Film Friday — I Want To Sing in Opera

This video has always made me laugh.  Patricia Routledge (you might know her as Hyacinth from the BBC’s “Keeping Up Appearances,”) does a wonderful job of acting as an opera diva and really hamming it up for the audience.  The basic plot is that the soloist who sings about “wanting to be in the opera” has a little problem with the way the accompanist is trying to steal the spotlight.  They fight it out a little bit and disagree on how things should sound… can you guess who wins out in the end?

I like showing this to my students for a number of reasons.  If you’re someone who has an honors chorus you could show this one to talk about the importance of the accompanist and talk about how you have to work together in an ensemble to really make something wonderful.  This is my main purpose for showing it:  displaying the connection between parts and showing how accompanist and soloist have to work together.  You could use it to talk about opera or an opera singer’s voice (though there really are so many other wonderful videos about that) or about the accompanist’s job.  Or you can just use it as a really funny video to show off a diva in her natural habitat (in front of the camera).

However you use it, it’s a fun video with lots of connections and possibilities.  Just think of the vocabulary!  Opera, accompanist, soloist, piano, accompanied vs. unaccompanied, and more and more and more!  How would you use the video?  Leave a comment below to share your ideas with others!

Do you love incorporating videos into your classroom to give examples of really quality music?  I especially like adding videos in when they help to illustrate concepts (sometimes someone else can make a video that really helps kids connect) or show something done exceptionally well.  Click the link “Film Friday” on the “Tags” section in the right sidebar to see all my posts about Film Friday and the many videos that I’ve highlighted.  Also, click the “links” dropdown above to see the videos I show students and the videos I review when I want to learn!