MEDIATHEK

The Children’s Opera “Dreams” (Kodomo Opera “Yume”) was made, written, and performed by students of Kiyoku Elementary School in 2014 in Japan. 130 students between 9 and 12 years old participated, 8% of them handicapped children. Our first aim was performing the world premiere of a contemporary opera, written specially for the school. No ready-made opera, no musical, but an original work with noises, improvisations and its own story. The second aim was to have all children, who have had no previous musical training, participate in the opera project. The third aim was to have training and rehearsals take place during the normal classes at the school. It all began with a homework assignment over summer vacation. The students had to write down their dreams, starting with “ I dreamed yesterday night” The composer, Mayako Kubo, choired 7 dreams from over 130 dream stories and made 7 scenes for songs and two small orchestras. Index: Introduction – 1st Dream: As I awoke, I was a flying fish. I couldn’t get up. 2nd : I saw a rainbow. When I touched it, it went out. 3rd : My lovely robots. Suddenly they stopped. As I changed batteries, they exploded. 4th : At the picnic I found a 50-yen coin in the water bottle of my grandma. 5th : At my favorite summer festival many sweets and apples were flying in the sky and came raining down. 6th : The butterfly catching shining, huge yellow lights. 7th : I dreamed of getting on a spaceship. Many friends of mine were angry when I said goodbye. The project took three months. There were two groups, 9 to 10 years old and 11 to 12 years old, with two hours a week of lessons for each group. It consisted of three periods: 1) Selfdiscovery. What can I do? 2) Invention into opera. What is opera? In what role can I participate? 3) Opera rehearsal. How can I move on stage together as a team? The Project had three teams: 1) Lead artistic team, 6 persons; 2) 6 Teachers; 3) 15 Helpers. The students attended classes by three types of artistic leaders: dance, musical, and theatrical performance. After 4 weeks the 130 students had a chance to choose their roles themselves: dancing and singing, playing music instruments, backstage, design & setting, and documentary & listener's guide. The composer rewrote the music frequently to match the skill of the students. Simultaneously the students made the stage settings in their classrooms during art class. This project was the first children's opera in Japan. We received a lot of praise.