always lit.
The calendar hums with performance: the student-run Between the Lines concert, Open Mic Night, winter and spring concerts, and Ensemble Night in the THS Theater. Hudson artists also step into the wider world, exhibiting at the Hoboken Spring Arts & Music Festival, traveling to the Dodge Poetry Festival, and partnering with Mile Square Theatre down the street.
See What’s Coming Up
Come see, and hear, it for yourself.
Visit The Hudson School, walk the studios, and catch our students in rehearsal. The arts are not an extra here; they are the heartbeat of the school day.
Schedule a Visit