This curriculum series is designed to provide classroom teachers, arts specialists and opera educators an easy way to introduce the multidisciplinary arts to upper elementary and middle school students. Music! Words! Opera! places students at the center of their learning as they find new creative means of self-expression through the study of opera.

View sample lessons from Music! Words! Opera!:

Hansel and Gretel Sample Lesson This Hansel and Gretel lesson centers on the concept that sounds and music convey images that help to tell a story. Purchase full textbook

Aida Sample Lesson In this lesson, students explore the differences between opera and a play and learn to identify characteristics of 19th-century opera. Purchase full textbook

Create Your Own Opera or Music-Theater Sample Lesson This activity helps students learn the definition of opera and identify elements of the art form, which prepares them for creating their own original opera. Purchase full textbook

Purchase the complete Music! Words! Opera! textbooks.
Discounts are available for OPERA America member companies. E-mail BHuggins@operaamerica.org for more details.

Select titles from the original Music! Words! Opera! series are available for download here:

The Magic Flute	The Child and the Enchantments	Madame Butterfly	Barber of Seville

Program History
The original Music! Words! Opera! program was developed in the late 1980s by OPERA America with a team of authors, including classroom and music teachers, curriculum specialists, composers, and opera professionals, as a tool to aid students and teachers in their explorations of history, language, literature and music. Music! Words! Opera! places students at the center of their learning as they find new creative means of self-expression through the study of opera. In 2012, OPERA America commissioned a series of three revised textbooks to better connect with today’s students. Opera companies across North America continually offer teacher-training workshops dedicated to nurturing opera learning in the classroom.

About Music! Words! Opera!
Each summer, opera companies across North America offer professional development workshops based on the Music! Words! Opera! curriculum. These workshops are an opportunity for classroom teachers and arts specialists to reinforce the development of artistic skills and learn new pedagogical techniques. Teachers participate in the process of study and creation that they will undertake with their students — both studying great operatic works and creating original opera. Workshops are led by experienced teaching artists, and they focus on providing the tools for linking opera to core standards and relating opera to other subjects.

For more information about Music! Words! Opera! professional development opportunities, please contact Brenda Huggins, learning and leadership manager, at BHuggins@operaamerica.org.