Performance Activities
IN PREPARATION
For this activity, students will need the "Performance Activity" handout and the "Opera Review" handout.
COMMON CORE STANDARDS
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.9-10.2
Determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze in detail its development over the course of the text, including how it emerges and is shaped and refined by specific details; provide an objective summary of the text.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.9-10.3
Analyze how complex characters (e.g., those with multiple or conflicting motivations) develop over the course of a text, interact with other characters, and advance the plot or develop the theme.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.11-12.7
Integrate and evaluate multiple sources of information presented in different media or formats (e.g., visually, quantitatively) as well as in words in order to address a question or solve a problem.
Supporting the Student Experience during The Met: Live in HD Transmission
Watching and listening to a live performance is a unique experience that takes students beyond the printed page to an immersion in images, sound, interpretation, technology, drama, skill, and craft. These performance activities are designed to help students analyze different aspects of this experience while engaging critically with the performance. Each performance activity incorporates a reproducible sheet; students should bring these activity sheets to the Live in HD transmission and fill them out during intermission and/or after the final curtain.
For Wozzeck, the first activity sheet, “Everyday Degradations,” prompts students to notice how the opera depicts and discusses poverty. In particular, students will listen for the words “Wir arme Leut”(“we poor people”), which are set to one of the most prominent musical motives in the opera, recur in various scenes, and are pronounced by different characters. Students will make note of when these words appear, as well as other design-based signals of poverty in the opera.
The second activity sheet is called “Opera Review: Wozzeck,” and it includes a scene-by-scene rating system to help students keep track of the opera’s story and develop their own opinions about what they see and hear. This activity is the same for each opera, and it is intended to guide students toward a consistent set of objective observations while enriching their understanding of the art form as a whole.
Following the performance, the Post-Show Discussion will offer a roadmap for reviewing the Live in HD performance of Wozzeck. This guided discussion activity is designed to encourage careful, critical thinking about what students have seen and heard while also inspiring students to engage in further discussion and study.