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DISTINGUISHED PROJECTS Music! Words! Opera! Presents New Educational Program C reate Your Own Opera or MusicTheater, the third installment of the Music! Words! Opera! series, is now available for educators and classrooms. The Music! Words! Opera! series, copublished by OPERA America and GIA Publications, Inc., challenges students to experience communication and storytelling through methods beyond the spoken and written word. Opera and music-theater invite students to explore several fundamental means of human communication — through language, music, dance, drama, and visual arts. Opera and musictheater should be understood and enjoyed by everyone! This Create Your Own module guides teachers and students through the process of composing and producing an original work of opera or music-theater. By encouraging the basic human instinct for telling stories, students will be introduced to a whole new world of creative expression . Music! Words! Opera! Create Your Own Opera or Music-Theater includes complete lesson plans, activities, handouts, study questions, assessment tools, and a glossary. Teachers will also have free access to an online resource bank that offers reprintable downloads and other helpful support materials. Developed by educators and opera professionals, Music! Words! Opera! is designed for upper elementary and middle school music classes. OPERA America is dedicated to sharing information and resources about opera, extending the art form's rich traditions, embracing new works and advocating for new expressions and explorations through art. The Music! Words! Opera! (M!W!O!) textbook series provides classroom teachers and arts specialists an accessible way of incorporating the interdisciplinary arts into a classroom setting. The curriculum series was developed over 20 years The Music! Words! Opera! article in the Summer 2012 PAN PIPES. 6 PAN PIPESSUMMER 2013 sai-national.org ago by a team of authors, including classroom and music teachers, curriculum specialists, composers and opera professionals to reflect the highly interdisciplinary nature of opera and to promote the art form as an excellent tool to aid students and teachers in their explorations of history, language, literature and music. M!W!O! places students at the center of their learning as they find new creative means of self-expression through the study of opera. In its history, M!W!O! has introduced an estimated 32,500 students and nearly 1,300 educators to opera. Clifford Brooks and Roger Ames, SAI National Arts Associates and developers of the M!W!O! series spoke of their philosophy of the project in the Summer 2012 PAN PIPES : "Opera offers a unique opportunity for learning in the classroom. It comprises literature and theater, making it possible to fit directly into reading /language arts and theater curricula. It includes both instrumental and vocal music, relating directly to music curricula. Dance and design are integral to the art form, providing natural opportunities to relate to movement and visual arts curricula. In addition, opera deals with the ways people live, think, and feel, providing a direct correlation to the humanities and social studies curricula. "Opera can be an extraordinary tool for blending learning across multiple disciplines, and it can help teachers and students cut through the fragmented nature of compartmentalized learning in secondary schools. Opera can provide a way for teachers and learners to break through the limitations and boundaries of the standard curriculum to make new discoveries about life, about themselves, and about the value of humankind's accumulated cultural accomplishments. "Opera, and all of the arts, are a ready and appealing mechanism for tying disciplines together in compelling ways that spark interest and invite participation, drawing students into the learning process. These are essential and fundamental connections that can enliven learning on many different fronts. Because opera offers multiple entry points into the learning styles of all students, it also provides an ideal opportunity to demonstrate the effectiveness of authentic assessment, as well as the efficacy of traditional methods of student evaluation. "Opera is, in short, a naturally interdisciplinary art form that relates directly to the standard school learning framework." [In addition to Create Your Own Opera or Music-Theatre] are Aida and Hansel and Gretel, the first two operas in the "Listen and Discover" series. Each includes a full DVD. The plan is to publish and distribute one opera title at a time — with adaptable lesson plans for all ages in each book. The lesson plans are designed to provide the teacher with enough resources to design an entire unit, semester or year's study — however, each can be easily adapted to any teacher's needs and goals. CLICK FOR MORE To learn more about the project, visit operaamerica.org/

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