The Educational screen (c1922-c1956])

May, 19}9 Page 171 IN AND FOR THE CLASSROOM Conducted by Wilber Enimert Director Vitual Education, Stat* Taachari Collaga, Indiana, Pa. A Synchronized Visual-Sensory Experience By RUTH S. BASTIAN Brighton Avenue School, Atlantic City, N. J. 'T'HE opera '•Aiila", with its Egyptian background ■*• was told, then read to a group of sixth grade children as an integrated ex])erience during a cor- related stuily of ancient Egypt, and modern Egypt. A few of the children had heard all or part of the opera over the radio, given by local Italian opera groups, or on the music pier where operas are fre- quently given by well-known operatic stars. The music of the opera was played on the victrola, se- lecting the better known compositions with which tluy should be familiar. There was an interest in telling this story to other children who were study- ing Egypt. We decided to present it for an audi- torium program. Someone .said, "Let's make the 0])era story into a play". But many problems arose; costumes, stage scenery, and settings were difficult. The class had been using slides in the stereopti- con, showing scenes of different countries we had been studying. They wanted to know if they could make slides similar to those we were using, which would tell the story. One boy volunteered to bring scrap glass, another to have his father cut it with an electric glass cutter. A committee of boys meas- ured the slides to obtain the dimensions. Ten cent*; purchased some carborundum (600 M.) at the hard- ware store. A committee was shown how to hand- etch the glass by placing a small amount of the powder between the glass slides and rubbing the two together until smoothly etched on one side of each piece. We tried the glass in the slide machine and discovered that the etching must be carefully done or there would be uneven and blotchy places. Some discarded bicycle tape was used for binding the edges of the slides for easy handling. We owned a very fine colored edition of ".^ida" recently published as an authorized edition of the Metropolitan Guild, which was used for ideas of characters and scenes. The pupil-artists in the Program of Visual Conference (Concluded from page 170) Documentary), "Shock Trojps of Disaster" (Rebecca Hor- wich Reyer, for W.P..\.), "U. S. Coast Guard Films," ".Mways Trust a Lifeguard" (Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co.) Address: "Visual Education in Colorado"—Arthur L. Payne, Director Visual Instruction, Public School, Greeley, Colo. 1 to 3:30 P. M.—Film Showings—"Fit for the Future"— Major Henderson, Culver Military Academy, "The Red Poacher" and "Michigan's Land of Hiawatha"—Clarence J. Tinker. State Dept. of Conservation, "Siren" and Vacation- land"—Eugene Sanborn, Wisconsin Dept. of Conservation, "The Man at the Wheel" (March of Time). "A New Series of Geography Films"—F. C. Wythe, New York City. room sketched with jjcncil on the glass, scenes and characters. The others colored the costumes and scenery, or settings. Some printed names and labeled the slides so that they could be placed in numerical order. Most of the work was accom- plished in free periods during the day and in the art period. The next problem for consideration was that the story must be told to the audience. The group decided to do just what is done on the radio. The characters were to speak their parts without acting. We needed the opera music so we enlisted the music supervisor's assistance in obtaining some of the most important and famous selections from the opera, for example, "Celeste Aida", "Grand March", Ballet music, "O Terra Addio", and others. The cast wrote their parts taken from the words used in the libretto of the opera. The whole scheme was synchronized in this manner. The announcer presented the author of the opera Verdi by showing a slide of him, and the pupil representing him told briefly the story of his life and why he had written the opera. The audience could not see the char- acters in person but the slides portrayed them, while the children created the per.sonality. The whole opera was presented in this way. The commentator gave the parts which were explana- tory between the speaking parts. The slide which illustrated the scene was thrown on the screen, the characters spoke their lines, and where there was a solo, a ballet, or duet the composition from the opera was played on the victrola. The whole effect was the complete opera, almost as it would appear on the stage, over the radio, or in films. As an introduction to the performance a brief discussion on why we are interested in this story, as integrated with our study of ancient Egypt and geographical knowledge attained, was given. This performance held the attention of an as- sembly of several hundred children ranging in age from eight to fourteen. The length of the opera was approximately forty-five minutes. A check-up was made in an average fourth grade to check under- standing and comprehension of the story, and ap- parently a large majority thoroughly enjoyed the contribution to their learning. Music supervisors might question the use of this tragic opera, pre- ferring "Hansel and Gretel", or perhaps "Lohen- grin", which definitely have their place as children's operas with an appeal. The writer would like to add this comment, that in this modem age with thrillers, for comic strips, movies, picture maga- zines and stories which excite the senses, surely the opera may substitute for the tawdry.