The Magic Opera

GRADES 1-3 ELA AND MUSIC

accelerator membership

Lesson Process:

Step 1:  Engage students by acting as though you are the great composer, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Tell them that you have come to visit to tell them about your amazing life. Provide them with the important details of Mozart’s life and music through this activity (much can be found online about this).

Step 2: Have students explore Mozart’s music and opera online through the website of the Metropolitan Opera (Met for Kids). Students can watch videos and gain an understanding of what opera is and how it is used to tell elaborate stories.

Step 3:  Read “The Magic Flute” by Kyra Teis. Have students look at the illustrations and create still pictures of the scene with their bodies in groups (this is called Tableau). You can have them create scenes about what they think is happening and then read the pages, or you can have them create scenes for how the characters might feel based on what you’ve read.

Step 4:  Listen to “Mozart’s Magical Fantasy”, which tells a similar story based on the opera with the music of the opera in English. Have the students compare the two stories.

Step 5:  Watch portions of “The Magic Flute” opera on DVD to see how it can be brought to life. Create a web to illustrate how the story changes between the book, the CD, and the opera itself.

Step 6:  Listen to the Papageno/Papagena duet and have students form two lines. See if they can identify the d-r-m patterns. Then, have the girls sing the first pattern and the boys echo back. Listen to make sure that students are accurately singing on pitch and in rhythm.

Time Required:
30-45 minutes

Materials List:

  • The Magic Flute book
  • The Magic Flute Opera DVD
  • Mozart’s Musical Fantasy CD
  • CD/DVD player
  • Computer, LCD projector and internet

Assessment:

Create Your Own.

Have students recreate the Papageno/Papagena scene, but add their own interpretation.

Write the scene, decide on costumes, add some instruments and dramatize their scene with the do-re-mi patterned duet.

Look for: plot development and pattern accuracy