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OPERA THEATRE OF SAINT LOUIS

STUDY GUIDE

Lessons to Connect the

Performance to the Classroom

Developed by Deborah Fisher

The Enchantment of Dreams Opera Theatre of Saint Louis

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The Enchantment of Dreams Study Guide

Table of Contents

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Meet the Artists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 The Lessons

Opera KWL Chart . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 What is Opera? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 More Than a Singer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 What Do They Sing? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Who Writes Opera? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Opera at the Net . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 The Enchantment of Dreams: The Story . . . . . . . . 13 The Librettist’s Apprentice . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 Learning from Our Past . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 Create a Noosha . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 The Enchantment of Dreams: The Music . . . . . . . . 19 Music Motifs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 Cultural Influences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 Internet Safari . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 Opera Vocabulary Builder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 After the Performance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34


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Resources

Suggestions for Using the Study Guide . . . . . . . . . 36 Games for the Classroom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 Opera Vocabulary Builder: Additional Levels . . . . . . 42 Connection to the Standards . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 Scoring Guides. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49

Survey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59


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Introduction

The Enchantment of Dreams is an opera for young people created by Cary John Franklin, composer, and Michael Patrick Albano, librettist. Three young people find truth in dreams. Magic talismans bring visions of their ancestors and insights into the gifts that make each of then unique.

Meet the Artists

Cary John Franklin, Composer Educated at Macalester College in St. Paul and the University of Minnesota, Mr. Franklin studied with Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Dominick Argento and conductors John Nelson, William McGlaughlin and Murry Sidlin. He has also served as Assistant Music Director to both Dale Warland and Phillip Brunelle. Franklin is the immediate past president of the American Composers Forum, a member of the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers, (ASCAP) and the recipient

of numerous awards and honors including a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship, Meet the Composer Awards, and fellowships from the Minnesota Arts Board and Schubert Club of St. Paul. The Enchantment of Dreams is Mr. Franklin’s third young people’s opera commission by Opera Theatre of Saint Louis. He and Michael Albano also created The Very Last Green Thing and The Thunder of Horses, in addition to a commissioned mainstage work, Loss of Eden. Mr. Franklin was previously the chorus master/associate conductor of the Opera Theatre of Saint Louis. He has recently completed a three-year residency with VocalEssence and three Minnesota high schools and is featured in the Fall 2005 THE VOICE OF CHORUS AMERICA, Tomorrow's Voices - Changing Lives in the Classroom. He is presently on the music faculty of Macalester College.


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Michael Patrick Albano, Librettist

Mr. Albano is the resident stage director of the Opera programme at the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Music, where he has staged more than twenty-five operas including the Canadian premieres of Debussy’s L’Enfant Prodigue, Paisiello’s Il Babiere di Siviglia, Benjamin Britten’s Paul Bunyan and the Toronto stage premieres of Offenbach’s Barbe-Bleu and John Beckwith’s Taptoo! For three summers (1991-94) he was the resident stage director of opera studies at the Chautauqua School of Music. Other stage directing credits include Il Barbiere di Siviglia for

the New York City Opera, Daughter of the Regiment, The Grand Duchess of Gerolstein, Loss of Eden and Hansel and Gretel for Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, Le Comte Ory for the Manhattan School of Music and Le Nozze di Figaro for the Yale School of Music. In addition to The Enchantment of Dreams, Mr. Albano has written two other original children’s opera librettos: The Very Last Green Thing and The Thunder of Horses—the latter based upon a Blackfoot Indian legend. Both operas, originally commissioned by Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, have had many successful stagings throughout North America. Additional libretto commissions include Gianni (based on the life of the baroque composer, Giovanni Pergolesi) for the National Arts Centre, The Last Duel (with music by Gary Kulesha) for MusicCanada 2000 and Loss of Eden, (based on the lives of Charles and Ann Lindbergh) which was premiered in June of 2002 by the Opera Theatre of Saint Louis and subsequently repeated in Minneapolis. Mr. Albano’s interest in the development of original opera librettos has led to his involvement for the past eight seasons as resident dramaturge for the Tapestry New Opera Works annual composer/librettist laboratory.

Michelle B. Johnson, Soprano Soprano Michelle B. Johnson, a native of Pearland, TX, is in her second year at Boston University’s Opera Institute where she performed Angèle in BU’s production of Kurt Weill’s The Tsar Has His Photograph Taken and Donna Elvira in Mozart’s Don Giovanni. Ms. Johnson has appeared as a soloist in Haydn’s The Creation in Boston Symphony Hall and in Vaughan Williams’ Dona nobis pacem alongside renowned bass-baritone Simon Estes in Carnegie Hall. She also performed Mozart’s Requiem in Carnegie Hall conducted by Dr. Ann Howard Jones. She received her Bachelor of Music degree from New England Conservatory.


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In 2005, Ms. Johnson was a fellow at the Tanglewood Music Center where she studied the role of Donna Anna in Mozart’s Don Giovanni with Metropolitan Opera Maestro James Levine. Recently Ms. Johnson made her Boston Symphony Orchestra debut in Schoenberg’s Moses und Aron conducted by James Levine. She was awarded the Encouragement Award in both the 2006 Marilyn Horne Foundation and 2005 Metropolitan Opera New England Regional Finals.

Nicholas Pallesen, Baritone

A native of Riverside, CA, Mr. Pallesen is a 2007 National Finalist of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. He received first place in the Palm Beach Atlantic National Voice Competition and was a winner or national finalist in the Suncoast, Pinellas, Palm Beach Opera, and Mobile Opera competitions. On the operatic stage, he has performed roles in David Carlson’s Anna Karenina and Kurt Weill’s Street Scene with Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, Le Nozze di Figaro with Operafestival di Roma in Italy, the title role in Don Giovanni

with Opera Fort Collins and Il Barbiere di Siviglia with Utah Festival Opera. An active concert soloist, Mr. Pallesen has appeared with the National Theater Orchestra of Prague, the Vancouver and Victoria Symphonies, the National Philharmonic in Washington, D.C., the Louisiana Philharmonic, and the Riverside County Philharmonic in CA. Mr. Pallesen has been a Gerdine Young Artist with Opera Theatre of Saint Louis for the past two seasons. He received a Bachelor of Arts in Music and a Certificate in Voice Performance from the University of Florida and currently pursues a Master’s Degree in Voice at Florida State University.


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Opera KWL Chart

K What I Know

W What I Will Learn

L What I Learned

For information about the KWL Chart, refer to Suggestions for Using the Study Guide.


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What Is Opera? Opera is an art form that combines theatre with music. Simply put, opera is a story set to music. Like musical theatre, opera is performed on a stage and music is one of the most important elements of the production. In an opera, actors sing all, or most, of their lines rather than speak the lines.

A Brief Background

Opera is older than musical theatre but it is not older than the dramatic arts. Opera began in Italy in the late 1500s when a group of people wanted to revive ancient Greek dramas. Since there was no way to know how the dramas were originally performed, the Italians tried different ways of presenting the plays. Some people read the plays out loud and added simple stringed instruments, such as a lute, to accompany, or go along with, the reading. People liked attending the plays where actors recited the text to music. This led to actors singing the words in a manner that was a lot like speaking. Songs that combine speaking and singing are called recitatives (pronounced reh-sih-tuh-TEEVS). Soon, composers began writing more complicated music and added groups of singers, or choruses, dances, and instrumental music sections. Although opera began in Italy, it soon spread to other countries, especially spreading to Germany, France, England, Russia, Spain, and Portugal. At first, German and Austrian composers like Handel and Mozart wrote their operas in Italian instead of German. They did this because opera was considered an Italian art form. Later, composers would write operas in their native languages. By the late 1800s, opera had grown larger. Composers wrote lengthy operas that required very strong voices, large choruses, large orchestras and many elaborate costumes and set changes. Today, the most popular and frequently performed operas are often those written by Mozart, Puccini, Verdi and Wagner. They composed operas during the 18th and 19th centuries. The opera repertoire, or body of works, is constantly growing and companies like Opera Theatre of Saint Louis are actively commissioning new operas from present-day composers. To date, OTSL has commissioned 12 operas, including seven young people’s operas of which The Enchantment of Dreams is one!


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Opera and Other Art Forms Opera uses elements from all of the art forms—music, dance, theatre and visual arts. The most obvious connections between the art forms are the music and theatre aspects that are interwoven in an opera. More subtle connections can be found in the actors’ movements and the visual appeal of the costumes and sets. An opera is usually performed on a stage, like a play. Singers in an opera and actors in a play wear costumes and makeup. Both actors and singers may use props in the performance. The music and the words are both important features of opera. Since the dialogue is sung rather than spoken, the singers tell the story through their songs. In an opera, although the music and singing are important, the singers must also have acting skills. All of the art forms help create the mood of the opera. The music, theatrical elements, visual aspects, dancing and movement contribute to the entertainment value of the performance. Costume designers and set designers work closely with the stage director to make sure their designs are appropriate for the production.

1. What does accompany mean? ____________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ 2. How did opera first get started? ___________________________________________

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3. Describe two ways opera includes other art forms (music, theatre, dance and visual arts) in a production. ________________________________________________________________________

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More Than a Singer

Opera singers are grouped by vocal range, which means how high or low the pitches are that the singers can sing. Men’s voices are generally classified as bass, baritone and tenor. Women’s voices are classified as contralto, mezzo-soprano and soprano. These are terms describing the lowest-pitched voices to the highest-pitched voices. The lowest man’s voice is a bass, while the lowest woman’s voice is a contralto. Opera singers must be able to do more than just sing. Since there are no microphones to amplify an opera singer’s voice, the singer must be able to project the sound over an orchestra to the last row of seats in a large theatre. If you are a professional opera singer, you must be able to memorize long passages, sing in foreign languages and move around the stage while staying in character. Being an opera singer may require you to travel around the world, so you need to be in good physical condition. It is important to keep your voice healthy, too.

You are producing the opera, The Enchantment of Dreams, in your hometown and you need two more singers: a woman with the highest-pitched vocal range and a man with the middle range, not the highest and not the lowest. Each singer will need to perform multiple roles. Write a classified ad for the “Help Wanted” section of the newspaper to advertise the roles. Describe the types of singers (vocal classification) and what they will do. ________________________________________________________________________

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What Do They Sing?

There are two different kinds of songs for a solo performer in an opera: a recitative and an aria. A recitative is a passage that is sung in a non-melodic style that provides dialogue for the singers and information about the story, or plot. The accompaniment is usually sparse. This means the music is lighter in texture; usually with fewer

instruments being played. A recitative is similar to rap music because it does not have a typical melody and it puts spoken words to music. An aria is a type of song in which the melody is very important. The singer usually sings about one or more parts of the story or how a character feels. The accompaniment is more prominent in an aria than in a recitative. Recitatives and arias are written for solo performers. A solo performer is a person who sings alone, without other singers. Other pieces in the opera can be written for an ensemble, or group of singers. Sometimes, an ensemble is made up of several solo performers singing together. The singers may be singing different words—sometimes at the same time.

How is a recitative similar to a rap song? Include at least 2 similarities. Write your response in complete sentences. ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________


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Who Writes Opera?

An opera is often written by more than one person. There is usually a composer, who writes the music, and a librettist, the person who writes the words of the opera. If you think of a musical phrase and you write the notes on a musical staff, you are composing music. A composer of an opera writes the music for the orchestra and for the singers.

The printed copy of the music is called the score. Music with separate lines for each instrument and separate lines for each vocal part

are in a score.

The music in The Enchantment of Dreams was written by Cary John Franklin, an American composer who has written other operas. Mr. Franklin is also a conductor. A conductor is the person who leads or directs an orchestra or other instrumental performing group. Another title for a person with this job is music director. A book with the complete text of the opera is the libretto. There are usually fewer words written for an opera than you would see in a script for a play because it takes longer to sing the lines than to say them. A librettist may also write plays. Michael Patrick Albano wrote the original story and libretto for The Enchantment of Dreams. Mr. Albano has directed opera productions in Canada and the United States. A director is responsible for most of the stage production.

1. A _________________________ writes the music for an opera.

2. A __________________________ writes the words for an opera.

3. You are a reporter for a local newspaper. What is one question you would ask

Mr. Franklin or Mr. Albano? ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________


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Name_________________________________________________

Opera at the Net Try this Web site to listen to 2-minute audio clips of opera singers and opera music: www.atlantaopera.org When you get to the Web site for the Atlanta Opera:

• Double click on the words “Listen to the Opera” on the lower right side (a box will appear on your screen).

• Click on the down arrow (▼) on the right of the “Listen to…” box. • Click on the first selection, La traviata Act 1 “Libiamo, ne’ lieti calici”. • Double click on the play button (►). • Listen to the 2-minute audio clip and fill in the chart, below. • Continue making selections by going to the “Listen to…” box to complete the

chart. (Some boxes are completed for you.)

Selection

Who is Singing?

What is the tempo?

(circle one)

Is the song in English?

(circle one)

Descriptive Word(s) or

Phrase 1. La traviata, Act 1 “Libiamo, ne’ lieti calici”

Woman Man 2nd Woman

Slow Moderately slow Moderately fast Fast

Yes No Dramatic

2. Porgy and Bess Act 1 “Summertime”

Woman 2nd Woman Chorus


Yes No

3. Abduction/Seraglio Act 2 “No. 16 Quartet”


Yes No

4. Tosca Act 2 “Come tu mi odi”


Yes No

5. Carmen Act 1 “Habanera”


Yes No

6. Don Giovani Act 2 “Ghost Finale”


Yes No

7. La boheme Act 2 “Musetta’s Waltz and duet”


Yes No

8. Fidelio Act 2 “Finale”


Yes No


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The Enchantment of Dreams: The Story

This is a brief version of the story that is told in the opera, The Enchantment of Dreams: A group of school children visit a museum of natural history. The natural history museum has exhibits that showcase nature and the world. Some exhibits show artifacts from earlier civilizations. As the children tour the museum, they are shown a noosha; an ancient tribal dream stick. The legend of the tribe says that when the noosha is placed under a sleeper’s pillow, it is possible to speak with ancestors in a dream. The museum guide offers the students noosha sticks, but most of the children are anxious to move on to the next display and refuse the offer. Jasmin, Talia and Seth each take a stick, ignoring the taunts from the other children who say they are being superstitious. After they return to their classroom, the teacher, Mrs. Walsh, sees that Talia is drawing pictures instead of doing her spelling assignment. Spelling is a subject that is hard for Talia and sometimes she draws the word instead of spelling it. On this day, Talia is asked to spell ‘purple hippopotamus’. When she is unable to spell the word, the children laugh. This hurts Talia’s feelings and she puts all of her energy into producing a magnificent drawing of a hippopotamus. Exhausted, she falls asleep in the classroom and is visited by her great, great-grandmother. The grandmother tells Talia that she, too, had a talent for drawing and that she passed that talent to Talia. Talia awakes and begins to draw. Jasmin takes piano lessons from Mr. Ostinato. She thinks the scales she has to play are boring. Jasmin tells her teacher that she wants to compose her own music. Mr. Ostinato is not happy. Jasmin returns to playing the scales, becomes bored and drifts off to sleep at the keyboard. She is visited by several ancestors, some from many years ago and they all encourage her to continue writing music. Seth does not remember much about his father, a professional baseball player who died when Seth was much younger. He daydreams about what it was like when his father played baseball. Seth places the noosha


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under his pillow, and his father visits him in his dream. The father reassures the boy that he will always be a part of Seth. After the children are visited by the ancestors, they feel confident in their talents. Seth swings a bat that had been too heavy for him to swing, Jasmin plays musical instruments she has created and Talia paints a bold, colorful canvas.

Read the story of The Enchantment of Dreams and then respond to the following.

1. What does the Museum Guide offer the children that only Talia, Jasmin and Seth take? ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________

2. Jasmin does not like to play scales on the piano. What does she prefer to do at her lesson? ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________

3. Summarize what one or all of the children learned from an ancestor. ________________________________________________________________________

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A libretto contains a synopsis of the story, a listing of the scenes, locales and time period, a listing of the characters, character descriptions, the lyrics of the songs, and stage directions for the actors.

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The Librettist’s Apprentice You have learned that a person who writes the words for an opera is a librettist. A librettist is a lot like a playwright. A playwright writes scripts for plays. Opera combines music and singing with acting in a play. A playwright and a librettist create characters for

the play or opera. In this lesson, you will learn about creating characters for The Enchantment of Dreams.

There are three main roles for children in The Enchantment of Dreams, Jasmin, Talia and Seth. Each character is visited by an ancestor in a dream scene. Your task is to create two characters: one character is in the same class at school as Talia, Jasmin and Seth; the other character is the ancestor who visits the child in a dream. The Enchantment of Dreams libretto lists the characters of the opera and a description of each character. The table (below) shows the name of the characters and the character descriptions for the three main children in the opera. Write the name of the school-age character you are developing in the box on the left. In the opposite box, write a brief description of your character. Include something in the description that makes this child special.

Character

Character Name Description of the Character

Jasmin

a young girl drawn to the creation of music

Talia a young girl with an extraordinary talent for drawing

Seth A young boy from a single-parent home who dreams of his father but cannot remember him

Write your character’s name: Write the character description:


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Ancestor Other characters, such as the ancestors who visit the children, are also listed in the libretto. Write the name of the ancestor who will visit your school-age character in the box on the left. In the box on the right, include a brief description, similar to the information and descriptions you see in the chart below.

Character Names & Other Information Description of the Character

Mrs. Walsh, a teacher Jasmin’s great, great-grandmother Seth’s mother

to be played by a female adult soloist

Museum Guide Mr. Ostinato, a hysterical piano teacher

to be played by a male adult soloist

Seth’s father Students touring the museum to be played by a group of children Students of the spelling bee to be played by a group of children Rebecca Tiffany Charlotte

abrasive, outspoken children

The Dream Helpers to be played by a group of children Jasmin’s ancestors to be played by a group of children The radio announcer to be played by a child Spectators at the baseball game to be played by a group of children Write the ancestor’s name and a descriptive phrase:

Describe the person who would play the part:

Setting Next, you will need to determine a setting, or locale for your characters. When writing for the theatre, it is important to remember that it is difficult to switch from one setting to another. Keep that in mind when you select the setting for your characters.


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An ancestor is a person from whom another person is directly descended. This usually refers to someone like a great-grandparent.

Learning from Our Past

In the opera, The Enchantment of Dreams, Talia, Jasmin, and Seth are visited in their dreams by their ancestors. These visits help the children understand their heritage, or where they came from, and their individual talents. People who have lived for a long time have stories to tell about life in another era. An ancestor can tell you how people lived and what they did for fun. Talia’s great, great grandmother visits Talia in a dream and reassures her that painting and drawing are a part of who she is. Jasmin learns that music has been a part of life for as long as there have been people and that composing music is a gift or talent, too. Seth learns from his father that even though he is not with him throughout life, he is there in Seth’s heart.

You can learn from your ancestors, too. Is there someone in your family or neighborhood you can ask about what it was like to live or grow up in an earlier time? Decide what questions you will ask about his or her life. Write those questions here:

1. ________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

2. ________________________________________________________________

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3. ________________________________________________________________

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Scene Location Scene 1 the place of dreams Scene 2 a museum Scene 3 a classroom Scene 4 Jasmin’s music room Scene 5 Write your location here:

Scene 6 Seth’s bedroom Scene 7 the place of dreams


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4. ________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

Using the questions you developed, you may want to interview an ancestor, an older person in your neighborhood, or someone at school.

Create a Noosha The noosha, as explained by the Museum Guide in The Enchantment of Dreams, is an ancient tribal dream stick. The story told in the opera is that if you place the noosha under your pillow, it will be possible to visit with an ancestor in a dream. Talia, Jasmin, and Seth were intrigued and each took a noosha. During the opera, the children are visited by distant ancestors and close ancestors.

Librettist Michael Patrick Albano created the noosha for the opera. Although there is no culture that believes in the noosha, Mr. Albano based his noosha on tribal rituals from several actual cultures. The noosha is similar to a rain stick, a musical instrument used by various cultures in ceremonies calling the rain spirits. When you gently shake a rain stick, the sound produced is similar to falling rain drops. The noosha is also like a dream catcher, part of the Native American culture to ward away bad dreams. The following project allows you to create your own version of a noosha. If you want to put the noosha under a pillow, it is better to make the noosha out of a small plastic pipe or other material that is stiffer than a paper tube. Make a noosha to honor a real or pretend ancestor. You may want to honor the person you interviewed in an earlier lesson. Decorate the noosha with designs or items symbolic of the ancestor.

Materials Cylinder: Small plastic pipe or cardboard tube from a roll of paper towels or wrapping paper, for example. Paper Art supplies (scissors, glue, markers, etc.) Hole punch (optional)

Directions 1. Cut a piece of white or colored paper to fit your cylinder. 2. Decorate the paper with designs that show characteristics of the ancestor. If you like, you can add 3-dimensional items; make sure you adhere them to the paper. 3. Glue or tape the paper to a cardboard tube. 4. (Optional) Using a hole puncher or other object, punch 2 or more holes on one or both ends. Thread yarn or ribbon through the holes and tie to secure. You can use these for decoration or to add additional symbols.


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Identify the ancestor you are honoring and explain the meanings of the symbols on the noosha. You may write your response in sentences or you can create a chart to explain the meaning of each symbol. ________________________________________________________________________

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The Enchantment of Dreams: The Music Opera employs techniques from all art forms, including theatre, visual arts and dance, yet an opera is basically a musical form. In most operas, musicians play instruments to accompany, or go along with, the singers. Usually, the singers are accompanied by an orchestra. The orchestra is located below the stage in an “orchestra pit” rather than on the stage. Putting the instrumentalists in an area under the stage helps keep the music from being too loud to hear the singers. The Enchantment of Dreams was written for instruments found in an orchestra and for folk instruments from other cultures. The traditional and non-traditional instruments are grouped together in an ensemble, or small group of players. If you play Orff instruments in your music classes, you will recognize many of the instruments in The Enchantment of Dreams. You will see and hear xylophones, marimbas, temple blocks, cymbals and many more instruments being played to accompany the singers. At the beginning of many full-length operas, you will hear an overture. This is a piece of music that starts the opera and it is the first element to set the mood of the opera. Often, an overture contains small parts, or themes, of the songs you will hear later in the opera. As you learned earlier, recitatives and arias are performed by one singer, as a solo. A song or passage for two singers is called a duet and three singers are known as a trio. Four singers make up a quartet. A larger singing group may be called a chorus.

There may be ensembles, or groups of singers, in an opera. In The Enchantment of Dreams you will hear a treble chorus made up of children and a percussion ensemble with kalimbas, xylophones and other percussion instruments. Another ensemble in The Enchantment of Dreams is the chorus of Dream Weavers. The group that you may not see, because they are off stage, is the chamber

ensemble. These musicians play larger instruments, such as marimbas and vibraphones, and are seated with the other instruments in the orchestra pit.


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What three words would you use to search for more information about opera music on the Internet?

1. __________________________________________

2. __________________________________________

3. __________________________________________

Music Motifs

Just as there are patterns in visual design, there are also recognizable patterns in music. In The Enchantment of Dreams, repeated themes

create patterns that can be heard throughout the opera.

When you repeat a design, like you see on the illustration of a roll of wallpaper (left), you create a pattern. When you repeat a musical theme you also create a pattern. Music can be repeated in several ways to show patterns. You can repeat melodies, rhythm

patterns, phrases and many other elements of music.

In opera, a recurring musical theme that represents a character, a location or an idea is sometimes called a leitmotif. The word leitmotif is a combination of two cultures. “Leit” is “to lead” in German and “motif” is a French word for “motive” or “theme” and the words together can be translated as “a leading theme”. A leitmotif is usually a short melody but it can also be a chord progression or a rhythm pattern. Leitmotifs can help unify the opera by joining sections together through recurring themes. You will hear leitmotifs in The Enchantment of Dreams. For example, there are repeated themes that represent the Place of Dreams, the noosha, and the three children. In this lesson, we will look at the noosha theme. The first time you hear the noosha theme, it is played on a flute. Measures 133-141


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Next, the Museum Guide introduces the theme with words. Measures 141-149

Talia, Jasmin and Seth sing the same melody together as a trio. Measures 168-176

The noosha melody is heard again when Talia falls asleep in scene three. This time it is being played on a glockenspiel, an instrument very much like a

xylophone. The main difference between the two instruments is that a glockenspiel’s bars are metal while the xylophone bars are made of wood.

Measures 425-433

You will hear the noosha theme several more times in The Enchantment of Dreams. Jasmin sings the melody with different words after her piano lesson. During Seth’s dream scene, the flute begins the leitmotif and Seth finishes it. Finally, a chorus sings the noosha theme near the end of the opera.


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Do you think it is a good idea to use a leitmotif when writing an opera? Why or why not? ________________________________________________________________________

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Cultural Influences

Many of the instruments heard in The Enchantment of Dreams were originally from Africa. The instruments, and the music they created, hold special meaning to the African people. Drums talk, xylophones soothe, and kalimbas call up ancestors in tribal ceremonies. The drum, xylophone and kalimba belong to the percussion family of instruments. One thing that makes an instrument part of the percussion family is that to produce sound on a percussion instrument, you strike or hit the instrument. A drummer hits the

top of a drum with sticks or one or both hands; to play a xylophone or marimba, you hold mallets in your hands and strike the bar. The kalimba is a percussion instrument because you pluck or strike the metal times to make a sound.

The Kalimba The kalimba is a modern version of an older folk instrument, the mbira. The mbira can be found in several regions of Africa. The mbira and the kalimba are both made from a wooden box with different lengths of metal tines, or keys. The hole in the top of the box allows the sound to be heard. To play a kalimba, you press down on one of the metal keys, usually with your thumb, and then let the key vibrate when you let go. The movement can be described as the opposite of plucking, as in plucking a violin string. Press down and quickly release to play the kalimba.


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The balafon, from Africa, is an early version of a xylophone. The balafon traditionally uses gourds as resonators.

One of the differences in the mbira and the kalimba is that the metal tines of the mbira can be made any length the maker wants, while the kalimba tines are made in specific lengths. By standardizing the lengths of the metal keys, music can be written and shared among players. Also, two or more people can play kalimbas at the same time and the pitches will match.

What makes a kalimba a member of the percussion family?

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________________________________________________________________________

The Xylophone

The xylophone is an instrument that has been found in many cultures around the world. Early people in Africa, Asia and Latin America had the same idea: make music by striking slabs of wood with a stick. They learned that if they placed the slabs of wood over a hole in the ground, the sound would resonate, which meant the tones would be louder and would “ring” longer. Later, they placed large gourds or wooden boxes below the wooden bars to help the tones resonate. This allowed them to move an instrument to different places rather than keep it in one place, over a hole.

The word xylophone is from the Greek language; it means ‘wooden sound’. The bars of a xylophone are usually made of wood, but are sometimes made of metal. To play the xylophone, place a mallet in each hand. Hold it loosely. Let the ball at the end of the stick, the mallet head, bounce off of the bar.

If the mallet head is made from a soft material, the sound, or tone, will be muffled; if the head of the mallet is made of a harder substance, the sound will be more clear and distinct.


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1. What does resonate mean? ______________________________________ 2. In the Greek language, xylophone means__________________________________. 3. What does the level of hardness of the mallet head do to the timbre, or tone color, of a note being played on the xylophone? ________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

The Marimba The marimba, left, is a newer instrument that was based

on many older versions of xylophones. Instead of using gourds as resonators, marimbas have wooden tubes or boxes to amplify the sound.

The marimba was developed to be arranged like a piano keyboard, imitating the black key and white key order. The keys are also set up with the lower pitches on the left side of the instrument and the higher pitches are on the right side, like a piano. The modern marimba is different from the original folk instruments. In the late 1800s, Central American marimba builders began making the instruments in the piano keyboard arrangement. This also standardized the instrument, allowing music to be shared and ensembles to be formed. Today, the marimba is the national instrument of Guatemala.

What’s the Difference?

The main difference between the marimba and the xylophone is that the range of pitches for each instrument is different. To understand the range of notes you can play on a xylophone, think of the highest notes on a piano keyboard—those are the notes you can play on a xylophone. On the other end of the piano keyboard are the lowest notes; you can play those notes on a marimba. Both instruments can play some of the notes in the middle of the piano.


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The xylophone can play a full octave, or 8 notes, higher than the marimba, while the marimba can play notes almost two octaves lower than the xylophone. The low-pitched notes give the marimba a mellow sound and the higher notes give the xylophone a brighter tone.

Respond to the following using complete sentences.

1. Notice the size of the bars on the left side of the marimba (pictured above, left) and compare them to the bars at the end, on the right. Are the bars on the left end longer or shorter than the bars on the right end? _______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ (Continued on the next page) 2. Is the sound produced by a longer bar higher or lower than the sound produced by a shorter bar? ________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

3. How is a marimba similar to a piano? ______________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

4. Create a graphic organizer to compare the xylophone, marimba and kalimba.


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Internet Safari

Listen to a kalimba on this web site: http://www.stormpages.com/kalimba/

Click on the drawing of a kalimba on the first page. Listen to the kalimba, and then respond to the following. 1. How would you describe the kalimba music? ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ 2. What images come to your mind when you hear the kalimba music? ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________

Listen to a marimba on this web site:

http://www.geocities.com/MUSICAJOROCU/MusicSamples.html?200611 3. How would you describe the music you heard on the web site? ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ 4. What culture do you think the marimba music represents? Why? ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________


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Opera Vocabulary Builder

The following words are commonly found in the world of opera. Read the words in the boxes on the left, and then read the sentences that contain the words in the boxes on the right.

Word Words in Context aria 1. An aria is a solo vocal piece with accompaniment.

2. In an aria, the singer usually sings about one or more parts of the story. 3. The melody is very important in an aria.

chorus 1. A chorus is a group of singers who perform as a unit on stage. 2. Singers of all vocal ranges can be in a chorus. 3. The students in the classroom scene are members of the chorus.

composer 1. A composer writes the music for an opera. 2. The person who decides what notes each instrument plays is the composer. 3. The work of the composer can be found in the score.

conductor 1. A person who directs or leads an orchestra is a conductor. 2. Maestro is the Italian word for conductor and it means “master.” (Maestra is used if the conductor is a woman.) 3. The conductor cued Mrs. Walsh to exit from the stage.

duet 1. A duet is a song for two people to sing together. 2. The singers in a duet may sing different words. 3. Jasmin and Mr. Ostinato sang a duet in The Enchantment of Dreams.

ensemble 1. An ensemble is a group of singers or people playing instruments performing at one time. 2. The French word for “together” is ensemble. 3. The percussion ensemble is an important part of The Enchantment of Dreams.

libretto 1. The printed words, or story, of the opera is the libretto. 2. The person who writes the libretto is called a librettist. 3. The libretto for The Enchantment of Dreams contains stage directions.

aria duet orchestra solo chorus ensemble percussion stage composer libretto recitative tempo conductor opera score trio


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opera 1. An opera is a story set to music. 2. An opera is similar to a play because the singers are the actors and there are costumes, sets, lighting and props. 3. The Enchantment of Dreams is an opera that has roles, or parts, for children.

orchestra 1. An orchestra plays the music in most operas. 2. The orchestra sits in a pit below the stage. 3. A group of musicians, smaller than an orchestra, accompany the singers in The Enchantment of Dreams.

percussion 1. Musical instruments that are played by striking or shaking are percussion instruments. 2. A drum is a percussion instrument. 3. There are more percussion instruments in The Enchantment of Dreams than any other family of instruments.

recitative 1. A recitative is dialogue that is sung and explains the story, or plot, or moves the story forward. 2. If there is an accompaniment to a recitative, it is sparse or light. 3. The museum guide’s recitative takes place during the class trip to the natural history museum.

score 1. The book with instrumental parts, singing parts, and text of the opera is the score. 2. A composer writes the music for the score. 3. The conductor marked the score during the rehearsal.

solo 1. A solo is a song written for only one performer. 2. An aria is a solo vocal piece with accompaniment. 3. Jasmin sings a solo in the fourth scene.

stage 1. A stage is a platform on which people perform. 2. Like a play, an opera is performed on a stage. 3. The children waited for their cue to exit the stage.

tempo 1. The tempo of a piece of music refers to how quickly or slowly it is played. 2. Words that identify the tempo are written at the beginning of a piece of music, such as allegro, andante, or largo. 3. The tempo at the beginning of The Enchantment of Dreams is very slow.

trio 1. A trio is a song written for three people or 3 instruments. 2. The boys’ trio was a big hit at the concert. 3. Jasmin, Talia, and Seth sing as a trio in The Enchantment of Dreams.

Select 5 words from the list above. On a separate piece of paper, use each word in a sentence for a total of 5 sentences.


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Opera Nouns All of the opera words below are nouns. For each noun, decide if it belongs in the Person, Place or Thing column. Write each word in the correct column.

Person Place Thing

Use each noun from the chart in a sentence. 1. ______________________________________________________________________

2. ______________________________________________________________________

3. ______________________________________________________________________

4. ______________________________________________________________________

5. ______________________________________________________________________

6. ______________________________________________________________________

7. ______________________________________________________________________

8.______________________________________________________________________

9.______________________________________________________________________

10. _____________________________________________________________________

A noun is a person, place, thing, or idea.

aria score ensemble orchestra stage chorus libretto recitative tempo conductor opera composer


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Opera Analogies An analogy shows a relationship between two sets of words. The words in the first pair must have the same relationship as the words in the second pair. To complete an analogy with a missing word, first discover the relationship between the completed pair.

For example: “roof is to house as hat is to _______.” You know that a roof is on top of a house and a hat is worn on top of the head so the correct analogy is: “roof is to house as hat is to head.” The different types of relationships in analogies are:

• antonyms, or words that have opposite meanings (“hot is to cold as wet is to dry”),

• synonyms, or words that have the same or similar meanings (“huge is to giant as like is to enjoy”),

• descriptive, in which one word describes the other word (“round is to ball as blue is to sky”),

• part to a whole, in which one word is apart or piece of the other (“roof is to house as hat is to head”), or

• an item in a category (“milk is to beverage as cake is to dessert”). Determine the relationship between the first pair of words, and then use the words in the word box to complete the second pair of words. 1. Composer is to compose as painter is to ____________________________________.

2. Orchestra is to group as duet is to _________________________________________.

3. Stage is to perform as shelf is to __________________________________________.

4. Chorus is to voice as band is to __________________________________________.

5. Conductor is to performing as crossing guard is to ___________________________.

6. Ensemble is to member as team is to ______________________________________.

7. Opera is to play as song is to ____________________________________________.

8. Percussion is to drums as woodwinds are to ________________________________.

9. Tempo is to speed as rhythm is to ________________________________________.

10. Word is to libretto as music is to __________________________________________.

walking score beats lyrics paint instrument pair display clarinet player


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Opera Vocabulary-Builder Quiz

Choose the best answer to complete each statement. 1. An opera is a __________________________________ set to music.

a. solo b. concert c. story

2. The person who leads the orchestra is the ___________________________________.

a. librettist b. conductor c. composer

3. An opera is usually performed ___________________________________________.

a. on a stage b. outdoors c. in a circle

4. A composer ________________________________________________ for an opera.

a. writes the words b. types the program c. writes the music

5. The orchestra sits ____________________________________________ in an opera.

a. in a balcony, above the stage b. in a pit, below the stage c. on the stage

6. The chorus is a group of _______________________ who perform as a unit on stage.

a. dancers b. instrumentalists c. singers

7. The printed words, or story, of the opera is the _______________________________.

a. libretto b. librettist c. score

8. The ______________________________________ belongs to the percussion family.

a. marimba b. clarinet c. trumpet


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9. The tempo of a piece of music refers to how __________________________it is played.

a. quickly or slowly b. loudly or softly c. correctly or incorrectly

10. A song written for two people to sing is a _____________________.

a. trio b. duet c. solo

11. A song written for one person to sing is a ____________________.

a. trio b. duet c. solo

12. Dialogue that is sung and explains the story is ______________________________.

a. aria b. recitative c. a trio

13. A group of singers or people playing instruments together is ___________________.

a. a quartet b. a chorus c. an ensemble

14. A solo vocal piece with accompaniment is _________________________________.

a. an aria b. a recitative c. a duet

15. The printed book with the music and words of an opera is the __________________.

a. score b. libretto c. program

16. The person who writes the words of an opera is the ___________________________.

a. conductor b. composer c. librettist

17. __________________________________ instruments produce a sound by striking or shaking.

a. Loud b. Percussion c. String


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18. The melody is very important in __________________________________. a. an aria b. a recitative c. a libretto 19. The accompaniment is sparse, or light in ___________________________. a. an aria b. a recitative c. a libretto 20. A song written for three people to sing is a ____________________.

d. trio e. duet f. solo


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After the Performance Now that you have seen The Enchantment of Dreams, you probably noticed how all of the different art forms are present in an opera. In each circle, write a word or phrase describing how that art form was used in The Enchantment of Dreams.

OPERA

Music

Theatre Dance or Movement

Art


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Mood in The Enchantment of Dreams As you heard in the performance of the opera, the choice of instruments helped create the mood of the opera. After studying percussion instruments as part of this unit, and hearing the music in The Enchantment of Dreams, respond to the following. How did the instruments contribute to the mood of the opera? Give specific examples and write your response in complete sentences. ________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________

Write a Letter

On a separate piece of paper, write a letter to the composer, librettist or a friend describing your experience at the opera. Remember to include details from the opera.


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Suggestions for Using the Study Guide

The purpose of the Study Guide is to help teachers and parents connect the performance of The Enchantment of Dreams to classroom and home instruction in several content areas. For a listing of the standards associated with each lesson, please refer to the scoring guides. The lessons are appropriate for students in grades three through eight and all of the lessons can be adapted to specific learner needs or students in other grades. The assessments included with the lessons are similar in format to items students encounter on the Communication Arts component of the Missouri Assessment Program (MAP). You may choose to implement all of the lessons or you may decide to select the lessons that best fit your curricular needs and time constraints. The Study Guide was organized to make it easy for several teachers to collaborate on the opera lessons. The classroom teacher or language arts teacher may want to teach some of the lessons while a music teacher may choose to instruct students about the music in the opera. The physical education teacher may decide to play one of the more active vocabulary word games and an art teacher may want to use the Create a Noosha lesson, although it was written to allow non-art teachers to implement. Even students can follow the directions as a take-home project or an extra-credit assignment. This lesson, like many, may be implemented before or after the performance. The Opera Vocabulary Builder is a set of lessons that can stand alone as a means of increasing students’ word acquisition skills while still teaching about opera. Although the word list in the study guide is appropriate for several grade levels, two additional lists are included in this section. One is an easier version with pictures and fewer words and the other is a version with a more words and a few more difficult words. In this section you will find also find games and activities for using the opera words in your classroom. Several lessons invite students to complete activities by going to an Internet Web site. You may choose to implement these lessons as a group activity or you may offer the pages as an extra-credit assignment to do at home. If access to a computer is not readily available, you may decide not to include the Opera at the Net and Internet Safari lessons. The lessons have been divided into several sections. Section 1 includes lessons covering basic information about opera and the people who create opera. It begins with the KWL Chart and ends with the Opera at the Net listening lesson. Section 2 focuses on the story of The Enchantment of Dreams. In the first lesson of this section the student items assess reading comprehension and summarizing. Section 3, which is all about the music and the instruments, is followed by the Opera Vocabulary Builder. Although the vocabulary builder lesson is placed at the end of the guide, it is a stand-alone series of lessons that can be used at any time of the year as a vocabulary lesson.


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The Opera KWL Chart

Tapping into students’ background knowledge of opera, creating questions and developing a purpose for reading helps students become engaged learners and aids in developing reading comprehension skills. The KWL Chart at the beginning of the study guide is a tool to help students understand the information in the first section of the guide. Before reading the information about opera in the lesson material:

1. Create a KWL chart on the chalkboard, interactive whiteboard or overhead transparency. Each student should also have a KWL chart.

2. Label Column 1 K (or What We Know), Column 2 W (or What We Will Learn), and Column 3 L (or What We Learned).

3. Ask students to brainstorm words, terms or phrases they associate with opera. The teacher and the students record the words, terms phrases in the K Column. Engage students in a discussion about what they wrote in the K column.

a. Have questions ready to help students brainstorm their ideas. Play a short excerpt from an opera to jumpstart the discussion.

b. Encourage students to explain their associations. If the association is vague or unusual, ask “What made you think of that?”

4. Ask students what they think they will learn about opera. This may follow a quick glance at the lesson headings and pictures in the text. This helps focus attention on key ideas in the text. The teacher and the students record these questions in W column on their charts. If students respond with statements, turn them into questions before recording them in the W column.

a. Choose an idea from the K column and ask, “What would you like to learn more about this idea?”

b. Although the majority of the questions should be generated by the students, you may want to add a few questions to focus on ideas in the text that the students may not mention.

5. Students should look for the answers to the questions in their W column while they are reading. Students can fill out their L columns either during reading or after reading.

a. To keep track of the answers to questions recorded, ask the students to put a check mark next to the completed question in the W column.


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What is Opera? More Than a Singer, What Do They Sing? Who Writes Opera?

This series of lessons provides an overview of opera and the people who create opera. The information is presented in an easy-to-read format on pages that are ready to copy for your students. The assessment items at the end of each lesson require students to use higher-level thinking skills; some questions ask students to summarize information while other responses may involve creating a graphic organizer to compare and contrast. These lessons are appropriate either before or after seeing The Enchantment of Dreams.

Opera at the Net

This lesson gives students the opportunity to listen to two-minute selections of operas on the Internet. Below is one version of a chart with a completed Descriptive Word(s) or Phrase column. Of course, the descriptive words are subjective and may be different for each student.

Selection Who is Singing?

What is the tempo? (circle one)

Is the song in English?

(circle one)

Descriptive Word(s) or

Phrase 1. La traviata, Act 1 “Libiamo, ne’ lieti calici”

Woman Man 2nd Woman


Yes No Dramatic

2. Porgy and Bess Act 1 “Summertime”

Woman 2nd Woman Chorus


Yes No Sad

3. Abduction/Seraglio Act 2 “No. 16 Quartet”

Woman Man


Yes No Quick notes

4. Tosca Act 2 “Come tu mi odi”

Woman


Yes No High Pitches Solo

5. Carmen Act 1 “Habanera”

Woman Chorus


Yes No Emotional

6. Don Giovani Act 2 “Ghost Finale”

Man 2nd Man


Yes No Scary

7. La boheme Act 2 “Musetta’s Waltz and duet”

Woman Man 2nd Woman


Yes No Famous melody Duet

8. Fidelio Act 2 “Finale” Chorus Man Woman


Yes No Bold finish


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The Enchantment of Dreams: The Story The one-page synopsis of the story of The Enchantment of Dreams is followed by three questions about the text. You may ask students to respond in complete sentences with correct grammar and punctuation or you may decide that some questions call for a response in a complete sentence while a phrase or one-word answer may be adequate for other items.

The Librettist’s Apprentice

This lesson encourages students to create two characters for The Enchantment of Dreams and describe the setting for the new characters’ scene. This lesson can be expanded to a project to write a libretto and music for another scene.

Learning from Our Past Learning about ancestors can be incorporated in the lessons to prepare students for the performance or in a lesson after the opera. The assessment asks students to determine questions that would be appropriate when interviewing an ancestor or someone in the school or neighborhood. The lesson can be expanded to students using the questions in interviews.

Create a Noosha Although the noosha was made up by the librettist, students can make an object to honor an ancestor. By decorating a plastic or paper towel tube, students create symbols to represent a respected elder, the person interviewed, or another person selected by the student.

The Enchantment of Dreams: The Music

This series of lessons begins with text about music in an opera and continues with specific examples of music from The Enchantment of Dreams. This section gives students the opportunity to sing the noosha theme or play it on a keyboard or other instrument. Next, there is a lesson about the cultural influences of the instruments your students will see and hear during the performance. The Internet Safari lesson provides two Web sites on which students can listen to the kalimba and marimba. If you have one or both of these instruments in your music room, it will be more engaging to play the authentic instrument, although the Web site will be fun for students to do at home.

Opera Vocabulary Builder If you are looking for a way to increase your students’ vocabulary, try one of these word pages. There are pages for three different levels; the Opera Word Builder with pictures, page 42, is appropriate for young learners or special needs students, the Vocabulary


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Builder found on page 27 has 16 words for upper elementary students and the additional 25-word Vocabulary Builder on page 43 is appropriate for older students. The section begins with words found in opera. (This is the page you may decide to change to either the easier or more difficult version. Please note that the scoring guide is appropriate for page 27 and may need to be adapted for older or younger students.) Students are asked to use 5 of the words in sentences. (You may decide to change that number to more words or fewer words.) Next, the Opera Nouns page helps students put nouns in categories and again, asks students to use the noun in a sentence. The Opera Analogies can be a fun activity for students at the appropriate level. Using the page as a group activity on an overhead projector or whiteboard can be a way to introduce students to analogies at an earlier age. The section ends with a selected-response quiz. You can tailor the quiz to your students’ needs by selecting the questions you think are appropriate and leaving out the ones that are not.

Games for the Classroom The following is a compilation of vocabulary-building games to use in a variety of school or home settings:

1. Hold a word card above a student’s head, rotate the card to make sure the class can read it. Next, ask another student to give the definition of the word. The first student tries to guess the word. Repeat until all the words have been used. 2. Write the words on cards, one word per card. Place the cards around the room on the walls so the children can see them. Ask the children to pick a word and stand under (or beside) the word. Next, say a definition, synonym, or a fill-in-the-blank sentence using the vocabulary word. The children must determine which word you defined or used. The children standing under that word sit down. Continue until all words have been reviewed. 3. Ask the students to stand in a large circle. Say one of the opera words (for example, “composer” and ask the first person to repeat the word. The next student says the first letter of the word, “c”. The next student says the second letter of the word. The game continues as each child says a letter of the word until it is completed. The next child, after the word has been spelled correctly, says the word “Diva” if a girl is standing next to him or “Divo” if a boy is standing next to him and that child sits down. (Diva is a girl opera star and divo is a boy opera star.) If during the game a child says an incorrect letter, that child sits down. Continue playing until only a few students are left standing.

A Game for the Gymnasium This game uses the rules for Steal the Bacon but is adapted for a vocabulary review. You will need the same number of vocabulary words as you have for either ½ the class or all of the class. Write each word on two cards. Divide the class into 2 teams. Pass out the


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word cards being sure to give the same word to one player from each team. Pin or tape the word card to each student’s clothes. If you made word cards for every student in the class, give each student 2 cards. It will be best not to give each pair of students the same 2 words.

Teams line up across the field (or across the gymnasium or open space) from each other. A sweatshirt (or other object) is the “bacon” and is placed in the middle of the field or space. The teacher calls out a definition. The opposing team members shout the vocabulary word, run to the middle to grab the sweatshirt and run back to their team to score one point. If the team member that grabbed the sweatshirt is tagged while running, no point is scored. If both students know the word, call it out, run to the middle and grab the sweatshirt at the same time, then the two students drop the sweatshirt and return to their lines without scoring any points. Continue to play until all words have been used or until a pre-determined number of points are scored by a team.

After the Performance

There are three post-performance activities included in this study guide. The first activity asks students to complete a graphic organizer to show how the four art forms are used in The Enchantment of Dreams. This can be extended to a writing project to synthesize the information in the circles. In the second activity, Mood in The Enchantment of Dreams, students give examples of how the instruments contributed to the mood of the opera. It is a good idea for students to know about this assignment before they attend the performance so they can be listening for examples. The last activity asks students to write a letter to the composer, librettist or a friend. You may decide to use one, two or all three of these activities to follow up on the performance experience. I hope you find the lessons and activities useful for your students. Deborah Fisher, Fine Arts Curriculum Consultant


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Opera Word Builder

The following words are commonly found in the world of opera.

Chorus

people who sing together as a group

composer

a person who writes music

Conductor

a person who leads a music group

Duet

two people singing

Opera

a story set to music

Solo

one person singing

Stage

a platform

Trio

three people singing


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The following words are commonly found in the world of opera.

The Word The Definition

accompaniment the music that accompanies (supports or goes along with) a singer or group of singers

act a section of the opera that can be divided into scenes aria solo vocal piece with accompaniment

chorus a group of singers of all vocal ranges singing together; they often portray the crowd or villagers

composer person who writes the music for an opera conductor a person who directs or leads an orchestra or a choir director a person who guides the performance of an opera; often

called a stage director duet two people singing together; they may be singing

different words and melodies ensemble a group of singers or instruments performing at one

time; French word that means “together” finale the last musical number of an opera or an act

leitmotiv a recurring musical theme used to identify an emotion, person, object or place

librettist person who writes the words for an opera libretto the printed story of the opera; Italian word for “little

book” opera a story set to music

orchestra a group of instrumentalists who accompany the singers overture an orchestral introduction to the opera, usually

containing the leitmotiv, played before the action begins percussion musical instruments that are played by striking or

shaking quartet four people singing together range identifies the notes a person can sing or an instrument

can play recitative sung dialogue with sparse accompaniment; used to

explain the plot; score the book with instrumental parts, singing parts, and text

of the opera solo one person singing stage a platform used for opera and other performances tempo the rate of speed of music; how fast or slow the music is

played or sung trio three people singing together


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Connection to the Standards for The Enchantment of Dreams Study Guide

Lesson Title Show-Me Process Standard/

Grade-Level Expectation National Standard

Opera KWL Chart Process Standards: G2.3: exchange information, questions and ideas while recognizing the perspectives of others G2.4: present perceptions and ideas regarding works of the arts, humanities and sciences

English/Language Arts 7: Students conduct research on issues and interest by generating ideas and questions, and by posing problems. They gather, evaluate, and synthesize data from a variety of sources (e.g., print and non-print texts, artifacts, people) to communicate their discoveries in ways that suit their purpose and audience.

What is Opera? What does accompany mean? How did opera first get started? Describe two ways opera includes other art forms.

Communication Arts R.1.E.5: Develop vocabulary through text, using

• roots and affixes • context clues • glossary and dictionary

Process Standard G1.9: identify, analyze and compare the institutions, traditions and art forms of past and present societies Music IC.1.B.K-4: Identify ways in which the principles and subject matter of other disciplines are interrelated with those of music

English/Language Arts 3: Students apply a wide range of strategies to comprehend, interpret, evaluate, and appreciate texts. They draw on their prior experience, their interactions with other readers and writers, their knowledge of word meaning and of other texts, their word identification strategies, and their understanding of textual features (e.g., sound-letter correspondence, sentences structure, context, graphics). Music 8: Understanding relationships between music, the other arts, and disciplines outside the arts

More Than a Singer Write a classified ad.

Communication Arts W.1.A.5: Follow a writing process to

• organize information in a graphic organizer

• apply writing process to write effectively in various forms and types of writing

Process Standard: G2.1: plan and make written, oral and visual presentations for a variety of purposes and audiences

English/Language Arts 4: Students adjust their use of spoken, written, and visual language (e.g., conventions, style, vocabulary) to communicate effectively with a variety of audiences and for different purposes.


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Lesson Title Show-Me Process Standard/ Grade-Level Expectation

National Standard

What Do They Sing? How is a rap similar to a recitative?

Communication Arts R.1.I.3: Identify and explain connections between

• text ideas—information and relationships in various fiction and non-fiction works (compare and contrast)

• text ideas and own experiences • text ideas and the world

Process Standard G1.9: identify, analyze and compare the institutions, traditions and art forms of past and present societies

English/Language Arts 3: Students apply a wide range of strategies to comprehend, interpret, evaluate, and appreciate texts.

Who Writes Opera A ___writes the music for an opera. A ___writes the words for an opera. What is one question you would ask the composer or librettist?

Communication Arts R.1.H.4: Apply post-reading skills to comprehend text

• question to clarify • reflect • analyze • draw conclusions • summarize • paraphrase


Opera at the Net Who is singing? What is the tempo? Is the song in English? Descriptive words or phrase.

Music AP.1.B.3-5: Demonstrate and/or respond through movement to aural examples of music

• music forms • expressive elements

AP.1.C.1: Differentiate between male, female, and children’s voices Process Standard: G2.4: Present perceptions and ideas regarding works of the arts, humanities and sciences

Music 6: Listening to, analyzing, and describing music (grades K-4): use appropriate terminology in explaining music, music notation, music instruments and voices, and music performances (grades 5-8): describe specific music events in a given aural example, using appropriate terminology

The Enchantment of Dreams: The Story What does the Museum Guide offer the children? What does Jasmin prefer to do at her lesson? Summarize what one or all of the children learned from an ancestor.



Process Standard: G1.5: comprehend and evaluate written, visual and oral presentations and works



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National Standard

The Librettist’s Apprentice Write the character’s name. Describe your character. Write the ancestor’s name. Describe the ancestor. Determine the setting.

Theatre PP.1.A.1: Tell stories with character, problem solution, and setting.

Theatre 1: Script writing by planning and recording improvisations based on personal experience and heritage, imagination, literature, and history. English/Language Arts 5: Students employ a wide range of strategies as they write and use different writing process elements appropriately to communicate with different audiences for a variety of purposes.

Learning from Our Past Determine questions for an interview.

Communication Arts IL.1.A.3: Formulate keywords and questions to investigate topics Process Standard: G1.1: develop questions and ideas to initiate and refine research

English/Language Arts 7: Students conduct research on issues and interest by generating ideas and questions, and by posing problems. They gather, evaluate, and synthesize data from a variety of sources (e.g., print and non-print texts, artifacts, people) to communicate their discoveries in ways that suit their purpose and audience.

Create a Noosha Make a noosha. Explain the meanings of the symbols.

Visual Art PP2.S.6: Create an original artwork that communicates ideas about the following themes:

• Functions of Art in Culture • Personal identity

Process Standard: G2.5: Perform or produce words in the fine and practical arts

Visual Art 1: Understanding and applying media, techniques, and processes

The Enchantment of Dreams: The Music What 3 words would you use to search on the Internet for more information about opera?

Communication Arts IL.1.A.4: Formulate and research keywords and questions to establish a focus and purpose for inquiry Process Standard: G1.1: develop questions and ideas to initiate and refine research

English/Language Arts 8: Students use a variety of technological and information resources (e.g., libraries, databases, computer networks, video) to gather and synthesize information and to create and communicate knowledge.

Music Motifs Do you think it is a good idea to use leitmotif? Why or Why not?

Music AP.2.B.5: Use prerequisite music terms to describe their personal response to a musical example (offers suggestions for improvement) Process Standard: G2.4: present perceptions and ideas regarding works of the arts, humanities and sciences

Music 7: Evaluating music and music performances


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National Standard

Cultural Influences What makes a kalimba a member of the percussion family? What does resonate mean? What does the level of hardness of the mallet head do to the timbre of the note being played? Are the bars on the left end longer or shorter than the bars on the right ? Is the sound produced by a longer bar higher or lower than the sound produced by a shorter bar? How is a marimba similar to a piano? Create a graphic organizer to compare the xylophone, marimba and kalimba.



Communication Arts W.3.B.4: Identify concepts and ideas in written text to complete an organizer. Process Standard: G1.6: discover and evaluate patterns and relationships in information, ideas and structures

English/Language Arts 3: Students apply a wide range of strategies to comprehend, interpret, evaluate, and appreciate texts. English/Language Arts 5: Students employ a wide range of strategies as they write and use different writing process elements appropriately to communicate with different audiences for a variety of purposes.

Internet Safari Describe the kalimba music. What images come to your mind when you hear the kalimba music? How would you describe the music you heard on the web site? What culture does the marimba music represent? Why?

Music AP.1.B.3-5: Demonstrate and/or respond through movement to aural examples of music


HC.1.A.4: Identify music representing diverse cultures including Missouri and American heritage Process Standard G1.9: identify, analyze and compare the institutions, traditions and art forms of past and present societies

Music 9: Understanding music in relation to history and culture

Opera Vocabulary Builder Use each word in a sentence. Categorize each noun as a person, place, thing, or idea. Use each noun in a sentence. Complete the analogies. Select the responses on the quiz.

Communication Arts R.1.E.2: Develop vocabulary through text, using

• base words • classroom resources • context clues



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National Standard

After the Performance Complete the graphic organizer to describe how the art form was used in the opera. How did the instruments contribute to the mood of the opera? Write a letter describing your experience at the opera.

Communication Arts W.3.B.4: Identify concepts and ideas in written text to complete an organizer. Process Standard: G1.6: discover and evaluate patterns and relationships in information, ideas and structures AP.1.B.3-5: Demonstrate and/or respond through movement to aural examples of music


Ap.1.B.6-8: Describe the musical expression (mood) of an aural example W.3.E.3: Write informational reports, diary/journal entries and friendly letters that address an intended audience and purpose

English/Language Arts 5: Students employ a wide range of strategies as they write and use different writing process elements appropriately to communicate with different audiences for a variety of purposes.


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Scoring Guides for The Enchantment of Dreams Study Guide

The following scoring guides were developed to assist teachers in developing evaluation criteria. You may choose to adapt the scoring guides to meet the needs of your students or create your own. The point totals are merely suggestions and consist of one way to use the scores for grading purposes. Some of the scoring guides are appropriate for students to use to assess their own work. The Opera KWL Chart is a good example of this. The items are simple to follow and the student knows if he or she participated in the class discussion so it will be easy to mark. If you use the chart for self-assessment purposes, you may want to delete the “0” Column.

Opera KWL Chart

Item 25 points 20 points 10 points 0 points Complete the “K” column of the chart

Student correctly recorded all of the words or phrases discussed in class on his/her chart.

Student recorded most of the words or phrases discussed on the chart.

Student recorded few of the words or phrases discussed on the chart.

Student did not record any words or phrases discussed on the chart.

Complete the “W” column of the chart

Student correctly recorded all of the words or phrases discussed in class on his/her chart.

Student recorded most of the words or phrases discussed on the chart.

Student recorded few of the words or phrases discussed on the chart.

Student did not record any words or phrases discussed on the chart.

Complete the “L” column of the chart

Student correctly recorded all of the answers on his/her chart.

Student correctly recorded most of the answers on the chart.

Student correctly recorded few answers on the chart.

Student did not correctly record any answers on the chart.

Participate in the class discussion

Student participated in the pre-, during, and post-reading discussions.

Student participated in 2 out of the 3 discussions.

Student participated in 1 of the discussions.

Student did not participate in any of the discussions.

Total Points Possible: 100 points


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What is Opera?

Item 20 points 15 points 10 points 5 points What does accompany mean?

Student correctly defined “accompany” in a complete sentence.

Student correctly defined “accompany” as a phrase or one-word response.

How did opera first get started?

The response was correct in content and was written in three or more complete sentences.

The response was correct in content and was written in two complete sentences.

The response was correct in content and was written in one complete sentence.

The response was correct in content and was written as a phrase.

Describe two ways opera includes other art forms.

The response correctly describes 2 ways opera includes other art forms in three or more complete sentences.

The response correctly described 2 ways opera includes other art forms in two complete sentences.

The response correctly described 2 ways opera includes other art forms in a phrase or correctly described 1 way opera includes other art forms in a complete sentence.

The response correctly described 1 way opera includes other art forms in a phrase.


More Than a Singer: Write a Classified Ad for a Newspaper

Item 10 points 5 points 0 points Describe (identify) the vocal classification of 2 singers.

The response correctly identified the classification of 2 singers.

The response correctly identified the classification of 1 singer.

Describe what the 2 singers will do.

The response correctly described what the 2 singers will do.

The response correctly described what 1 singer will do.

Text of ad is spelled correctly

All words are spelled correctly.

The response included one or more spelling errors.



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What Do They Sing?

Item 10 5 0 Identify similarities between a recitative and a rap.

The response correctly identified 2 ways a recitative is similar to a rap.

The response correctly identified 1 way a recitative is similar to a rap.

The response is written in complete sentences

The response is written in 2 or more complete sentences.

The response is written in one complete sentence.

The response is not written in complete sentences.

All words are spelled correctly.

The response included one or more spelling errors.


Who Writes Opera?

Item 10 points 5 points Identify the word for the person who writes the music

The response is correct.

Identify the word for the person who writes the words


Determine a question you would ask one of the creators of the opera

The response reflects a question for one of the creators written in a complete sentence with correct punctuation.

The response reflects a question but is a phrase or a one-word response or the response is written in a sentence with some punctuation errors.


Opera at the Net

Each box answered correctly is worth 3 points. (Students get credit for the 3 boxes that have been completed for them.) The students may earn an additional 4 points by writing

their names on their papers for a total of 100 points for the page.


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Item 15 points 10 points 5 points 0 points

What does the Museum Guide offer the children?

The response is correct and is written in a complete sentence.

The response is correct and is written as a phrase or one-word answer.

The response is incorrect.

What does Jasmin prefer to do at her lesson?

The response is correct and is written in a complete sentence.



Summarize what a child learned from an ancestor.

The response is correct and is written in complete sentences with correct punctuation and spelling.

The response is correct and is written in complete sentences with no more than 2 punctuation and/or spelling errors.





Each box that is completed with a name, description or location (as applicable) is worth 5 points for a total of 25 points for the lesson.


Item 20 points 15 points 10 points 5 points Develop 4 questions to ask an ancestor.

The response included 4 questions that would be appropriate for an interview of an older person.



The response included 1 question that would be appropriate for an interview of an older person.

Response was written in complete sentences with correct punctuation and spelling

The response was written in complete sentences with correct punctuation and spelling for all 4 questions.

The response was written in complete sentences with correct punctuation and spelling for 3 questions.

The response was written in complete sentences with correct punctuation and spelling for 2 questions.

The response was written in complete sentences with correct punctuation and spelling for 1 question.



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Create a Noosha


Identify the ancestor you are honoring

The response included an identification of the ancestor in a sentence or on a chart.

Response is written in sentences or on a student-created chart

The response is written in complete sentences with an introduction of the ancestor and a description of at least 5 symbols or the chart is neat and organized and includes an explanation for at least 5 symbols.

The response is written in complete sentences with an introduction of the ancestor and a description of 4 symbols or the chart is neat and organized and includes an explanation for at least 4 symbols.

The response is written in complete sentences with an introduction of the ancestor and a description of 3 symbols or the chart is neat and organized and includes an explanation for at least 3 symbols.

The response is written in complete sentences or in phrases with a description of at least 2 symbols or the chart is neat and organized and includes an explanation for at least 2 symbols.


The Enchantment of Dreams: The Music Students earn 5 points for each word used for an internet search that is spelled correctly.

Three points can be earned for a word that is misspelled.


Music Motifs

Item 15 points 10 points 5 points 1 point Present an opinion about the use of a leitmotif in an opera.

The constructed response provides the student’s opinion and is supported by details from the text. There are no errors in punctuation or grammar.

The constructed response provides the student’s opinion and is supported by details from the text. There are 1-2 errors in punctuation or grammar.

The constructed response provides the student’s opinion and is supported by a detail from the text. There are 3 or more errors in punctuation or grammar.

The constructed response provides the student’s opinion but is not supported by details from the text.



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Cultural Influences

The Kalimba and Xylophone

Item 10 points 5 points 3 points 0 points What makes a kalimba a member of the percussion family?

The constructed response is written in a complete sentence and is supported by information from the text. There are no errors in punctuation or grammar.

The constructed response is written in a complete sentence and is supported by information from the text. There are 1-2 errors in punctuation or grammar.

The constructed response is not written as a complete sentence, however the response is correct.


What does resonate mean?



What is the meaning of xylophone in the Greek language?



What does the level of hardness of the mallet head do to the timbre of a note being played on the xylophone?





Are the bars on the left longer or shorter than the bars on the rightend?





Total Points Possible: 40 Points


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The Marimba


Are the bars on the left longer or shorter than the bars on the right end?





Is the sound produced by a longer bar higher or lower than the sound produced by a shorter bar?





How is a marimba similar to a piano?





Create a graphic organizer to compare the xylophone, marimba and kalimba.

The graphic organizer includes at least 3 differences and 3 similarities.

The graphic organizer includes at least 2 differences and 2 similarities.

The graphic organizer includes at least 1 difference and 1similarity.



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Internet Safari


Describe the kalimba music.

The response includes descriptions of at least 4 elements (tone color, melody, rhythm, harmony) heard in the music.


The response includes descriptions of at least 1 element (tone color, melody, rhythm, harmony) heard in the music.

No response was provided or it was difficult to read.

What images come to your mind when you hear the kalimba music?

The constructed response includes 4 or more details of an image, is written as a complete sentence and there are no errors in punctuation or grammar.

The constructed response includes 2-3 details of an image, is written as a complete sentence and there are no errors in punctuation or grammar. .

The constructed response is not written as a complete sentence; however the response includes 2-4 details of an image.


Describe the marimba music on the web site.



The response includes descriptions of at least 1 element (tone color, melody, rhythm, harmony) heard in the music.


Describe the culture represented on the web site.

The response includes an appropriate description of the culture represented and includes 2-3 details to support the answer.

The response includes an appropriate description of the culture represented and includes 1 detail to support the answer.


Total Points Possible: 35 Points


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Write 5 sentences using 5 words from the list.

5 sentences are written using 5 vocabulary words in the correct context with no errors in spelling or punctuation.

5 sentences are written using 5 vocabulary words in the correct context with 1-2errors in spelling or punctuation.

3-4 sentences are written using 3-4 vocabulary words in the correct context with no more than 2 errors in spelling or punctuation.

1-2 sentences are written using 1-2 vocabulary words in the correct context with no more than 2 errors in spelling or punctuation.

Place 10 nouns in the correct columns.

1 point will be earned for each noun placed in the correct column.

Number of Points earned: _______ Use each noun from the chart in a sentence. (10 words)

2 points will be earned for each sentence written using the correct context for the word and having no errors in punctuation or spelling. 1 point will be earned for each sentence written using the correct context for the word and having errors in punctuation or spelling.

Number of Points earned: _______ Complete the analogies. (10 analogies)

1 point will be earned for each correct analogy.

Number of Points earned: _______ Vocabulary Quiz (20 items)

1 point will be earned for each correct selected-response. Number of Points earned: _______

Total Points Possible: 65


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Complete the chart to describe how the art forms were used in the opera.

The response appropriately describes how 4 art forms were used in the opera.

The response appropriately describes how 3 art forms were used in the opera.

The response appropriately describes how 2art forms were used in the opera.

The response appropriately describes how 1art form was used in the opera.

How did the instruments contribute to the mood of the opera?

The constructed response provides the student’s opinion and is supported by details from the performance. There are no errors in punctuation or grammar.

The constructed response provides the student’s opinion and is supported by details from the performance. There are 1-2 errors in punctuation or grammar.

The constructed response provides the student’s opinion but is not supported by details from the performance.

Write a letter. The letter is written using the format determined by the teacher and includes at least 4 details from the performance. There are no errors in punctuation or grammar.

The letter is written using the format determined by the teacher and includes at least 2-3 details from the performance. There are no more than 2 errors in punctuation or grammar.

The letter is written using the format determined by the teacher and includes at least 1 detail from the performance. There are no more than 2 errors in punctuation or grammar.



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The Enchantment of Dreams Participant Survey

Thank you for bringing your students to The Enchantment of Dreams. We are very interested in learning about your experience and how you connected the opera performance to your curriculum. The information you provide will help us improve future programs.

Please reply to: Allison Felter

Opera Theatre of Saint Louis 210 Hazel Avenue

St. Louis, MO 63119 Please respond to the following items. Use the comment section to provide additional information. Background Information: 1. What school or institution do you represent? ______________________________ 2. What grade level(s) of students did you bring to the opera? __________________ 3. Is this your first opera experience involving your students? (Circle one) Yes No Performance Information: 4. What did the students enjoy and learn from the performance? ___________________ _______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ 5. What do you feel are the program’s strengths and weaknesses? ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________


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Use of the Study Guide: 6. For each lesson in the Study Guide, please check if you used or did not use the lesson:

Lesson Title Used Did not use

Opera KWL Chart

What is Opera?

More Than a Singer

What Do They Sing?

Who Writes Opera?

Opera at the Net




Create a Noosha

The Enchantment of Dreams: The Music

Music Motifs

Cultural Influences

Internet Safari



7. Additional comments: ________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________

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