Sigma Alpha Iota

DISTINGUISHED MEMBERS PUBLISHED Lessons from the MUSIC! WORDS! OPERA! handbooks. approach to instruction that mirrored the art form itself. The result was an integrated curriculum that started a revolution not only in arts education, but also influenced the education world The road was not easy. Many in the worlds of general education, music education and opera could not support the idea that children were capable of creating music. The word "opera" itself posed a problem, since its perception as an elitist art form permeated every level of society. Whether urban or suburban, many did not see how opera could be used to demonstrate the cultural diversity of our society, or serve as an anchor to both the content and context of historical events, periods or characters. The early years saw cognitive psychologists, education gurus, university professors, classroom teachers and opera professionals coming together at a number of meetings to find the best way to approach creating a set of classroom materials that would meet the needs of any K-12 teacher. Music! Words! Opera! was the first set of sequenced resource materials designed to guide students through the discovery of how opera relates to them and how they can create, produce, and perform their own works. It was carefully crafted to demonstrate that the processes used to create and produce a work of art are fundamental components of learning. Its success in balancing the study of works by great artists with the creation of original works fostered a dual approach which led students to the realization that their thoughts were indeed profound — and that others have shared their concerns and found solutions to problems similar to their own. Students who never before were engaged in school-related activities acknowledged that they themselves had the power to learn and to express their ideas effectively. Totally innovative at the time, M!W!O! was designed to be used by regular classroom teachers, music specialists, or any person interested in teaching about the great works or the creative process in a school system or other similar institution. Since its first appearance in the early 1990s, M!W!O! has been used in extracurricular environments, senior citizen centers, maximum security prisons, juvenile detention centers, colleges, and preschools. There are a number of cognitive, affective, metacognitive, and social strategies at work in the M!W!O! process, not to mention memory and the use of psychomotor skills in both the "Listen and Discover" and creative process work. Risktaking is encouraged, goal setting is mandatory, and student motivation remains high through the increased ownership component that builds in each participant during the project. M!W!O! has proven to be a successful vehicle in language arts and ESL classrooms, where students use new words, drama and gesture to elaborate upon a basic plot synopsis, provide details to help make events and characters come alive, and interact to bring about increased conversation, all of which aids in vocabulary building and promotes self-correction. The kinesthetic, auditory and visual activities built into the lesson plans emphasize interpersonal skills and rely upon teaching strategies which are designed to reach students of diverse learning styles. While thousands of children and hundreds of teachers nationwide are still using the original curricular materials from the early '90s, there were numerous requests to add to the original scope of the project and revise the materials to include newer technologies and effective teacher techniques discovered over the past 20 years. The opera industry responded to this need. A review committee composed of M!W!O! authors, trainers and practitioners was formed under the auspices of the Opera Theatre of St. Louis to share ideas about lesson plan formats, instructional strategies, and the use of technology. They discussed requests for new operas, additional guidelines for wider use of online collaboration with OPERA America and its members, and added material for the "Create and Produce" part of the curriculum. GIA Music of Chicago reviewed the original materials and the revision plan and agreed to publish and distribute the new materials. These materials are now available to any and all educators — those affiliated with or located near OPERA America member companies, and also those who do not have a company in or near their community. Currently available 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. The Create Your Own Opera volume (CYO), to appear in the fall of 2012, offers a sequence of lesson plans and activities that uses melodic and lyrical examples from the opera repertoire to help students model their own work from the examples of the masters. WORDS continued on page 20 sai-national.org SUMMER 2012 PAN PIPES 19

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