LAYTON -- Several Top of Utah teachers have turned to a program sponsored by the Utah Festival Opera and Musical Theater Company to encourage their students to write and compose their own operas.
Ruth Ann Miller, a fifth-grade teacher at King Elementary School in Layton, has had each of her classes in the past eight years participate.
"They've crowded our curriculum with so many other things, we don't have time for fluffy fun things," Miller said. "If I didn't do this, we wouldn't do anything fun."
Fun was not exactly what Karson Owen, one of her fifth-grade students, thought of when he found out they would be putting together an opera.
"I thought it was going to be boring, but now it is fun, because I get to do rap too," said Owen, who along with his classmates composed an opera about a group of bees and squirrels that face off in a rap contest.
Who knew opera could include a few rap numbers?
But that was exactly what the class had in mind when they came up with the plot and melodies at the beginning of the school year. Once they had their ideas together, Nancy Griffin, a professional musician mentor from the Utah Festival Opera and Musical Theater Company, came and listened to them before she went home and began the painstaking process of composing music for the entire opera, using the melodies and words the class gave her.
That's right; aside from composing the professional score, the opera is done entirely by the students, including the sets and costumes.
Teachers participating in the program -- 162 of them across the state of Utah -- are told to stay out of the way, allowing the students room to blossom creatively.
Griffin admits they do not have the time necessary to teach music theory, but she is always surprised at how well the students come up with simple melodies on their own.
"Our program is not to make singers out of these children, but to give them the opportunity to be creative, cooperate with each other and learn how to tell a story," Griffin said. "It's the process of doing the opera that is more important, not the product."
Griffin points out that if you ask a young student to recite a story word for word for 10 minutes, very few would be able to accomplish such a feat. However, when you set the words to music, all of the children performing will know every single word.
Jordyn Fry, another student, was excited to see everything come together.
"It's not like one of those boring operas that people don't want to sit through," Fry said. "It's fun, and everybody gets to do something."
In years of working on these student-created operas, Miller has seen many positives come from the process.
"Kids who are usually shy, shine on stage," Miller said. "Kids who can't get along with anybody finally pull it together and get along with the group for the first time. This year, I have some actors, so this has given them an outlet."
Because teachers have seen the value of the program in their classrooms and have begun to spread the word with other teachers, the program has grown since starting in 1997 with one class in Logan.
Each of the school districts in the Top of Utah has several classes participating this year. The program is free, thanks to private donations and funding from the Legislature.
"We are very blessed in this state as we are one of the only states where the Legislature recognizes the value professional organizations can have in the schools," said Susan Ames, education director for the Utah Festival Opera and Musical Theater Company.
The organization has seen some cutbacks in recent years. However, it is determined to keep the program going in schools across the state of Utah.
For more information, visit http://www.operabychildren.org.
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