For this research, I have chosen to observe the Butler Opera Ensemble working during one semester. The ensemble is composed of undergraduate students, freshmen to seniors. The challenge of this class was to learn and perform the short opera “Cinderella” by the French composer Isabelle Aboulker. I am not totally foreign to the project, since I worked on translating the narrative part of the work. Being an opera singer myself, the study was a major personal interest and I hope that I will, through this analysis, make it interesting to the reader too.
The data was captured on video every Tuesday of the Fall 2009 semester. The musical rehearsals took place around the piano and were quite static, therefore rather easy to capture. On the other hand, I had difficulty getting a general picture of the staging classes: since the director was also the conductor, he tended to face the “stage,” while the students were facing him, making it difficult for me to record the expressions of both the teacher and the students. I finally adopted a lateral position.
The students accepted my presence without shyness. I knew most of the singers since I have been involved with the music school on several occasions. Several of them had already been filmed by me during a summer program and were familiar with the co-presence of the camera and me. Last but not least, the professor teaching the class is my husband, which I am almost certain, created a trusting relationship.
One of the necessities of this class appears to keep, as much as possible, the musical or dramatic flow going. Breaks and lengthy verbal explanations/corrections are avoided. Nevertheless the teaching is very intense and the information is conveyed by means other than language. The communicative process relies on the use of multimodal interaction. Gaze, gestures, voice pitch and loudness, body orientation are essential tools to the professor. Short utterances are also used. In order to be non-disruptive, these utterances require the complicity of the pianist and the members of the class who need to keep the music/drama flowing. Two preconditions to the efficiency of this multimodal communication are the awareness of the necessity of keeping the music going and the constant monitoring of the teacher.
This class is dedicated to initiating the young singers to the rituals of the profession of ‘opera singer.’ Staging an opera at the professional level involves the joint activity of numerous participants: singers, orchestra musicians, busy orchestra conductors, stage technicians (lights, scenery...), stage directors and their assistants. Because of multiple agendas and because of the cost of such a project, time is crucial and precious. Singers must be ready and aware of the necessity to get things done, which in this case can be translated as to keep the music and the drama flowing. Generating this awareness is one of the objectives of the class.