Let’s welcome aliens!... Diversity is a value!

Interdisciplinary and Multidisciplinary project, in which Italian Literature, English, Art, Music and Musical Instruments interacted with the aim to dramatize an opera, reviewed from an inclusive perspective.

by GRAZIA BARILLA'
    School sections
    • Lower secondary school
    Educational subjects
    • Instrumental practice
    • Aural skills (Ear training)
    • Composition
    • Theatre/music
    • Music and technologies

Let’s welcome aliens!... Diversity is a value!

The educational proposal originated from the twofold need to make the students experience, through music, the concept of reception and enhancement of who is different, and to help them overcome the idea of considering the world of classical music as an Alien, since it is often considered too difficult to understand and distant from the youngsters’ reality. Having to organize a path based on listening to music, the opera chosen gave the possibility to narrate how to receive those who are different from us by creating an alternative ending. Gian Carlo Menotti’s opera “Help,help the Globolinks!” was written to teach children the beauty of music produced with acoustic instruments. It talks about aliens that arrive on the earth and are dangerous for mankind. The minimum contact with them, transforms human beings into aliens, after losing the ability to speak. Menotti’s message is subtle, and connects the advent of electronics to the crisis of language and the ability to communicate. In order to capture the students’ attention, the opera was showed in its original language, subsequently developing the narrative aspect. The following translation of the libretto into Italian allowed to analyze the plot of the opera in depth. The students were encouraged to imagine a new perspective compared to the original opera, considering the aliens as possible collaborators of human beings. Owing to their knowledge, the aliens can improve life on the earth. These considerations spurred the desire to change the end of the opera, creating a happy ending. According to the students, by integrating their electronic sounds in the world of acoustic music, the aliens offer a wider range of sounds and timbre possibilities to musical instruments, arousing greater emotions. The path allows to integrate other pieces of knowledge and artistic practices, developing critical thinking and analysis skills, through cooperative learning, instrumental practice, development of multimedia contents and creative writing: all ingredients necessary to keep the students’ attention and involvement high.

Work tools

This path required the use of various tools. First of all, it was fundamental to have a MULTIMEDIA IWB in order to view the video of the original opera, listening to it in German with Italian subtitles. The activities related to the analysis of the scores and the writing of parts of the melodies allowed the students to become familiar with open source music processing programs such as MUSESCORE, while the search for a different sonorous production system between acoustic and electronic instruments allowed them to learn how to use the audio editing program AUDACITY. In order to view the multimedia products and carry out some research activities and cooperative learning, it was necessary to have Internet connection and a guided surfing of the WEB. It was also necessary to have spaces suitable for ARTISTIC LABORATORY activities - planning and realization of posters -, an ACTING LABORATORY for the rehearsals of expressive reading and memorization, the GREAT HALL for the rehearsals of ENSEMBLE MUSIC and the performance of pieces with various MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS: violins, oboes, recorders, guitars, pianos, simple percussion instruments.

Educational purposes

The skills, goals and training objectives selected by the teacher for this experience are shown below.

Competences
    Listening
    • Sound perception
    • Interpretation
    • Analysis
    • Comprehension
    Production
    • Execution
    • Composition
    Reading and Writing
    • Use of unconventional analogic music notation
    • Use of conventional analogic music notation
GOALS FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF COMPETENCES [...]
    Lower secondary school
    Listening
    • Understands and evaluates events, materials, and musical works recognising their meanings, also in relation to his/her own musical experience and the different historical/sociological context.
    Production
    • Actively participating in music experiences through the execution and the interpretation of vocal and instrumental music pieces belonging to different genres and cultures.
    • Capacity to conceive and create music and multimedia messages, also though improvisation or collective elaboration processes, using also IT tools, in critical confrontation with models belonging to the musical heritage
    Reading and Writing
    • Using different notation systems functional to reading, analysis and reproduction of pieces of music
    • Integrating one’s own music experience with other knowledge and practices using appropriate codes and codification systems
Educational targets

The students learned how to:

- recognize the social functions of music, even in relation to other languages
- perform instrumental, monodic and polyphonic pieces, of different genres and styles, both individually and in group
- recognize musical styles and form during the listening
- participate in group performances with melodies and harmonies performed with various instruments proposing personal solutions with regard to the structure of the performance
- grasp and reformulate messages (emotions, situations, characters, historical periods), listening to suitable pieces proposed by the teacher
- find and choose digital contents on the Internet, proving to understand the various multimedia linguistic messages and to be able to produce personal ones
- use music programs and the combined use of different media, accessing the music resources present on the Internet
- manage their roles, the rules and relationships within a working group, steering the development of their music identity

Community

Commenti inseriti
Slide "Let’s welcome aliens!... Diversity is a value!"
Presentazione della buona pratica Download
Materiali finalizzati all'azione didattica
Testi poetici scena prima e seconda dalla trama dell'opera di G.C. Menotti: Help help the Globolinks Download
Sceneggiatura delle scene 3 e 4 di Globolinks Download
Vita e opere di G.C. Menotti Download
Partitura della Melodia suonata dal violino solista di Emily Download
Spartito della Marcia Dei Globolinks di G.C. Menotti Download
Manoscritto Melodia Emily e marcetta finale Download
Immagini Audacity e Musescore Download
UdA e Compito autentico Download