Challenges+or+Opportunities

One of my challenges is that I only see my students for one hour a week (I see them twice a week for 30 minutes). I have many goals and objectives that I am trying to achieve in this limited time frame. A good question to consider is, “What is the most important contextual information that students will need to know for this to have meaning and relevance?” While it might be interesting that JS Bach fathered 20 children, this information will not help the students to become more critical listeners. A challenge is to //talk less// and //listen// //more//. One challenge in exposing children to Opera is that it is usually not in English. It is very logical that children would not be interested in something they don't understand. Another challenge is the length of full Opera performances. Our job is to bridge these gaps, and find ways to expose students to Opera in little, comprehensible, digestible pieces. I am hopeful that this site will be a starting point, or springboard for other adults to encourage youngsters to experience the magic of Opera.