Hi All!

So yesterday was a busy day! In Sona's class, Sedina lead everyone through a vocal warm-up and then taught the class the first verse of "Somewhere Over The Rainbow." Then I talked a bit about the functions of song in opera: to introduce or descrobe a character, to pose a problem or solution, or to tell part of a story. We listened to a bit of Papageno's aria, and the Queen of the Night's aria from the Magic Flute, and discussed how these songs flesh out characters (in the case of Papageno) or present a problem (the Queen of the Night's aria). I discussed rhyme schemes and rhythm in poetry with the class, and then split them into three groups, the Beginning, Middle and End. Each group had to look at their section of the story and choose a subject, mood and characters for a song that will be the central part of their section of the story. The three groups have opening lines now, and I gave them the homework of finishing their songs, using a hand-out I gave them with reminders of rhyme scheme and libretto-writing tactics. I encouraged them to try to follow the rhythm of the opening line throughout the song. Hopefully by next class, there will be lyrics for three songs that I can set to music. The Middle group wants to do a rap...

Amanda and Mubeen's class are still in the story-making phase, so I'm looking forward to seeing what plot they come up with, along the lines of Mount Olympus food fight.