Musical Collision Course
Materials
- Handouts
- Audio Tracks
Curricular Connections
World music, history, social studies, humanities, arts
Common Core
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.9-10.4
Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in the text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the cumulative impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone (e.g., how the language evokes a sense of time and place; how it sets a formal or informal tone).
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.11-12.3
Analyze the impact of the author’s choices regarding how to develop and relate elements of a story or drama (e.g., where a story is set, how the action is ordered, how the characters are introduced and developed).
Core Arts
MU:Re7.1.4.a
Demonstrate and explain how selected music connects to and is influenced by specific interests, experiences, purposes, or contexts.
MU:Re7.2.7.b
Identify and compare the context of music from a variety of genres, cultures, and historical periods.
MU:Re8.1.7.a
Describe a personal interpretation of contrasting works and explain how creators’ and performers’ application of the elements of music and expressive qualities, within genres, cultures, and historical periods, convey expressive intent.
Introduction
When beginning work on a new opera, Puccini was often inspired by settings with a strong local flavor or ambience. Whether a bohemian garret in Paris in La Bohème or a mythic version of ancient China in Turandot, these locales stimulated Puccini to evoke the setting and compose music that inhabits the same world as the opera’s characters.
In Madama Butterfly, the composer was very deliberate in crafting a sound world that would transport listeners to Japan—an aural setting that further juxtaposes Cio-Cio-San’s world with that of Pinkerton. Puccini incorporated Japanese and Chinese folk songs into the musical fabric of the score and quoted the Japanese national anthem. He also utilized Japanese gongs in the percussion parts and approximated the sound of Japanese music through the use of pentatonic scales. For Pinkerton, in contrast, he developed an identifiably “American” sound. For audiences both past and present, the musical evocation of the cultures that collide in the opera increases the dramatic tension of its story, embodies the dueling desires within the person of Cio-Cio-San herself, and raises important questions about exoticism and the politics of representing “foreign” cultures.
Steps
STEP 1. LISTEN
Using the chart provided in the reproducible handouts for this activity, invite students to listen to a selection of excerpts from Madama Butterfly (Tracks 1 through 8). Each of the examples includes a musical element that Puccini uses to illustrate a kind of “local color,” either American or Japanese. Challenge students to guess whether each example is meant to evoke American or Japanese musical styles by having them make notes in the right-hand column on how that musical element is presented, any associations they feel the element possesses, and any opinions on what its meaning might be. It may be necessary to play each excerpt a few times.
A completed chart with further details on how Puccini uses the musical elements throughout the opera is provided below for your reference.
STEP 2. READ
Now, have students turn to the texts and translations found on the next page of the reproducible handouts, corresponding to Tracks 9 through 12. These excerpts are longer and involve connecting the meaning of the words with the sound of the music. Working through the excerpts one at a time, have students follow along with the translation while listening to the corresponding music. As they listen, they may wish to highlight or underline passages in the text where they feel that Puccini is using one of the musical elements explored in the previous step. Play each excerpt two or three times to allow students enough time to make notes below the text with details on Puccini’s musical techniques and how they correspond to the meaning of the words.
Before moving on to the next excerpt, discuss the passage as a class and have students provide details on the musical sounds Puccini uses to paint a colorful picture and create meaning. Encourage students to use their new musical vocabulary and to give concrete examples as they are able. A completed chart is provided below for your reference.
Diving Deeper
As homework, have students use the final page in the handout, “The Songs and Sounds of My World,” to brainstorm musical and other sound elements that they associate with their own cultures and everyday life. Using these elements, students should compose a brief essay, incorporating as many musical terms as they are able, in answer to the following questions:
If Puccini had written an opera with you as the title character, how would he have created local flavor to represent your world?
What are some of the songs, instruments, and sounds he would have incorpo- rated into the score to capture the world and culture you live in?