Get into the mood - Games!
The group lies on the floor in a circle, with heads facing into the middle of the circle and legs facing out. The aim is to make music of your own, using any sound, noise or note to contribute to the rhythm of the piece. Allow this to go on until no new notes are being produced.
Addition: students stand up and 'become' a piece of the machine, making a sound and an action. For example: someone pumps their arm up and down and makes a chugging sound. Imagination plus!
Sing-back
The leader makes a sound or sings something and the group repeats it back. Example - "hedehedehedehedehedehedehede" - group repeats; "meeeeoooooow" - group repeats; "banana split, banana spilt, ba-na-na spliiiit" - group repeats, and so on.
Milo
| Step 1: |
the group claps out the theme to the Milo advertisement, which goes like this:
| clap |
clap |
clap-clap-clap |
clap-clap-clap-clap |
clap-clap |
| (1 beat) |
(1 beat) |
(2 beats) |
(3 beats) |
(1 beat) | |
| Step 2: |
the group splits into two. One group claps the above pattern, and the next group follows suit. |
| Step 3: |
group 1 claps the above pattern. Group two misses a beat, and then repeats the pattern. |
| Step 4: |
group 1 claps the above pattern and keeps going, not missing any beats. Group 2 does the same missing a beat each time, and keeps going, remembering to concentrate on their own pattern. At some point the group will clap together again! |
A brilliant exercise for concentration, and to help recognise beats and bars.
Brainstorming and creating an opera!
Let's explore the use of the voice and music to express an idea.
Brainstorming story ideas
Think of this as playing football. The story is like the ball. When each person catches the ball they add something to the story and then pass the ball on. If you like an idea someone suggests then elaborate on it - twist it in a way you think would be fun!
Think about a theme. Themes that schools have used in the past have been bullying, life in a dysfunctional family, peer pressure, love and hate, and numerous other topics that are relevant to young people today.
Creating the story
Take the theme of the story and expand it. A story has a beginning, an end, and at some point, the climax where all the problems or emotions of the story come to an explosive point. Invent characters, and enlarge on the story.
Example: Do you want a happy or tragic ending? Often stories start out opposite from the way they end. Think of the story of Manon for example. Manon, the innocent girl from the country, meets Chevalier des Grieux, a nobleman; they fall in love and run off to live together and be poor but happy. Unhappily, it is not long before problems get in the way. Des Grieux is kidnapped by his father, who tells him that he will be cut off from his upper class family (and money supply) if he stays with Manon. In the meantime, Manon, who has always been poor, is offered a life of luxury by another wealthy man. Manon and Des Grieux part. However, they are both unhappy at the separation, and guilty for leaving one another for those reasons.
After a while, Manon realises her mistake and searches for Des Grieux. She finds him just as he is about to become a priest, and persuades him to live with her and love her again.
Just when the audience thinks that the situation has been resolved, they are both arrested for supposed 'gambling' at a card game, and imprisoned. Des Grieux is released thanks to his high connections, while Manon continues to deteriorate in prison. Des Grieux discovers that she is to be deported, and bribes the guards to have some time to talk to Manon. The two lovers declare their love for one another, but then tragically Manon collapses and dies of illness and exhaustion.
The audience is drawn into the emotion of the opera at all times. There are many highs and lows in the story for the two lovers, and we feel happy and sad, frustrated - indeed, we feel as the characters in the story must feel. That is the aim of opera and theatre - to make the viewer feel as if they are in the imagined world for the time they are in the audience.
Creating the Score
Consider this:
The style of your songs does not have to be operatic. Think about the mood of each song…what type of music or sounds would express the words best?
Do you want a character to be associated with a certain type of music? For example, if the character is wicked do you want the song they sing to have dark, harsh music?
How can music be used to develop the action?
Two or three lines of verse can be repeated as often as necessary to re-iterate a message, but each time the line is repeated it can be sung in different ways - by different people, or by four or more voice types at once, creating harmony.
Performance
Perform your opera for your school.
Think about set, scenery and backdrops, costumes and make-up, and most of all, have fun!
