The Standard presents

Adapted for Portland Opera To Go by Kristine McIntyre

Set Design by Polly Robbins

Costume Design by: Sue Bonde

Portland Opera appreciates the continuing support of The James F. and

Marion L. Miller Foundation, The Collins Foundation, Meyer Memorial

Trust, Regional Arts and Culture Council, Work for Art, the Oregon Arts

Commission and the National Endowment for the Arts. Portland Opera is a

member of OPERA AMERICA.

The Standard

U.S. Bank Foundation

Opus Bank Foundation

NW Natural

Wheeler Foundation

Winderlea Vineyard & Winery

Portland Opera to Go wishes to thank our generous sponsors, without whom,

we could not be here.

Why is Portland Opera To Go here, and how is opera

relevant to my classroom?

Inspire Enliven Activate Renew

Dear Teachers, Thank you for taking the time to read this letter and consider using our curriculum in your classroom. I guess the first question you may have is what exactly is opera? The simplest answer—what we tell kids—is that opera is just a play that is sung. Perhaps we could simplify it more by saying it is storytelling through song. Song is an ancient art form (possibly the very earliest) with some musicologists theorizing that music came into existence when humans developed “intentionality” some 60,000 years ago. It is that “intentionality” that makes opera—and art in general—relevant in your classroom. Children have an innate interest in stories, in music, and in creating. By telling stories, making music, and drawing pictures, our students learn. Myriad studies have been done connecting the practice of the fine arts with brain development. In fact, the practice of art changes the brain. Arts in the classroom—your classroom—have the power to increase attention and enhance student cognition. More importantly, arts in the classroom underscore what you are trying to teach, help to reach students for whom paper and pencil work is less effective, provide students with the opportunity to demonstrate what they know, and, frankly, make learning fun. But is it hard to integrate art into the classroom? It can feel that way if the testing culture increases the pressure to “teach to the test,” or if curricula allow no room for creativity. That is when we need an act of courage! We need the courage to know that when students internalize knowledge and master curriculum, they test well. Mastery leads to being able to apply knowledge across a broad range of applications, just as opera applies to a wide variety of curricular connections, touching literary arts, history, social studies, math and science, in addition to poetry, music, visual arts, dance, and aesthetics. When students see the connectivity of what they are doing, seeing and experiencing, they learn—and remember what they learn. It can also feel hard to integrate arts into your classroom if you don’t feel qualified to do so. Within this Teacher's Guide, you will find lesson plans that will allow you to integrate opera into your classroom seamlessly. You will also find background information for yourself so

What is THAT?!!!

that you can confidently walk into your classroom and answer questions about opera from its history, to its composers, to specifics about The Elixir of Love, its composer, its creation, and its musical style. In addition, you will find that our worksheets are available to your students in both English and Spanish. Portland Opera believes that opera is the most exciting and visceral way to tell a story, but we know that it isn’t “mainstream.” The singing style may not appeal to everyone at first, but it communicates emotion in a universal way that is not bound by language. We want to get opera out there in front of our children to inspire the next soprano, conductor, or stage director and develop the audiences of our future. We want to shake up the school day (brain science also indicates that learning the same thing many different ways, in different venues makes the learning “stick!”), and enliven both students and teachers with renewed enthusiasm. We want to create an opera prism through which all curricula can be explored in a fresh, new way. We want to activate the artistry of others—yours and your students—and extend the teaching and learning repertoires of teachers and learners. We hope, above all, that our presentation at your school inspires you and your students. Please feel free to copy any of the material in this packet for distribution to your students and colleagues. You may, of course, adapt any of these materials to better suit your needs. I mentioned “courage” above. In closing, I would like to share something that I learned at the 2012 Oregon Arts Summit. “Bravo” is a term that came out of opera houses, and has come to mean, essentially, “Wonderful! Fantastic! Amazing!” That is a great meaning, but, originally, it meant something more. It was called out to a performer who took a risk—successful or no—and reached beyond him or herself to increase their communicative power. How wonderful to celebrate the courage it takes to risk failing in front of others in order to reach greater heights! Arts in the classroom can create a culture that allows “failure” in an environment which celebrates striving, risking, and—dare I say it—learning. I hope you will establish a “Bravo Policy” in your classrooms, and encourage that kind of striving. In the meantime, bravo to you. Enjoy our presentation at your school. Very truly yours,

Alexis Hamilton Manager of Education & Outreach Portland Opera

For the

Teacher (Background information so

that you can answer questions with confidence.)

Opera: A Crash Course Almost everything you need to know about 400 years of opera

The Indispensable Composers Down and dirty description of the most influential composers from the Baroque Period through the first 20 years of the 20th

Why Do They Sound Like That? A little bit about the voice and training of the opera singer

The Composer: Who Was Gaetano Donizetti?

Potions & Emotions: Conjuring Up The Elixir of Love The origins and making of Donizetti’s comic masterpiece

What’s in For the Teacher?

“Opera, next to Gothic architecture, is one of the strangest inventions of Western man. It could not have been foreseen by any logical process.”

~~Kenneth Clark~~

Opera is the Italian word for “work” According to Merriam-Webster, opera is “a drama set to music and made up of vocal pieces with orchestral accompaniment.” When people think of opera they usually think of elaborate costumes, sets and choreography. However, opera is essentially just a play that is sung. Opera can be spectacular and grand or simple and tender. It is a remarkable display of visual and auditory brilliance.

The history of opera begins in Italy in the late 16th century. A group of intellectuals, scientists and musicians calling themselves the Florentine Camerata wanted to recreate Greek theater as it was performed by the ancients and assumed that it was entirely sung. (It turned out they were wrong.) They were also striving to clarify sung text, which had become increasingly obscured by the multi-voiced compositions of the

This engraving depicts a 1763 riot at Covent Garden because management’s refusal to admit discounted tickets. Opera was taken very seriously!

Opera:

A Crash Course

Renaissance. In their first attempts, the music was simple and the text and voice most important. These early musical plays were often performed during the intermission of a play as incidental entertainment. The oldest, extant opera that is still performed is Orfeo, written in 1607 by Claudio Monteverdi. Rediscovered in the 20th century, it is now performed all over the world and considered the first work of operatic genius. In 1637, the first public opera house opened in Venice, Italy, and opera became a “spectator sport!” Between 1637 and 1640, over 388 operas were produced and performed in Venice. Seventeenth century opera singers were the super-stars of their time. They lived or died by their talent—rowdy, passionate Venetian audiences were known to be lavish with their praise, but just as willing to run a singer off the stage! Opera became the first major Italian export. Germany, France and England were all

influenced by Italian opera, but eventually each country designed opera based on its own traditions. By 1618 German composers were writing singspiels (German language operas with spoken dialogue). In France under the patronage of Louis XIV, French opera was heavily influenced by the ballet—in fact, the French king decreed that all French opera (indeed all opera performed in France, whether of French origin or not) must include a ballet. English opera was based on a type of English play called a masque. During the latter part of the Baroque Period (1600-1750), composers re-defined opera. Formal musical structure was given to opera beginning with the overture (a musical introduction), recitative (sung dialogue), and the aria (a song developing emotional information about the character). Singers also had the freedom to improvise in their arias. To give singers this opportunity, composers created the da capo aria. Da capo means “back to the beginning.” In it,

1723 engraving of the opera Flavio by Handel. The exaggerated proportions of the male singers are because they are “castrati,” singers that were castrated as boys to preserve their treble sound. This changed the way these men matured, making them extremely tall and barrel-chested, as well as preserving their high voices. The practice was finally outlawed in Italy in 1861.

the main idea (A) was followed by a second musical idea (B) and then A was repeated again with improvised fast moving notes called ornaments. Today “Da capo!” shouted from the audience is high praise to a singer—it means repeat what was just sung! (This hardly ever happens in the United States. It is mostly an Italian custom.) The most famous composers of Baroque opera are George Frideric Handel and Alessandro Scarlatti. The standardization of style in the Baroque Period paved the way for composers in the Classical Era (late 18th and early 19th centuries) to reform the style to a simpler, more balanced form with renewed interest in dramatic integrity. Singers were stripped of their power to improvise on a whim, because composers saw in the heavy singer-driven ornamentation of the da capo aria a distinct lack of taste and balance between music and drama. Flexibility was given to the singer at the end of the piece with a cadenza—an improvised, fast moving, flashy ending. Two distinct Italian styles were dominant in this era: opera seria, serious opera, often with a tragic ending; and opera buffa, comic opera, or opera with a happy ending. Famous opera composers of this period are Cristoph Willibald Gluck, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and to a lesser extent Ludwig von Beethoven and Gioachino Rossini. These latter are considered transitional composers, acting as a sort of bridge to the Romantic period.

Romantic opera sets the standards for opera today. The names at the top of the list for Romantic opera are Giuseppe Verdi, Richard Wagner, and Giacomo Puccini. The Romantic period encompasses the mid and late 19th century. This style explores expansive musical line and a more innovative use of the voice and orchestral instruments. Opera plots based on true life experiences and ordinary believable characters created a sub-genre of the Romantic period known as verismo opera. Opera has continued to change and grow throughout the 20th and 21st centuries. During the last 50 years, opera in the United States has come into its own with modern

masterpieces by American composers such as Aaron Copland, Samuel Barber, Gian-Carlo Menotti, Carlisle Floyd and Douglas Moore. In addition, the U.S. has contributed the Broadway musical to music theater tradition. With the world-wide popularity of the

Three Tenors and crossover artists like Andrea Bocelli, Josh Brolan and Charlotte Church, opera attendance continues to grow. The 21st century will continue to bring innovations to the stage, new works to the forefront, and new productions of old standards. The world of opera is enduring and universal and will continue to move and delight audiences into the foreseeable future.

Opera audience of the future enjoying a Portland Opera To Go production of The Elixir of Love.

The Indispensable Composers

George Frideric Handel (1685-1759) German born composer who made much of his career in England writing Italian opera seria. His style used a lot of fast moving notes (the “note-y” passages are called “runs” or melismas) and a fairly simple accompaniment. He is most famous today for his oratorios (basically un-staged, often religious operas). The Messiah is the most famous of these. During his life, however, he was considered the greatest opera composer of his day.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791) Austrian composer of Italian opera and singspiel during the Classical Period. Mozart was one of the very few opera composers who was a master of all musical forms existing at his time. His operas were written for specific singers—and for those he really hated he wrote exquisitely difficult music! His operas The Marriage of Figaro, Don Giovanni, Cosi fan tutte and The Magic Flute all continue to be “bread and butter” pieces of operatic repertoire.

Gioachino Rossini (1792-1848) Italian composer who became a bridge from the Classical Era to the Romantic Era and a writer of the bel canto (literally, “beautiful singing”) style of opera. He is most famous today for his operas buffa, The Barber of Seville and La Cenorentola (Cinderella). He also wrote William Tell, the overture of which became the theme song for The Lone Ranger! Rossini was extremely prolific and wrote about 39 operas in 19 years.

Vincenzo Bellini (1801-1835) &

Gaetano Donizetti (1797-1848) Composers of the bel canto style. Bellini and Donizetti perfected a style which celebrated beautiful vocal lines. Bellini’s opera, Norma, in particular is recognized as the best example of bel canto style. Donizetti is famous for his amazing productivity and beloved for his operas The Elixir of Love and Lucia di Lammermoor. Bel canto opera features arias made of two contrasting parts: the cavatina, which is slow and melodic, and a cabaletta which is fast with a lot of flashy runs.

Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901) Arguably, the greatest Italian opera composer of all time. His contributions are among the most beloved operas on stage and include such lions of the theater as La Traviata, Rigoletto and Aida. Many more of his titles are staples of opera houses today. He was a great revolutionary step in the history of opera—a perfect culmination of opera composers from Mozart through Bellini and an undisputed master of operatic form.

Richard Wagner (1813-1883) The most influential operatic composer of all time. After Wagner’s operas, no opera was ever composed that was not influenced by his works. He departed from the Italian lyric form and developed the concept of Gesamstkunstwerk—music theater that places equal weight on text, drama and music—a Total Art, epic in length. Wagner’s operas include The Ring Cycle, comprised of four operas, each of which lasts 4-5 hours His harmonies are far more complex than those in Italian opera and the importance and prominence of the orchestral music is far greater than in Italian opera.

Giacomo Puccini (1858-1924) If Wagner is the most influential composer of opera, Puccini may be the most popular and accessible of operatic composers. His operas are full of lush and beautiful melodies, extremely affecting theater and believable, enduring characters. His operas include: La Bohème, Madama Butterfly, Tosca, and Turandot. Each of his operas show remarkable facility at evoking time and place, using musical techniques that other more avant garde composers were using while continuing to remain, unmistakably, Puccini.

Why Do They Sound Like That?

Opera singers are highly trained specialists. Each singer learns to maximize the potential of their voice so that they do not need to use microphones. The technique of an opera singer utilizes breath and acoustic resonance in such a way that they can produce enough sound to sing over an orchestra of 30-80 instruments and have every audience member in the theater hear them. To give you some perspective, the Metropolitan Opera House in New York seats about 3900 people. That is a lot of noise for one person to produce without a microphone! Opera singers are the only professional singers in the world that consistently do not rely on artificial amplification. On occasion, when singing outside or in an amphitheater, singers will be amplified, however that is the exception, not the norm. Opera singers undergo rigorous training—much like professional athletes. Most of the singers in Portland Opera To Go began piano lessons as small children, sang in choirs, and began formal vocal training when they were about seventeen years old. Most voice teachers will not teach voice to young people under the age of about seventeen because of the strength and physical maturity necessary to safe singing. Younger people interested in voice lessons would be better served by singing in choirs, learning breath technique and learning to read music. Vocal training takes about ten years, and the voice is not fully mature and ready for the rigors of opera until a singer is in their mid-twenties. Some types of voices—usually larger, heavier voices—will not be ready for their repertoire until they are in their early to mid-thirties. The trade-off for this lengthy training is a long career—an opera singer can expect their career to last thirty-plus years. In addition to studying vocal technique, opera singers study Italian, French and German, because most operas are written in those languages. A singer may not be fluent in all of

A diagram of the voice box. Vocal chords are tiny and vibrate together to create sound. When you breathe in, they open to allow air to pass through. When you breathe out, your breath passing through the vocal cords creates a vacuum, pulling them together and causing them to vibrate. The more taut they are and the thinner they are stretched the faster they vibrate and the higher the sound.

these languages, but will at least know how to pronounce them and have a working understanding of them. A singer may also study Russian and Czech. Singers will also take classes in acting, piano, music history, music theory, and, if they are smart, dance. To find work, a singer must audition—that is sing—for each potential employer. Opera singers’ salaries cover a vast range—a young professional might expect to make $500-$800 per performance, while a super-star like Luciano Pavarotti earned up to $50,000 per performance—or whatever his agent could negotiate for him!

Let me give you a little perspective! Though it may sound like opera singers make an awful lot of money—especially to your students—here are some things to remember:

A per performance fee includes 4-6 weeks of 6 hour per day rehearsals, 6 days a week, and that is just once you are at your job— it doesn’t count all of the individual preparation a singer does on his/her own. They are expected to arrive at rehearsal with their music fully memorized.

Voice lessons and coachings cost MONEY! Most singers will have practice sessions with voice teachers who specialize in the technique of singing, and coaches who rehearse singers and give them information on style and interpretation. These sessions are hourly and can cost anywhere from $50-$200 per hour depending on who your teacher/coach is and where you are. One expert from the Metropolitan Opera estimates that it costs a singer $500 to prepare each 7 minute aria they sing for an audition—and again, that is in real money, not just time.

It costs a lot to audition! First of all, if you don’t live in New York City, you will probably have to fly there to audition. You may also have to fly to opera houses around the country and the world to audition. Sometimes, as a young singer, particularly, you will have to pay an application fee (nonrefundable) to audition. The appropriate clothing also costs money.

Music costs money. Head shots (the 8” X 10” photos you hand to auditors) and resumes cost money to have taken and to print. And you may have to send out hundreds of them! Often today, printing costs may be defrayed by sending electronic copies.

So, by the time you figure in all of the expenses of your business, even Pavarotti wasn’t making quite so much money as it sounds—although he certainly wasn’t hurting!

The Anatomy of the Voice Larynx (pronounced LAIR-inx, not LAHR-nix) The larynx is the voice box. The vocal folds (also called vocal cords) are part of the larynx. The vocal folds vibrate to create the sound of the voice.

2. Pharynx (pronounced FAIR-inx) The pharynx is the throat. It goes up from the larynx and divides into the laryngopharynx (just above the larynx), oropharynx (going into the mouth) and nasopharynx (going into the nose).

3. Trachea (pronounced TRAY-key-ah) The trachea is your windpipe. It's the tube that connects your lungs to your throat. The larynx sits on the top of the trachea.

Some other nearby organs important to singing:

4. Esophagus The esophagus is your food pipe. It's just behind the larynx and trachea. Your pharynx carries both air and food/water. The air goes through the larynx and trachea, and food and water go into your esophagus.

5. Spinal column The spinal column is behind the esophagus. You can feel it by pressing the back of your neck.

6. Diaphragm The diaphragm is underneath the lungs, inside the rib cage. It's shaped like a dome. The diaphragm is your main muscle for controlling respiration (breathing).

“Vast is my mind; swift my genius; ready my fancy; and when I compose, I am lightning!”

~~The character of “Donizetti” in Johann Simon Mayr’s one-act opera, Il piccolo compositore di musica, written

in 1811 for his students, with the boy Donizetti playing himself as the eponymous character~~

In 1806, Johann Simon Mayr, a deeply respected composer of opera and liturgical music in Bergamo, Italy and beyond, welcomed the first class of students to the newly established Lezioni Caritatevoli, a charity music school designed to train choir boys for Santa Maria Maggiore Cathedral. Among these first boys was a nine-year-old Domenico Gaetano Donizetti, unprepossessing now, but

destined for great things. It was Mayr who would notice, nurture and shape this boy’s talent. Mayr who would push him under the noses of the right people; Mayr who would wheedle the school’s board of directors to allow the boy to continue his musical studies, despite his unsatisfactory singing voice; and Mayr who, when necessary, pried money from the purses of these same directors to send Donizetti off to Bologna to continue his studies. Mayr was a tireless advocate for the boy, a consummate and selfless teacher whose influence on Donizetti went way beyond the musical sphere, coloring all of his attitudes toward music, fellow students, colleagues and rival composers. In short, had there been no Mayr, there would be no Donizetti. The words Mayr put into Donizetti’s mouth in the school opera he wrote for a group of his prize students (quoted above) would prove prophetic. This boy, this buoyant, effusive soul, would go on to write sixty-nine operas, three oratorios, sixteen symphonies, one hundred ninety-three songs, forty-five duets, ten choral pieces, and twenty-eight cantatas. And this list is merely representative. There is still more only partially catalogued. Gaetano Donizetti was born on November 29, 1797 into desperate poverty. His father, Andrea, eventually became a

The Composer:

Who was Gaetano Donizetti?

The rather dashing Donizetti, circa 1830, etching, artist unknown

janitor and then the delivery man for the local pawn shop. Gaetano was the fifth of six children born in the dingy, two bedroom basement apartment his father rented. There was no history of or love for music in this family, until Gaetano’s generation broke the mold and made up for that lack. His eldest brother, Giuseppe, would rise to become the Chief of Music to the Ottoman Empire and live in Constantinople, far from his Bergamasco home, eventually awarded the honorific “Pasha.” The middle brother, Francesco, suffering from some sort of mental disability, which allowed him only a modicum of independence after his parents’ deaths, played the cymbals in the Bergamo Civic Band. Andrea Donizetti knew little of music and feared for the fortunes of his family. Given that Giuseppe was lost to him, first as a soldier and then to his career in Constantinople, and that Francesco was incompetent to be of financial help to the family, Andrea turned to his youngest son, Gaetano, as the sole remaining support for his parents as they aged. A charitable soul

would empathize with Andrea’s lack of enthusiasm for Gaetano’s chosen career, and his anxiety in the early years of his son’s musical ambitions. He could not recognize his son’s talent, nor appreciate it, and therefore constantly encouraged him to become the village organist. Fortunately, Donizetti had Mayr. When Gaetano entered Mayr’s school, he did so on a three month probation. His brother Giuseppe applied as well, but at eighteen was deemed too old to enroll. Gaetano was to study voice and harpsichord. At the time, the school was allowed to admit twelve students tuition free, eight of whom were to study voice. (As previously stated, the primary purpose of the Lezioni Caritatevoli was to train choir boys for the cathedral.) At his three month review in September of 1806, Gaetano’s progress seems to have been good:

In singing class: diligent, attentive, has made progress in reading music, but his voice is defective and throaty. In piano class: diligent in attendance, quiet and attentive. His progress

Johann Simon Mayr

Giuseppe Donizetti, Gaetano's brother in Turkish regalia

is in accordance with his good disposition and attention to studies.

He was allowed to continue. A year after his initial enrollment, he was Mayr’s star pupil. Gaetano was awarded a cash prize. But his voice remained obdurate. He was not a gifted singer, and he was suspended from school for this lack in 1808. Mayr was desperate. Donizetti’s father wrote to the Board on his behalf. Arms were twisted, and Gaetano readmitted. Provisionally. The following year, he was once again cut from the program. Mayr began a full-scale assault on the Board to reinstate the boy. Mayr proposed that the school be expanded to include boys whose voices were changing (a group which now included Gaetano), allowing them to continue to study the organ and harpsichord. Mayr succeeded in his efforts. Finally, he managed to secure a place at the music school until such time that he should be deemed ready to continue his studies

elsewhere. It was now that Mayr wrote the opera quoted at the beginning of this article. The opera was a charming farce written for several students (including Donizetti) to star as themselves. It included a moment to feature one of Gaetano’s own compositions and ended with a rather pointed moral to the Board of the school: “Whoever is bold enough to discourage another’s talent deserves rigorous punishment.” Donizetti stayed at Mayr’s school until he was seventeen. Andrea expected that now his son should settle into steady employment. Mayr was determined that his gifted student should continue his studies with Father Stanislau Mattei, the best teacher of counterpoint available in Italy, and Rossini’s former teacher. Mayr lobbied Gaetano’s father hard for permission for his son’s further education. What is more, he raised the funds needed for him to do so. In a letter to the Board he writes:

In the founding of the free music school… [the Council] has particularly taken as its aim the cultivation of budding musical talents, which deprived of financial support would have remained buried…Let me hope that the Illustrious Congregation will permit me to put forward my humble prayers on behalf of Gaetano Donizetti, a student who is about to leave the school. Although not overly favored by nature with an outstanding voice, he is, however, gifted by inclination, talent and genius for composition, particularly with his readiness of fantasy in conceiving musical ideas which are not unsuitable for the setting of words…It would be a loss if this not mediocre talent were

Donizetti as a young boy, oil on wood by Biagio Martini

not cultivated in the most useful manner, and by the most solid and valuable means of instruction Italy can boast today…However, this youngster, lacking the means wherewith to aspire to such an advantage, and furthermore, calculating the benefit that would derive to himself and to his parents…and considering the honor that might redound to his native city that it should have formed a distinguished composer of music, several charitable souls [including, no doubt, Mayr himself] have had the goodness to offer generous support to maintain this youth for two years. But these funds not being sufficient for everything, I am so bold as to beg the Illustrious Congregation, by an act of true charity directed toward the worthiest end, to deign to concur also with this support… Your most humble, devoted and

obedient servant,

Giovanni Simone Mayr

Donizetti spent the next two to three years based in Bologna, working very hard for the cold taskmaster Padre Mattei. His counterpoint composition books from the time attest to his hard work and steady progress. In Bologna, Donizetti acquitted himself well, and earned the respect of his taciturn teacher Mattei. Though Mattei respected his pupil, he in no way commanded the affection and devotion in the youth that his old master Mayr did. A charming (and almost certainly apocryphal) story highlights the difference in the relationships. Donizetti was always eager to prove that he was worthy of his mentor Mayr’s faith in him and wanted to give a worthy gift to his beloved maestro. According to this story, told by Donizetti’s

earliest biographers, Alborghetti and Galli, Mayr’s opera La Rosa Bianca e la rosa rossa was to be performed in Bologna during the 1817 Carnival season. For some reason, the impresario refused to return not only the original score but its copy to Mayr. Donizetti, hoping to help his master and sidestep the rascally producer, attended all three performances of the opera, and from memory transcribed it note for note. He then presented Mayr with the “voluminous manuscript saying, ‘I wanted to exert my memory for you, and I hope that I have succeeded in doing something that pleases you.’” Mayr, overwhelmed with pride and joy, then gave Donizetti the watch from his pocket and presented it to the youth who treasured it for the rest of his days. Whether the story of the transcription is factually true or not seems niggling to debate (though the story has become tradition, none of Mayr’s operas are recorded as being produced in Bologna during the time that Donizetti studied there). The story reflects the truth of Donizetti’s generosity of spirit, his depth of feeling for Mayr and his very real facility. At any rate, the bit about Mayr’s watch is true, as is the fact that Donizetti kept and treasured it. At twenty-one, Donizetti finished his work in Bologna and, aided by Mayr, found work in a Venetian opera company headed by impresario Paolo Zancla. Donizetti wrote four operas for Zancla, all of which are now essentially forgotten. Although not his greatest works, the operas cannot be considered failures. They earned Donizetti enough respect to win him a commission to write an opera for the Teatro Argentina in Rome. Zoraide di Granata did very well, garnering the young composer praise from critics and the public. This opera established Donizetti’s worth as a composer, and encouraged by his Roman

accolades, he moved on to Naples. Again, Mayr’s influence opened doors to the dashing Donizetti, whose self-discipline, innate rapport with colleagues, remarkable lightning speed and terrific talent kept open. Naples would become his base of operations for much of his career—and, indeed, he considered it his home throughout his life, whether in Paris, Vienna, or on the endless travelling schedule his busy work life demanded of him. Naples was to be the site of his greatest personal tragedies, and he spent eight of what Verdi would have called his “galley years” coping with the deaths of his closest family. But first, he would revel in marital bliss. In Rome, in 1828, Donizetti married the beautiful Virginia Vaselli, the youngest sister of his dear friend Toto Vaselli. Donizetti adored this lovely young woman, and was adored in return. His father, however, was not in favor of the wedding, though this was less an objection to Virginia or the Vasellis, neither of whom he ever actually met, as to his never-ending fear that his son would no longer be interested in supporting his parents and older brother. Donizetti assured his father that this was not the case in several testy written exchanges, and the deliriously happy couple began their life together in a third floor apartment near the Teatro San

Carlo, where Donizetti had signed a rather remarkable contract to write four operas a year for three years, in addition to acting as music director. This provided a steady income for the newlyweds, and does not seem to have precluded Donizetti writing operas for other companies as well. Finally in 1830, his journeyman years were over. Donizetti was quite prolific during

the years from 1822-1832, and he established himself as a competent composer, appreciated for his craftsmanship and professionalism, but not estimated a great artist. Then he wrote Anna Bolena, generally considered the turning point of his career. With

Anna Bolena, Donizetti finally sang with his own voice, shedding Rossini’s influence and utilizing orchestration to further color his characterizations. For the first time, Donizetti put vocal acrobatics lower on his list of priorities than dramatic integrity. As a result, Anna Bolena can truly be categorized as the first Italian Romantic opera. The opera was remarkably popular and helped to define Donizetti as an international personality, with performances in England, Austria, Germany, Cuba, France and the United States. Of Anna Bolena’s success, Donizetti wrote:

Virginia Vaselli

My Respected and Most Beloved Wife: I am pleased to announce that the

new opera of your beloved and famous husband has had a reception which could not possibly be improved upon.

Success, triumph, delirium; it

seemed that the public had gone mad. Everyone said that they could not remember ever being present at such a triumph. I was so happy that I started to weep, just think! And my heart came close to you and I thought of your joy had you been present…

Now I am in Paradise and I cannot

express my happiness. I lack only a kiss from my Virginia which I will come to collect at the first chance…

By the beginning of 1831, Donizetti began to realize that he could not continue to write four operas a year and maintain any sort of quality. In September of that year, Donizetti managed to renegotiate his contract, which left him with his primary job in Naples as music director and his involvement with the Naples Conservatory.

Following the success of Anna Bolena, he rapidly composed a number of operas which have since been forgotten. In 1832, he churned out L’elisir d’amore in less than a month, an opera whose sparkle and charm continues to delight audiences today. Again, in L’elisir Donizetti created a greater range of emotion for his characters by varying their musical language. This was a significant departure from Rossini’s carefully constructed, elegantly wry comedies. Four more operas were produced in the eighteen months between L’elisir and Lucretia Borgia, Donizetti’s next triumph. This achievement led to a contract in Naples to write one opera seria per year for the Teatro San Carlo. Through no fault of its own, Donizetti’s first offering Maria Stuarda failed miserably. It had been plagued with problems from the premiere. Undaunted, Donizetti provided the San Carlo with Marino Faliero in 1835. Unfortunately for Donizetti, Bellini, his greatest rival (at least in Bellini’s mind—Donizetti had great respect for the younger man and his operas. Bellini, meanwhile, was pathologically convinced that Donizetti was out to get him), had just produced I Puritani which was a phenomenon with the public. Donizetti’s next work, Lucia di Lammermoor, was opera gold. Once more Donizetti wrote in a white heat, setting pages as soon as his librettist’s ink was dry. Happily, Lucia was immediately successful. In 1837, Donizetti’s beloved wife died soon after she gave birth to their second son, who died almost immediately. Virginia’s cruel death month later capped eight years of unrelenting sorrows in which Donizetti lost his father-in-law, both parents, two infant sons, a little daughter, and now his darling wife. Many of Donizetti’s letters echo the searing depths

of his pain, though he would never again write Virginia’s name. In one agonizing letter to his brother-in-law Toto he wrote, “Without a father, without a mother, without a wife, without children…Why then do I labor on? Why?” He closed the door of Virginia’s room and never again entered it. He was thirty-nine years old and utterly bereft. After Virginia’s death, Donizetti began to pursue women. Some of this pursuit was attributed to his disease (syphilis), which at this point must have been latent but would start to show symptoms within five years of the loss of his wife. In a letter to Toto, which shows his self-awareness as well as his sensitivity he explains, “There are moments when I could give myself in hand to a hundred women if they could distract me for an hour and I would pay what I could. I try, I laugh, I hope, but I fall back further. No one would believe it, because I never reveal to anyone my internal sadness…” Later as his mental and physical state deteriorated, his skirt chasing became compulsive and would lead his desperate nephew to commit him to an insane asylum from which it would take eighteen long and anxiety-riddled months to free him. But that sad chapter is yet to come. His inconsolable grief over the loss of Virginia, combined with disenchantment with his life and position in Naples sent Donizetti to Paris. Here, Donizetti reworked Lucia for French audiences and wrote La fille du régiment, Les martyrs and La favorite in rapid succession. An indication of how far Donizetti’s reputation as an artist had evolved involves Mendelssohn. Mendelssohn had in 1831 seen one of Donizetti’s weaker operas, which left him of the opinion that Donizetti composed too much, too fast, too confident of his lightning pen and too reliant upon one or two good set pieces to

carry the opera. A fair assessment at the time, especially since Mendelssohn had yet to see Anna Bolena. But his estimation of Donizetti had grown as Donizetti did. Given his former opinion, some friends of Mendelssohn’s were dining with him and “excoriating La fille du regiment and appealed to Mendelssohn, hoping he would cap their denunciations with a well-turned phrase, but imagine their embarrassment when Mendelssohn said, ‘I am afraid I like it. I think it very pretty—it is so merry.’ Then, bursting into one of those fits of hearty gaiety which lit up his beautiful countenance in a manner never to be forgotten, ‘Do you know,’ said he, ‘I should have liked to have written it myself!’” (Quoted in Donizetti by William Ashbrook from Thirty Years’ Musical Recollections by Henry Chorley.) The last of Donizetti’s operas never achieved great popularity, although modern audiences have found much to admire in the melancholy melodies of Caterina Gornaro and Dom Sébastien, roi de Portugal. The commercial failure of Dom Sébastien was particularly upsetting to the composer who had hoped to touch audiences with this somber tragedy. Donizetti’s disintegration into madness is terrible reading. He was in Paris after Dom Sébastien expecting to return to Vienna where he was contracted as the court composer, a position which Mozart had held many years before him. His increasingly bizarre and erratic letters filled his far-flung correspondents with hideous anxiety.

…Since last night my poor brains have made me suffer…I suffer! The surgeon this morning peeled pulled and cut! …They held me with my head high. What pain! …I am seized with melancholia, which my tremendously

sensitive nerves feel and I want to weep…

His behavior was devolving at an alarming rate—strange, compulsive, forgetful, repetitive actions alarmed his Parisian friends. At last, after urgent missives to Donizetti’s elder brother Giuseppe, his nephew, Andrea, was dispatched to assess the situation and bring his Uncle Gaetano back to Italy, if possible. The subsequent assessment of various doctors and the seeming lack of support from Italian friends, coupled with Francesco’s 1 refusal to grant him power of attorney pushed Andrea to commit his uncle to the asylum at Ivry, some short distance from Paris. Unfortunately, Donizetti was left there confused and terrified, convinced that he had been accused of stealing his own carriage. He issued desperate, pathetic letters begging for help to various and sundry of

1 Donizetti’s addled elder brother was sustained by

a monthly allowance provided by the composer and feared that should Donizetti become lucid again, he would be infuriated. This created no end of problems for Andrea.

his influential friends; letters which were never sent. Eventually, Andrea returned home to Constantinople. Donizetti’s disease progressed inexorably, his paralysis leaving him unable to raise his head or uncurl his hands, or walk without assistance. Still he was alone at Ivry with infrequent visits from friends. He ceased to speak. Meanwhile, the rumor mill was grinding away in three countries, many blaming Donizetti’s family for “dump[ing] him in a public hospital.” At last, Andrea returned and began the long process of getting him released from Ivry. By this time, illness and isolation had taken its toll. No longer could anyone fear that Gaetano would endanger himself if moved from Ivry, but rather that the act of moving him would be harmful. Andrea worked tirelessly to release his uncle from France and return him to Bergamo. Intrigues and roadblocks met him at every turn until finally he brought in the Austrian government to make an

The Death of Gaetano Donizetti by Ponziano Loverini, oil on canvas

intercession on his behalf. (Donizetti, as a citizen of Lombardy, was also an Austrian citizen, as well as still being under the employ of the Emperor.) The threat of an international incident was enough to finally release Donizetti into Andrea’s care and get him back home. After Donizetti arrived in Bergamo, he lived only another six months and his final days were excruciating. He died on April 8, 1848, surrounded by friends. These last indignities belie the vibrant, ebullient soul evidenced in Donizetti’s music and his personal dealings. Throughout his life, Donizetti remained generous with family and friends and

supportive of his fellow composers. Many critics have dismissed Donizetti for not being a Mozart or even a Rossini, but not a one of them wrote so many works, so quickly as did Donizetti. The quality of Donizetti’s works vary wildly, much more due to the vagaries of tardy or inferior librettos and the illogical, damaging and puritanical hack jobs various censors inflicted upon his work than to his music. Donizetti considered music a business and created high-quality music-theater on a deadline. Sweet, effervescent melodies and dramatic integrity characterize the best of Donizetti’s operas, bridging the gap from the bel canto to the Romantic periods of Italian opera.

The great bel canto composers, from lower left: Rossini (not usually seen with a full beard!), Bellini, Ricci, Mercadente and Donizettie.

Gaetano Donizetti by Ponziamo Loverini

“I am obliged to set a poem to music in 14 days. I give you one week to prepare it for me. We’ll see

which of us has the more guts. [As to the singers], we have a German prima donna, a tenor who stammers, a buffo with the voice of a goat, and a French basso who isn’t worth much. Dear Romani,

courage and go ahead.”

~~Donizetti to his librettist, Felice Romani, 1832~~

When the impresario of the Teatro alla Canobbiana found himself without an opera to produce two weeks before his contracted singers were scheduled to arrive, he turned to Donizetti

for a new comedy. Donizetti, somewhat piqued at the suggestion that he re-work another of his operas, vowed he would complete an original work in the allotted time and demanded Felice Romani for his librettist. Donizetti’s choice was surprising, because although Romani was one of the most celebrated librettists of his day, he had a terrible reputation regarding deadlines. While other poets could crank out a libretto in a few weeks, Romani often took months—but you could be sure of his work’s quality. Romani was a true poet who refused to hand over less than his best. The fact that Donizetti selected him for this project is a

testament to the composer’s high opinion of him. In casting about for a story, Romani hit upon Le Philtre, an opera by Daniel François-Esprit Auber, with a libretto by Eugéne Scribe, produced in Paris the previous year. The story may have recommended itself to him because the aforementioned “worthless” French basso had starred it. At any rate, the plot being a good one, Romani set himself to adapt it—not, in fact, changing the story at all, but changing the names and setting. After all, the complete opera was due in a fortnight. Despite a mutual respect between the two, Donizetti’s and Romani’s working relationship was not always a peaceable one. Pushed to complete a libretto in one week, Romani did not take kindly to Donizetti’s “requests”. Because of this, one of the most Felice Romani

Potions & Emotions: Conjuring up The Elixir of Love

famous tenor arias in all of opera almost never existed. When asked to add a tenor aria in the second act, Romani exploded, exclaiming, “What’s the point of a country bumpkin coming in and whining pathetically when everything must be festive and gay?” Donizetti prevailed and the result was Una furtiva lagrima. Romani’s point about this aria is understandable. Given Romani’s unerring sense of theatrical timing, an aria at that point in the show is not strictly necessary, and slows the sinuous flow of the libretto. However, Donizetti had a fine sense of the stage too (not to mention a tenor to placate), and with the hindsight of 180 years, Elixir seems unthinkable without Nemorino’s little romanza. Nevertheless, the libretto that Romani delivered to Donizetti was sleek, briskly-paced and beautifully crafted. Besides the skill with which it was written, what distinguishes Romani’s achievement is that his comedy is so good-natured. No one

is hurt in the story—not even that blowhard Belcore, slated to marry Adina until she dumps him and acts on her love for Nemorino. Belcore’s unsquelchable ego inures him from such slight slings and arrows as disappointed love. Dr. Dulcamara, the charismatic conman who sells Nemorino a bottle of cheap Bordeaux in the guise of a love potion, is a good-hearted rogue, who, after helping to bring the lovers together (however fraudulently), leaves triumphantly profitable. And, of course, Adina and Nemorino find in each other the happiness that was in front of them all along. Romani styles all of these characters with a sly and gentle wit; he takes them as they are, and if he pokes fun at Belcore’s puffery, well, he does so generously and with no malice. Donizetti answers Romani’s libretto in kind. The composer called his opera an opera comica rather than an opera buffa, allowing him a greater range of motion for his characterizations. None can doubt the

The enormous Teatro alla Canobiana in 1825

sincerity of Nemorino. His love for Adina is genuine; his pursuit of her earnest; his intentions pure—and Donizetti gives him music to match. Adina, for her part, loves Nemorino, but wants him to make a move—something he fears to do. Her music in the opening is subtle and fresh. Her description of Tristan and Isolde’s conundrum is a reflection of her own situation (although, at this point in the opera, she may be unconscious of it). Turning to Belcore is a desperate act of provocation, calculated to push Nemorino into acting. Her lack of certainty and her doubt paint her as a well-rounded human being of flesh and blood, in sharp contrast to many of Rossini’s comic protagonists, who act as cogs in the clockwork of his clever comedies, perfectly calibrated to elicit laughter. While Elixir is at times very funny, it is also gentle and tinged with sweetness. The entire piece seems bathed in the same golden light as an Italian afternoon. With nothing superfluous in either book or score, Donizetti delivers a masterpiece of the perfect length and pace. Audiences loved this honeyed confection from the very first night. In addition to its amiable and sentimental story and well-drawn, funny characterizations, Donizetti provided his public with an endless stream of luscious melodies—melodies most grateful to the singing voice, for, above all, Donizetti was a master of vocal writing. He shrewdly handed his audiences exactly what they wanted: beautiful singing—and in the Italian opera house of the 1830s, beautiful singing is all that was necessary. It isn’t called the bel canto period for

nothing. That Donizetti managed to give them so much more is what has made his operas immortal. Because The Elixir of Love was such an immediate success, leading to thirty-three performances in its initial run and quickly making its way to opera houses from the Americas to North Africa and everywhere in between, one might assume that the audience on opening night was silently hanging onto every scintillating note in Donizetti’s score. Not so. Opera in the 1830s was a very different experience than it is today. A disgruntled Hector Berlioz describes the Italian audience with the acerbic humor of the French sophisticate:

“I found the theater full of people talking in normal voices, with their backs to the stage. The singers, undeterred, gesticulated and yelled their lungs out in the strictest sense of rivalry. At least I presume they did, from their wide-open mouths; but the noise of the audience was such that no sound penetrated except the

Interior of an Opera Box Painting by Eugene Lami. This painting features a box at the Paris Opera.

bass drum. People were gambling, eating supper in their boxes, etc., etc. Consequently, perceiving that it was useless to expect to hear anything of the score, which was then new to me, I left.”

It should be noted that an Italian opera house during the bel canto period was a bit more like a Las Vegas casino than an opera house today. The building contained much more than a stage. One could eat, gamble and watch a show—and the shows were not limited to the opera proper. During many operas, ballets were performed by scantily clad dancers during the intermissions. Gambling at the house casinos was such a huge source of revenue for the opera that Rossini finally demanded a cut of all the gambling profits when he began to write operas in Naples. Eventually, he bought shares in the gambling enterprise. Rossini always did have a better head for business than Donizetti. In addition to the gambling, the lights were up throughout the house. This was just fine with the patrons—it was all they had ever known, of course, but it also allowed them to be seen. The house in Milan had 3000 seats divided into 683 boxes in which patrons could serve catered dinners during the operas, bringing their cooks as well as their guests. Small wonder, then, that those opera librettists could get away with so much—or rather, so little! And yet, amazingly, despite all of their distractions, the audience could recognize the perfection in the quiet little masterpiece that Donizetti and Romani had provided them. And the public rewarded them. The opera was a smash hit. When it came to

Paris in 1839 and ran concurrently with its inspiration, Le Philtre, thrilled audiences trotted to both shows with equal enthusiasm. For the next nine years, Elixir was the most frequently performed opera in Italy—during which time twenty-five percent of all operas performed in the country were Donizetti’s. The Elixir of Love continues to entrance us today.

Costume design for Dr. Dulcamara as performed by bass Luigi Lablanche in the first part of the 19

th century

Language

Arts Lesson Plans

All of the Language Arts Lesson Plans are aligned the Common Core Standards. Specific standards are

enumerated in the individual lesson plan.

People Postcards Students practice sequencing stories by creating a series of vignettes.

Casting Director Students use traditional operatic convention and known character information to cast an opera based on a familiar story, using traditional vocal casting.

How to Write an Opera (or at least a good start) Students create an outline for an opera using a familiar story, delineating arias and ensembles for important plot points.

Everyone’s a Critic Students write a review of the POGO production.

And Then What Happened? Students write a sequel to The Elixir of Love

Translations Students examine an English translation of the libretto for The Elixir of Love and write their own modern, prose version of a scene to be performed for the class.

What’s in Language Arts Lesson Plans?

Lesson Plan:

People Postcards

Overview: This lesson provides an opportunity for kinetic learners, ESL students, and other students to sequence a story in an interesting, non-traditional way, while working together and allowing those who are less successful with pencil and paper contribute to the group. This lesson plan could use any story. This lesson plan is appropriate for kindergartners (with support and guidance) through 3rd grades. The Culminating Activity can be done orally for kindergarteners and first graders.

Learning Objectives:

Students will:

Work in groups of 5 or 6 to sequence a story

Working together as a group create a tableau of each scene in their sequence using their faces and bodies to communicate emotional information for the rest of the class.

Determine what is happening in other groups’ tableaus.

Common Core Standards: CLSS.ELA.Literacy: RL.K2,K3,K7 RL.1.2,1.3,1.7 RL2.1,2.2,2.5 RL3.1,3.2,3.7

Materials:

Per Group:

Scratch paper and pencil to take notes and organize group

Any simple story (without pictures!) If your students are not yet reading, choose a familiar story (Hansel & Gretel, Cinderella, The Three Bears, etc.) that is easily recalled.

Per Class:

Picture book (any will do, but best if protagonists are people or anthropomorphized animals) as an example. Any of David Weisner’s amazing picture books will do: Tuesday or Sector 7 are terrific wordless picture books. (If you haven’t seen Tuesday, you really must!)

Prep for Teachers:

Create zones, or space for each student group to work. They will need a little space to rehearse their postcards.

Decide on the story (without pictures!) for which the students will create tableaus.

Write some bullet points on the board: o Decide on 6 events o Decide who will be the “Director” o Decide who will play what role o Decide how your people postcard should look

Introductory Activity:

Ask students if they have ever heard the saying, “A picture is worth a thousand

words.” o Ask them if they agree—why or why not?

Explain that research says that small children get up to 95% of their information visually.

Today we are going to work in groups to tell a story using our bodies and faces, but not our voices. We are going to create pictures with people!

Learning Activities:

Pull out the picture book.

Show the class one of the pictures in the books. o Have a group of volunteers look at the picture and then put themselves in the

same position/s as the characters in the picture and freeze. This is what they will be doing with the 6 events of the story they are about to hear.

Instruct kids to listen carefully to the story they are about to hear, thinking what important things happen in the story.

Read the story to the class aloud.

Break kids up into groups of 5 or 6 (adjust according to the size of your class.)

o Tell them that first they must work together to decide which 6 events in the story are the most important. (Depending on their age, you can provide them a copy of the story as well)

o Then they should choose a “director” for the group. A director in a play helps the actors to know what to do. They are usually very visual people who help to tell the story by showing the audience through actions. This person will make sure that the postcard “looks right” and make sure that everyone has an appropriate expression on their face.

o After they have chosen a director, the group should decide who will play what character. If there is a disagreement, the director will be the tiebreaking vote.

o After they have determined who will be what character, the group, with guidance from the director, will create pictures/postcards of each event they have sequenced in the story.

After students have created their people postcards, it is time to share with the class. o Audience members should be reminded of proper etiquette—they should be

quiet and respectful as they watch the postcards and after each group is through, they should applaud the group’s efforts. Remember, everyone will have their turn up there!

o Groups should show their postcards, one at a time. The audience should answer the following questions for each postcard:

What is happening in this scene? Who is playing what character (i.e. stepsister, Cinderella, Prince) What is each character feeling (using facial cues and body language)

Culminating Activity:

Students should write a paragraph for the following questions:

Is it easier to understand a story told in words or pictures? o Why?

How do words and pictures work together to tell a story?

Lesson Plan:

Casting Director

Overview:

One of the jobs of a composer is to decide what voice types would best represent a character’s qualities. Traditionally in opera and musical theater, the female romantic lead is a soprano, the male romantic lead a tenor, the secondary lead is a lower soprano or a mezzo soprano, etc. This lesson provides students the opportunity to listen to and identify different voice types and “cast” their own opera based on a movie or story they know well by making aesthetic decisions based upon known character traits of literary figures or movie roles, and the vocal qualities of the different voice types. Students will describe why they made the decisions that they made.

Learning Objectives:

Students will: Listen to and identify the major operatic voice types: soprano, mezzo soprano, tenor,

bass/baritone Make aesthetic judgments about the expressive qualities and uses of the different

timbres of voice Analyze the character traits of a literary or movie character and match voice type to

characteristics of the role (these casting decisions DO NOT have to follow operatic convention, but must be explained by the students)

“Cast” an opera based on a familiar story or movie Justify their artistic decisions

Common Core Standards:

CCSS.ELA.Literacy: RL1.3, RL2.3, RL3.1, RL3.2, RL3.3, RL4.3, RL5.3 CCSS.ELA.WRITING: W3.1.A,B,C,D W3.2B,D W4.1.A,B,C,D, W4.2.D,E W5.1.A,B,C,D W5.2.B,C,D,E

Materials:

Per Student:

Paper and pencil Opera Voices hand out (for reference)

Per Group/Class:

Blackboard/whiteboard/flipchart to write on as a class CD player Opera CDs or MP3s demonstrating the different voices (or, alternatively one CD called

World’s Best Opera for Kids…in English! This CD offers some great arias with featuring all of the basic voice types, with the words in English. It is fully orchestrated.)

Prep for Teachers:

If you are unfamiliar with the operatic voice types, read the accompanying “cheat sheet” For the Teacher: Voice Types in Opera. Listen to the recommended selections. (Most are available through Classical Archives.com, through your local library, or on YouTube)

Make copies of the Opera Voices handout for the students Gather recordings of musical selections or procure a copy of World’s Best Opera for

Kids…in English!

Introductory Activity: Using a story familiar to your students, ask them to name the characters. As they name

the characters, list them on the board leaving room to write more about each character After they have listed the characters, ask the students to list the traits of each

character—what makes the character the character? Have them list both physical and psychological traits. Try to get them to be more specific about the characters than “they are nice.”

Ask the students if they have ever thought about what the character sounds like. If the characters your students are examining come from a movie, have them describe the sound of their voice. If the characters are from a book, have them explore what the characters voice might sound like: is it low or high? Clear or raspy? Soft or loud?

Explain to the students that in opera and in musical theater, the composer has a wonderful tool for helping people to know about their characters.

o Ask the students if they can guess what that tool is o Acknowledge that it is the music and the quality of voice of the singer

Tell the students that today, they will be learning about the different types of voices used in opera and how composers use them.

Let them know that after they have learned the sounds of the different voices and what composers have traditionally used them for, they will get to make some decisions about how they think the voice types should be used, by casting the characters of a story (one they choose, or that you choose for them—if using movies, Pirates of the Caribbean works tremendously well for this, as does Twilight) as opera singers. Movies that are already musicals, such as Frozen won’t work as well for this.

Learning Activities: Distribute the Opera Voices handout to students Introduce the different voice types to them.

o As you introduce each voice type, play a selection that illustrates the sound of that voice type (remember, your learners are only going to learn the very basic voice types, not the vocal fachs).

Recommended introductory selections for the voice types:

Soprano: “Sempre libera” from La Traviata by Verdi (sung by Violetta)

Mezzo soprano: “Habanera” from Carmen by Bizet (sung by Carmen)

Tenor: “Nessun dorma” from Turandot by Puccini (sung by Calaf)

Baritone/Bass: “La veau d’or” from Faust by Gounod (sung by Mefistofeles)

o After the students hear each selection, solicit feedback about how the voices made them feel, what they sounded like, etc. Introduce the concept of timbre (pronounced TAM-ber) to them. Timbre is the combination of qualities of a sound that distinguishes it from other sounds of the same pitch and volume. So, loud or soft is not timbre, but warm, bright, dark all are words we used to describe vocal timbres

Explain to the students that now you are going to play a little game. You are going to play some selections for them and see if they can identify the voice types that are singing. It would be great if you can play a variety of different operatic characters (if you were to play the Queen of the Night from The Magic Flute, for instance, you have a soprano bad guy to add to the mix—each voice can play a wide range of characters, depending on the music that they are singing). You needn’t play entire selections—just enough for them to hear the range and color of the voice. Play the game until you are fairly certain that your learners understand and can identify the basic voice types: soprano, alto (mezzo soprano), tenor or bass.

Once students are familiar with the voice types, it is time to cast their opera! o Ask students to identify what qualities that they feel each voice type best

describes. See if they can articulate why certain vocal timbres suggest certain characteristics to them. (why does a high light soprano sound like a young girl?)

o Tell the students that now it is time to cast a story as an opera! Identify which story or movie you will use. Ask students to shout out the characters, and write them on the board. Ask students which voice type should play each of the characters. If

there is some debate, ask learners to explain and justify their choices to reach consensus.

Cast your opera! (There is no “right” way to cast—as long as your students can explain their casting, it is “right.”)

Culminating Activity: Have students write a reflection which includes:

o Defining the voice types and the roles they traditionally play o Describing what voices they chose to cast as characters in their opera o Did they use the traditional types of voices for the characters? Why or why not?

David Saffert, Portland Opera To Go pianist, working with students in the classroom. Photo credit: Michael McDermott

FOR THE TEACHER:

VOICE TYPES IN OPERA

There are four main voice types in all singing: soprano, alto, tenor, and bass. In opera, we break these voice types down further to reflect the timbre, range and dramatic requirements (read “volume”) necessary to a given role. The following is a quick breakdown of the major operatic vocal fachs. A fach (pronounced fahk) is a German term which literally means “compartment” and refers to the classification of operatic voices. It can get quite complex, but here we will only look at the basic fachs. SOPRANO: The highest of the female voices, opera has always reserved a special place for the soprano. In an opera, the soprano is usually our heroine, because her high, bright voice suggests youth and innocence. There are several different types of soprano. The most basic are:

The coloratura: High, very flexible voice which sings a lot of notes very quickly. These voices are usually light, which allows them to sing highly ornamented music. Listen to “Die Hölle Rache” from The Magic Flute by Mozart or “The Doll’s Song” from Tales of Hoffmann by Offenbach.

The lyric: Lyric sopranos have a fuller richer sound than a coloratura and their roles are usually graceful, charming or sentimental. Listen to “Mi chiamano Mimi” from La Bohème by Puccini.

The dramatic: The heaviest, darkest and loudest of the soprano types. These roles are still the leading lady, but require a little more “oomph” because of the role and the orchestrations. Listen to “Jo ho hoe” from Der fliegende Hollander by Wagner.

MEZZO SOPRANO: The mezzo has a lower, darker voice than the soprano, though not as low as a contralto. In opera, the mezzo plays the mother-types, seductive heroines (femmes fatale) and villains. Mezzos also play young men sometimes. These roles are called “trouser” or “pants” roles. Hansel in Hansel and Gretel is a trouser role. In choirs, the mezzo soprano would be referred to as an alto. Listen to the “Habanera” from Carmen by Bizet or “Mon coeur s'ouvre à ta voix” from Samson et Dalilah by Saën-Saints. There are different types of mezzos, as there are sopranos, but there is less precision used when categorizing mezzos. CONTRALTO: The lowest of the female voices. Contraltos are very rare, as are their roles. A magnificent contemporary example of a contralto is Ewa Podles. Watch anything she has sung on YouTube. Contraltos play witches, old women, and gypsies. COUNTERTENOR: A very high, specialty male voice, who sings in the mezzo soprano/contralto range. These men typically are singing in falsetto, although less often they are singing with their “normal” or modal voices.

TENOR: Typically defined as the highest male voice. In opera, tenors play the leading men, young, virile, romantic leads. There are several types of tenor voice, the most important of which are:

Lyric Tenor: A light flowing, high and bright voice. Listen to “Dies Bildnis ist bezaubernd schön” from The Magic Flute by Mozart or “Una furtiva lagrima” from The Elixir of Love by Donizetti.

Dramatic Tenor: A darker voiced tenor, with a full resonance and high ringing tones. Listen to “Nessun dorma” from Turandot by Puccini. (Pavorotti is still the definitive interpreter of this aria.)

BARITONE: The most common male voice type, the baritone’s voice is lower than the tenor, with a darker timbre. In comic operas, the baritone is often the comic protagonist, but in drama, he is just as often the villain. Listen to “Largo al factotum” from The Barber of Seville by Rossini and “Credo” from Otello by Verdi, for two different types of baritone. BASS BARITONE: Lower than the baritone, higher than the bass, the bass baritone often plays the comic roles. Listen to “Non più andrai” from The Marriage of Figaro by Mozart or “The Catalogue Aria” from Don Giovanni, also by Mozart. BASS: Basses are the lowest and darkest of the male voices. Basses typically play fathers, priests, bad guys, or the Devil. Listen to “O Isis und Osiris” from The Magic Flute or "Le veau d'or" from Faust by Gounod.

Opera Voices

There are four main voice types in singing: Soprano, alto, tenor and bass. In opera, these basic voice parts are divided even more based on the character the voice will represent, and the range (how high and how low) the singer will have to sing. For today, let’s just look at the basics!

Soprano The soprano is the highest female voice. Traditionally in opera, the soprano is the leading lady or the heroine because the high, clear sound of her voice suggests that the character is young, innocent and good.

Mezzo Soprano The mezzo soprano has a lower voice than a soprano. In a choir, she would be an alto. Usually in opera, the mezzo soprano, with her richer, darker voice, plays mother-types, “bad” girls or villainesses. Sometimes,

mezzos also play young men whose voices haven’t changed. This type of role is called a “pants role.”

Tenor Basically, a tenor is the highest male voice. Typically in opera, tenors play the leading men, usually in love with the soprano. Because of their high ringing tones, they often play heroic young men. On very rare occasion they may play a young rogue, but mostly tenors are the good guys.

Baritone or Bass Baritones sing lower than tenors but higher than basses, who are the lowest male voices. Baritones usually play the handsome rogue—a soprano might be seduced by the baritone, but he rarely gets the girl. Sometimes he plays the bad guy. Basses play dads, priests, comic roles or the Devil. Usually.

Soprano Leontyne Price as Aida

Mezzo Soprano Grace Bumbry as Carmen

Tenor Luciano Pavorotti as The Duke in Rigoletto (a tenor bad guy!)

Bass Cesare Siepi as Don Giovanni

Lesson Plan:

How to Write Your Own Opera (or at least a really good start!)

Overview:

Lots of operas are based on books or plays. It is very rare for an opera librettist to write a completely original story. This lesson plan provides students the opportunity to adapt a favorite story into an outline for an opera and consider how they might change the story from the written word into actions and dialogue. Students may work individually or in groups to create their outlines. This lesson plan can be done before or after Portland Opera To Go’s visit. It should take two class periods, one to scaffold the information, and another to write their outlines on their own or in groups. This lesson plan will be most successful (at least the second of the two lessons) for fluent readers. For less accomplished readers, teachers may choose to do only the first lesson of this two lesson series, with the class as a whole.

Learning Objectives:

Students will: Sequence a story Decide on the emotional state of characters at given points of the story Learn new vocabulary words: libretto, librettist, recitative, aria, ensemble, duet and

trio Create an outline with help (worksheet) (Optional) Share their outlines with the class and discuss the events they chose for their

adaptation and why they chose them. They might also share what they cut out of the story and why.

(Optional) Write a reflection describing how they chose what to include in their outline and what they chose to leave out and supporting their decisions.

Common Core Standards:

CCSSELA.LITERACY. WRITING W3.A, W3.4, W3.5 W4.3A, W4.4,W4.5 W5.3A,W5.4,W5.5

Materials Per Student: Story of their choice Writing utensil Copy of the Opera Outline worksheet

Per Group/Class: (If having students working in a group) Story of group’s choice Writing utensils Copy of the Opera Outline worksheet

Prep for Teachers Make copies of the Opera Outline Worksheet in this packet Decide whether or not you will have students work individually or in groups Find a copy of the Cinderella story (or a similarly familiar story) for the whole class

example for this lesson. Review example outline enclosed in this packet to familiarize yourself with the process. On a white board, flip chart, blackboard, copy out the Opera Outline Worksheet for the

first period, when the class will be working as a group. If desired, provide some stories for students to choose from, or assign students to

choose a favorite story to adapt ahead of time. Stories should be short stories, as opposed to chapter books, to facilitate time constraints.

Introductory Activity: (Lesson Period 1) Explain to students that operas are simply plays set to music Most operas are based on novels or plays that already existed It takes much longer to sing something than to simply say it, so the people who write

the words/story for the opera (the librettists) have to cut out all the parts that are not absolutely necessary to the story that they want to tell.

The entire story has to be told in dialogue (conversations) and actions. The words of an opera are called the libretto.

Dialogue in opera is called recitative. Recitative usually forwards the plot. Opera is full of emotions! Arias are solo songs that allow a character to tell us how they

feel.

When two or more characters are singing together, it is called an ensemble. Two people singing together is called a duet.

Today, we are going to try our hands at being opera librettists! We are going to take a favorite story and strip it down to the essentials, and decide what emotions the characters’ arias should be. First we will do an outline together as a class, and later (whenever the next class period will be), they will have the chance to try it on their own or in small groups (depending upon teacher preference, time or student skill level).

Learning Activities:

For children that have not done outlines, explain that an outline is just a way to organize the most important points of a story or informational text.

Tell students that you are now going to read a story to them. It is a familiar story, but they should listen very carefully and, as they listen, think about the events in the story and the order that they happen.

Read Cinderella, or whatever story you have chosen After reading the story, tell the students that you are going to work together to decide

the most important parts of the story, working from the three biggest ideas, and then adding a few details.

Ask students to take a quiet minute at their desks (if your classroom is set up in tables, you might want to let the students talk amongst themselves) and come up with a three sentences to describe the beginning of the story, the middle of the story and the end of the story. Give them 5 to 7 minutes for this.

Bring everyone together to share their ideas. Using the sample outline you placed on the board, have the class decide which ideas best fit the Beginning, Middle and End sections.

Now tell the students to take a few minutes and think about the emotions the characters in the Beginning, Middle and End sentences feel. Ask them to choose two events for each of their sentences and decide what arias and ensembles the characters would sing to express their emotions.

Bring everyone back together to express their ideas and decide on the most fitting to complete the sample outline.

Culminating Activity:

Congratulate the students on all of their hard work. Remind them that together they created an outline for an opera of a familiar story, and

that they learned about outlines, librettos, librettists, recitatives, arias, and ensembles. If you are going to do the second lesson, tell the learners that next time, they will get to

create opera outlines for their own favorite stories in groups or on their own (again depending on teacher choice).

Ask the children to bring their in their favorite short stories for next time, if you are not providing stories for them.

FOR SECOND CLASS SESSION:

Prep for Teachers: If not already done, copy the Opera Outline Worksheet for each student Put up the sample outline that you completed as a class as a guide Provide additional familiar stories for students who forgot to bring a story, or could not

decide on a story.

Introductory Activity: Review with students the previous lesson

o Ask them to define in discussion: outline, libretto, librettist, recitative, aria, ensemble, duet and trio

Tell the students that today, they will have the chance to create their own opera outline

with a favorite story.

Learning Activities:

If students will be working in groups (recommended), group the students up Give a few minutes to the groups to decide on their stories. Be prepared to settle any

disputes or assign a story, as necessary. Distribute the Opera Outline Worksheet to each student or group, as desired. Ask students to read their stories together, thinking about the order of events, and what

is most important about their stories. (These should be short, and take no more than 10 minutes).

Determine whether everyone has finished their stories. Show them the sample outline on the board and have them work as groups or individually to decide on their sentences for the Beginning, Middle and End of their stories and fill them in on their worksheets. Give the most time for this activity.

Determine whether everyone has completed their Beginning, Middle and End sentences. Remind students that last time, they also selected two events/emotions for each sentence to allow their characters to express themselves. Point these steps out on the sample outline you have left up on the board or flip chart.

Allow time for groups or individuals to work out these ideas. Some groups might need help to not get bogged down in this process.

Bring everyone back together.

Culminating Activity:

Once again, congratulate students on their hard work on this process—they have created the outline for an opera libretto!

Ask for volunteers to share their outlines with the class. Ask the volunteers if it was hard to narrow down the story to such a few main ideas.

Why? Ask the other the rest of the class to share their ideas about making these choices. Was it hard? How did they make the decisions?

If time allows, have students write a brief reflection answering these questions: o How did they decide what was most important in their stories? o Was it hard? Why or why not?

SAMPLE OUTLINE FOR TEACHERS Here’s an example using Hansel and Gretel as the story. Your students may select different details about what is most important. That is perfectly fine!

I. Beginning: Hansel and Gretel live with their parents near the woods. They are very poor and often hungry.

A. Hansel and Gretel sing a duet about how hungry they always are.

B. Hansel and Gretel’s stepmother convinces their father to abandon them in the woods.

II. Middle: Hansel and Gretel follow their parents into the woods and are left alone all

night. In the morning they meet the witch.

A. Hansel and Gretel sing about being afraid and unable to find their way home.

B. The Witch sings a song and enchants the children, imprisoning them.

III. End: Hansel and Gretel realize that the Witch plans to eat them and manage to trick her and escape.

A. Hansel and Gretel sing a recitative plotting their escape.

B. Gretel and the Witch sing a duet in which Gretel tricks the Witch into the oven.

C. Hansel and Gretel rejoice at the Witch’s death and are found by their Father. They sing happily ever after!

OPERA OUTLINE WORKSHEET

Use the Outline below to create your original opera outline:

Title:____________________________________________

Librettist:_____________________________ (That’s YOU!)

I. Beginning: ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________

A. Song one_______________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________

B. Song two_______________________________________________

__________________________________________________________

II. Middle: ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________

A. Song one_______________________________________________

___________________________________________________________

B. Song two_______________________________________________

___________________________________________________________

III. End_______________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________

A. Song: __________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________

B. Finale (wrap it all up!)____________________________________ ____________________________________________________________

Congratulations! You are all done! You have written an outline for your very own opera

libretto! Is there a part in it for ME?

Lesson Plan:

Everyone’s a Critic!

Overview: In this lesson plan, students will have the opportunity to think critically about what they are watching and hearing. Students will pretend that they are the classical music reviewer for the local newspaper. Their job is to provide readers with a sense of the performance of The Elixir of Love. A review should include descriptions of the singing, sets, acting and costumes. It is not a reviewer’s job to inform readers if the performance is “good” or “bad.” Instead, a reviewer uses language in such a way that a reader can understand what to expect for a performance without having seen it. This lesson is best used after your students have seen the Portland Opera To Go adaptation of Donizetti’s The Elixir of Love. This lesson plan is appropriate for 3rd through 6th grades and is adapted from Houston Opera’s Opera in the Neighborhoods program. This lesson plan could be adapted for older students as well. NOTE: Consider having students bring the handout “Everyone’s a Critic” with a writing utensil to the performance to take notes as they watch. Go over the handout before the show to familiarize students with what they are listening for. Also be mindful of where your students will be seated. If you plan to use this lesson plan, request that your students are seated where they can see but not disturb other student audience members. One could also select sections of a DVD recording of an opera and use this lesson plan.

Learning Objectives:

Students will understand that opera reviews must include descriptive information about the singing, sets, acting, accompaniment and costumes

Students will understand that reviews of live performances are not always subjective and evaluative (for example: the performance was “good” or “bad” or “I liked” or “didn’t like”).

Students will be able to construct a written review with an appropriate audiences in mind using Standard English (or Spanish), within a 250-400 word limit.

Optional: Teachers could opt to have students indicate which of the words in their review are adjectives and adverbs or strong, descriptive verbs

Common Core Standards:

Grades 3-6: CC standards for Writing: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

CC standards for speaking and listening: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

Materials:

Pencils

Paper

Handout “Everyone’s a Critic”

A newspaper review of a live performance or a movie

Prep for Teachers:

Gather materials

Make copies of handout “Everyone’s a Critic”

Make seating arrangements for your students if you will be having them fill out their handouts during the performance

Introductory Activity:

Ask students if they know what a “review” is. Explain that, in this case, a review is an

article in a paper that describes a performance of some sort, whether a play, opera, concert or movie. Inform students that a helpful review provides enough detail for the reader to “recreate” aspects of the performance by reading the review. The purpose of writing the review is not to express the reviewer’s feelings about whether the performance was “good” or “bad,” but to accurately describe what the reviewer saw or heard.

Explain that they will be seeing an opera and writing a review. (Explain what an opera is, if students don’t know). Explain that they should think about the singing, sets, costumes, acting and piano accompaniment (or orchestral accompaniment, if using a DVD of an opera). Again, they shouldn’t be subjective and say whether they “liked” those elements or not, but describe what they see or hear and whether everything worked together.

Learning Activities:

Hand out copies of “Everyone’s a Critic” and writing utensils

Go over the handout, defining terms as necessary. Tell students to use the most descriptive words that they can, including adjectives, adverbs and good action verbs

Tell students that they will be taking notes as they watch the opera (either the live POGO performance, or selections on DVD)

Watch the Portland Opera To Go performance of The Elixir of Love. (If students are watching a DVD, allow them to watch the clip several times).

After students have completed the handout, instruct them in the appropriate form of a review:

o Introduce the performance (time and place) o Express one’s feelings about the piece (for example, “I always enjoy the funny,

fast-paced action of a Donizetti comedy.” Of course, they may not have seen a Donizetti comedy, but you get the picture)

o Describe the singing of the cast in general o Describe the singing of an individual performer or two o Describe the playing of the piano accompaniment (or orchestra if watching a

DVD) in terms of how the music sounded (for example, light, heavy, funny, sad) o Describe any aspects of the sets, costumes, and lighting that were of any

interest.

Have students write their reviews, giving them time to revise their work

Have students type or neatly print their review and share it with their classmates by reading it to the class, or allowing a smaller group to read it.

Culminating Activity:

Students should be critics of the review! They should give feedback to the reviewer by considering whether the review was detailed enough and if it provided the reader with a sense of what was performed. If necessary, establish guidelines surrounding the purpose and format of giving feedback to a fellow student.

Name:______________________________Date__________________________

Everyone’s a Critic!

You review the opera!

Directions: Watch and listen to the performance. Focus on one element at a time (singing, accompaniment, sets, costumes, or acting). Write down what you see and hear in the appropriate space. Be as descriptive as possible. SINGING: ACTING: PIANO ACCOMPANIMENT: SETS: COSTUMES:

Lesson Plan:

And Then What Happened? Writing a sequel to The Elixir of Love

Overview:

Students will have the opportunity to think about the characters and situations in The Elixir of Love in a creative way, by writing a sequel to the opera. They will have a chance to come up with something new and original to them. This lesson plan is best used after students have seen Portland Opera To Go’s adaptation of Donizetti’s The Elixir of Love and is suitable for students in 6th-8th grades.

Learning Objectives: Students will:

Use comprehension skills and creative writing skills

Brainstorm possible outcomes for various characters in the story

Demonstrate knowledge of the characters and situations of The Elixir of Love by writing a cohesive sequel

Create their own original book by writing and illustrating their sequel

Common Core Standards: CCSS.ELA.LITERACY: W.6.3a-e W.7.3a-e W.8.3a-e

Materials:

Copies of The Plot—Briefly from the Portland Opera To Go The Elixir of Love Teachers’ Guide for each student as a reminder

Paper, pencils, colored pencils, etc.

Prep for Teachers:

Gather materials

Review plot of The Elixir of Love

Introductory Activity:

Ask students to remember the opera they saw in school, The Elixir of Love

Have them recall the story as best they can

Ask the students what a sequel is

Have them list some books or movies with sequels

Today we will be thinking about what might happen to the characters in The Elixir of Love five years after the action of the opera and writing a sequel

Learning Activities:

Distribute The Plot—Briefly as a reference

Optional: Read The Plot together as a class

Have students brainstorm ideas about what might happen to one or all of the characters

Write down the ideas and encourage creativity consistent with what they know of the characters from the opera

Tell the students that now it is their turn! o Have them write their sequel

This process could include editing and revision Have students make books and illustrate their sequel, being sure to

create a cover and credit themselves as author and illustrator!

Culminating Activity:

Give students an opportunity to share their work, either by presenting it to the class themselves or in reading stations

Have students respond to each other’s work in class, sharing anything that particularly surprised them or that they particularly liked.

The Elixir of Love

The Plot--Briefly

Nemorino, a farmhand, is madly in love with Adina, a wealthy rancher. As he goes about his chores, he sees her reading and laments that she doesn’t seem interested in him. Adina meanwhile is engrossed in her book, when suddenly she bursts out laughing at the absurdity of the story. Nemorino asks her what she is laughing about and Adina tells him the story. In the book she is reading, Tristan is in love with Isolde, who is not in love with him. A sorcerer gives Tristan the famous elixir of love, and after Tristan drinks the potion, Isolde falls in love with him.

Nemorino immediately sees that Tristan’s situation and his own are similar and wishes that he could find some magic elixir of love to make Adina fall in love with him. Adina and Nemorino are suddenly interrupted by the sound of a spluttering engine and quickly see a plane that’s in trouble. Lower and lower it flies until suddenly it crash lands right into the big tree in Adina’s front yard. Fortunately, the pilot Belcore is not hurt, but he is stuck at the farm until his plane is repaired. Belcore immediately notices the pretty Adina and begins to flatter and woo her. After a few minutes, Belcore, much to everyone’s surprise, asks Adina to marry him and demands an immediate answer. Nemorino is horrified, but secretly wishes that he had Belcore’s confidence. Adina laughs off the proposal, but offers Belcore a cold lemonade. Nemorino tries to stop

Belcore, Nemorino and Adina in 2010 Portland Opera To Go production of The Elixir of Love. Photo credit: Michael McDermott

Adina, but gets tongue-tied, and Adina rejects him unkindly and joins Belcore in the house. Nemorino, devastated, leaves. Suddenly, a trumpet call is heard in the distance and Dr. Dulcamara, purveyor of dubious, medicinal compounds, (which he claims can cure, measles, mumps, malaria, warts, aches and pains, chicken pox, and pretty much anything that ails you) arrives on the scene. Nemorino, hearing the doctor’s claims immediately thinks that perhaps Dr. Dulcamara might have the elixir of love that will make Adina fall in love with him. After some initial confusion, Dulcamara realizes that he has an opportunity to make some money off of Nemorino and claims that , “Yes, indeed, I have the amazing elixir of love!” Then he secretly puts some cheap wine into a medicine bottle and sells it to the eager Nemorino. Dulcamara takes his leave and Nemorino decides to try the “elixir of love” at once. He takes an extra dose, and becomes tipsy. Adina enters and expects that Nemorino will pay attention to her as he always has before, but instead he just ignores her. This strange behavior makes Adina angry. She decides to teach Nemorino a lesson and when Belcore comes out of the house, she immediately agrees to marry him. At once. Nemorino begs Adina to wait until tomorrow, but she insists. Nemorino is now desperate and seeks out Dr. Dulcamara again for another dose of the elixir of love. Unfortunately, he does not have enough money and Dulcamara turns him down. Belcore overhears that Nemorino is short of cash and tells him that if he joins the air force like Belcore, that he will receive an enlistment bonus. Nemorino agrees and instantly takes his money to Dulcamara for another dose of the “elixir” which Dulcamara happily sells him. Nemorino thinks he has it made, and Adina, sees him confident and happy, which makes her realize that she loves him herself. Dulcamara sees Adina uncharacteristically sad, and tells her that Nemorino has joined the air force just to purchase some elixir of love to make a girl fall in love with him. Adina realizes that the girl is her and knows what she must do. Adina finds Nemorino and tells him that she has bought back his contract so that he doesn’t have to join the air force. Eventually, she confesses that she loves him and doesn’t want him to go. All ends happily with the new couple thanking Dr. Dulcamara and Belcore contenting himself with the fact that there are plenty of other girls out there in the wild blue yonder.

Lesson Plan:

Tranlsations Libretto, Poem and Modern Prose

Overview: Opera librettists have a tough job—they have to create a dramatic text for song. This sometimes means condensing a story, manipulating language so that it is easy to sing (and sounds good sung), and try to create a piece of art that can stand on its own. Opera librettists throughout history have had varying levels of success at all of these tasks! In this lesson plan, students will have the opportunity to evaluate the libretto (in English translation) of The Elixir of Love and then create their own modern prose “translation” of the libretto. Both the original and their librettos will be read in class, and students will get to ponder the challenges and opportunities inherent in writing words for music. This lesson plan can be broken into 4 sessions. This lesson plan is suitable for 6th through 8th grades, and with some modification, high school as well.

Learning Objectives: Students will:

Read the libretto for The Elixir of Love by Felice Romani (available online here: https://ia902606.us.archive.org/10/items/lelisiredamoree00scrigoog/lelisiredamoree00scrigoog.pdf )

Do a dramatic reading of the libretto

Re-write the libretto into modern language—including slang, if they wish

Perform a dramatic reading of their librettos Consider the possible impact of music on each libretto

Common Core Standards: CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.6.2a, W6.3b, W6.3d, W.7.3a-e, RL.8.5, RL.8.3, RL.8.2, RL.11-12.7

Materials:

Multiple copies of the English translation of the libretto for The Elixir of Love

Paper, writing utensils

Group work stations

Performance area in the classroom

Prep for Teachers:

Obtain copies of English translation for the libretto of The Elixir of Love (available online

here: https://ia902606.us.archive.org/10/items/lelisiredamoree00scrigoog/lelisiredamoree00scrigoog.pdf )

Create group work stations/areas, if necessary

Create a performance space in the classroom, if necessary Provide paper/writing utensils as needed

Read the libretto for The Elixir of Love and, depending on the size of your class and time available, determine the scenes which each group will perform for the class, making sure to cover all of the major plot points.

Introductory Activity:

Ask students to throw out the titles to some of their favorite songs; write them on the board.

Ask if anyone can recite the words to any of the suggested songs. If they start to sing the song, gently correct them and ask them to speak the words.

If the recitation is without emotion (and it may be if the student is feeling odd speaking the words), have them do it again, “with feeling.”

After the recitation, give the student a round of applause and ask the class if hearing the words without the music made a difference to their understanding and/or enjoyment of the song.

Explain that writing words for music can be a very different process than writing a poem or a story, or even a play, and that it is a challenge faced by opera librettists (the person who writes the words to an opera) every day. Opera librettists often have to condense stories; they have to create words that are easy to sing; they may have to write words that have certain rhythms to them. All of these are challenges to the libretto as a stand-alone piece of art.

Today, we are going to look at the libretto for The Elixir of Love, and later, we will have the opportunity to update this libretto in groups.

Learning Activities: Session 1

Break class into groups of 5-7, depending on the scenes that each group will perform.

Distribute copies of the libretto to each student.

o Ideally, each student will read the entire libretto, and then focus on the assigned scene which their group will perform; however, if time does not permit this, you may elect to have the students focus only on their assigned section of the libretto. The disadvantage to this option is, of course, that your students will lose the context of their scene, which may affect their performance.

After having read the libretto, students will decide within their group, which member will play which role for the assigned scene and begin to rehearse the scene for the readers’ theater presentation

Session 2

Presentation of scenes

If students have seen the Portland Opera To Go presentation of The Elixir of Love, lead a discussion about the difference they perceive of the words of the libretto on their own and set to music.

Session 3

In their groups, students work to write a modern version of The Elixir of Love, for the scene that they were assigned earlier.

Session 4

Presentation of scenes groups have re-written to class

Culminating Activity:

Discuss the challenges and opportunities inherent in the writing of their scene. Would the addition of music change what they had written? If they knew their words would be set to music, would they have written it differently?

Social Studies Lesson Plans

The Social Studies Lesson Plans are aligned with the Oregon State Standards as the Common Core Standards do not have Social Studies Standards unrelated to literacy. Specific standards are enumerated in the individual lesson plan.

When What You Feel Isn’t Real: The Dangers of

Alcohol Students examine the effects of alcohol on the brain.

Problem Child: Kid’s Conflict Resolution & Bullying

Reduction Exercise

Students explore positive techniques for conflict resolution using the theme of bullying that is implicitly present in The Elixir of Love.

Lies McDonalds Told Me Students explore advertising claims and evaluate what advertisers are trying to sell them.

What’s in Social Studies Lesson Plans?

Lesson Plan:

When What You Feel Isn’t Real The Dangers of Alcohol

Overview: This lesson plan is adapted from the US Department of Health and Human Services. The original may be found at the US Department of Health and Human Services website. www.samhsa.gov In The Elixir of Love, Nemorino believes that a bottle of cheap wine is a magical potion that will make Adina, the girl he loves, fall in love with him. He believes it will make him irresistible. Students need “to know” about alcohol and its side effects to make good decisions about drinking. They need to know “what to do” to help combat peer pressure and find alternatives to underage drinking. Nemorino’s magic potion makes him feel as if it is working; it lowers his inhibitions and makes him feel more confident, but did it really change anything? And, they need to know “what to say” to make sure the right message comes through. In the end, Adina loved Nemorino for himself—not the false self that alcohol gave him. This lesson plan may be adapted for younger students by using the discussion, but is probably best for 4th grade, or fluent readers and up.

Learning Objectives: Students will:

Be able to describe some of the effects of alcohol on the brain and body Identify effective alternatives to using alcohol Work in groups to develop an effective alcohol prevention message

Oregon State Content Standards: HE.03.HS.03 HE.03.HS.07 HE.03.AT.01 HE.03.AT.02 HE.05.HS.04 HE.05.HS.02 HE.05.HS.06 HE.08.HS.04 HE.08.HS.06 HE.08.AT.02 HE.HS.HS.02 HE.HS.HS.03 HE.HS.HS.04 HE.HS.AT.03

Materials Per Student:

Copies of the True/False quiz “What’s Your Alcohol IQ?” Copies of the Student Information Sheet, “Alcohol and Your Brain”

Prep for Teachers:

Make copies of “What’s Your Alcohol IQ?” Quiz and the “Alcohol and Your Brain” handout Familiarize yourself with the Leadership Tips, as well as the “Alcohol and Your Brain”

handout Watch Portland Opera To Go’s The Elixir of Love with your students. The performance will

be a starting point for the lesson plan. You will also need at least 5 real cookies for one of these activities…I recommend that you

have enough for the entire class to have one or two after the peer pressure activity! Best have one for yourself too!

Make a copy of the Peer Pressure Volunteer Instructions, and cut them for distribution.

Introductory Activity:

Ask your students to recall the opera performance of The Elixir of Love, and discuss what happened in the story as a class.

Ask your students what the “elixir of love” really was. If it went over their heads (they are very young, for instance), remind them that Dulcamara says that it is cheap wine, and that wine is a type of alcohol. Alcohol is a drug and it can make you feel different than your normal self. Nemorino believes that a bottle of cheap wine is a magical potion that will make Adina, the girl he loves, fall in love with him. He believes it will make him irresistible. Nemorino’s magic potion makes him feel as if it is working; it lowers his inhibitions and makes him feel more confident, but did it really change anything? In the end, Adina loved Nemorino for himself—not the false self that alcohol gave him.

Learning Activities:

What to Know:

Ask students to share reasons why they believe young people drink. You might start them off with Nemorino’s example—he thought he would be more attractive to Adina. Write down their answers. Ask them why they think someone they know would drink.

After your discussion (see Leadership Tips below), distribute the Alcohol IQ Quiz and have the kids fill it out.

LEADERSHIP TIPS!

SUGGESTED QUESTIONS POSSIBLE RESPONSES LEADER’S POINTS

Why do you think young people start to drink? Why do you think someone you know would drink? Why might alcohol ads be aimed directly at young people?

Peer pressure—some friends and classmates want you to do it. We see our parents or other adults drinking We want to be grown up. We see older teens drinking. Alcohol is already at the party. Ads show young, cool, popular people drinking. We want to know what it tastes like.

Actually, many studies have shown that a large majority of people your age—MOST OF THEM—do not drink or get drunk!! A recent study shows that more than 80 percent of youth ages 12 to 17 reported they had not drunk alcohol in the past month. (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration) The media’s glamorous portrayal of alcohol encourages many teens to believe that drinking will make them popular attractive, happy and cool…but it has only landed Justin Bieber and Shia Le Beouf with an arrest record and mug shot. To generate sales, alcohol advertising makes products look appealing and specifically targets young people.

After students have completed the quiz, distribute “Alcohol and Your Brain.” Work through

the information on the handout to find out whether the answers to the quiz were true or false.

Follow up by asking students what fact about alcohol and their brain surprised them most.

What to Do.

One of the huge difficulties of navigating early adolescence is peer pressure. If one of the responses to the “Why people drink” question was peer pressure, you can remind students of that response, or you can introduce the concept of peer pressure. o PEER PRESSURE ROLE PLAY

Explain that a role play is an improvised talk in which students pretend to be someone else and react to situations as that person.

Ask for 5 volunteers. The five volunteers should sit at a table with a plate of five cookies on it, with a

sign saying “Wellness Cookies.” Hand each of the volunteers a slip of paper with instructions on it. Three of the volunteers should receive the instructions: Eat a “wellness cookie” and try to convince everyone else to eat a wellness cookie too. Volunteer #4 should receive instructions to wait 2 minutes, then allow him/herself to be persuaded and eat a wellness cookie. Volunteer #5 should receive instructions NOT to eat a wellness cookie no matter what! (They can have theirs after the role play is done, if they want.) This scene should last 3-5 minutes.

Ask the following questions:

How did it feel to eat a wellness cookie?

If you resisted the wellness cookie how did it feel that others had eaten the cookie and then wanted you to eat the cookie? Was it hard to resist?

How did you feel finally eating the cookie because other’s wanted you to?

How did the volunteer who DID NOT eat the cookie feel when the other person who resisted finally ate the cookie?

How did everyone feel about the volunteer who didn’t eat the cookie? Ask students why they think that some young people who don’t want to drink feel pressured

to drink. Ask them to brainstorm some things to say if someone pressures them to drink. Write their responses on the board.

Brainstorm alternatives to drinking by completing the following sentence: Why drink when we could….?

Culminating Activity:

Brainstorm with students about the methods they could use to tell others about the risks of underage alcohol use and alternative activities to drinking. List their ideas for future class period use. Ideas might include creating posters, brochures, performing skits, creating a bulletin board for the school…

What’s your alcohol IQ?

Directions: Below are twelve statements about how alcohol affects a person’s brain. Do you know which are true and which are false? Circle TRUE or FALSE for each statement.

1. Alcohol is a stimulant.

TRUE FALSE

2. Under the influence of alcohol, everything may appear to be fuzzy; drinkers may slur their words and have difficulty hearing, tasting and smelling.

TRUE FALSE

3. Under the influence of alcohol, a drinker’s ability to think, speak and move may slow way down.

TRUE FALSE

4. Under the influence of alcohol, drinkers are usually calm, thoughtful and easygoing.

TRUE FALSE

5. Drinking alcohol over a long period of time may damage a person’s self-control and ability to plan, think and make decisions.

TRUE FALSE

6. Alcohol does not affect memory

TRUE FALSE

7. Alcohol may make it difficult for drinkers to keep their balance or hold on to things.

TRUE FALSE

8. Under the influence of alcohol, a drinker may be emotional and weepy.

TRUE FALSE

9. Alcohol will help a person sleep.

TRUE FALSE

10. Drinking alcohol will help a person lose weight.

TRUE FALSE

11. People attending a winter football game should drink alcohol to keep warm.

TRUE FALSE

12. The more alcohol people drink, the hungrier and thirstier they will become.

TRUE FALSE

WHAT’S YOUR ALCOHOL IQ ANSWER KEY Below is the ANSWER KEY to the student handout What’s Your Alcohol IQ? The answers are bolded and underlined.

1. Alcohol is a stimulant.

CEREBRAL CORTEX: Alcohol is a central nervous system depressant. It can appear to be a stimulant because, initially, it depresses the part of the brain that controls inhibitions.

TRUE FALSE

2. Under the influence of alcohol, everything may appear to be fuzzy; drinkers may slur their words and have difficulty hearing, tasting and smelling.

CEREBRAL CORTEX: Alcohol slows down the cerebral cortex as it works with information from your senses.

TRUE FALSE

3. Under the influence of alcohol, a drinker’s ability to think, speak and move may slow way down.

CENTRAL NERVOUS SYSTEM: When you think of something you want your body to do, the central nervous system—the brain and the spinal cord—sends a signal to that part of the body. Alcohol slows down the central nervous system, making you think, speak and move slower.

TRUE FALSE

4. Under the influence of alcohol, drinkers are usually calm, thoughtful and easygoing.

FRONTAL LOBES: When alcohol affects the frontal lobes of the brain, you may find it hard to control your emotions and urges. You may act without thinking or even become violent. Drinking alcohol over a long period of time can damage the frontal lobes forever.

TRUE FALSE

5. Drinking alcohol over a long period of time may damage a person’s self-control and ability to plan, think and make decisions.

FRONTAL LOBES: The brain’s frontal lobes are important for planning, forming ideas, making decisions, and using self-control. Drinking alcohol over a long period of time can damage the frontal lobes forever.

TRUE FALSE

6. Alcohol does not affect memory

HIPPOCAMPUS: The hippocampus is the part of the brain where your memories are made. When alcohol reaches the hippocampus, you may have trouble remembering something you just learned, such as a name or a phone number. This can happen after just one or two drinks. Drinking a lot of alcohol quickly can cause a blackout—not being able to remember entire events, such as what you did last night. If alcohol damages the hippocampus, you may find it hard to learn and to hold onto knowledge.

TRUE FALSE

7. Alcohol may make it difficult for drinkers to keep their balance or hold on to things.

CEREBELLUM: The cerebellum is important for coordination, thinking and being aware. You may have trouble with these sills when alcohol enters the cerebellum. After drinking alcohol, your hands may be so shaky that you can’t touch or grab things normally. You may lose your balance and fall.

TRUE FALSE

8. Under the influence of alcohol, a drinker may be emotional and weepy.

FRONTAL LOBES: The brain’s frontal lobes are important for planning forming ideas, making decisions, and using self-control. When alcohol affects the frontal lobes of the brain, you may find it hard to control your emotions and urges. You may act without thinking or even become violent. Drinking alcohol over a long period of time can damage the frontal lobes forever.

TRUE FALSE

9. Alcohol will help a person sleep.

HYPOTHALAMUS: The hypothalamus is a small par of the brain that does an amazing number of your body’s housekeeping chores. Alcohol upsets the work of the hypothalamus. After a person drinks alcohol, blood pressure, hunger, thirst, and the urge to urinate increase while body temperature and heart rate increase.

TRUE FALSE

10. Drinking alcohol will help a person lose weight.

HYPOTHALAMUS: The hypothalamus is a small part of the brain that does an amazing number of your body’s housekeeping chores. Alcohol upsets the work of the hypothalamus. After a person drinks alcohol, blood pressure, hunger, thirst, and the urge to urinate increase while body temperature and heart rate decrease.

TRUE FALSE

11. People attending a winter football game should drink alcohol to keep warm.

MEDULLA: The medulla controls your body’s automatic actions, such as your heartbeat. It also keeps your body at the right temperature. Alcohol actually chills the body. Drinking a lot of alcohol outdoors in the cold weather can cause your body temperature to fall below normal. This dangerous condition is called hypothermia.

TRUE FALSE

12. The more alcohol people drink, the hungrier and thirstier they will become.

HYPOTHALAMUS: The hypothalamus is a small part of the brain that does an amazing number of your body’s housekeeping chores. Alcohol upsets the work of the hypothalamus. After a person drinks alcohol, blood pressure, hunger, thirst, and the urge to urinate increase while body temperature and heart rate decrease.

TRUE FALSE

Cerebral Cortex: The outer surface of the brain, the cerebral cortex, works with information from your senses. Your cerebral cortex on alcohol:

Your inhibitions are lowered due to alcohol’s depressing effect. A small amount may make you feel relaxed and confident, but before long you’re likely to talk too much, act silly and stupid, or have impaired judgement.

Your cerebral cortex performs more slowly. Your vision may get blurry, you may slur your words, and you could have decreased hearing

and trouble smelling and tasting. Central Nervous System: When you think of something you want your body to do, the central nervous system—the brain and the spinal cord—sends a signal to that part of the body.

Alcohol and Your

Brain…

What to know.

Frontal Lobes: The frontal

lobes are important for planning,

forming ideas, making decisions

and using self control. Drinking

alcohol over a long period of time

can damage the frontal lobes

forever.

Your central nervous system on alcohol:

Alcohol slows down the central nervous system. You will think, speak, and move slower.

Fontal Lobes: The brain’s frontal lobes are important for planning, forming ideas, making decisions and using self-control. Drinking alcohol over a long period of time can damage the frontal lobes forever. Your frontal lobes on alcohol:

You may find it hard to control your emotions and urges. You may become violent or act without thinking.

Hippocampus: Your memories are made in the hippocampus. A damaged hippocampus makes it harder to learn and hold on to knowledge. Your hippocampus on alcohol:

You may have trouble remembering something you just learned (e.g., a name or phone number). This could happen after one or two drinks.

You could experience a blackout—not being able to remember entire events, such as what you did last night—from drinking a lot of alcohol quickly.

Cerebellum: The cerebellum is important for coordination, thinking and being aware. Your cerebellum on alcohol:

Your hands may be so shaky that you can’t touch or grab things normally. You may lose your balance and fall. You may not know where you are.

Hypothalamus: The hypothalamus is a small part of the brain that does an amazing number of your body’s housekeeping chores. Alcohol upsets the hypothalamus’ work. Your hypothalamus on alcohol:

Blood pressure, hunger, thirst, and the urge to urinate increase. Body temperature and heart rate decrease.

Medulla: The medulla is your body’s automatic pilot. It keeps your heart beating, lets you breathe without thinking about it, and keeps your body at the right temperature. People sometimes drink alcohol in an effort to keep warm. Drinking alcohol can SEEM like it makes you warmer, but alcohol actually chills the body. Drinking a lot of alcohol outdoors in cold weather can cause your body temperature to fall below normal. This dangerous condition is called hypothermia. Your medulla on alcohol:

Breathing and heart rate slow Your body temperature lowers Drinking a lot of alcohol in a short time could shut down the medulla. You could go into a

coma.

Lesson Plan:

Problem Child: Kid’s Conflict Resolution & Bullying Reduction Exercise

Overview: As adults and students navigate school, new social media and ultimately growing up, children face issues of bullying whether they are the bullied, bullies, or silent bystanders to bullying. Many schools have programs designed to mitigate bullying and its effects. This lesson provides students the opportunity to role-play positive solutions to bullying situations and problem solve potential areas of conflict, using the bullying themes of The Elixir of Love as a jumping off point. This lesson plan could take one class period, if you decided to work with the whole class on one role play, or two if you have students break into groups and perform and discuss their role-plays with the class.

Learning Objectives: Students will:

Explore bullying themes and incidents in The Elixir of Love Explore possible outcomes of different conflict scenarios in which only one party

gets their needs met, both parties get their needs met or nobody gets their needs met

Role play conflict situations and resolutions.

Oregon State Content Standards: SS.08.SA.02. SS.08.SA.05 SS.05.SA.04 SS.05.SA.05 HE.05.HS.03 HE.05.HS.04 HE.05.VS.01 HE.05.VS.02 HE.08.HS.03 HE.08.HS.04 HE.08.VS.01 HE.HS.HS.03 HE.HS.HS.04 HE.HS.VS.02

Materials Per Student:

Writing utensil Conflict Resolution chart

Per Group/Class:

Small area for a performance space as students role play their conflicts Learning zones for small groups working together Conflict resolution scenario chart

Prep for Teachers

Make copies of Conflict Resolution Chart for each student (FRONT AND BACK!) Copy conflict resolution scenarios, a different one for each student group If necessary, create small group learning zones and performance space Familiarize yourself with the General Guidelines for role play below under Learning Activity

Introductory Activity:

After watching Portland Opera To Go’s The Elixir of Love ask your students to define what a bully is. o What is bullying? o Is bullying different than conflict/disagreement/arguing?

Guide students to the definition of bullying as “repeated negative acts committed by one or more children against another. Bullying may include physical harm, verbal teasing and insults, exclusion, intimidation and maybe direct or indirect.” You can certainly paraphrase this to make sense of it to younger children.

Bullying is NOT conflict resolution, although the bully may look on it as such. Bullying is about control and power. Conflict resolution is about finding a mutually acceptable solution to a problem—a “win-win” outcome.

Ask students if they saw any examples of bullying in The Elixir of Love. o There is a strong bullying theme in Elixir—in our version, Belcore is always threatening

Nemorino with some sort of violence. Nemorino is clearly less financially privileged than Adina and Belcore, and may be perceived by those two as less intelligent as they. As a result, Nemorino is excluded and mocked. Even though Adina really likes Nemorino, she ignores him and teases him. Belcore threatens Nemorino physically, manipulates him into acting against his own interests by encouraging him to join the air force (in our version) for the signing bonus and attempts to put Nemorino in harm’s way.

o Ask students if they have experienced bullying, as the bullied, the bully or as a bystander. Bullying situations occur in school when students may make assumptions about each other because of appearance, grades, ages, classes, race, etc.

o Explain that today, we will be learning to let go of judgments and work together to solve problems and resolve conflicts without sacrificing anyone’s needs or attempting to control or bully others into seeing things our way.

Learning Activities: FOR THE TEACHER: GENERAL GUIDELINES.

Explain to your class that role-plays are improvisations involving two or more characters in an invented conversation.

Be clear about your role-play goal: define characters, situations, objectives Be a facilitator: be sure that actors and audience are clear on what’s going on. If side

coaching is necessary, interrupt so everyone knows what is happening. Assign fictitious names to the characters so students understand that actors are NOT playing

themselves. When the role-play situation has developed, freeze the action and ask the audience open-

ended questions such as: What did you see? How did it make you feel? Who said what to whom?

Ask your students for suggestions on how the actors could have played the scene differently, then replay the situations using these suggestions. Afterwards, reprocess with the class. Ask: How did this go? How did you feel about it? (This step can be skipped, if working with small groups…group presenters will discuss the various different outcomes their group talked over.)

Finally, debrief your students by helping the actors separate from their characters with questions such as: how did you feel as that character? What would you have done differently yourself? How would you advise these characters? What was most difficult about your role? Would you like to do this again? You may also choose, if student groups are presenting to have this activity be a written reflection, with students who were not the actors, reflecting on how they solved problems within the group while they worked on their scenarios.

Keep scenes, including replay and discussion to 10 minutes in length. You may shorten this to 5 minutes, if student groups are presenting individually.

LEARNING ACTIVITY:

Divide students into groups of 4-5 Pass out conflict resolution scenarios—one to each group Pass out Conflict Resolution Charts to each group Introduce the chart to students and explain that they will use the charts to create different

outcomes to their scenarios. For instance: EXAMPLE SCENARIO: Run through with students. Roger, a high school student, is having math trouble and has a big test tomorrow. He is in the living room studying for this test when he is interrupted by his little sister, Amy, who has had a tough day and needs to have some fun and relax. She turns on some music and starts dancing, but Roger needs quiet! They start to argue:

Amy gets what she needs Amy doesn’t get what she needs

Roger gets what he needs WIN-WIN 1. Amy uses an Ipod 2. Amy goes to a friend’s 3. Roger studies in his room

WIN-LOSE 1. Roger intimidates Amy into turning off music

Roger doesn’t get what he needs LOSE-WIN 1. Roger gets frustrated with

Amy’s music and stops studying

LOSE-LOSE 1. Amy and Roger fight loudly and attract the attention of their parents who ground them both

Have students work in their small groups to problem solve their scenarios. Students should

decide who will role play the scenarios for the class and who will present the different possible outcomes after the role play. (Actors will perform the role play up to the conflict. Presenters will present the various outcomes their group predicted. Actors will perform the Win-Win scenario ending for the class.)

Culminating Activity:

Discuss the various solutions to the conflict scenarios Ask your students to describe a time when they felt they had reached a “win-win” solution.

Explain that these are examples of “Conscious Acts of Peace.” Ask your students to explain the most significant lesson learned from this activity, and to

offer one word to describe how they feel. Have students write a reflection about their experience with the activity either based on

their experience as an actor or problem solving within the group.

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SCENARIO 1:

Your friend takes the pencil you just dropped on the floor. He or she starts using it

and you have no pencil now.

SCENARIO 2:

Danny doesn't want to play football with Josh. Josh comes on the playground and

takes the ball from the players. Danny and the other players run after Josh. Josh

throws the ball to the other yard. Danny starts calling Josh names. Danny and Josh

start to fight.

SCENARIO 3:

Brother and sister are watching TV. He would like to watch the sports match on

one channel, while she wants to see a film on another.

SCENARIO 4:

Your mother yells at you because you haven’t cleaned your room in a week.

Lesson Plan:

Lies McDonald’s Told Me Thinking Critically about Advertising

Overview: This lesson provides students with the opportunity to think critically about advertising and what advertisers do in order to sell them a product. Advertising plays a key role in shaping the values, desires, prejudices and self-images of people in society. In our country, advertising has become a multi-billion dollar industry that pervades nearly all of society’s media and consumer decisions. Because of this influence, it is important that our students think critically about the messages of advertising in shaping our self-image, our buying choices, and our values. Thank you to Laura Baldasano, formerly of Arizona Opera, for sharing this lesson plan.

Learning Objectives: Students will evaluate ethical issues concerning the role of advertising in contemporary society. Students will identify and discuss misleading, erroneous messages presented in advertising and the media.

Oregon State Content Standards: SS.08.SA.02, SS.05.SA.01, SS.05.SA.02, EL.05.WR.27, EL.HS.WR.27

Common Core Standards: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.6-8.6, CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.6-8.7, CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.6-8.8

Materials: Per Group/Class:

Assortment of popular magazines Colored markers Tape or glue Scissors Rulers Large poster paper: 11” by 17”

Prep for Teachers:

Example 1: Red Bull “Red Bull gives you wings.” Reality: Red Bull is several cups of sugar, plus carbonated water, caffeine and flavoring.

Example 2: Palmolive dish detergent “No unnecessary chemicals or heavy fragrances” Reality: Palmolive contains: SD Alcohol 3-A, Poloxamer 124, Magnesium Sulfate, Sodium Chloride, all of which control “thickness.” Are they all necessary? In addition, Palmolive contains fragrance. Who determines what a “heavy fragrance” is?

Assemble materials Watch Portland Opera To Go’s The Elixir of Love with students, or read the opera’s synopsis

together

Introductory Activity:

Remind students of the story of The Elixir of Love (or have them tell you). Point out that Nemorino believes what Dulcamara tells him—that an old bottle of wine is really a magical potion which will make girls fall in love with him. Ask the students why they think this is. Do they think that Nemorino is silly for believing that there is a magic potion that can make girls fall in love with him? Ask the students if they see any parallels with Dulcamara’s claims about the “elixir” and television commercials or print advertisements. How can Nemorino be convinced with such a few words that the elixir will make Adina fall in love with him? How much time do commercials have to convince you about a product?

Have students brainstorm ad slogan’s or jingles (for example, “I am lovin’ it” or “Got milk?”

or “Just Do It”). Why do they stand out? Why do they remember it? This activity quickly shows them how pervasive and influential advertising is on our cultural knowledge.

Have students discuss the positive and negative aspects of advertising. Make a list of their

points on the board, asking them to expand, or expanding on their input as they go.

Advertising implies that there is an easy solution to everything, from having friends to being healthy, to being attractive to the opposite sex.

Learning Activities:

In small groups have students flip through the magazines and find an advertisement that seems false or misleading. Then write down the truth not reflected in the advertisement.

Have the students make the advertisements more “real” through altered words and/or new glued-in images. Here are some ideas. o Cut and paste images and type out the slogan you want to use. o Juxtapose two ads to make a point o Cross out words in an existing ad to make a point o Do a play on words with an existing ad o Replace the visual with another visual in the ad to make a critical point o Cut and paste the product on a poster and create a whole new slogan that shows the

reality of that product.

Culminating Activity:

Have students present their counter-ad to the class. o They must discuss the false or exaggerated aspect of the ad versus the reality of the

product. o They should explain how they represented that in their counter ad.

FOR OLDER STUDENTS: Discuss the idea of truth in advertising with students. Would they

buy any of the products based on the counter ads? Why or why not? Do advertisers have an obligation to be completely truthful about their products? How much responsibility do consumers have to examine advertising claims?

Math Lesson Plans

The Math Lesson Plans are all aligned to the Common Core Standards. Specific standards are enumerated in the

individual lesson plan.

Mathmusician I: Simple math

Students use common note values to do simple arithmetic and participate in a rhythm symphony.

Mathmusician II: Fractions

Students use musical notation and the musical measure to explore fractions and participate in a rhythm symphony

Technical Director

Students build a free standing structure with simple materials and stay within a budget. `

What’s in Math Lesson Plans?

Lesson Plan:

Mathmusician! Adding & Subtracting with Music!

Overview: Number sense can be a problem for many students, and many students may need to practice some addition and subtraction facts in a more “interesting” way. Kinetic and aural learners may have difficulty internalizing numbers and paper and pencil algorithms. Music is a great way to involve these learners! This lesson provides an opportunity to use musical notation to illustrate basic math in a visual, kinetic and aural way by creating a rhythm symphony in your classroom. This lesson plan uses basic musical notation (whole note, dotted half note, half note and quarter note) to allow younger students to practice basic addition and subtraction.

Learning Objectives:

Students will:

Learn the most basic musical notations for Common Time (4/4 Time): whole note, dotted half note, half note and quarter note.

Understand the relationship between musical notation and basic addition and subtraction.

Read simple music notation to create a rhythm symphony.

Solve simple math problems using musical notation.

Common Core Standards CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.K.CC.A.3, CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.1.NBT.C.4, CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.2.NBT.B.5, CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.2.NBT.B.7, CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.2.OA.B.2, CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.3.NBT.A.2

Materials Per Student:

Mathmusician worksheet in this packet

Per Group/Class

Basic Note values chart

Basic Mathmusician Rhythm Symphony

Overhead projector/whiteboard/blackboard, or something similar.

Prep for Teachers If you aren’t a musician, or are unfamiliar with musical notation, review the note values chart. Practice clapping the rhythms.

A whole note, worth 4 beats, would be: clap, 2, 3, 4, with the numbers spoken aloud (alternatively, tapping the foot, clap, tap, tap, tap)

A dotted half note, worth three beats, would be: clap, tap, tap.

A half note, worth two beats, would be: clap, tap

A quarter note worth 1 beat, would be: clap.

All music is divided into measures and all music has a fraction (called a time signature) at the beginning. The fraction’s denominator tells you what note value gets the beat, and the numerator tells you how many beats there are in the measure. So, in 4/4 time, there are 4 beats in the measure and the quarter note gets the beat.

Introductory Activity:

Ask students how they think that musicians know what notes to sing and how long to sing them.

Explain that in music, rhythm is the most important component and that music creates rhythms by dividing measures into beats. In Common Time, every measure has to have four beats.

Share the Basic Note Chart with the class. This may be review for some. That is okay—they will help the rest along. Discuss the values of the notes. To help students “hear” the value of the notes, tap your foot on the floor: tap, tap, tap, tap (each tap is a quarter note). Have students join you in the tapping. Then…

Learning Activities: Activity 1:

Introduce the whole note. A whole note is an empty oval and represents the whole measure. Introduce the concept of the whole note by clapping its value. Clap once for each 4-beat measure you tap: clap, tap, tap, tap. As you clap, hum the note and hold it over all four beats (hum-mm-mm-mm). Have students clap, tap, and hum with you. A whole note equals 4 beats.

Introduce the dotted half note. The dotted half note is an empty oval with a vertical line attached to it, followed by a dot. Draw your students a dotted half note and write the number 3 next to it. Let your students hear a dotted half note by clapping (clap, tap, tap, clap, tap, tap) and humming (hum-mm-mm, hum-mm-mm), to represent the dotted half note for your students as you clap-tap the value. Have students clap, tap and hum with you.

Introduce the half note. The half note is an empty oval with a vertical line attached to it. Draw your students a half note, and write the number 2 next to it. Let your students hear a half note by clapping (clap, tap, clap, tap) and humming (hum-mm, hum-mm) to represent the half note for students as you clap-tap. Have students clap, tap, and hum with you.

Introduce the quarter note. The quarter note looks like a half note, but the oval is filled in with solid black. Draw a quarter note for students, and write the fraction 1/4 next to it. Clap (clap, clap, clap, clap) to represent the quarter note as you tap your foot to a four-beat measure. Have students clap and tap with you.

Introduce the time signature. A time signature is a fraction at the beginning of every piece of music. The top number (numerator) of the fraction, tells you how many beats are in the measure. The bottom number (denominator) tells you what note value gets the beat.

Activity 2:

Now play a little game with your students, tapping random rhythms, and having your students tell you what they think you are clapping.

Activity 3:

Now is a great time to review the idea that each note value represents a number: o Every measure in 4/4 or Common Time gets 4 beats. A whole note is held

for the entire four beats. o That same 4/4 measure might include two half notes, each of which is held

for two beats, so two half notes are needed to add up to the 4 beats that are needed in the measure: 2 + 2 = 4

o A measure might also include four quarter notes, each of which represent 1 beat. 4 quarter notes are needed to fill the 4 beats in one measure.

o Or a measure might include a dotted half note and a quarter note, because the dotted half note is worth 3 beats, so it needs another beat to add up to 4….what note value equals 1? That’s right! A quarter note. 3 + 1 = 4

o A measure may include any combination of the notes above, as long as they all add up to one four beat measure.

Activity 4:

Divide the class into 2 groups.

Have the first group clap out quarter notes (clap, clap, clap, clap)

Practice that with them for a bit

Have the second group clap out half note (clap-tap, clap-tap, clap-tap, clap-tap)—give them a chance to practice.

Now put the two together.

Culminating Activity:

Now it is time for our rhythm symphony! Create simple measures for four groups to clap. Students should clap them and repeat them, until you cut them off.

If you would like your students to practice some adding and subtracting, they can do the accompanying Mathmusician Addition & Subtraction Work Sheet.

David Saffert, POGO pianist, leading a Rhythm Symphony

Basic Note Values Chart

Whole Note

= 4 beats

Dotted half note

= 3 beats

Half note

= 2 beats

Quarter note

= 1 beat

Name:____________________________________________ Date:_______________________________

Mathmusician Addition & Subtraction

Using what you now know about note value, solve the following problems. Use both a note and a number in your answer.

Example:

- = or 2

+ = 1.

- = 2.

+ = 3.

+ = 4.

- = 5.

- = 6.

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Lesson Plan:

Mathmusician 2! Fractions!

Overview: Fractions are a problem for many students. They can be hard for kinetic and aural learners to internalize. Music is a great way to involve these learners! This lesson provides an opportunity to use musical notation to illustrate fractions in a visual, kinetic and aural way by creating a rhythm symphony in your classroom. For older students studying fractions, there is also an accompanying fraction/music work sheet.

Learning Objectives: Students will:

Learn the most basic musical notations for Common Time (4/4 Time): whole note, half note, quarter note, eighth note, sixteenth note.

Understand the relationship between musical notation and fractions.

Read simple music notation to create a rhythm symphony.

Solve fraction problems using musical notation.

Common Core Standards CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.3.NF.A.1, CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.3.NF.A.3.B, CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.3.NF.A.3.C, CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.4.NF.B.3.A, CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.4.NF.B.3.C

Materials Per Student:

Mathmusician worksheet in this packet (older students) Per Group/Class

Note values chart

Mathmusician Rhythm Symphony

Overhead projector/whiteboard/blackboard, or something similar.

Prep for Teachers If you aren’t a musician, or are unfamiliar with musical notation, review the note values chart. Practice clapping the rhythms.

A whole note, worth 4 beats, would be: clap, 2, 3, 4, with the numbers spoken aloud (alternatively, tapping the foot, clap, tap, tap, tap)

A half note, worth two beats, would be: clap, tap.

A quarter note worth 1 beat, would be: clap.

An eighth note, worth half a beat, is: clap-clap (two eighth claps are one beat)

A sixteenth note, worth a quarter of a beat, is: clap-clap-clap-clap (four 16th note claps are one beat)

All music is divided into measures and all music has a fraction (called a time signature) at the beginning. The fractions denominator tells you what note value gets the beat, and the numerator tells you how many beats there are in the measure. So, in 4/4 time, there are 4 beats in the measure and the quarter note gets the beat.

Introductory Activity:

Ask students how they think that musicians know what notes to sing and how long to sing them.

Explain that in music, rhythm is the most important component and that music creates rhythms by dividing measures into beats—just like fractions.

Share the note chart with the class. This may be review for some. That is okay—they will help the rest along. Discuss the values of the notes. To help students “hear” the value of the notes, tap your foot on the floor: tap, tap, tap, tap (each tap is a quarter note). Have students join you in the tapping. Then…

Learning Activities: Activity 1:

Introduce the whole note. A whole note is an empty oval and represents the whole measure. Introduce the concept of the whole note by clapping its value. Clap once for each 4-beat measure you tap: clap, tap, tap, tap. As you clap, hum the note and hold it over all four beats (hum-mm-mm-mm). Have students clap, tap, and hum with you.

Introduce the half note. The half note is an empty oval with a vertical line attached to it. Draw your students a half note, and write the fraction ½ next to it. Let your students hear a half note by clapping (clap, tap, clap, tap) and humming (hum-mm, hum-mm) to represent the half note for students as you tap your foot to the four beats of the measure. Have students clap, tap, and hum with you.

Introduce the quarter note. The quarter note looks like a half note, but the oval is filled in with solid black. Draw a quarter note for students, and write the fraction 1/4 next to it. Clap (clap, clap, clap, clap) to represent the quarter note as you tap your foot to a four-beat measure. Have students clap and tap with you.

Introduce the eighth note. The eight note looks like a quarter note, except it has a flag at the end of the vertical line. Draw an eighth note for students, and write the fraction 1/8 next to it. Clap twice for each beat (clap-clap, clap-clap, clap-clap, clap-clap) to represent the eighth note to students as you tap your foot to the four-beat measure. Have students clap and tap with you.

Introduce the sixteenth note. The sixteenth note looks like a quarter note with another flag attached under the first. Draw the sixteenth note for the students and write the fraction 1/16 next to it. Clap four times for each beat (clap-clap-clap-clap, clap-clap-clap-clap)

Introduce the time signature. A time signature is a fraction at the beginning of every piece of music. The top number (numerator) of the fraction, tells you how many beats are in the measure. The bottom number (denominator) tells you what note value gets the beat.

Activity 2:

Now play a little game with your students, tapping random rhythms, and having your students tell you what they think you are clapping.

Activity 3:

Now is a great time to review the idea that each note value represents a fraction: o A four beat measure represents one whole. A whole note is held for the

entire four beats. o That same whole measure might include two half notes, each of which is

held for two beats and represents ½ of the measure. ½ note + ½ note = 1 whole note or measure.

o A measure might also include four quarter notes, each of which represent ¼ of the measure. ¼ + ¼ + ¼ + ¼ = one whole measure.

o Or a measure might include eight eighth notes, each of which represents 1/8 of a measure. Etc…..

o A measure may include any combination of the notes above, as long as they all add up to one four beat measure. So, you might have one half note + two quarter notes in a measure: ½ + ¼ + ¼ = one whole measure.

Activity 4:

Divide the class into 2 groups.

Have the first group clap out quarter notes (clap, clap, clap, clap)

Practice that with them for a bit

Have the second group clap out eighth notes (clap-clap, clap-clap, clap-clap, clap-clap)—give them a chance to practice.

Now put the two together.

Culminating Activity:

Now it is time for our rhythm symphony! Create simple measures for four groups to clap. Students should clap them and repeat them, until you cut them off.

Older students, familiar with adding fractions, can fill out the accompanying worksheet.

Mathmusician Worksheet Answer Key: 1. 11/8 or 1 3/8 2. 3/16 3. ¼ 4. 7/8 5. 3/8 6.

15/16 7. ¾ 8. 3/4

Fractions of the Measure:

Note Values Chart

Whole Note = 1 whole measure

Half Note = 1

2

of a measure.

Sixteenth Note = 1

16 of a measure

Quarter Note = 1

4

of a measure

Eighth Note = 1

8 of a measure

=

=

=

=

=

1 measure

Name:____________________________________________ Date:_______________________________

Mathmusician: Fractions! Remember: In this exercise, each whole note equals 1 (because a one whole

note equals one measure). Each half note equals 1

2. Each quarter note equals

1

4 . Each eighth note equals

1

8 . Each sixteenth note equals

1

16 .

Using what you now know about what fraction of a musical measure each note is, solve the following: Example: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8.

+ + = 5/8

=

+ + =

- =

+ + +

- =

+ - =

- =

- - =

+ + =

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Lesson Plan:

Technical Director Calculating cost and creating a “set”

Overview: This lesson provides an opportunity for students to experience some of the problems that a Technical Director in an opera company encounters when mounting a new production. In experiencing the elements that go into realizing a set designer’s vision, students will apply mathematical skills in a theoretical and practical way by calculating the cost and creating a free standing structure. Thanks to Laura Baldasano, formerly of Arizona Opera, for sharing this idea. This lesson plan could be adapted for a variety of ages.

Learning Objectives: Students will:

Demonstrate basic construction skills by building a free-standing structure, using predetermined materials.

Compute the cost of the structure and identify problems, successes, revisions and purpose of lesson by group discussion and answering questions on the work sheet.

Common Core Standards CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.4.OA.A.2, CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.4.MD.A.2, CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.5.NBT.B.5, CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.5.NBT.B.7

Materials:

Per Group/Class:

Approximately 20 plastic drinking straws Approximately 20 straight pins (caution students about safety as necessary) 10 small paper clips 1 roll of masking tape 1 yard/meter measuring stick 1 “Production Team Worksheet” 1 pencil or pen 1 calculator (optional) Area to work in small groups

Prep for Teachers:

Collect materials Copy 1 “Production Team Worksheet” for each group Download some production shots of sets or set design renderings from the web Create some learning zones, where students have floor space to work

Introductory Activity:

After watching Portland Opera To Go’s production of The Elixir of Love, ask the students what they think went into creating the show. Ask them to brainstorm the different elements of the production. (performers, rehearsals, costumes, sets, etc.)

Show students the production shots and set renderings you found. Explain that the opera production team faces many challenges when creating sets, props and costumes. Sometimes the build their own sets, and sometimes they rent them from other companies. When they rent productions, materials arrive in several semi-trucks, and the technical director needs to figure out how to put it all together. When they build their own sets, carpenters build the production according to the set designer’s plans. Materials and labor are costly, so the production team needs to be incredibly efficient with materials to stay within budget.

Explain that today, they will get to be the production team and figure out how to build a free standing structure (defined as a building or structure that stands on its own and is not attached to any other structure) and calculate its cost.

Learning Activities:

Divide students in to groups of 5-6 Give each group a learning zone (cleared floor area) and their materials Distribute worksheets Each group should assign (or be assigned) the following roles: spokesperson, accountant,

recorder, timekeeper (jobs may be combined) Explain the objective (to build the tallest free standing structure for the least cost), model

the materials and how they might be used (without actually building a structure!) and introduce the Production Team Worksheet.

Groups should take 3-4 minutes to brainstorm designs for their structure Building time should last 30-45 minutes, during which time, the accountant should keep a tally of material costs.

Upon completion of the structure, the group should record their final structure height and the accountant should tally the final cost.

Give students 5-10 minutes to discuss the questions. Recorder will transcribe group’s responses to the worksheet.

Spokesperson for each group will then share group’s building and worksheet answer’s with the rest of the class. Special emphasis should be placed on questions 2 and 4 on the worksheet.

Culminating Activity:

Bring the class back together and ask them if there were any problems common to all the groups.

Ask them how the process might change if they had to start with a budget first and build a structure based on the budget rather than the other way around. How would they alter their designs? What kinds of discussions might have to take place between a company, scene designer and director to get to an affordable product?

Production team worksheet

You are now the production team for an opera. Your assignment is to build the tallest free standing structure you can, for the least amount of money. You may use only the specified materials. To answer the questions, you may use another piece of paper.

Cost of materials:

Straws $1.00 each Paper clips $0.20 each Straight pins $0.10 each Masking tape $0.20 per inch

Cost Calculations:

Pin(s) X $0.10 =

Paper clip(s) X $0.20 =

Inch(es) tape X $0.20 =

Straw(s) X $1.00 =

Height of structure: ______________________inches Total cost of structure: $_____________________ Questions:

1. What was the most difficult part of building the free standing structure?

2. What problems, if any, did you have to solve?

3. What changes, if any did you make after beginning construction? 4. If you could do it again, what changes, if any, would you make?

Science Lesson Plans

The Science Lesson Plan is aligned to both the Common Core Standards and Oregon State Standards. Specific standards are enumerated in the individual lesson plan.

Sound Science

Students explore how sound travels in waves.

What’s in Science Lesson Plans?

Lesson Plan:

Sound Science

Note: This lesson plan is adapted from Teachers Domain. The website contains many, many resources, is completely free and contains lots of reproducible worksheets. The website is www.teachersdomain.org. In addition, this lesson is expanded and elaborated upon with videos.

Overview:

This lesson helps students to understand that vibrations create the sounds. Students will understand vibrations using several their senses: the vibrations in their throat and chest as they use their voices; vibrations in their lips as they play straw kazoos they have fashioned; they will see and hear vibrations from a ruler when it is struck, and finally see vibrations by watching rice dance and bounce around a drum after it is hit. Appropriate 6th-8th grades with some modifications.

Learning Objectives: Students will:

Define the word vibration

Show that vibrations make sound

Recognize that vibrations can be changed to alter the pitch of sound

Common Core Standards:

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RST.6-8.3, CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RST.9-10.3

Oregon State Content Standards: PHYSICAL SCIENCE: Understand structures and properties of matter and changes that occur in the physical world. ENERGY Understand energy, its transformations, and interactions with matter. Explain and analyze the interaction of energy and matter. Describe differences and similarities between kinds of waves, including sound, seismic, and electromagnetic, as a means of transmitting energy.

Apply the concepts of frequency, wavelength, amplitude, and energy to electromagnetic and mechanical waves.

Materials: Per Student:

Straw Kazoo Handout (copy from this packet)

Plastic drinking straws (straight straws, no flexies!)

Scissors

Metal cans (a variety of sizes—coffee cans, soup cans, pet food cans, etc—each kid just needs one type of can. They can see the differences of vibrations in each other’s cans) Cans should be clean and opened at both ends with a safe-edge can opener, which produces smooth edges.

Large high quality balloons (balloons that can stretch and not break)

Rubber bands (possibly to secure balloons to cans)

Rulers

Pencils for drumsticks

Grains of rice Per Group/Class:

Chart paper/white board

Different musical hand instruments (bell, triangle, tambourine, vibraphone, etc.)

CD player with deep base capability

Small mirror

Laser pointer

Prep for Teachers:

Depending on your students’ skill level, you may choose to make the straw kazoos for them. If so, follow the instructions on the Straw Kazoo handout. If you would like students to make their own, make copies of the handout to distribute to them.

Make a demonstration drum by opening and cleaning a coffee can. Cut the neck off of a balloon and stretch the body of the balloon tightly over one end of a can. You may need a rubber band, depending upon the size of the cans. Prepare cans for each of the students so that they can make their own drums—or if need be, you can make a class set using varies size and shape cans. It is also fun to make “raspberry” sounds by blowing through the cut-off neck of the balloon. You can really feel the vibrations in your lips, and kids love to make the noises.

Introductory Activity:

Ask students how sounds are made

Ask them, how sound gets from the source (the singer) to your ears?

Make some noises with the various hand instruments. o Ask students if they can see any of the instruments moving or vibrating as they sound.

o Ask who they think the sounds get from the instruments to their ears. o Write down their ideas for the class on chart paper

Learning Activities: Introduction to Vibration:

Introduce the word “vibration” and define it: rapid back and forth movement. Demonstrate vibrations, but doing lip trills (blowing air through your lips like a horse or to make engine noises). Give them the chance to do some lip trills too.

Ask the students to name some things that vibrate. (pagers, engines, washing machine, toys, etc.)

Have children put their hands on their throats and sing “Happy Birthday” in a comfortable key. Ask them how they think the sound is made. Can they feel the vibration in their throats? Tell them it is the vibration making the sound. Next have the kids put their hands on their chests and sing the lowest pitch they can. Can they feel the vibration in their chests? That’s where the sound resonates. Opera singers use their bodies as resonators that vibrate in response to sound vibrations and make them louder. That is how we sing so loud without microphones.

Ask children what other sounds they can make. Let them experiment a bit and ask them to choose one. o Does the sound have a high or low pitch? You may need to demonstrate what pitch is

yourself by singing a scale, or making noises that are high and low. Musical pitch is defined as the highness or lowness of tone in relation to other tones.

o What is the sound’s volume—is it loud or soft?

Pass out the Straw Kazoo handout, or the Kazoos you have made for the children, if you are not having them make the kazoos themselves. o Have the children make their kazoos and play them. Can they feel the vibrations with

their lips as they play? o Let the students experiment with the length of their kazoo. Does the length of the

straw change the sound?

Next demonstrate sound vibrations by placing a ruler on the edge of a desk, so that about eight inches of it hangs over the side. Please one hand on the four inches that remain on the desk to hold the ruler securely. With your other hand, whack the end of the ruler that is hanging off of the desk. The ruler will vibrate and make a low sound. o Have the students try this themselves. Ask them if they can think of a way to make the

sound higher. Take suggestions, but let them experiment for the answer. o After they have experimented a while, ask what they discovered. (The shorter the

amount of ruler hanging off of the desk, the faster the vibration and the higher the sound.) How does this relate to the length of their straw kazoo?

Visualizing Vibrations:

Using the demonstration drum you made ahead of time with the coffee can and balloon, beat the drumhead (stretched balloon) with the eraser end of a pencil. o Ask the students if they can see it vibrate (they can’t). Then ask if they can hear the

vibrations (they should). o Explain that although it is hard to see, the drumhead is vibrating. Second graders will be

able to make the connection between the sounds produced by their vibrating thoughts

and rulers and the sounds produced by the vibrating drum. Before telling students that vibrations from the drumhead travel through the air to their ears, ask them for their ideas.

Next, demonstrate three ways in which your students will be able to visualize vibrations: o Put a few grains of rice on the drum and gently tap the drum with a pencil. The

vibrating drum will cause the rice to bounce. o Speak loudly next to the drum. Vibrations will travel from your mouth, through the air

and drum, causing the rice to bounce. o Place the drum on the speaker of a portable CD player (you will have to put the CD

player on its back). Put some rice on the CD player and ask the students to predict what will

happen. Turn on the CD player and watch—the vibrations from the CD player cause the

rice to bounce.

Turn off the CD player and put the small mirror on top of your drum. Turn off the lights and direct a laser pointer at the mirror, so the laser beam shoots onto the ceiling. o Ask students what they think will happen to the light when you turn the CD player on.

Let the music play and the students watch. What happens? Why do they think it is happening? Explain that the music from the cd player cause the drum to vibrate, which caused the mirror to vibrate, which caused the laser beam to bounce around. Cool, huh?

Have students make their own drums. If they don’t have the skills, hand out pre-made drums of different sizes. Also hand out pencil drumsticks and grains of rice. o Let students play with their drums.

They may notice that different drums make different sounds. Some drums may be higher and lower in pitch. Do they see any similarities between their drum size and their ruler experiment earlier? Explain that, all other variables being equal, the size of the drum is related to the pitch of the sound it makes. Ask them how they think it is related.

Challenge them to make drums with a very low sound, or a very high sound.

Culminating Activity: Check for Understanding:

Using a can and balloon drum, ask the students how you can get the drum to make a really loud sound. Then tap it hard with a pencil. Ask how to make a soft sound. Then tap it lightly. o Challenge students to get their drums to make virtually no sound at all no matter how

hard or lightly they hit it. Once they have done it, ask them how they did it. (placing fingers on the drumhead to stop vibrations or stuffing material into the open end of the can.

o Ask them why they did what they did and why they think it worked.

Ask the questions you asked in the Introduction and review their answers at that time. Ask students to comment on the accuracy of their previous answers and ask if their understanding of vibrations have changed.

How to make a Straw Kazoo!

What do I need? ♪ A drinking straw ♪ Scissors

What do I do? ♪ Bite down on one end of a straw to make it flat

♪ Cut the flattened part into a v shape. Your straw should now

look like this: ♪ Open the flattened end of the straw a little.

♪ Put the V in your mouth and blow.

What next? Do you feel a buzzing in your lips? What happens if you make your kazoo shorter?

English Language Worksheets

Dear Teachers, Here you will find the supplemental worksheets for Portland Opera To Go’s adaptation of Donzetti’s The Elixir of Love. Two of these worksheets are designed to give information to the student about opera in general. Two provide additional information about the composer and about the style of singing they will hear in our production. Finally, we have included a worksheet of practical math using the opera as a jumping off point. Most of the worksheets are designed for reading comprehension, and should be appropriate for fluent readers in the upper elementary grades. “A Little Bit About Opera Parts 1 and 2” would work for younger students. The information in the other articles will be good for all students, although the questions might be a little easy for high school. Please feel free to supplement this information and the difficulty of what the students do with it. All of the worksheets are aligned with the Common Core Standards. All of the reading worksheets are appropriate for practicing Common Core Reading Anchor Strands: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.R.1, CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.R.2, CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.R.7, CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.R.10. Individual grade standards are also addressed: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.1.1, CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.1.4, CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.1.10, CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.2.4, CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.2.1, CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.3.1, CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.3.4, CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.3.7, CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.3.10, CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.4.1, CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.4.3, CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.4.4, CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.4.10, CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.5.4, CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.5.10 For “Dulcamara’s Formula for Mathmatical Mastery Part I,” problems one through five and seven, align with Operations and Algebraic Thinking Domain 3.A standards for 5th and 8th

grades. Problems four, six, and eight align with Measurement and Data Domain 3.MD, standards 2, 3, and 7b. “Dulcamara’s Formula for Mathmatical Mastery Part 2” aligns with Common Core 6RP 1, 2, 3b, Common Core 6NS, 2; a Common Core 6NS 3, 6SP 2, 5b; and 6SP 2, 5c.

Read the following selection and then complete the activities that follow:

A Little Bit about Opera, part 1 Opera is telling a story through music. Composers write the music for an opera. They write what the singers sing and what the orchestra will play. S/he also decides what type of voice will sing each character. The composer works with a librettist. The librettist writes the words to an opera and will work out the plot. The plot is the story. The stage director decides how to tell the story. S/he will tell the opera singers where to move on stage. The director also tells them how to act their parts. The stage director works closely with the costume designer, who decides what the singers will wear; the set designer, who decides what the scenery will look like; and the conductor, who will keep the singers and the orchestra together. The conductor is the expert on how the music should sound. At an opera in an opera house or theater, operas are accompanied by an orchestra. Orchestras can be large or small, but usually contain string instruments (like violins and cellos), woodwinds (like flutes and clarinets) and percussion (drums). Sometimes an orchestra also contains brass instruments (like trumpets and tubas). The conductor is often called Maestro (pronounced my-stroh), which means “teacher” in Italian. Conductors rehearse with both the singers and the orchestra.

Name:______________________________Date__________________________

Show What You Know about Opera Vocabulary! After reading A Little Bit about Opera, part 1, use the vocabulary words in bold from the previous reading and fill in the blanks:

1. “Ladies and gentlemen of the chorus, please make room for the soprano on the stairs—thank you,” said the _________________________ _____________________________.

2. After watching the opera, Connie scratched her head. “That story was confusing,” she told her teacher, “I

don’t understand the ___________________________.”

3. Giacomo Puccini wrote the music for many famous operas. He was a great ______________________.

4. Mozart, a famous composer, liked to work with Lorenzo da Ponte.

Da Ponte wrote words for Mozart’s operas. Da Ponte is a famous _________________________.

5. The stage director looked at the soprano’s costume and sighed.

She turned to the ____________________ _________________ and said, “Why is she wearing a poodle skirt? Aida is an Ethiopian princess. Please design another dress.”

6. The violin and cello players tuned their instruments. The trumpet

player and flute players had arrived. The _______________________ was ready to begin playing the wonderful music.

7. The opera singer was singing in the wrong place and the trombone

player was lost! The _______________________________ waved his baton confidently and everyone was back on track. The audience sighed with relief.

Name:______________________________Date__________________________

Design a costume! Think about a story you really like—pick a favorite character from the story (it can be from a book, movie, TV show, etc.) and design a costume for that character. Think about what kinds of colors might describe the person best, what kinds of textures and fabrics the person would wear. Draw and color your costume design and present it to the class, explaining how your choices of costume (shape, color, fabric, etc.) best suit the character.

A Little Bit about Opera, part 2 When the opera singer sings a solo song, it is called an aria. The aria gives the singer an opportunity to sing about the character’s feelings. Before or after an aria, the singer may sing in conversation with another singer. This conversation is called a recitative. The recitative moves the plot forward. Recitative is an easy word to remember because it sounds like and means “to recite.” The clothes that an opera singer wears are called costumes. Sometimes costumes look like regular clothes and sometimes costumes create a clever disguise for

the singer. Costumes help the singer feel like the character they are playing. When a singer becomes a character in an opera, they are acting. The stage director helps them to decide how to act their character out. In opera, there are low voices and high voices that the composer can use to tell

the story. In order from low to high, men sing bass, baritone or tenor. In order from low to high, women sing contralto (alto), mezzo soprano or soprano. Each type of voice sounds different and those different sounds gives the audience clues to what characters are like. In opera, high voices often play the young lovers. Lower voices often play “mother” and “father” type roles, or “bad” guys.

Name:______________________________Date__________________________

Become an Opera Vocabulary Master!

Using each word, write a sentence in the space provided. (Hint: Some words are found in A Little Bit About Opera, part I.) Librettist

Soprano

Recitative

Composer

Orchestra

Aria

Acting

Costume

Name:______________________________Date__________________________

Name:______________________________Date__________________________

Story Starts Write a story using at least 5 of the words from the word list. Here are some first sentences to get you started! Don’t forget to include the first sentence in your story: Word List:

Aria baritone bass composer conductor duet mezzo soprano opera orchestra recitative soprano tenor

1. Giuseppe Gandini, the famous tenor starring in tonight’s opera, was in trouble… 2. The opera had never been performed, and now it looked as if it never would. The score, which the composer had worked so hard to write had been stolen!

3. “Tonight will be different,” thought the mezzo soprano as she put on her stage makeup. “Tonight I will be the star!” She was sure what she was going to do, but…

Name:______________________________Date__________________________

Donizetti in a Nutshell

Read the following selection, and then answer the questions that follow.

In the world of 19th century Italian opera,

the kings of composers are Gioachino

Rossini, Vincenzo Bellini, Gaetano Donizetti,

Giuseppe Verdi and, finally, Giacomo

Puccini. Donizetti was the leading figure in

Italian opera until the emergence of Verdi.

For the twenty-six years between 1822 and

1848, Gaetano Donizetti’s operas were

those most performed in Italian theaters.

Gaetano was born into a poor family in

1797 in Bergamo, a small town in Northern Italy. He was a very gifted

musician as a child and began studying in Bergamo’s new music school

under the tutelage of Simon Mayr, who pushed him to excel and

encouraged him in ways his musically illiterate father could not. Mayr was

so convinced of his pupil’s abilities that he lobbied Gaetano’s reluctant

father to allow him to study music in Bologna. Mayr also paid the boy’s

tuition at the conservatory there. In Bologna, Donizetti studied with

Father Mattei, who taught another Italian opera master, Rossini.

After he finished school, Donizetti moved back to his hometown without a

job. His father wanted him to pursue teaching and be a church organist, but

Donizetti wanted to compose music, so he accepted low-paying

commissions from local music societies. During this time, he wrote string

quartets and sacred music. Once again Mayr stepped in to help and

connected him to an opera company in Venice which hired him to write

opera. Donizetti received his first opera commission when he was 21, but

he was 33 years old before he wrote his first truly successful opera, Anna

Bolena, in 1830. By the time it premiered, he had written 28 operas.

Donizetti’s working life was punishing. The good news was, he received

commissions for nearly all of his operas, which guaranteed the work would

be staged. The bad news was that early in his career he wasn’t paid very

much for each commission. As a young man, Donizetti landed a contract at

a theater in Naples to write four operas per year. To supplement his

meager income, he accepted additional commissions whenever he was

approached. In this way, he established his reputation and preeminence in

Italian opera houses.

Donizetti was soon recognized as an international composer. Once his

works were performed in Naples, Milan, or Venice, they would generally

travel to London and Paris, and then to the United States. When they

arrived in the U.S., they were performed first in New Orleans and then in

New York. All of his operas were written in Italian. Those performed at the

Paris Opera were translated into French.

Donizetti was a wonderful melodist and inventive orchestrator. His

myriad musical commitments meant that he had to work fast, and he did.

Donizetti could turn out an opera in as little as a week!

In all, he wrote 65 operas between 1816 and 1843, but only a few continue

to be produced. Among the operas that remain in the repertoire are: Lucia

di Lammermoor, The Elixir of Love, Daughter of the Regiment, Don Pasquale,

and La Favorita. For far too many years, music critics dismissed Donizetti’s

operas as unimportant or silly, or just plain not good. He wrote music so

quickly that his operas often seemed to be the same story with different

characters. He even changed operas he’d already written slightly in order

to present a “new” opera! Sometimes this was necessary. For instance,

when he wrote an opera based on the life of Mary Queen of Scots and her

rivalry with Elizabeth I, it was banned. Unfortunately, the set was already

built and the cast already rehearsed, so the show had to go on. To outwit

the censors, he changed the title, added new characters and created a

second opera from the first based on the life of Lady Jane Gray. He wrote a

friend, saying, “The show is complete and I have not had time to ask myself

if it will work or not.” He needn’t have worried. Both of the operas have

been revived and are among the finest examples of Donizetti’s work.

Donizetti’s best operas are masterpieces, and he is now getting the

recognition he deserves as an important composer who paved the way for

composers like Giuseppe Verdi. The rediscovery his operas and the

advocacy of great singers like Maria Callas, Beverly Sills and Joan

Sutherland led to multiple performances and increased popularity for these

works. Donizetti is the link between the Classical and Romantic eras of

music and was, for a time, the most popular opera composer in Italy.

On a separate piece of paper, answer the following questions. Please use

complete sentences.

1. Define the words in bold in the selection above.

2. Name four great composers of Italian opera.

3. Donizetti had a mentor in Simon Mayr. How did Mayr help Donizetti to

become a composer?

4. What kinds of struggles do you think Donizetti had to overcome to

become a composer?

5. Why do you think that Donizetti was an important composer in music

history?

A Little Bit About Bel canto

Singing and Style

Read the selection and answer the questions below.

Bel canto means, literally, “beautiful

singing” in Italian. It is a difficult term

for musicologists to define because it

can refer both to a style of singing and

to a type of opera requiring that style of

singing. It is particularly hard to define

since it is a term not generally used by

the composers and singers who are

described as being bel canto composers

and singers. Instead, the definition of

bel canto was applied to its

practitioners by later musicians and

historians.

Most generally, it is used to mean the

elegant, Italian vocal style prevalent

during the 18th and early 19th centuries.

Rossini used it to define singers who

possessed three things:

1. A naturally beautiful voice, with an

even tone quality throughout the vocal

range.

2. Careful training which ensured the

effortless ability to sing highly florid

Angelica Catalani painted in 1806 by Louise Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun. Catalani was one of the greatest bel canto singers of her time, with a three octave range, immense power, and unbelievable flexibility. Her career lasted 30 years, during which she was the highest paid singer in the world. Her earnings for charity alone surpassed 2,000,000 francs, which in 1800 was $8,000,000, which in today’s dollars would be $4,800,000,000. And that is merely her charitable contributions.

music. (In music “florid” is a word used to describe a piece of music

that has many different notes meant to be sung very quickly on one

syllable. Another musical term used to describe the same thing is

melismatic or coloratura.)

3. Mastery of the style of bel canto singing which is not merely taught

but learned over time by listening to singers who do it best.

A singer today who sings in the bel canto style typically specializes in

music by composers like Giaochino Rossini, Vincenzo Bellini and

Gaetano Donizetti, all of whom wrote operas during the first half of the

19th century. Bel canto operas are characterized by long vocal lines.

These vocal lines may require the singer to sing many notes very

quickly and beautifully. The orchestral accompaniment in a bel canto

opera is often written to support, but not “comment” on the singer or

the action. In other words, the singer in a bel canto opera has

primacy over the orchestra. In later periods, an opera orchestra might

contribute heavily to the emotional information of an opera, and may

be used to define a character’s qualities. For instance, later in the

nineteenth century, a specific tune might be associated with a

particular character, place or idea. That tune would be called a leit

motiv. During the bel canto period however, accompaniments were

simple and clear and designed to show off the beauty of the voice.

Bel canto singers typically have lighter, more agile voices, capable of

rapid musical runs or large vocal leaps. These singers are like vocal

gymnasts. In addition to vocal virtuosity these singers have to master

the style of bel canto operas and understand how to improvise new

runs based on the notes that a composer wrote. Bel canto operas

feature a type of aria which is comprised of two parts: a slow moving,

melodic part called a cavatina and a fast, flashy movement called a

cabaletta. At the time, audiences and composers expected that a

singer would embellish and decorate the notes in the score with

improvisations of their own—similar to what jazz musicians do today.

Often a singer’s interpretation of an aria would change a little each

time he or she performed it.

The term bel canto can also refer to a period of Italian opera best

represented by the composers Rossini, Bellini and Donizetti.

On a separate piece of paper, please answer the following:

1. Look up and define all of the words in bold in the selection.

2. Why is the term bel canto difficult to define? Are you aware of any

other words or terms which definition is hard to pin down?

3. How is the orchestra used in bel canto opera?

4. What are the three important characteristics of a bel canto singer?

5. Name three composers who wrote bel canto operas.

6. There are often two parts to arias in bel canto operas. Name and

define the two parts.

7. How is bel canto opera like jazz music?

8. Who was Angelica Catalani?

Dr. Dulcamara’s Formula for

Mathematical Mastery Practice problems

Name:______________________________Date__________________________

Dr. Dulcamara is a busy guy. He has many clients needing many different services. Using the price list below, answer the following questions. Don’t forget to show your work!

Dr. Dulcamara’ s Problem solving potions & Elixirs

(all your problems solved—for a fee—since 1802)

SERVICES & pRICES

Hair Restorative: $2.50 Headache Remedy I: $ .25 per dose

Cure for Digestive

Disorders: $2.00

Headache Remedy II:

$ .50 per dose

Cure for Common Cold: $3.75

Treatment for General Malaise: $1.50

Elixir of Love: $5.00

Emergencies of any sort: $5.00 per hour (or for a single treatment

Name:______________________________Date__________________________

1. Belcore asks Dr. Dulcamara for a cure for his cold. He gives Dulcamara $5.00. How much change will Dulcamara return to Belcore?

2. Belcore needs a date for Nemorino and Adina’s wedding. Unfortunately, he is having trouble finding one! After a brief consultation, Dr. Dulcamara tells him he needs three bottles of his Elixir of Love. How much will this cost Belcore?

3. Adina has a terrible headache after listening to Belcore brag all day. She asks Dr. Dulcamara for three (3) doses of Headache Remedy I and four (4) doses of Headache Remedy II. How much will this cost Adina? If she gives Dr. Dulcamara $3.00, how much change will she receive?

Name:______________________________Date__________________________

4. Dr. Dulcamara is mixing batches of his Headache Remedy I. He has 10 grams of feverfew, 25 grams of chamomile and 15 grams of red pepper. Each does requires 2 grams of feverfew, 5 grams of chamomile and 3 grams of red pepper. How many doses can he mix with what he has on hand? How much of each ingredient would he need to make 9 doses of Headache Remedy I?

5. One of Dr. Dulcamara’s customers has a husband who is under the weather. She would like to help him feel better. She gives Dr. Dulcamara $15.00 to put together a wellness package. If the welness package includes two Cures for the Common Cold, how many Treatments for General Malaise can she afford?

Name:______________________________Date__________________________

6. After a long week of work, Dr. Dulcamara is balancing his

receipt book. The following list includes the amount of money Dulcamara collected each day of the week. Please make a bar graph of Dulcamara’s earnings, using the information below. Remember to label your graph carefully!

Day Money Collected

Monday $40.25

Tuesday $30.25

Wednesday $50.50

Thursday $30.75

Friday $20.25

TOTAL

Make your graph here:

Name:______________________________Date__________________________

7. Profit is the difference between the money you take in and the cost of supplies (among other things) you needed to make the product. Dulcamara needs to calculate how much profit he made for each day he worked this week. Using the information below, calculate the amount of profit he made each day and for the entire week.

DAY MONEY COLLECTED

SUPPLIES DIFFERENCE/ PROFIT

Monday $40.25 $10.25

Tuesday $30.50 $10.00

Wednesday $50.50 $30.75

Thursday $30.75 $20.50

Friday $20.25 $15.50

TOTAL:

Dr. Dulcamara’s Formula for

Mathematical Mastery II More Practice Problems

Name:______________________________Date__________________________

Solve the following problems. Show your work!

1. Dr. Dulcamara was mixing an

elixir to help Adina sleep. Dulcamara looks in his recipe book for elixirs and reads the

following: “for insomnia, mix 2 parts St. John’s Wort with 3

parts Fennel and 1 part sugar.” How many parts TOTAL of each ingredient will Figaro require for

seven doses of elixir? For 20 doses?

2. Dr. Dulcamara has many clients who need Headache Remedies. The ratio of patients who need

Headache Remedy Formula #1 to those that need Headache Remedy Formula #2 is 3:1. If he has 30 patients, then how many need Headache Remedy

Formula #1? Dulcamara also has clients who need treatments for colds and treatments for upset stomach. The ratio of

customers who need a cold remedy to those who have an upset stomach is 5:1. If he has 15 customers who get a cold remedy, how many customers have an upset stomach? How many clients total does Figaro

have?

Name:______________________________Date__________________________

3. Adina is calculating her yearly household budget. Using the

information below, answer the following questions:

Category Amount per month Food $365.00 Electricity $125.00 Transportation $95.00 Newspapers $80.00 Chicken Feed $75.00 Toiletries $30.00 Miscellaneous (opera tickets, meals out)

$200.00

a. How much money will Adina need for food for six months?

b. How much money will Adina need for electricity for nine months?

c. How much money will Adina need for transportation and newspapers for four months?

d. How much money will Adina need for chicken feed for a year?

e. How much for chicken feed if she needs an additional $5 of feed per month for six months of the year?

f. Adina budgets $200 per month for miscellaneous expenses. If she

spends $320 one month, how much less will she need to spend for each remaining month in order to stay within her budget for the year?

g. How much money will Adina need to budget for the entire year?

Name:______________________________Date__________________________

4. It is the end of the month and Dr. Dulcamara needs to send his clients

their bills. Using the information in the chart, answer the following questions.

Service Cost

Hair Restorative $2.50

Cure for Digestive Disorder $2.00

Cure for the Common Cold $3.75

Elixir of Love $5.00

Headache Remedy I $0.25 per dose

Headache Remedy II $0.50 per dose

Treatment of General Malaise $1.50

Emergencies of any sort $5.00 per hour or a single treatment

Bill for Belcore: Six (6) Hair Restoratives

One (1) Cure for the Common Cold 15 doses of Headache Remedy I 10 doses of Headache Remedy II

Three (3) Treatments for General Malaise

How much does Belcore owe Dr. Dulcamara for one month of services and supplies? Bill for Nemorino: Fifteen (15) Cures for Digestive Disorder Two (2) Cures for the Common Cold Twelve (12) doses of Headache Remedy I Five (5) doses of Headache Remedy II

Two (2) Emergencies, one taking three (3) hours, one taking five (5) hours

How much does Nemorino owe Dr. Dulcamara for one month of service and supplies?

Name:______________________________Date__________________________

5. The chart below lists the earning by quarter for Dr. Dulcamara’s

business. Please look at the data and write a short business summary

in which you:

a. Describe the nature of the attribute (what is being analyzed).

b. Construct a general analysis of trends throughout the reported

data.

c. Provide a central question (the data is answering what question), title, and key for the data table below.

0 2000 4000 6000 8000 10000 12000

First Quarter

Second Quarter

Third Quarter

Fourth Quarter

Name:______________________________Date__________________________

6. The chart below lists the earnings by month for Adina. Please look at

the data and:

a. Find the mean, median and mode b. Using a piece of graph paper, construct a graph, provide a central

question (the data is answering what question? How is this

representation assisting in understanding the question?), title and key for the data table.

c. Construct a general analysis for the data trends or deviations (why would one month or set of months have greater or less earnings?)

MONTH EARNINGS

January 2,000

February 1,750

March 4,000

April 3,500

May 3,500

June 3,500

July 1,500

August 1,500

September 2,000

October 4,000

November 3,500

December 3,500

Spanish Language

Worksheets

Favor de leer la próxima sección y luego completar las actividades que siguen:

Un poco acerca de ópera, 1ra parte

Ópera es simplemente contando un cuento mediante la

música. Compositores componen la música de una ópera.

Ellos componen lo que los cantantes cantan y lo que la

orquesta toca. También deciden que tipo de voz tendrá cada

personaje. El compositor trabaja junto con un libretista. El

libretista se encarga de escribir las palabras para la ópera, y

construye el trama. El trama es la historia, o acción, de un

cuento.

El director de escena decide como contar el cuento. Él/ella le

indica a los cantantes de ópera donde deben moverse en el

escenario. Éste director también les dice como actuar sus

partes. El director de escena trabaja junto con el diseñador de vestuario, quien

decide lo que los cantantes se pondrán; el director de arte, quien decide como

se diseñará el escenario; y el conductor, quien se encarga de que los cantantes

y la orquesta se mantengan juntos. El conductor es experto en como la música

debe de sonar.

En una casa de ópera, o teatro, las óperas son acompañadas con orquesta.

Orquestas pueden ser grandes o chicas, pero usualmente incluyen

instrumentos de: cuerda (como violines y violoncellos), viento de madera

(como flautas y clarinetes), y percusión (tambores). Hay veces la orquesta

también incluye instrumentos metales (como trompetas y tubas). Al conductor

también se le llama, “Maestro,” que significa “maestro” en italiano tanto como

en español. Los conductores ensayan con los cantantes y la orquesta.

Nombre:___________________________Fecha_________________________

¡Demuestra tu conocimiento del vocabulario de ópera!

Después de leer Un poco acerca de ópera, 1ra parte, utiliza las palabras de

vocabulario (indicadas con tinta oscura) de la parte anterior,

y llena/completa los siguientes espacios en blanco.

1. 1. “Damas y caballeros del coro, por favor dejen espacio para

la soprano en las escaleras—gracias,” dijo el ____________ ___

_____________.

2. 2. Después de ver la ópera, Connie se rascó la cabeza y le dijo a su

maestra, “La historia estaba muy confusa. No entendí ___

______________.”

3. Giacomo Puccini compuso la música de muchas óperas famosas. Él era un gran

_________________________________.

4. A Mozart, un compositor famoso, le gustaba trabajar con Lorenzo da Ponte. Da

Ponte escribió las palabras para las óperas de Mozart. Da Ponte es un

________________ famoso.

5. El director de escena vio el traje de la soprano y suspiró. Voltió al

______________ ___ ______________ y le dijo, “¿Por qué está vestida con esa

falda? Aída es una princesa etíope. Por favor diséñele otro traje.”

6. Los violinistas y violoncellistas afinaron sus instrumentos mientras los trompetistas

y flautistas llegaron. La _______________________ estaba lista para empezar a

tocar música maravillosa.

7. El cantante estaba cantando la frase equivocada mientras el trombonista ¡estaba

perdido! El ________________________ los corrijió y el público soltó un suspiro

de alivio.

Nombre:_____________________ Fecha_________________________

Nombre:_____________________________Fecha_________________________

Un poco acerca de ópera, 2da parte

Cuando un cantante de ópera canta una canción solo, se llama una aria.

Durante la aria, el cantante tiene la oportunidad de cantar y expresar los

sentimientos de su personaje. Antes o después de una aria, el cantante puede

cantar un diálogo o conversación con otro cantante. Esto es un ejemplo de

recitativo. El recitativo avanza el trama de la

historia. Recitativo es una palabra fácil de

recordar porque suena y significa “recitar.” La

ropa que lleva el cantante de ópera se llama

traje. Hay veces, los trajes se parecen a ropa

regular y otras veces los trajes crean un disfraz

para el cantante. Los trajes ayudan al cantante

a sentirse como el personaje que está

interpretando. Cuando un cantante se convierte en su personaje de la ópera,

está actuando. El director de escena ayuda a los cantantes decidir cómo

interpretar a sus personajes.

En ópera, hay voces graves (bajas) y agudas (altas) que el compositor puede

usar para contar un cuento. En orden de bajo a alto, los hombres cantan bajo,

baritono, o tenor. En orden de bajo a alto, las mujeres cantan contralto (alto),

mezzo soprano, o soprano. Cada clasificación de voz suena diferente y esos

diferentes sonidos dan pistas al público de cómo son los personajes. Las voces

graves (bajas) seguido interpretan personajes de padre o madre, o personajes

malos.

¡Conviértete en experto de vocabulario de

ópera!

¡Diseña un traje!

Piensa en un cuento que te guste mucho. Escoje a tu personaje favorito del

cuento (puede ser personaje en un libro, película, programa de televisión, etc.) y

diseña un traje para tu personaje. Piensa en los colores y tipos de telas y texturas

que mejor describan a tu personaje. Dibuja y colorea tu traje, y demuéstraselo a tu

clase, explicando cómo tu diseño describe a tu personaje.

Nombre:____________________________Fecha_________________________

¡Conviértete en experto de vocabulario de ópera!

Escribe una frase usando cada palabra indicada en el espacio. (*Algunas

palabras pueden ser encontradas en “Un poco acerca de ópera, 1ra parte”)

Libretista

Soprano

Recitativo

Compositor

Orquesta

Aria

Actuando

Trajes

Nombre:____________________________Fecha_________________________

Comienza el cuento

Escribe un cuento usando por lo menos cinco (5) de las palabras en la lista.

¡Aquí están algunas frases para ayudarte a empezar! No se te olvide incluir las

primeras frases en tu cuento:

Lista de palabras:

aria baritono bajo compositor conductor dueto mezzo soprano ópera orquesta recitativo soprano tenor

1. Giuseppe Gandini, el famoso tenor y protagonista

en la ópera de hoy, estaba en peligro …

2. La ópera no se había estrenado y parecía que nunca se iba a

estrenar. La partitura, que el compositor trabajo tan

duro para componer, ¡había sido robada!

3. “Esta noche será diferente,” pensó la mezzo soprano

mientras se maquillava. “¡Esta noche, yo seré la estrella!”

Ella estaba segura de lo que iba a hacer, pero …

Nombre:______________________________Fecha__________________________

Donizetti en resumen

Lea la siguiente selección, y responde a las preguntas al final.

En el mundo de la ópera italiana en el siglo

XIX, los reys de compositores eran

Gioachino Rossini, Vincenzo Bellini, Gaetano

Donizetti, Giuseppe Verdi y, finalamente,

Giacomo Puccini. Donizetti era la figura

destacada en la ópera italiana hasta la

aparición de Verdi. Por Veintiséis anos,

durante 1822 and 1848, las óperas de

Gaetano Donizetti’s eran las más realizadas

en teatros italianos.

Gaetano nacio en una familia pobre en 1797 en Bergamo, un pequeño pueblo en el norte de Italia. Fue un talentoso músico desde niño y estudio en la nueva escuela de música en Bergamo bajo la tutela de Simon Mayr. Mayr lo empujó para sobresalir se y lo animó de manera que su padre, musicalmente analfabeto no podía. El estaba tan convencido de las capacidades de su alumno, que presionó al padre renuente de Gaetano para permitirle estudiar música en Bolonia. Mayr también pagó los costos de matrícula del niño en el conservatorio. En Bolonia, Donizetti estudio con Padre Mattei, quién tambien enseñó a otro maestro de la ópera italiana, Rossini.

Después de terminar la escuela, Donizetti regresó a su ciudad natal sin trabajo. Su padre quería que fuera un mastero y organista en la iglesia, pero Donizetti quería componer música, asi que aceptaba encargos de obras por poco pago de las sociedades de la música locales.

Durante este tiempo, él escribió cuartetos de cuerda y música sacra. De nuevo, Mayr intervino para ayudarle. Lo conectó a una compañía de ópera

en Venecia, que lo contrató para escribir ópera. Donizetti recibió su primer encargo de la ópera cuando tenía 21 años, pero tenía 33 años cuándo escribió su primera ópera exitoso, Anna Bolena, en 1830. Cuando se estrenó, ya había escrito 28 óperas.

Las horas de trabajo de Donizetti’s eran duras. La buenas noticias era que recibió encargos de obras para casi todas sus óperas, esto garantizó que el trabajo se realizara. La mala noticia era que al principio de su carrera le pagaban poco por cada encargo de obra. Cuando era un joven, Donizetti recibio un contrato con un teatro en Nápoles para escribir cuatro óperas por año. Para complementar sus escasos ingresos, aceptaba encargos de obras adicionales. De esta manera, estableció su reputación y preeminencia en salas de ópera italianas.

Donizetti fue reconocido como un compositor internacional muy pronto. Una vez que sus obras fuera realizadas en Nápoles, Milán o Venecia, las obras generalmente se presentaban en Londres y París y luego en los Estados Unidos. Cuando llegaban en los Estados Unidos, fueron presentados en Nueva Orleáns y después en Nueva York. Todas sus óperas estaban escritas en italiano. Las que se realizaban en la ópera de París eran traducidas a francés.

Donizetti era un melodista maravilloso y instrumentista inventivo. Sus miríada de compromisos musical significaban que tenía que trabajar rápido, y lo hizo. ¡Donizetti puedia escribir una opera en una semana!

En total , escribió 65 óperas entre 1816 y 1843, pero sólo algunas siguen siendo producidos. Entre las óperas que permanecen en el repertorio son: Lucia di Lammermoor, The Elixir of Love, Daughter of the Regiment, Don Pasquale, and La Favorita. Por muchos años, críticos de la música descartaban las óperas de Donizetti como obras sin importancia o absurdas o simplemente malas. Escribía música tan rápidamente que sus óperas frecuentement parecen ser el mismo cuento con diferentes personajes. ¡Hasta cambiaba un poco las óperas que había escrito para presentar las como una “nueva” ópera! A veces era necesario. Por ejemplo, cuando escribió una ópera sobre la vida de la Reina de Escocia, María y su rivalidad con Isabel I, la obra fue prohibida. Desafortunadamente, el escenario ya estaba construido y el elenco ya ensayó, por eso la obra tuvo que continuar. Para ser más listo que los censores, cambió el título, añadió nuevos

personajes y usando la ópera original, creó una segunda sobre la vida de la señora Jane Gray. Le ecribió a un amigo, diciendo, "la obra esta completa y no he tenido tiempo para preguntarme si funcionará o no.” No se tuvo que preocupar. Ambas óperas se han revivido, y están entre los mejores ejemplos de la obras por Donizetti.

Las mejores óperas de Donizetti son obras maestras. Ahora está recibiendo el reconocimiento que merece, como un importante compositor que abrió el camino para compositores como Giuseppe Verdi. El redescubrimiento de sus óperas y el apoyo de grandes cantantes como Maria Callas, Beverly Sills y Joan Sutherland llevó a múltiple presentaciónes y aumentaron la popularidad de estas obras. Donizetti es el vínculo entre la época de la música clásica y romántica y, por un tiempo, el compositor de la ópera más popular en Italia

En una hoja de papel, responda a las siguientes preguntas. Por favor escribe en oraciones completas.

1. Defina las palabras fuertes en la selección anterior.

2. Nombre cuatro grandes compositores de ópera italiana.

3. Donizetti tenía un mentor en Simon Mayr. ¿Cómo ayudó Mayr a Donizetti para convertirse a un compositor?

4. ¿Qué tipos de desafios crees que Donizetti tuvo que superar para

convertirse en un compositor?

5. ¿Por qué crees que Donizetti fue un compositor importante en la historia de la música?

Un poco Sobre el estilo

Bel canto

Nombre______________________________Fecha__________________________

Lea la siguiente selección, y responde a las preguntas al final.

Bel canto significa, literalmente, "cantar hermoso" en Italiano. Es un término difícil de definir para musicólogos

porque se puede referir a un estilo de

canto y un tipo de ópera que requiere

ese estilo del canto. Es particularmente difícil de definir porque el término no es usado generalmente por los compositores y cantantes que se describen como

compositores y cantantes del bel canto. En cambio, la definición de bel canto fue aplicada a sus practicantes por músicos posteriores e historiadores.

Por lo general, es usado para significar el estilo vocal elegante y italiano

predominante durante el siglo 18 y el incio de el siglo 19. Rossini lo usó para definir a cantantes

que tenian tres atributos:

1. Una voz naturalmente hermosa, con un tono uniforme durante el rango vocal.

Angelica Catalani pintada en 1806 por Louise Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun. Catalani fue una de las más grandes cantantes del bel canto en su tiempo, con tres registros de octava, un inmenso poder, y una increíble flexibilidad. Durante su carrera de 30 años, era pagada mas que otros cantantes. Sus ingresos donados a la caridad superaron 2.000.000 francos o $8.000.000 dólares, hoy sería de $4.800.000.000.

Nombre:______________________________Fecha__________________________

2. Entrenamiento que asegura la habilidad de cantar música muy florido fácilmente (En el mundo de la música "florido" es una palabra usada para describir una obra de música que tiene muchas notas diferentes que son cantadas muy rápidamente en una sílaba. Otro términos usado para describir la misma cosa es melismática o coloratura.)

3. Maestría del estilo de cantar bel canto, no sólo enseñado, pero aprendido con el tiempo escuchando a cantantes que lo hacen bien.

Un cantante del estilo bel canto, típicamente se especializa en la música de compositores como Giaochino Rossini, Vincenzo Bellini y Gaetano Donizetti, todos cuales escribieron óperas durante la

primera mitad del siglo 19. Las óperas del bel canto son caracterizadas por líneas vocales largas. Estas líneas vocales pueden requerir que el cantante cante muchas notas muy rápidamente y bellamente. El acompañamiento orquestal en una

ópera bel canto frecuentemente se escribe para respaldar, no para “comentar" sobre el cantante o la acción. En otras palabras, el

cantante en una ópera bel canto tiene primacía sobre la orquesta. En períodos posteriores, una orquesta puede contribuir mucho en el sentido emocional de una ópera y se puede usar para definir atributos de personajes. Por ejemplo, en los últimos años del siglo diecinueve, una melodía específica podría ser asociada con un personaje, lugar o idea particular. Esa melodía sería llamada leit motiv. Sin embargo, en el período del bel canto, los acompañamientos eran claras y simples y diseñados para mostrar la belleza de la voz.

Los cantantes del bel canto típicamente tienen voces más ligeras, más ágiles, capaces de melismas rápidas o saltos vocales grandes. Estos cantantes son como gimnastas vocales. Además del virtuosismo vocal, estos cantantes tienen que ser expertos en el

estilo de óperas bel canto y entender cómo improvisar nuevas melismas basadas en las notas que un compositor escribió. Las

Nombre:______________________________Fecha__________________________

óperas del bel canto incluyen un tipo de aria que consiste de dos partes: un movimiento lento, la parte melódica llamado cavatina y un movimiento rápido, llamativo llamó un cabaletta. En esos tiempos, audiencias y compositores esperaban que el cantante embellecería y decoraría las notas en la música con improvisación, similar a lo que hacen los músicos de jazz hoy. Frecuentemente, una aria cambiaba un poco cada vece que eran cantada.

El término bel canto también puede referirse a un período de la ópera italiana representada por los compositores Rossini, Bellini y Donizetti.

En un pedazo de papel, por favor responde a lo siguiente:

1. Defina las palabras fuertes en la selección anterior.

2. ¿Por qué es difícil definir el término bel canto? ¿Que otras palabras o términos son difícil a definir?

3. ¿Cómo es usada la orquesta en la ópera de bel canto?

4. ¿Que son los tres atributos importantes de un cantante de bel

canto?

5. Nombre tres compositores que escribieron óperas del bel canto.

6. Hay arias de dos partes en óperas de bel canto. Nombre y defina las dos partes.

7. ¿Cómo es la ópera de bel canto como la música de jazz?

8. ¿Quién era Angelica Catalani?

La fórmula de Dr. Dulcamara

para maestría de matemática Práctica para los grados 3, 4 y 5

Nombre:______________________________Fecha__________________________

Dr.Dulcamara es un hombre ocupado. Tiene muchos clientes que necesitan servicios diferentes. Usando la lista de precios abajo, responde a las siguientes preguntas. ¡No olvides de mostrar su trabajo!

Elixires y Pociones de Dr. Dulcamara para solucionar

problemas

(todos tus problemas solucionados—por un precio—desde 1802)

Servicio y Precio

Restauradore de Cabello: $2.50

Remedio de Dolor de Cabeza I: $ .25 por dosis

Cura de Malestar Digestivo:

$2.00

Remedio de Dolor de Cabeza II:

$ .50 por dosis

Cura para la Gripa: $3.75 Tratamientos para Malestar General: $1.50

Elixir de Amor: $5.00

Nombre:______________________________Fecha__________________________

1. Belcore le pide a Dr. Dulcamara

una cura para su gripa. Le da a Dulcamara $5.00. ¿Cuánto cambio le va dar Dulcamara a Belcore?

2. Belcore necesita una pareja para la boda de Nemorino y Adina. ¡Desafortunadamente, está teniendo problemas encontrando una! Después de una breve consulta, el Dr. Dulcamara le dice que necesita tres botellas de su Elixir de Amor. ¿Cuánto le va a costar a Belcore?

3. Adina tiene un dolor de cabeza terrible después de escuchar a Belcore presumir todo el día. Le pide al Dr. Dulcamara de tres (3) dosis de Remedio del Dolor de cabeza I y cuatro (4) dosis del Remedio de Dolor de cabeza II. ¿Cuánto le va a costar a Adina? Si le da a Dr. Dulcamara $3.00, ¿cuánto cambio recibirá?

Nombre:______________________________Fecha__________________________

4. Dr. Dulcamara esta mezclan lotes de su Remedio de Dolor de

Cabeza I. Tiene 10 gramos de matricaria, 25 gramos de manzanilla y 15 gramos de chile rojo. Cada uno requiere 2 gramos de matricaria, 5 gramos de manzanilla y 3 gramos de chile rojo. ¿Cuántas dosis puede mezclar con lo que tiene? ¿Cuánto de cada ingrediente se necesita para hacer 9 dosis del Remedio del Dolor de cabeza I?

5. Uno de los clientes del Dr. Dulcamara tiene un marido que está malo. Querer ayudarle sentirse mejor. Le da a Dr.

Dulcamara $15.00 para armar un paquete de la salud. . ¿Si el paquete de la salud incluye dos Curas para la Gripa, cuántos Tratamientos por el Malestar General puede comprar?

Nombre:______________________________Fecha__________________________

6. Después de una larga semana de trabajo, Dr. Dulcamara esta

revisando su talonario de recibos. La lista siguiente incluye la cantidad de dinero Dulcamara recibio cada día de la semana. Por favor haga un gráfico de barras de las ganancias de Dulcamara usando la información abajo. ¡Acuérdese de marcar a su gráfico con cuidado!

Dia Dinero

lunes $40.25

martes $30.25

miércoles $50.50

jueves $30.75

viernes $20.25

TOTAL

Nombre:_____________________________Fecha__________________________

7. La ganancia es la diferencia entre el dinero que reciben y el coste de materiales (entre otras cosas) para hacer el producto. Dulcamara necesita calcular cuántas ganancias hizo cada día de trabajó esta semana. Usando la información abajo, calcule la cantidad de ganancia que hizo cada día y para la semana entera.

Día

Dinero Recibio

Materiales Diferencia/ Ganacia

lunes $40.25 $10.25

martes $30.50 $10.00

Wednesday $50.50 $30.75

jueves $30.75 $20.50

viernes $20.25 $15.50

TOTAL:

La fórmula de Dr. Dulcamara para maestría de matemática Mas prácticas para los grados 3, 4 y 5

Nombre:______________________________Fecha__________________________

Resolve los siguientes problemas. Muestra tu trabajo!

1. Dr. Dulcamara estaba mezclando

un elixir para ayudar a Adina a dormir. Dulcamara mira en su libro de recetas de elixires y lee los siguientes, "para el insomnio, mezcle 2 partes hipérico con 3 partes de hinojo y 1 parte de

azúcar." ¿Cuántas partes TOTAL de cada ingrediente requiere siete dosis de elixir? ¿Para 20 dosis?

2. El Dr. Dulcamara tiene muchos clientes que necesitan Remedios del Dolor de cabeza. La ratio de pacientes que necesitan el Remedio

de Dolor de cabeza #1 a los que necesitan le Remedio de

Dolor de cabeza #2 es 3:1. ¿Si tiene 30 pacientes, entonces cuántos necesitan el Remedio de Dolor de Cabeza #1? Dulcamara también tiene clientes que necesitan tratamientos para la gripa y tratamientos para el malestar estomacal. La ratio de clientes que necesitan un remedio para la gripa a aquellos que tienen un

tienen malestar estomacal es 5:1. ¿Si tiene 15 clientes que reciben un remedio para la gripa, cuántos clientes tienen un

malestar estomacal? ¿Cuántos clientes total tiene Dr. Dulcamara?

Nombre:______________________________Fecha__________________________

3. Adina calcula su presupuesto doméstico annual. Usando la información abajo, conteste a las preguntas siguientes:

Categoría Cantidad por mes Comida $365.00 Electricidad $125.00 Transportacion $95.00 Periódico $80.00 Pienso para gallinas $75.00 Articulos de aseo personal $30.00 Varios (entradas para la ópera, saliendo

a comer)

$200.00

a. ¿Cuánto dinero necesitará Adina para la comida durante seis meses?

b. ¿Cuánto dinero necesitará Adina para electricidad durante nueve meses?

c. ¿Cuánto dinero necesitará Adina para transporte y periódicos durante cuatro meses?

d. ¿Cuánto dinero necesitará Adina para alimentación para el pollo durante

un año?

e. ¿Cuánto para la alimentación para el pollo si necesita $5 adicionales de alimentación por mes durante seis meses del año?

f. Adina presupuestos 200 dólares por mes para gastos varios. ¿Si gasta

$320 un mes, cuánto menos tendrá que gastar cada mes para mantenerse dentro de su presupuesto para el año?

g. ¿Cuánto dinero necesitará Adina a presupuesto para todo el año?

4. Es el final del mes y el Dr. Dulcamara tiene que enviar a sus clientes sus cuentas. Usando la información en la tabla, conteste a las preguntas

siguientes.

Servicio precio

Restauradore de Cabello $2.50

Cura de Malestar Digestivo $2.00

Cura para la Gripa $3.75

Elixir de Amor $5.00

Remedio de Dolor de Cabeza I $0.25 por dosis

Remedio de Dolor de Cabeza II $0.50 por dosis

Tratamientos para Malestar General $1.50

Emergencias $5.00 por hora o tratamiento

Cuenta para Belcore: seis (6) restauradores de cabello una (1) cura para la gripa

15 dosis de Remedio de Dolor de Cabeza I 10 dosis de Remedio de Dolor de Cabeza II

Tres (3) Tratamientos para Malestar general

¿Cuánto le debe Belcore al Dr. Dulcamara durante un mes de servicios y materials?

Cuenta para Nemorino:

Quince (15) Cura de Malestra Digestivo Dos (2) curas para la gripa

Doce (12) dosis de Remedio del Dolor de cabeza I

Cinco (5) dosis de Remedio del Dolor de cabeza II Dos (2) Emergencias, una de tres (3) horas, una de cinco (5) horas

¿Cuánto le debe Nemorino al Dr. Dulcamara durante un mes de servicios y materials?

Nombre:______________________________Fecha__________________________

5. La tabla siguiente muestra los ingresos por trimestre para Dr.

Dulcamara. Por favor mire los datos y escribir un breve resumen del negocio en el que usted:

a. describir la naturaleza del atributo (lo que se está analizando).

b. Construir un análisis general de las tendencias en los datos reportados.

c. Proporcione una pregunta central (los datos contestan que

pregunta), el título y clave para los datos abajo.

0 2000 4000 6000 8000 10000 12000

First Quarter

Second Quarter

Third Quarter

Fourth Quarter

Nombre:______________________________Fecha__________________________

6. La siguiente tabla enseña los ingresos de Adina cada mes. Por favor

mire los datos y

a. Cual es la media, moda y mediana b. Usando un pedazo de papel cuadriculado,construya una

gráfica, proponga una pregunta (¿los datos contestan qué pregunta?), un título y clave de la tabla de datos.

c. Construir un análisis general de las tendencias o desviaciones de los datos ( ¿por qué un mes o un conjunto de meses tienen más o menos ganancias?)

Mes Ganancias

enero 2,000

febrero 1,750

marzo 4,000

abril 3,500

mayo 3,500

junio 3,500

julio 1,500

agosto 1,500

septiembre 2,000

octubre 4,000

noviembre 3,500

diciembre 3,500