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Music and Technology:An introduction to classical music & opera through

interdisciplinary activityMara Eve Stahl

CD 145 - Professor Marina BersMay 1, 2005

Mara Eve Stahl Music and Technology…

Abstract:

“Without music, life would be an error.” – Nietzschei

“Music conveys moods and images. Even in opera, where plots deal with the structure of destiny, it is music, not words, that provides power.” – Marcel Marceauii

This paper is an exploration in interdisciplinary curricula to teach classical music and opera in an elementary school setting. It is a proposal for a long-term, constructionist project to promote active learning and self-expression. The students will explore opera as they create sets, compose music, invent instruments, and write a story to perform for their peers and parents. In this proposal I describe the goals of the project as well as the technology and the constructionist methodology used to promote an active learning environment. The following curriculum proposal will describe how technology can be integrated into everyday curriculum in new ways, and how, through the creation of opera children learn the powerful concepts of the design process of planning, experimentation, and reflection, modeling, and music and art as self-expression . This curriculum has the potential to provide the teachers, the parents, and most importantly the children, with a collaborative, supportive learning environment that promotes inspiration, motivation, and learning self-efficacy through creation and contribution. The greatest goal of this project is to instill in the children a love of learning, seeking knowledge and understanding, while providing effective outlets for communication and expression.

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Music and Technology:An introduction to classical music & opera through

interdisciplinary activity

Introduction:

Music and with it creative expression are necessary aspects of society. Music inspires us

to create, to express, to relax, to take action, to live another day, to love. I spent much of my

childhood listening to the classic rock music of my parents’ era, loving it not only for its rock

rhythm, loud guitars, and interesting lyrics, but for its spirit; the music of that era said something

and motivated young people to take charge of their lives and of the world around them and to

make change. I learned about the power of music through classic rock, and found out later in my

childhood that that power resides in every other form of music from folk tunes, jazz, blues,

parlor-performed art song, and opera. A choir teacher who saw my potential encouraged me to

learn my very first Italian art song in seventh grade, which I sang as an auditor for a high-school

district competition. This was my first experience on the long road to discovering art song and

opera as a dramatic form I would come to respect and love. Sometime in early high school I

learned that Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro (1786), with its criticism of the privileges of

aristocracy and mistreatment of peasants, influenced the French Revolution a few years

following. That deeply altered my perspective of opera as old-fashioned and pompous to an

influential dramatic art form with the potential to make political statements, comment on life,

motivate, and inspire its audience just as Joan Baez or John Lennon or Stephen Sondheim.

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In order to get the most out of music, one must learn how to listen to it, utilize it, create it,

and relate to it on many levels. So how do we teach children all of these skills? How do we

provide them not only with the appreciation for the many genres of music, but also the ability to

understand and create it for their own purposes? One can give students conservatory-style

training in school with chord progressions and analysis, reading scores and singing melodies.

One may integrate music into other areas such as math by teaching ratios and with scales and

melodies and understanding how a piano tunes in relation to natural tuning. One can introduce

opera through or filed trips and discussing the arts as a reflection of historical change in history

as classes study the 17th-19th centuries. Though I enjoy all of those options, I propose learning

through creation. I propose a multi-phasic curricular project to last for a semester of the third

grade, though adaptable for almost any age group, and integrate almost every subject including

history, writing, arts, and technology and engineering.

...opera reaches its height when consisting of music by dead composers sung by foreigners in foreign

languages to rich people. - Arthur Jacobsiii

Music and technology blend together well as technology has had a monumental influence

on the access to and creation of music in the past centuries. In the 17th through 19th centuries,

musical instruments were invented that altered the orchestra forever. The piano evolved into the

black box we recognize today, and instruments such as trumpets, saxophones, and other

instruments with the movement from wood to integrated metals into their production went from

smaller, more limited versions, so the ones we know and play. The second half of 20th century

brought electricity in music, electric instruments and alteration pedals such as the Wa-wa, and

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synthesizers which now create, mix, and recreate music and voices in popular and classical

music all over the world.

With the current state of technology, music is such an integral part of our everyday lives

that it is easy to forget its influence and power. It is one of the most ubiquitous sounds

penetrating our ears each day. It comes in the form of street performers in the T stations,

commercials, television theme songs, can be found on the radio, in every movie, inside elevators,

restaurants, gyms, and stores as background noise, aside from the more obvious places such as

theaters, concerts, and iPods and other music players attached to the ears of kids everywhere.

One can, if they so choose, plug in to music from almost anywhere in the world because of

access to technology through cell phones, the internet, downloading, listening, and burning

software, listen to music through records, tapes, CDs, mini-discs and mp3s. People of any age or

musical ability can not only listen, but also compose, record, mix, synthesize, and store music

using a number of different software options. We have synthesizers and computer-created

musical compositions, virtual instruments and voices, and both real and virtual communities for

whom to perform.

Opera once was an important social instrument - especially in Italy. With Rossini and Verdi people were listening

to opera together and having the same catharsis with the same story, the same moral dilemmas. They were holding

hands in the darkness. That has gone. Now perhaps they are holding hands watching television. – Luciano Berioiv

Objective:

The children will learn about classical music and opera while becoming an active and engaged

participant in personal growth and learning. The children will study, describe, and demonstrate

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the characteristics of opera and understand its differences from other forms of music and theater.

This includes seeing opera and other theater performed live or on video, analyzing the features of

an opera including characters, plot, how the student thinks music affects the story, producing an

opera and all of its details.

The children will observe opera and other art forms and respond to the experience.

The children will explore instruments and their history as one aspect of technology in

music. Each child will look at one instrument and see how it has evolved over time,

discussing these changes with the class.

The children will create a model instrument using LEGOs, and touch or other sensors that

will play an originally composed melody.

The children will explore the art, music, and social culture of a specific time period in the

history of their region and report to the class on an aspect of that culture. They will use

this information to set their opera.

The children will also identify the different areas where music, especially classical music

and opera, play a role outside of the theater, in school, at home, etc. and at home and

communicate the findings. The children will observe and describe how classical

music/opera is used in these settings.

The children will compose music for their opera and program RoboLab to include these

melodies on their model instruments.

The children will gain a more thorough understanding of music, planning, and invention

through his/her use of Robolab.

The children will word-process reports and use graphics to create advertising

posters/invitations to their opera.

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The children will become comfortable and familiar with RoboLab, word-processing and

graphic programs, and the internet.

The children will create models for the performance space and use it to address the needs

for their sets, performers, and audience members.

The children will write the original script of the opera, adapting a story from a well-

known fairytale or fable.

The children will read works of fiction and dramatic literature and discuss character and

plot development through thought, action, and dialogue.

The children will produce, advertise, and perform their opera as the culmination of their

work.

Inspiration:

When creating a curriculum, often teachers are limited by their resources, their time, and

their need to address much information in a limited timeframe. Still, the compartmentalized day

offered to teachers and students alike at schools across the country can make their job even more

difficult as it limits possibilities for teacher collaboration and interdisciplinary study, which is

more interesting and relevant, and a possibly more efficient way to get through all of the

necessary information.

Just as my life and my paths of study are extremely interdisciplinary, all joined together

by the sheer joy of learning, I wanted to create a curriculum that could utilize as many subject

areas as possible into one meaningful long-term project in which the students invested much

time, effort, and interest. I believe in the gestalt theory when it comes to teaching, that the whole

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is greater than the sum of its parts, and that through interdisciplinary study, the students learn not

only the aspects of each subject area involved, but how they relate to each other, how they can be

applied to real-life situations, and how much fun learning itself can be.

Motivation:

As an elementary school student, I thoroughly enjoyed all of the music education my

school provided, doing talent shows, music shows, and joining the orchestra in the fourth grade

to play violin and viola. In my family, music truly is ubiquitous, as my father listens to music

while reading at home, my parents have supported and attended shows at our local theatres for

twenty years, and both of my grandfathers were wonderful singers. Required to take piano

lessons beginning at age 3 and progressing for a decade, I studied viola alongside the piano for 5

of those years until singing took over in high school as I was forced to choose choir or orchestra

because of our school’s scheduling. I have found the value in music education in my life, and

see the potential for its influence and help in the lives of others. I believe very strongly in music

education but now I am constantly saddened by the slow disappearance of music education in

districts where money is tight and teachers are scarce as the need for math books, paper,

computers, and successful MCAS, ITBS, and other standardize test scores take precedence over

art, music, creativity, and expression. I hope that through interdisciplinary study, of teachers,

parents, and administrators can see how easily the arts relate to the “Three R’s” and all of the

other subject areas, there may be a way to help prevent the death of music education.

I thought if I could get television interested in opera, it would make a kind of new thing that would allow

composers to build a whole new repertoire. – Robert Ashleyv

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There are many other motivations imbedded within this curriculum. First, I would like to

integrate technology – in this case, robotics technology – into the classroom setting in a useful,

meaningful way, without allowing the technology or its properties to become the focus of

teaching. The focus of effective teaching in my philosophy is relationship-based, it is the

connection between a teacher and a student and the students themselves that creates the learning

environment and deeply impacts learning. Technology in and of itself will not create an

effective learning environment. It must be used in meaningful ways within the classroom

community to allow for another outlet for learning and expressing ideas. Technology engages

some more than others, and while fluency is necessary in today’s world, some students, with the

opportunities to use specific technological tools, may find a new way to share their ideas and

revive interest in learning. Also, Interdisciplinary learning opportunities decompartmentalize the

lives of both the children and the instructor and can make projects much more meaningful to the

children as they witness how all areas of learning are related and therefore mutually important.

Opera is a bizarre affair made up of poetry and music, in which the poet and the musician, each equally

obstructed by the other, give themselves no end of trouble to produce a wretched result. - St Evremond, 1740vi

One of the goals of this curriculum is to introduce young children to the world of

classical music and particularly opera in an exciting and engaging environment, allowing them

not only to appreciate but to create. Opera is an art form of which unfamiliar audiences are

somewhat wary- it is often performed in other languages, and in grandiose theatres- and although

in the last two centuries has become much more accessible to people, many still believe opera to

be pretentious and unattractive, and maybe even a little scary. Children, on the other hand, do

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not have such preconceived notions of opera as many of them have never even heard the word.

As classical opera is an extremely melodramatic art form full of colorful costumes, ridiculous

characters, and fantastical stories, it can be quite accessible to children.

To me, the appeal of opera lies in the fact that a myriad of singers and instruments, each possessed of

different qualities of voice and sound, against the backdrop of a grand stage and beautiful costumes, come

together in one complete and impressive drama. – Junichiro Koizumivii

Still, more important than my investment in the future this art form is the future of self-

expression through positive, constructive means. Creating art allows children to learn the value

of self-expressive art in our culture while gaining the resources and confidence to express

themselves in their own way. This project allows students the opportunity of self-expression

while also providing validation of that expression as meaningful to the adults around them. As a

student, I feel that there are barriers at every level to self-expression and validation of students’

ideas. So often the ideas of the experts in our history books and math books and at the

blackboards before us are seen as so important that there is little room for students to make up

our own minds and express them in a positive, accepting environment. For children to learn at a

young age that, though they may not be experts, they have important ideas and those ideas matter

to others, I feel is an extremely important life-long lesson.

Construction:

My curriculum proposal is a long-term project, which hopefully can last for an entire

semester, depending on the teacher’s investment and daily time allotted to the project. In this

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curriculum integration, the students of third-grade class(es) will create their own original opera

based on the adaptation of a well-known story, fable, or fairytale preferably told from the

perspective of a supporting character. The students will take on every aspect of the opera’s

creation from musical composition, to sets, costumes, advertising, and, of course, performance.

This kind of project is a powerful example of constructionism, even within the limitations

and necessities of the school environment. Papert’s theory of constructionism, based on the

research and theory of Jean Piaget, pictures children as “active builders of their own intellectual

structures”. viii Papert claims, if we look at the “child as builder” we are on our way to finding

out how learning happens. All children need adequate materials with which to explore, and an

environment in which to explore them. He believes strict instructional learning can inhibit the

learning abilities of children by lacking engagement, personal connection, and meta-cognition.

The pillars of constructionist learning are designing of meaningful projects, the importance of

objects, powerful ideas, and the importance of self-reflection.ix This project encompasses all of

those pillars as the students take charge of their learning, create physical things such as sets and

instruments and have tools such as LEGOs with which to work, learn the powerful ideas of art

and design, and constantly reflect upon their work and the work of others. In this project, the

children literally create their own learning as every aspect of the production involves the

children’s ideas, opinions, knowledge and research. A very child-centered idea, this promotes

the children to invest more interest in their learning because the teacher will validate their ideas

as important and let the children direct the product creation. Here the teacher is more of a guide

than an instructor; pointing children in the right direction and helping them find the answers they

need without handing them a set of “correct” ideas to follow.

Any subject is good for opera if the composer feels it so intently he must sing it out. – Gian Carlo Menottix

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One of the “powerful ideas” Papert discusses in his book is something technology allows

for, meta-cognition, thinking about one’s thinking. This is a vital part of learning – analyzing

one’s own ideas and actions in retrospect in order to change and improve them. This ability to

understand and use meta-cognition to learn, though part of design process, the research process,

and the writing process, is magnified by the use of certain technological tools such as Robolab

and LEGO robotics as they provide a concrete visual representation as one moves through each

step toward a final product. Robotics offers many benefits to students including hands-on

experience, often lacking in instruction-based classrooms, along with active project-based

exploration. It also has the unique ability to provide a vehicle for concrete representation and

visualization of abstract concepts with which students become acquainted. This idea of concrete

representation of abstract concepts comes from Seymour Papert who cites hands-on learning as

vital to understanding and sees the use of concrete representations as a way to understand faster

and more completely abstract concepts.xi

Though RoboLab is a fantastic teaching tool for many things, I wish to integrate the

technology into the curriculum in a supplemental fashion, instead of making RoboLab and

LEGOs the main focus of the project and the only teaching tool provided. The students will

learn with RoboLab, field trips, construction, research, music, reading, and writing. Papert

warns against technocentrism, defined in relation to the egocentrism of Piaget, as giving

centrality to a technical object shown through research questions such as “what is the effect of

the computer on cognitive development”.xii By integrating the technology into an already

interdisciplinary project that utilizes many forms of teaching and learning to address the different

subject areas, one can help combat technocentric thinking. Hopefully this idea can also promote

technology in classrooms and challenge the biased disappointment in what “technology has to

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offer” as teachers understand that the technology itself cannot provide, but the entire “culture of

learning” influences each child’s experience and success.xiii

Also important to this project is the idea of viewpoint-taking. By the third grade,

children have successfully moved from the Piagetian preoperational stage of intellectual

development, to the concrete-operational stage.xiv Therefore, it is assumed children have moved

past egocentrism and can now take the viewpoint of another person. Practice in this area can

help a child hone their skills to improve writing skills, acting skills, and promote healthy social

development. Within this project practice comes in the form of the adaptation for the script. It is

preferred that the children write the script of the story from the viewpoint of a lesser character

(such as the Cinderella story from the view of a stepsister, the prince, or Jaq the mouse) to

explore viewpoints and characterization, and because it allows for more creativity in the story’s

presentation. There are currently many stories available in print to explain this concept, such as

The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs by Jon Scieszkaxv and Goldilocks and the Three Bears/Bears

Should Share! (Another Point of View) by Alvin Granowsky.xvi

i Taken from, Erik Jorgensen, [personal communication]. 1 May 2005ii Marceau Quotes. http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/r/robertashl184085.html accessed: 1 May 2005iii Opera Quotes. http://koti.mbnet.fi/neptunia/creativity/opera1.htm accessed: 1 May 2005iv Berio Quotes. http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/r/robertashl184085.html accessed: 1 May 2005v Robert Ashley Quotes. http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/r/robertashl184085.html accessed: 1 May 2005vi Opera Quotes. http://koti.mbnet.fi/neptunia/creativity/opera1.htm accessed: 1 May 2005vii Koizumi Quotes. http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/r/robertashl184085.html accessed: 1 May 2005viii Papert, S. (1980) Mindstorms: Children, Computers, and Powerful Ideas. NY: Basic Books.ix Papert, S. (1980) Mindstorms: Children, Computers, and Powerful Ideas. NY: Basic Books. x Menotti Quotes. http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/r/robertashl184085.html accessed: 1 May 2005xi Papert, S. (1980) Mindstorms: Children, Computers, and Powerful Ideas. NY: Basic Books.xii Papert, S. (1987) Computer Criticism vs. Technocentric Thinking. In Educational Researcher (vol. 16, no. I). xiii Papert, S. (1987) Computer Criticism vs. Technocentric Thinking. In Educational Researcher (vol. 16, no. I). xiv Shaffer, D. (2000) Social and Personality Development. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.xv Scieszka, J. (1996). The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs. New York: Basic Books. xvi Granowsky, A. (1995). Goldilocks and the Three Bears/Bears Should Share!. Austin, TX: Steck-Vaughn.

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http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/r/robertashl184085.html


http://koti.mbnet.fi/neptunia/creativity/opera1.htm






Powerful Ideas:

There are a few powerful ideas, three of them that are, in my opinion, most important. These

concepts cover the necessary components for a powerful idea, that it be powerful in its use, in its

connections, in its roots, and in its personal identity.xvii Each of these ideas is valid in other areas

beyond this project and for the student’s lifelong learning; therefore, they are also concepts that

have been validated through a long history of use and emphasis. Also important, understanding

these concepts can give a child a sense of efficacy about his/her education and provide a plan for

future education and life-long problem solving.

Modeling – The LEGOs and RoboLab will be used to make models of sets, and to create

model instruments to play with touch sensors. Modeling is an important

part of construction and engineering throughout all of the levels of expertise –

from children making model cars, to engineers and planners creating model

bridges, and buildings and even towns. Models provide a concrete

structure to manipulate and reflect upon before creating the real product.

Design Process – Known as the design process in engineering, this powerful idea, as previously

mentioned spans across the disciplines through the writing process,

scientific method, and research process. Learning the value of this process

provides students with a solid foundation for future study in any

area. Also the reflection and meta-cognition embedded in this process are

helpful problem-solving and decision-making skills to promote.

xvii Papert, S. (1991). What’s the big idea: Towards a pedagogy of idea power. IBM Systems Journal, 39(3-4).

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Art and Music – The arts and their role in society, in history, in every aspect of life, are powerful

ideas. This project gives a child an outlet for healthy expression of ideas

and emotions, and examples of how art and music have influenced society and

vice versa for centuries.

These powerful ideas come through in all aspects of the project. The benefits of including

LEGO robotics and RoboLab in this project one sees in their assistance in the first two powerful

ideas. The children will use LEGOs to make model instruments, model sets, and other necessary

planning and problem-solving tools. The technology also allows students to program melodies

into a programmable LEGO brick so they can hear the tunes and relate them together through

different sensors or programmable bricks to play with order, overlapping sound, and other fun

features of composition.

Site:

This original curriculum idea is for the elementary school setting, but can be adapted to

fit any age group. Older students can handle more hands-on construction of sets and creative

lighting design and longer shows with more complex musical composition. Young children can

produce a show themselves with simpler melodies and paper painted or “found” set design.

Music has a very low floor and a limitless ceiling for all aspects of understanding and exposure,

analysis, play, and composition. Any age is a fine age to explore music and the arts and can

engage students of any level. RoboLab too, has a low floor and high ceiling when it comes to

the software. The program allows for older students’ work to be more complex and involved,

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while younger students focus more on physical production and use simpler programming.xviii In

order to create a relevant curriculum in line with the Massachusetts Curriculum Frameworks, I

have chosen a third-grade classroom in which to conduct this project.

Relation to the Massachusetts Curriculum Frameworksxix:

As an interdisciplinary project, the opera creation curriculum relates to the Massachusetts

Curriculum Frameworks in many areas. Assessing based upon the frameworks for grades 3 and

4 throughout the subject areas of History, English Language Arts, Music, Theater, and

Technology/Engineering.

Technology/Engineering –

The most important thing required of students in the technology

frameworks is the design process. The students will spend the entire semester running

through the design process again and again as they create and recreate parts of their

opera, compose, program, and invent. Student in grade 3-5 learn about appropriate

materials and tools to solve problems and invent and to identify and explain the purposes

of tools. The technology frameworks at this age stress technological literacy which will

be fulfilled through research using all available technology including the internet,

invention and programming with programmable LEGO bricks and RoboLab, and oral

and written presentations requiring word-processed findings.

xviii Erwin, B., Cyr, M., & Rogers, C. (2000). LEGO engineer and RoboLab: Teaching engineering and LabVIEWfrom kindergarten to graduate school. International Journal of Engineering Education, 15(5).

xix Massachusetts Curriculum Frameworks and supplements. Products of the Massachusetts Department of Education. http://www.doe.mass.edu/frameworks/current.html accessed: 29 April 2005.

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http://www.doe.mass.edu/frameworks/current.html


History –

I chose third grade because the students study Massachusetts and New England

history at this time. In another state, they may study their own state’s history in second

or fourth, and any of these grades would be perfectly acceptable. By placing the opera in

whatever time period the class is studying, in an area important to the children, their own

hometown or home state, helps bring relevance to the story and to the project. The MCF

requires the children to learn research skills including the steps necessary to conduct

research. Through exploration into the time period already introduced in class into the

clothing, art, technology (such as musical instruments invented), and music, the children

gain a deeper understanding of what life was really like for the people living it, not

simply the historians in their books. This exploration will require the students learn the

steps to successful research – formulation of a question, creating a search plan, locating

resources, sorting information for relevance and validity, using and presenting the

information.

Writing –

It is in this area where the children do the most relevant and extensive application

of learning with relation to the MCF. The children will create their own scripts as an

adaptation of a well-known story, fairytale, or fable. Through writing the students can

work on their mechanical writing skills, awareness of word forms (nouns, verbs, etc.)

punctuation, and dialogue. They can explore the use of descriptive language, dialogue

for characterization and plot development, and story organization. Here is also where

students will encounter the writing process and the need for planning and outlining,

drafting, revising, editing, and re-writing for a successful outcome.

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Reading –

Because the MCF places much emphasis on analysis and understanding of

literature, breaking apart the story and analyzing the characters in order to present a

different point of view utilizes many emerging skills in reading, analysis, and viewpoint-

taking. The third grade standard begins to explore plot and character in stories through

dialogue and themes/morals in fables and fairytales. The fifth grade standards includes

more in-depth study of character as it asks students to explore dramatic literature and

analyze plot, characterization, conflict, and plot structure. It also asks students to

recognize characters’ personality traits and how those traits are revealed through thought,

word, and action as the character evolves over time. In creating a script, the children will

also become familiar with the construction of dramatic literature and concepts such as

scenes, acts, casts, stage directions, etc.

The standards also require the students to become familiar with public speaking

and group interaction through discussion and contribution. It is expected that students

learn the rules of group discussion – eye contact, hand raising, attentive listening, etc.

and present their ideas in a clear and organized fashion before others. They also should

do dramatic readings with inflection and understand the basic elements of fiction. The

opera allows the children to present findings to others during the preliminary stages and

then do dramatic readings of their script during its creation and present confidently

before an audience upon its completion. Working in groups on background research,

construction, creation, and production, the children will have ample opportunity to learn

how a group functions effectively.

Music –

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In music, the Frameworks describe many skills expected by grade four. Students

are expected to be able to sing independently and together from memory with pitch and

rhythmic accuracy and to work with and follow a conductor. They should have an

understanding of meter, pitch, and rhythm and be able to recognize and notate such

things with standard musical notation. They are expected to create and/or arrange short

songs with teacher guidance. Students should play musical instruments of a varying sort

and be able to play alone or while others sing, learning about different instruments and

their places in western orchestras, bands, and non-western musical groups. The students

are also expected to become knowledgeable listeners, describing sounds they hear using

musical terminology, identifying different voices, instruments and musical genres, and

responding with purposeful movement to different styles and effects in music. The

creation of an opera, spread out over a semester gives time to practice all of these skills:

singing, playing, composing, listening, and recognizing and using standard musical

notation. Teacher guidance is still expected at this age, and the teacher in this case is

expected to aid in notation and experimentation, and to conduct.

Radio tried everything, and it all worked. It invented a new kind of singer whose voice wasn't even loud

enough to carry across a hotel bedroom, and Americans, as it turned out, would rather hear these "crooners"

than any big-bellied tenor who ever shook an opera house chandelier. – Sam Moorexx

Acting –

Opera is musical theater, and theater is a great part of opera’s character. Under

the arts section of the frameworks which includes music, visual art, theater, and dance,

certain standards stood out as important and connected to this project. First, students are

xx Moore Quotes. http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/r/robertashl184085.html accessed: 1 May 2005

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expected to respond to others, create characters, understand stories have a beginning

middle and end, and adapt short plays from tales in prose just as this project provides.

They are supposed to include the “5 W’s” in the creation of a scene/play, and visualize an

environment for their play, altering the space to create mood, time, and location. One

strand of the MCF for all of the arts is “connection” – each of the arts and its connection

to society, learning, and other subject areas. It encourages teachers through adherence to

the MCF to use arts as tools for curriculum development and exploration in other subject

areas. This also encourages us to ask the questions: Why Art? What is it for? What does

the artist try to convey to his/her audience? What do I feel as an audience member this

provides for me in my life? and other pervasive questions.

Materials – technology hardware/software:

In this interdisciplinary project, the students must utilize many technologies such as the

internet and word processing programs. They will also need to use graphics to create

posters/invitations for their show. It is with these technologies that, by the third grade, many

should be quite familiar. This project introduces a new technology to the children with which

they will become acquainted and facile throughout the semester. This is LEGO robotic

technology and the RoboLab software.

As computers and robotics, LEGO® robotics specifically have been developed as an

educational tool, they have carried strongly with it the idea of project-orientated, active

constructionist education. The technology used in this project is the LEGO Mindstorms

Robotics Invention Kits. The set contains an average of 700 LEGO pieces, the RCX or tiny

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computer embedded in a LEGO brick, an infrared transmitter for sending programs to the RCX,

RoboLab software, light and touch sensors, motors, and a building guide”.xxi The LEGO RCX

has been developed as a microcomputer that can “talk” to other RCXs or to a computer,

accessing programs created with RoboLab software through infrared transmission and acting

autonomously of the computer to complete the program. This RCX technology frees students

from the computer, allowing many students to create programs on the same computer and to

share programs; transmission of a program to the RCX allows students to go outside the

classroom to conduct experiment, gather data, or test the bounds of their creations.xxii With all of

the possibilities embedded in the RCX and LEGO robotics technology, researchers at Tufts

University’s Center for Engineering Education Outreach in the late 1990s set out to create

engineering educational curricula to utilize this new technology into classroom across America

and across the world.xxiii

I, through lessons learned in this class, have come to understand technology’s role in the

classroom as necessary, yet supplementary. Technology should be used to teach in new and

exciting ways that allow students to command their learning and create meaningful projects.

I wish to use the technology as a supplementary teaching tool to teach something other than

engineering alone, which to me is limiting the possibilities of the medium. I will be using the

LEGO robotics technology to create model instruments to program and play and model sets to

assess and address the needs of the space and the performers.

xxi Bers, M., & Urrea, C. (2000) “Technological Prayers: Parents and Children Working with Robotics and Values” In Robots for Kids: Exploring New Technologies for Learning Experiences. Edited by A. Druin & J. Hendler. NY: Morgan Kaufman, Pp. 194 – 217.xxii McNamara, S., Cyr, M., & Rogers, C. (1999). LEGO brick sculptures and robotics in education. xxiii Erwin, B., Cyr, M., & Rogers, C. (2000). LEGO engineer and RoboLab: Teaching engineering and LabVIEW

from kindergarten to graduate school. International Journal of Engineering Education, 15(5).

21


Process:

As previously stated, this is a multi-phasic curriculum that lasts throughout the course of

a semester combining history, music, engineering design, art, and writing. There are four phases:

the introduction phase, exploration phase, creation and composition phase, and the final

production. In all phases, the students work in groups or as a class and communicate their ideas

at every level. Everyone learns from each other and teaches each other so that every child can

contribute to the final production.

The Introduction Phase:

This phase can occur at the beginning of the semester, or if the project is a spring project,

can be introduced during the fall/winter depending on the availability of and access to resources

such as theaters, museums, etc.

In this phase the goals are:

Introduce children to opera and other forms of musical theater, straight play

through field trips, recordings, and videos.

Introduce the main composers of opera

Introduce instruments, composition, discussing simple melody and harmony

Introduce the structure of opera, characterization, plot development, musical

characteristics – how does it related to plays, musical theater, books?

Choose a historical setting for the original opera

Read literature, dramatic and fiction – become acquainted with different stories,

understand structure of play/book

22


Assessment:

Students write reactions to the opera/theater – what do they think about it? Do

they like it? What is its purpose? Do they think the music is an important aspect

for them as an audience member? Can they recognize what makes opera

different? (MCF English, writing, organization)

Choose a composer or instrument and learn something interesting about it, tell the

class what was found

Create plot outlines in groups for a short play/story (MCF English, contribution,

organization)

Discussion: through group discussions and reactions one can assess whether the

children gained from the experience and their skills for communicating their ideas

Read with inflection and character (MCF English, reading)

Participation and discussion (MCF, English, discussion, groups, communicate

ideas)

Exploration Phase:


Explore the historical point chosen, the art, music, fashion, architecture, politics…

anything of interest at that time

Choose a story and place it in the historical context

Choose a performance space, find out its dimensions and resources for the model

Continue reading dramatic literature and fiction

23


Create a class story-web/plot-line for the chosen story and discuss characters,

relationships, action, feelings

Musical instruments, visit museum to see old instruments, which instruments

make up an orchestra? How has is changed?

Explore operas and stories

Discuss roles of production: actors/singers, orchestra, directors, set/tech crew, etc.

Discuss the concepts of leitmotif, aria, recitative

Continue to discuss music, notation, melody, etc.

Assessment:

Simple character analysis, personality traits, physical attributes, relationship to

other characters, of someone from the chosen story (MCF English, understanding

characters and personalities; Acting, taking views, understanding characters)

Write short prose stories based on stories read in class or original idea (MCF

English, writing, mechanics, plot and characters in dialogue, description, elements

of fiction)

Create a short leitmotif for themselves, use it to announce themselves in

discussions for the day/week

Compose short songs about someone in the class (MCF Music, short

compositions, singing alone from memory; Acting, viewpoint taking; English,

communication of ideas)

Oral/written reports on a chosen area of historical setting (MCF History, research

process, local/regional history; English, mechanics, organization, presenting

ideas)

24


Participation and discussion (MCF, English, discussion, groups, communicate

ideas)

I'd hate this to get out but I really like opera. – Ford Frick

Creation and Composition Phase:

This is the longest, most in-depth phase where the children experiment, model, and create

their opera.


Compose script

Create model for set and discuss needs for scenery, lights, audience seating, etc.

Create leitmotifs for characters and write songs

Continue to read literature and listen to music from different genres and style for

inspiration

Create model instruments like those investigated, and program them to play

leitmotifs

Discuss “orchestra” – use only programmed instruments? Does anyone play an

instrument? Want to play in the orchestra?

Children choose role(s) they desire and plan their contribution to the final product

based on their role(s).

Plan costumes, design sets. What materials needed? How much time will it take?

Who will do the work?

Assessment:

Script production (MCF English Writing, Reading, Acting)

Create leitmotifs (MCF Music, short compositions)

25


Instruments that play (MCF Engineering design, invention)

Choose roles of contribution, fulfill roles, plan tasks (MCF English, contribution)

Final Production Phase:


Practice, practice, practice!

Paint sets, find props/costumes

Design invitations/posters for the show

Post-production discussion of music and art in life, working in groups, learning.

Assessment:

Put on the Show! (MCF English contribution, presentation; Music,

composition, notation, play; Engineering design process, modeling)

Students as audience members (MCF Music attentive listening)

Group effort

Post-performance Reflection: How did it turn out? Did I like it? What did I

learn from the experience? What did I do to contribute? (MCF writing,

organization, communication of ideas; Constructionist self-reflection)

Conclusions:

Throughout this paper I have proposed a semester-long interdisciplinary curriculum for

third graders to explore opera through planning, writing, constructing, composing, acting, and

observing. This curriculum promotes active learning in a teacher-guided constructionist

26


environment where students build their own learning experience through active participation and

creation. Utilizing many teaching tools including technologies such as the internet and LEGO

robotics with RoboLab software, the students can plan, model, explore, and invent as they write

and produce their opera production. This interdisciplinary and constructionist attributes of this

curriculum provide opportunities for children to learn in ways not often found in standard

instructionist classrooms. Hopefully, this and other curricula will be used in classrooms in the

future to introduce technology as one of many learning tools, and emphasize the value of

interdisciplinary study and constructionist learning, and the importance of the artistic media for

healthy self-expression.

References:

Bers, M., & Urrea, C. (2000) “Technological Prayers: Parents and Children Working with Robotics and

Values” In Robots for Kids: Exploring New Technologies for Learning Experiences. Edited by A.

Druin & J. Hendler. NY: Morgan Kaufman, Pp. 194 – 217.

Erwin, B., Cyr, M., & Rogers, C. (2000). LEGO engineer and RoboLab: Teaching engineering and

LabVIEW from kindergarten to graduate school. International Journal of Engineering Education,

15(5).

Granowsky, A. (1995). Goldilocks and the Three Bears/Bears Should Share!. Austin, TX: Steck-Vaughn.

Jorgensen, E. [personal communication]. 1 May 2005.

27


Massachusetts Curriculum Frameworks and supplements. Products of the Massachusetts Department of

Education. http://www.doe.mass.edu/frameworks/current.html accessed: 29 April 2005.

McNamara, S., Cyr, M., & Rogers, C. (1999). LEGO brick sculptures and robotics in education.

Opera Quotes. http://koti.mbnet.fi/neptunia/creativity/opera1.htm accessed: 1 May 2005

Papert, S. (1980) Mindstorms: Children, Computers, and Powerful Ideas. NY: Basic Books.

Papert, S. (1987) Computer Criticism vs. Technocentric Thinking. In Educational Researcher (vol. 16,

no. I).

Papert, S. (1991). What’s the big idea: Towards a pedagogy of idea power. IBM Systems Journal, 39(3-

4).

Quotes. http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/r/robertashl184085.html accessed: 1 May 2005

Shaffer, D. (2000) Social and Personality Development. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.

Scieszka, J. (1996). The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs. New York: Basic Books.

28



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