The Magic Flute

Third Grade Musicians have been very busy learning all about the world of opera through our study of Mozart's opera, The Magic Flute.  This has been an exciting adventure because the story of Mozart's opera is full of love, magic, princes and princesses, funny jokes, and good vs. evil!  As a part of our study, students completed Character Biographies in an exciting life-size format.  Here was our process:

• First, students identified the character's vocal style.  We really focused on our music vocabulary words of soprano, mezzo-soprano, tenor, baritone, and bass.  Students described the way the character sang as well as their vocal range.  We did this through a series of guided listening exercises.
• Next, students worked together to identify (a)what and/or who was important to that character, (b)what trials the character faced through the story, and (c)how the character changed and/or grew.
• Then, the students researched different costume ideas for their character.  We visited the websites of the English National Opera, the Royal Opera House of London, the San Francisco Opera, and the Metropolitan Opera for pictures and sketches of costumes.
• Finally, students worked in their groups to draw a life-sized (well, third grade sized at least) character, design the costume and background, and write the information learned.  

The final products were simply amazing!  I was so impressed with the quality of research and depth of understanding the students demonstrated as well as the creativity in designing unique and appropriate costumes for their characters.  All of the students worked together cooperatively to achieve our final goal, and now we have a hallway full of the cast of characters from Mozart's The Magic Flute.  Stop in and see them some time!