Supporting Students during the Live in HD Transmission
Thanks to print and audio recording, much about opera can be enjoyed long before a performance. But performance itself remains an incomparable embarrassment of riches—sound and images, pageantry and technology, drama, skill, and craft. Performance Activities are designed to help students look at different aspects of the experience, consider creative choices that have been made, and sharpen their own critical faculties.
Each Performance Activity incorporates a reproducible activity sheet. You should go over the sheets with students before the transmission, so they’ll know what to look for during the opera. Students should bring the activity sheets to the transmission for filling out during intermission or after the final curtain, based on what they’ve seen and heard.
My Highs & Lows
The basic activity sheet is called My Highs & Lows. It includes a ratings matrix with which students can express their critiques, a time-tested prompt for careful thinking. It is intended not only to help students articulate and express their opinions, but to support comparison and contrast, enriching understanding of the art form as a whole.
What You Don't See
For Tosca, the other activity sheet (What You Don’t See) prompts students to listen for offstage sounds during The Met: Live in HD presentation.
Both Performance Activities can be found here.