Preparation for Opera to Go

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=110 BGCOLOR="#99FFFF" TEXT="#F7F7FF" bgproperties="fixed" background="074006e0egerzr.gif"> <div> <B><IMG SRC="08e00390.gif" border=0 width="256" height="57" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></div> <div> <B>       </B><A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Opera to Go: Educational Outreach for Ch"><U><B>home</B></U></A><B>            </B><A HREF="id7.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Contact Us"><U><B>contact us!</B></U></A><B>  </B></div> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" width=190 BGCOLOR="#99CC80" TEXT="#080000" background="075bec00eoxjkj.gif"> <div> <A HREF="id51.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Opera to Go Scheduling and Fees"><U>Opera to Go Scheduling and Fees</U></A></div> <div> <B>Preparation for Opera to Go</B></div> </td> <td valign="top" height=370 BGCOLOR="#EEEEEE" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <B>Preparation for Opera to Go</B></div> <bR> <div> Once you have engaged Opera to Go to do a program at your school, we will need you to provide the following:</div> <bR> <div> 1.) Tuned 88 key piano with bench</div> <div> 2.) A water pitcher and 5 glasses or five individual water bottles</div> <div> 3.) Four chairs for the performers</div> <div> 4.) Programs other than <I>Introduction to Opera</I> will have additional requirements</div> <bR> <div> These are the preparatory materials and evaluation for our most popular program, Introduction to Opera.</div> <bR> <div> ABOUT THE PERFORMANCE</div> <div> Opera to Go: Introduction to Opera</div> <bR> <div> What is an opera? Explore this art form with members of Opera to Go.  Watch as they become musical storytellers who express powerful emotions, vibrant characters, and exciting stories with their singing voices.  Join Opera to Go onstage in musical conservations, scenes, and an improvised opera based on a popular fairy tale or historical event.  Chime in with questions and answers, and sing in the opera chorus.  No costumes or props are necessary -- imagination is the limit!</div> <bR> <bR> <div> LEARNING GOALS:</div> <div> To introduce students to the rudiments of opera.</div> <bR> <div> To encourage students to create and perform musical stories using their imaginations and listening skills.</div> <bR> <div> To spark an interest in opera as a means of communication.</div> <bR> <div> PRE-ACTIVITY SUMMARY:  Emotion in Music</div> <div> Discuss with students how language can express emotion.  Have students note punctuation in a sample paragraph and what it signifies to the speaker.  practice reading a paragraph with and without expression.  Discuss emotion in music.  Play "happy" and "sad" music.  Play operatic excerpts, and have students listen for the emotions expressed in the music.  How would the music sound without expression?</div> <bR> <div> CURRICULUM LINKS:</div> <div> Language Arts, Music, Social Studies, Foreign Languages</div> <bR> <bR> <div> PRE-ACTIVITY:  EMOTION IN MUSIC</div> <bR> <div> Learning Goal:  To explore and understand the use of expression in language in music.</div> <bR> <div> Materials/Preparation:  tape recorder/CD player, tape/CD "sad" song, "happy" song and operatic excerpts, copies of conversations.</div> <bR> <div> Time: 45 minutes</div> <bR> <div> Suggestion:  Define opera for the class before playing the excerpts.  Opera -- A story or play that is sung rather than spoken. </div> <bR> <div> ACTIVITY</div> <div> Step 1:  Write a paragraph on the board that includes imperative, declarative, exclamatory, and interrogative sentences.  Read this paragraph to the class without any expression.</div> <bR> <div> Step 2:  Ask the students if this paragraph sounded strange to them.  Select a student to reread the paragraph with expression.  Point ou the questions, exclamations, commands, declaration.  How does the voice change when these sentences are read?  Why?  Does expression make the paragraph more interesting and easier to understand?</div> <bR> <div> Step 3:  Have students work with partners.  Hand out dialogues to each group that include questions, exclamations, commands, and declarative sentences.  Have the partners practice them without and then with expression.</div> <bR> <div> Step 4:  Play a "sad" song.  Ask students what emotion this song makes them feel.  Play a "happy" song.  Ask them what emotion it makes them feel.  Play operatic music.  Ask students what emotions this music conveys.</div> <bR> <div> Step 5:  Discuss different types of music that tell stories, including opera and the upcoming performance. </div> <bR> <div> Extensions:</div> <div> Vocalize with your students.  Have them make different sounds with their voices --without using words!  Have them listen to each other and invent sounds that convey different feelings.</div> <bR> <div> Improvise a "weather chorus" with different sounds and vocalises.  Create music for sunny, windy, rainy, hot, cold, dry, gloomy, and sticky weather.</div> <bR> <div> Have students create characters with their singing voices.  Encourage them to move while singing.</div> <div> POST-ACTIVITY: IMPROVISATIONAL STORIES</div> <bR> <div> Learning Goal:</div> <div> To work together to produce a cooperative story.  To turn spoken dialogue into musical conversation.</div> <bR> <div> Time:  45 Minutes</div> <bR> <div> Suggestion:</div> <div> Make sure that students realize that the story has to make sense, and should include conversation between characters.</div> <bR> <bR> <div> ACTIVITY:</div> <div> Step 1:  Create a story as a class.  One student will start with a sentence, and each thereafter will add one of his/her own.  Emphasize to students that this is an exercise in thinking, listening and cooperating. Encourage them to listen to each other, and add sentences that make sense.</div> <bR> <div> Step 2: Create a story.  After the class has completed the story, discuss why it was challenging to do so.  Talk about how Opera to Go improvised its opera.</div> <bR> <div> Step 3: Repeat this activity.  This time have students write the story on the board and try to act/sing a few of the scenes.</div> <bR> <div> Step 4:  Review the story with the class.  Discuss the characters and their emotions.  Have a few volunteers try to sing a scene.  Discuss the difference between singing the sentences and simply saying them.</div> <bR> <div> Extensions: </div> <div> Choose one of the operatic excerpts from the presentation.  Determine who wrote the story, lyrics, words, and music.  Look up the summary in a book of opera synopses, tell the story to the class.</div> <bR> <div> Have students illustrate an opera scene or create one in a shoe box.</div> <bR> <div> Have student pairs come forward and hold a musical conversation.</div> <bR> <bR> <div> RESOURCES:</div> <div> Csonka, Comstock, Ariane.  The Young Person's Guide to the Opera.  CA:  Monarch Books, 1998.</div> <bR> <div> Geras, Adele.  The Random House Book of Opera Stories.  NY: Random  House, 1998.</div> <bR> <div> Rosenberg, Jane.  Sing Me a Story: The Metropolitan Opera's Book of Opera  Stories for Children.  Thames & Hudson, 1996.</div> <bR> <div> VOCABULARY:</div> <div> Voice Type -- Soprano, Mezzo-soprano, Tenor, Baritone, Bass</div> <bR> <div> Selection Type -- Aria, Recitative, Duet, Trio, Quartet, Chorus</div> <bR> <div> Musical Terms -- Melody, Harmony, Tempo, Libretto, Overture, Opera, "Pants Role," Vocalise, Projection</div> <bR> <bR> <div> ABOUT OPERA TO GO:</div> <div> Opera to Go, winner of the 1989 National Audiences/GE Artists in Schools Award, was founded in 1972 to introduce children to opera.  The group has performed in New York, California and Missouri, and has toured extensively in New England.  Opera to Go has performed for the Portland Concert Association, Maine, and the New Hampsshire Opera League.  Local appearances include the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Sanders Theater, the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, WGBH Radio, and Boston's First Night.  When not performing in schools, Opera to Go also presents family and community programs.</div> <bR> <bR> <div> ABOUT THE PERFORMERS:</div> <div> The Opera to Go cast is comprised of active performers with a flair for education and communication.  In our individual careers, we have performed throughout the United States and beyond in concert, opera, and oratorio.  In addition to our individual expereince, our company continually rehearses together to refine our skills and to give our audiences the experience of a true ensemble company acting in concert.</div> <div> OPERA TO GO Evaluation:</div> <div> Scale:  1 = Superior, 2 = Very Good, 3 = Good, 4 = Fair, 5 = Poor </div> <bR> <div> 1. Were the artists courteous and easy to work with?</div> <bR> <div> 1 2 3 4 5</div> <bR> <div> Comments:</div> <bR> <bR> <div> 2. Were the artists on time?</div> <bR> <div> 1 2 3 4 5</div> <bR> <div> Comments:</div> <bR> <bR> <div> 3. Please rate the overall impact of the presentation.</div> <bR> <div> 1 2 3 4 5</div> <bR> <div> Comments:</div> <bR> <bR> <div> 4. Please rate the artistic quality of presentation.</div> <bR> <div> 1 2 3 4 5</div> <bR> <div> Comments:</div> <bR> <bR> <div> 5. Was the material age appropriate?</div> <bR> <div> 1 2 3 4 5</div> <bR> <div> Comments:</div> <bR> <bR> <div> 6. Was there any portion of the presentation that students found especially appealing?</div> <bR> <div> 1 2 3 4 5 </div> <bR> <div> Comments:</div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div> 7.  Did student attention wander at any particular time?</div> <bR> <div> 1 2 3 4 5</div> <bR> <div> Comments:</div> <bR> <bR> <div> 8. Were the preparatory materials helpful?</div> <bR> <div> 1 2 3 4 5</div> <bR> <div> Comments:</div> <bR> <bR> <div> 9. How were students prepared?</div> <bR> <div> Comments:</div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div> 10. Was this presentation related to curriculum?</div> <bR> <div> 1 2 3 4 5</div> <bR> <div> Comments:</div> <bR> <bR> <div> 11. Did the presentation meet your expectations?</div> <bR> <div> 1 2 3 4 5</div> <bR> <div> Comments:</div> <bR> <bR> <div> 12. Would you bring this program to your school again?</div> <bR> <div> 1 2 3 4 5</div> <bR> <div> Comments:</div> <bR> <bR> <div> 13. Would you recommend this program to other schools?</div> <bR> <div> 1 2 3 4 5</div> <bR> <div> Comments:</div> <bR> <div> 14. Additional Comments:</div> <bR> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>