Music! Words! Opera! Curriculum
Music! Words! Opera! is OPERA America’s signature opera education curriculum series for classroom teachers, arts specialists, and opera educators.
The three-textbook curriculum embraces the concept of “arts integration” to use opera as a tool for exploring history, language, literature, and music. It is designed for students in upper elementary school and middle school, and encourages them to find new creative means of self-expression through opera.
Music! Words! Opera! was a pioneer of modern arts education when it was first developed in the late 1980s by a team of classroom and music teachers, learning specialists, composers, and opera professionals. The textbooks were revised and updated in 2012 to better connect with today’s students.
Music! Words! Opera! was developed with support from the Hearst Foundations.
Textbook Series
The Music! Words! Opera! series, co-published by OPERA America and GIA Publications, Inc., challenges students to experience communication and storytelling through methods beyond the spoken and written word. Opera is a multi-art form that invites students to explore several fundamental means of human communication — through language, music, dance, drama, and visual arts.
Music! Words! Opera! Featuring Aida (2012)
Authored by Clifford J. Brooks and Roger Ames
Co-Published by OPERA America and GIA Publications, Inc.
The epic story of Aida is the backdrop for exploring one of the world’s great art forms. Music! Words! Opera! Featuring Aida includes complete lesson plans, an opera outline, activities, handouts, study questions, assessment tools, a glossary, and a DVD recording of a classic performance from the Metropolitan Opera.
Music! Words! Opera! Featuring Hansel and Gretel (2012)
Authored by Clifford J. Brooks and Roger Ames
Co-Published by OPERA America and GIA Publications, Inc.
The familiar fairy tale of Hansel and Gretel by Engelbert Humperdinck is the ideal jumping-off point to explore this art form, truly one of the world's great forms of human expression. Music! Words! Opera! Featuring Hansel and Gretel includes complete lesson plans, an opera outline, activities, handouts, study questions, assessment tools, a glossary, and a DVD of a classic performance conducted by the renowned Sir Georg Solti.
Music! Words! Opera! Create Your Own Opera or Music-Theater (2012)
Authored by Clifford J. Brooks and Roger Ames
Co-Published by OPERA America and GIA Publications, Inc.
This Create Your Own module guides teachers and students through the process of composing and producing an original work of opera or music-theater. By encouraging the basic human instinct for telling stories, students will be introduced to a whole new world of creative expression. Music! Words! Opera! Create Your Own Opera or Music-Theater includes complete lesson plans, activities, handouts, study questions, assessment tools, and a glossary.
Additional Curriculum Resources
- The Barber of Seville (Rossini)
- The Child and the Enchantments (Ravel)
- Madame Butterfly (Puccini)
- The Magic Flute (Mozart)
- Othello (Verdi)