Translating text into motion : performance analysis for singers and directors

The study proposes a method of interpretation, which gives the contemporary singer-actor and director a method of performance analysis considering both the visual and the auditory aspects of vocal performance. The analysis begins with an analysis of the structure, which maps out the key ideas and translates them into main states of mind. The text analysis is followed by an analysis of the musical treatment of the text, also scanning for extra dramatic meaning inherent in vocal line and musical accompaniment. The so isolated dramatic ideas in text and musical structure and content are finally discussed in terms of their physical aspects, using the system of gesture as practiced by actors and singers before, during and beyond the Baroque period. The method is exemplified by the obbligato recitative "In quali eccessi" from Donna Elvira’s scene in the second act of the opera "Don Giovanni" by L. Da Ponte and W. A. Mozart. The musical example includes gestural notation and a table gestural notation symbols.

Learning 'through' or learning 'about'? The ridiculous and extravagant medium of opera : Gardner's multiple intelligences in pre-service teacher education

In recent years, pre-service teacher education has attempted to incorporate into programs an understanding of Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences as it applies to schools. In this paper the tension between ‘learning about’ multiple intelligences and ‘learning through’ multiple intelligences supports Gardner’s (1993) distinction between ‘understanding’ and ‘coverage’. This paper examines the use of the performing arts in the professional studies component of our teacher education program. During 2002 at The University of Melbourne, a group of education students were offered the opportunity to develop an opera in order to learn about assessment and curriculum. Thirty-seven of the students volunteered to be involved and over a period of six months met this challenge. Our action research study asked two critical questions. To what extent is the understanding of multiple intelligences by pre-service teachers improved by ‘learning through’? Can pre-service teachers address fundamental issues in curriculum and assessment through the development of a performance? This experience would be of value to other teacher educators.

Learning 'through' or learning 'about'? The ridiculous and extravagant medium of opera: Gardner's multiple intelligences in pre-service teacher education

In recent years, pre-service teacher education has attempted to incorporate into programs an understanding of Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences as it applies to schools. In this paper the tension between 'learning about' multiple intelligences and 'learning through' multiple intelligences supports Gardner's (1993) distinction between 'understanding' and 'coverage'. This paper examines the use of the performing arts in the professional studies component of our teacher education program. During 2002 at The University of Melbourne, a group of primary and secondary students were offered the opportunity to develop an opera in order to learn about assessment and curriculum. Thirty-seven of the students volunteered to be involved and over a period of six months met this challenge. Our action research study asked two critical questions. To what extent is the understanding of multiple intelligences by pre-service teachers improved by 'learning through'? Can pre-service teachers address fundamental issues in curriculum and assessment through the development of a performance? This experience would be of value to other teacher educators.

The second curriculum opera : Arias, assessment and methodological traces

Drawing on contemporary forms of qualitative research such as performance ethnography (McCall, 2000), autoethnography (Ellis & Bochner, 2000; Ellis & Flaherty, 1992) and using narrative and writing as forms of inquiry (Richardson, 1990; 1992; 1995a; 1995b; 1997; 1999; 2000), this research project constructs a 'learning through' (Gardner, 1983; 1993; 1995; 1999; 2003a; 2003b) approach to curriculum within pre-service teacher education. During 2002 we initiated the first curriculum opera (Dixon & White, 2003; Dixon, White, & Smerdon, 2003) in our Faculty of Education with thirty-seven students. In 2003 we developed this learning and teaching approach with twice as many students. We also reconsidered assessment of students involved in the opera for overall theoretical consistency. As students increasingly took control, they 'imagined curriculum' (Doll & Gough, 2002) and transformed their exploration of identity in the 'process of becoming' teachers (Britzman, 2003). In this paper, we outline the project and the learning involved. We also indicate future directions for learning and teaching in preservice teacher education as well as the potential uses and misuses of teacher assessment through portfolio.

Tourist snapshot : the mediating gaze of the Sydney Opera House

There has already been much scholarly work produced about the Sydney Opera House, discussing the production of its architecture, historical and political context, and its symbolic meaning to Sydney. However little scholarly attention has been paid to the way this building is represented through tourist practices of photography. The essay attempts to bring an architectural perspective to the study of this tourist practice, which is usually addressed from the disciplines of cultural geography, sociology and anthropology. The essay considers the above questions by the analysis of some 300 images sourced from the photo sharing website Flickr (www.flickr.com). It draws on John Urry's notion of the 'tourist gaze' which describes how places are structured and regulated by the visual. The essay then uses Jonas Larsen's work, which position tourist photography as a performance of social relations to argue that the activity of photographing the Sydney Opera House is more than a ritual of consumption, and can be seen as an embodied performance located at the intersection of space, experience and image.

Seduction and demise in East Berlin: Digital prototype for an immersive opera

‘Seduction and Demise in East Berlin – a digital prototype for an immersive opera’ is a reflective case study of how digital technologies can be successfully applied to facilitate dynamic mediated partnerships and collaborations resulting in cutting-edge industry standard outcomes in the fields of design, performance and digital media. The ongoing use of online interaction throughout the development of the prototype facilitated a grammar of participation, collaboration and output between third year tertiary design students from Deakin University and independent Opera Company the Beggars Opera Co-Operative (BegOpCoOp), resulting in the achievement of positive professional outcomes for both project partners. Through this process, students at Deakin University Visual Communication Design department developed a normative working model that enabled a swift engagement with and response to the creative and strategic challenges that come with applying contemporary design practice in a current industry context. BegOpCop, as the industry partner, were able to use the digital collaborative process as a springboard to interrogate and innovate their own practice as producers of contemporary operatic repertoire and to develop exciting new digital and design-savvy creative collateral with which to seek further production partners, taking them to the next professional level as a growing arts organisation.