Week of November 14th, 2016

OPERA SINGING!!!!

This week we learned all about the opera! From the term "bel canto," which means beautiful singing in Italian, to the types of operas there are (the kids learned that some are serious and dramatic and others are comical) it was fun to look at pictures and listen to music.

We couldn't learn about opera without also learning about the late and great Pavarotti. I brought a picture of him to each classroom and put it up on the wall. The kids love saying his name and I bet they would be able to tell you who this is:

Some of the kids thought his name was actually "pepperoni." Haha!

We discovered that Pavarotti uses a strong muscle in his stomach named the diaphragm to control his airway and the volume and strength of his voice! We practiced finding and trying to tighten our diaphragms just under the rib cage as we made a short, guttural sound (maybe something like what it would sound like if you were lifting something heavy.)

We also learned that many years ago, even though people could easily hear the strong voices of the opera without microphones, they weren't able to see the performers when they sat a long distance away (there weren't any big screen t.v.s!)

We took a look at different pictures of opera glasses or binoculars and also listened to this beautiful video of Pavarotti singing "Ave Maria." Students also enjoyed coloring an opera fact sheet.

Younger students also had a great time reading the large picture and music book, "If You're Happy and You Know It."

QUESTIONS TO ASK YOUR CHILD

1) Show them Pavarotti's picture. Do you know who this is?

2) What is the muscle that you use when you are singing loudly, like in the opera? The diaphragm!