Reflection 1 – Written by Eva.CS and Aliye.HT
On the 18th of June, we had Oliver the opera singer come in for an Incursion. Oliver was preparing us for an Opera show that we will be having in a few weeks. He taught us a song that we would sing after the performance that goes like this: “On behalf of Princes Hill, thankyou for your vocal skill, then one day,come what may, how we hope to see you again!” He showed us some of the characters and costumes that we would see in the performance. The performance is called ‘Barber of Seville’.
He also taught us about how the performers need to get changed quickly, because you don’t want to keep the audience waiting! He chose two people, Gertrude and Rudi. Gertrude was dressed up as a Kangaroo at first, then she had a limit of 20 seconds to change into a pixie costume. She was very close, but she did it in 21 seconds. Rudi was dressed up as a Koala at first, but then had 15 seconds to change into a Haiwian woman with a dress and flower necklace and hat.
Last of all, he told us about breaking glass with a lovely voice. First, he tried by himself, but he failed so we joined in. We also failed, so we practiced a tiny bit more. Sadly, it was time to go, but still we would have good memories and it was very fun.
Reflection 2 – Written By Morgan.J and Charlotte.S
Also on the Opera Incursion Oliver taught us about the Barber of Seville(the Opera we are going to see) and who are the actors and a little bit about the story. Some of the story was: In the Barber of Seville a girl called Roseina. Roseina was a very nice girl but Roseina’s parents died and she was sent to live with her Aunty. Her Aunty was called Aunty Bartola. Aunty Bartola didn’t like Roseina so she didn’t let Roseina go outside or do many fun things but the most thing Aunty Bartola didn’t want Roseina to do was get a boyfriend but this boy called Count Albivina wants to meet Roseina but Aunty Bartola won’t let him, but then Count Albivina met a boy called Figarino. That’s all he told us but we are all excited for the Opera.
At the incursion Oliver told us about how if you were in the opera and you were playing two roles
You only had 20 seconds to change costume and makeup. Marni and Fynn (two people from our class) Fynn had a go first. He had 20 seconds to go from a koala to a hwian lady and he did it. Marni han 15 seconds to go from a Kangaroo to a fairy but unfortunately Marni went over 1 second.
If you read the last paragraph then you already know about the costumes but in this paragraph we’ll tell you about where and how the Opera sings. Firstly the Opera singers have sung like everywhere. They have sung at basketball courts, Classrooms and at Opera houses. The Opera that we are going to see have been to lots of different places. The Opera we’re going to see has been around for over 200 years and the time has been changed from 3 hours to 45 minutes.
Secondly the opera singers had to be soft but they had to reach all around the theater without microphones!
Oliver also told us about how in the opera they spend tens of thousands of dollars on props, sets and costumes and the sets looked so real that when you walked in you would think they were actually real.