INTRODUCTION TO OPERA

This lesson Objectives: the students will be able to define opera and to understand the
should be following vocabulary: libretto, librettist, score, composer, recitative, chorus and
given by aria. They will be able to use these words in appropriate context in discussion.
the
teacher at They will also understand the word “minimal” as it applies to opera as well as
the “repetition.”
beginning The class will watch two 5- minute videos of professional and children’s opera.
of the Approximate lesson length: 40 minutes – can be divided into several days.
school
year. Materials needed: Video tape player, opera video; Children’s Opera Highlights
Video; chalk and chalkboard.
Cross-curricular objectives: Language Arts

Needed: Process: Ask the students if any of them have

ever been to an opera. Say “If I say the word opera
what do you think of? Get several responses.
UFOC
Highlights Video Explain that most of the people who say they don’t
like opera really don’t understand it and have
Children’s Opera probably never been to an opera. Explain that your
Highlights Video class is going to learn about opera so they will
Sample scores: understand it better.
professional and
children’s version Explain that an opera is really a play that is mostly sung, with costumes,
scenery, acting and music to go along with the singing. Explain that in most
operas all of the words are sung. Ask the students a question by singing it
instead of speaking and ask them to respond by singing the answer. Ask them to “sing” to
you something funny or sad that happened to them. Have them notice the differences in the
way they naturally sing with different emotions. Explain that music and songs bring
appropriate moods and excitement to a play. Ask students if they have ever noticed how
music plays a part in a movie. The music can tell you if the scene is spooky or exciting, sad
or happy.

Explain that opera is a very old art form that started in Europe nearly 400 years ago. Explain
that even though opera has changed a lot since then and new operas continue to be written,
we still enjoy the old ones.

Write the word libretto on the chalkboard. Explain that libretto is the name given to
Libretto mean the words the singers sing in an opera. Tell the children that a libretto looks
Librettist
just like a play, but instead of the words being read, they will be sung. Explain that a
librettist is the person who writes the libretto. Write it on the board. Tell them that they will
be librettists when they have finished the story because they are going to write it themselves.

Introduction 4
Vocabulary Write the word musical score on the board. Ask the students
what a score is. Show them a completed piece of music from
Musical
Score an opera. Write composer on the board. Ask the students what
Composer a composer is. Tell them that the composer is the person who
Aria makes up tunes to which to sing their words. Tell them that
Chorus they will be composers before they are finished with their
Recitative W.A. Mozart
Minimal music. Tell them a professional musician will help them to
write accompaniment to their own melodies, and that person will create a
musical score of their own original opera for them to have.

Write the word aria on the board. Explain that an aria is a song that is sung in an opera
usually by one person. Write chorus on the board and explain that that is just like an aria
only sung by more than one person. Explain to the children that choruses are extremely
important in their opera. Choruses include all of the children – or at least large numbers.
They can be heard by the audience. They can often be the funniest or scariest part of the
entire opera. They should try to include many choruses. Arias and choruses do not have to
rhyme, but should have a sense of rhythm.

Tell the children that they should try to think of these things while they are writing their
story. They should watch for important places in the story – usually where the action needs
to stop and explain a little more deeply what a character is thinking or feeling, or what is
going on – and insert arias or choruses in those places.

Write the word recitative on the board. Explain to the children that recitative means “sung as
if spoken.” That means that it represents the normal conversation between characters on the
stage. They are speaking back and forth to each other. Recitative should never rhyme
(unless quite by accident), does not need rhythm, and does need to be very, very short
sentences.

Write the word minimal on the board and explain that that means as little as possible! In an
opera, long sentences are hard to understand and hard to act out. This is especially true in
the recitative sections of the opera. Arias and Choruses can be longer. They should plan to
think of how they can say something in the least number of words.

Write the word “repetition” on the board and explain to the children that in
Repetition all opera…adult or child composed… repetition is an important tool to use.
Audiences like to hear things sung more than once. They understand the words better the
second time and they like to hear the melodies over again. They should think of places
where they can sing an aria or chorus again (or even again and again!)

Tell the children that they are going to watch two different opera videos. The first one,
UFO’s Highlights from Die Fledermaus and Magic Flute, is of the operas being performed
by professionals on the Ellen Eccles Stage in 2002. The second video, UFO's Opera for
Children by Children Highlights from 2002, is of children performing on the same stage.

5 Introduction
 Show them the UFO 2002 Season Highlights video and the UFO Opera for
Children by Children 2002 Highlights video, then ask the questions below:

Did you hear the libretto, the score, arias, choruses, and recitative? Did the y
both have all of those things? Were they both “minimal” in the recitative sections? Did you
hear repetition?

Were the children’s operas really opera? Were they the same in all the important ways?
(Answer: yes!)

Tell the children that they will be librettists, and composers as well as actors and singers
before this is over.

At the end of the lesson, compliment the children on their attentiveness. Compliment them
on any contributions that they have made during the lesson. Tell them that they have within
them the ability to write stories, to make up music and to have a wonderful time and that you
are all going to do this together! This is going to be their opera.

Opera Assign each student to begin his/her own Opera Journal. Ask them to copy the
Journal words that you have written on the board, and to define them; then have them draw a
picture illustrating what each term means to them.

Tell the students these books will be for them to keep forever…Tell them that you will
not be giving them a grade. There is no right or wrong answer.
Encourage them to write their own definitions and to draw their own pictures. You may
collect these later to determine who did not understand what you were discussing. In a later
lesson, go over those items and prepare a way to teach them again without singling out a
child. This book should not be graded. It is part of their creative exercise.
Evaluation: After the lesson, list the things that were more difficult for the children to
understand and to respond to. Make a list of terms that they may not have understood and
prepare to use them again the next time you are working on the opera. Notice which children
were not paying attention and not involved. Plan to give those children special assignments
for the next opera class, such as passing out the books, turning on the overhead projector;
something to make them feel important.

Teachers: Be aware of the objectives that you can accomplish by integrating the opera into
another core subject.

USOE Language Arts Core Objectives - Reading

Standard 1, Objective 1
The students will aassimilate new ideas introduced through pictures and print.

Standard 4, Objective 2
The students will build a reading vocabulary

Introduction 6