Sigma Alpha Iota

DISTINGUISHED MEMBERS PUBLISHED WORDS continued from page 19 Also new to CYO will be exercises focusing on literary structures, lyrics from the Broadway tradition, and in-depth lessons on dramatic structures and vocabulary for older elementary and secondary students. This new emphasis on language arts should provide more collaborative cross-discipline opportunities for advanced study. Revisions to the current series deliberately line up with the core curriculum standards, which have also undergone their own changes these past few years. One of the overt changes to both components is the addition of research strategies that are specifically connected to encourage academic rigor, transfer of knowledge, and interdisciplinary education. This rigorous research strand underlines a connection to intellectual pursuits that artists regularly do in their own creative process — but are not often credited for doing. Bearing in mind that part of the creative process includes study of time and place, style, cultural connections, and "finding the way in" to a project (be it musical, poetic, visual, written work, or theatrical endeavor), opera as genre provides opportunities for deep analysis and multi-disciplinary learning that no other artistic medium can boast. One only has to look at the connections Verdi built between his European education and his increased knowledge of Egypt (while writing Aida) to comprehend how necessary research is to fully realize a creative project. Teach children to write operas? The idea may seem daunting, but classroom teachers across the country have been doing just that for the last 22 years using the M!W!O! approach they learned in specially designed professional development workshops held across the country every summer. M!W!O!'s intense five-day summer program, often sponsored by a local opera company, provides teachers with the experience, materials, exposure and tools necessary not only 20 to teach their students about opera, but also to assume the role of "creativity manager" as their students write, produce, and create their own operatic works. In a newspaper article concerning an MWO teacher workshop in Saint Louis, teacher Mary Murphy summed up the course's appeal: "It is one of the most thought-provoking, interesting classes I have ever taken in my life … Even if you have no background in music, you get a lot out of it…It showed me that even at the age of 63, there's a lot of untapped talent inside of me. The more we can introduce this to the little guys, the more they're going to use it…You're opening up their minds to so much: art, music, drama. It gets them out of themselves. It's like opening a door: What's around it? Wow! Look what's there!" It is hoped that with the help of a distinguished national publisher of educational materials (GIA), the now hundreds of schools participating in Music! Words! Opera! will increase to the thousands. In addition, the goal remains that the lives of both teachers and students will be profoundly enriched and often changed by their connection to one of the great art forms — opera, and to the teaching techniques found in M!W!O! Roger Ames attended the Crane School of Music at State University of New York Potsdam, where he majored in voice and music education, graduating cum laude before teaching at Whitesboro High School and Somers High School. After receiving a fellowship at American University, he became Music Director of Street 70 (later Roundhouse Theater), founded the Montgomery County Masterworks Chorus, was named one of the eight "most promising" musicians in Washington, and was director of music and resident composer at Westmoreland Congregational Church. He was then appointed to the faculty at Great Neck North High School as PAN PIPESSUMMER 2012 sai-national.org director of vocal music and resident composer. His opera compositions include Amistad, Amarantha, and En Mis Palabras. He has been commissioned by Utah Opera, Central City Opera, Broadway Cares/Equity Fights Aids, The Long Island Masterworks Chorus and Orchestra, Boston Lyric Opera, and others including several universities and churches. He was nominated for the 2008 Pulitzer Prize in Music for the Boston Pro Musica's New England premiere of Requiem For Our Time. He was initiated as a National Arts Associate by the Boston Alumnae Chapter in November 2010. Clifford Brooks, a principal author of OPERA America's MUSIC! WORDS! OPERA! textbook and materials, holds a Bachelor's (summa cum laude) in French with minors in Italian and history from Georgetown University and an Master's from Rutgers University in Library and Information Studies. He studied musicology at the University of Paris, and while at Georgetown studied vocal and choral music with Paul Hume, Music Critic of the Washington Post. He holds a second Master's in Urban Education (Bilingual /Multicultural track) from New Jersey City University. Mr. Brooks has had a wide and varied career in management, arts administration, education, and librarianship, working with La Joie par les Livres, the Paris-based center for children's literature and librarianship in France, the Ministry of Education of the Philippines, the American Symphony Orchestra, Butler University, and numerous opera companies. He has authored a number of successful grants to the National Endowment for the Humanities and participated as a joint author in proposals submitted to the National Endowment for the Arts, and the US Department of Education. He was initiated as an SAI National Arts Associate by the Boston Alumnae Chapter in 1983.

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