(cheerful piano music)
♪ You are the best you the world will see ♪
♪ Come along now and share you with me ♪
♪ Let's learn something new and share feelings too ♪
♪ Because these are the things to do to be the best you ♪
(cheery music)
- Hello friends, hello, possum!
- Hello, Auntie Lena.
Whatcha doing?
- Oh, well, I'm trying on my new opera gloves
to make sure they fit.
- What are they for?
They're so long.
- They're for the opera and they are very long.
They're a dressy addition to a formal or fancy outfit,
like the top hat that you wear for special occasions.
- Oh yeah, oh where are you going that's fancy?
- I'm going to the opera.
- So you're wearing your opera gloves to the opera.
What's an opera?
(Auntie Lena giggling)
- It's a story that's told through music.
There is no talking, only singing.
People dress up in costumes
and play pretend to tell a story.
- No talking, only singing.
Do they sing any stories that I know?
- Hmm...
Oh "A Snowy Day", I know you've read that story before.
- Oh yeah, Mama Possum read it to me at the library,
but there's no singing at the library.
You get shushed.
- You're right about that, Possum.
That's why operas are performed in a big room
with seats called a theater.
There has to be a lot of room
for the opera singers on the stage and the orchestra.
- Oh, we learned about orchestras in school.
Orchestras are a bunch of people,
playing a bunch of different instruments
all at the same time.
- That's right, Possum.
And orchestras play the music for the opera.
- Oh well, Auntie Lena, can kids go to the opera?
- Yes, kids can go to the opera
and they're even in the opera sometimes.
It's what a little girl named Lily learned when she went.
- And did she like it?
- Let's find out as we look, listen, and learn
with our friends backstage at the Seattle Opera
as Miss Jessica reads,
"Lily's First Trip to the Opera" by Dr. Christine Jobson.
(magical chime)
- Hi friends! - Hi friends!
I'm Miss Jessica.
- And I'm Jasmine.
- And we're here at the Seattle Opera.
- Costume Shop.
- And today we're going to be reading
"Lily's First Trip to the Opera"
written by Dr. Christine Jobson.
- [Jasmine] "Good morning Mommy,"
said Lily as she ran down the stairs.
"What's for breakfast?"
- [Miss Jessica] "Today we'll be having pancakes and fruit,"
said, Mommy.
- [Jasmine] "Perfect as long as I can have
a hot cup of Milo," said Lily.
"I'm bored, I wish we can go on an adventure."
- [Miss Jessica] "Well, you're in luck
because I have an exciting evening planned for you."
Mommy always had special surprises planned for her daughter.
- [Jasmine] "Really, Mommy?
Yay, what are we going to do?"
- [Miss Jessica] "Tonight when your father comes home,
we will spend an evening at the opera."
- [Jasmine] "At the opera?
Oh no, boring squealed Lily as she slumped in her chair.
I don't wanna go to the opera, the opera is for old people.
Please don't make me go.
Please, Mommy no!"
Lily was not happy.
- [Miss Jessica] "You're going, that's final
and you're going to like it,"
said Mommy with a twinkle in her eye.
- [Jasmine] "Well, I'm not going to like it,"
huffed Lily.
- [Miss Jessica] "You think you won't like the opera
because you don't know anything about it.
Well, I've got just the thing to help with that.
Today I'm going to teach you all about the opera,
including my favorite opera singer
and one of the most beloved operas in history.
An opera is an exciting story told through music,
acting, scenery, dancing, and costumes.
Operas often include soloists, a chorus, a conductor,
and an orchestra," said Mommy.
"My favorite opera singer is a woman named Leontyne Price.
She is one of the most beloved
and talented American opera singers in history.
Her golden voice is like no other said Mommy.
I have a CD that includes a recording
of Leontyne Price singing an aria from 'La Bohème'."
- [Jasmine] "La bo-what," asked Lily.
- [Miss Jessica] "'La Bohème', one of the most
popular operas of all time.
Unfortunately, one of the main characters,
Mimi gets sick and passes away
while surrounded by friends and loved ones."
- [Jasmine] "Like Grandma?
We were there when grandma passed away last year."
- [Miss Jessica] "That's right just like that.
Tonight we will see 'La Bohème'.
In act two, there's a chorus of children," said Mommy.
- [Jasmine] "Wow, children singing opera too?"
Questioned Lily.
- [Miss Jessica] "Absolutely,
this opera features singers of all ages,"
replied Mommy with a grin.
"The CD is on my bookshelf.
Let's grab it so that we can listen
to Leontyne Price's glorious voice now said Mommy.
Mommy pulled out an old CD
with a beautiful picture on the front.
This is Leontyne Price,
one of the greatest opera singers in history."
Mommy gently pulled Lily onto her lap,
Lily listened carefully.
As Lily held the Leontyne Price CD close to her chest.
She wondered what adventures
would be waiting for her at the Opera House.
"Go and pick out your prettiest dress," said Mommy.
"We will wear our best outfits for our trip to the opera."
By this time, Lily was excited.
Mom, dad and Lily arrived at the Opera House early
and found their seats.
The orchestra was already warming up in the pit.
Soon after the conductor appeared
and directed the instrumentalist to begin.
Lily watched with wonder as she observed people
of all shapes, sizes, ages, colors, and ethnicities perform.
They were even singing in another language.
At the end of the opera, Lily jumped to her feet
and gave a standing ovation.
Not only was she excited about her first trip to the opera,
but she also began to dream about what it would be like
if she could become an opera singer one day.
- [Jasmine] Lily turned to her mother and exclaimed.
"Thanks Mommy!
Thank you for taking me to the opera!"
- Do you remember your first trip to the opera?
- Yes, I remember going to "Porgy and Bess",
I liked it so much that I was even in an opera.
- That's amazing and I am so proud of you.
Let's say goodbye to our friends.
- Bye friends. - Bye friends.
- Oh, Lily sounds like me.
She didn't think she wanted to try something new
but she did it anyway and she liked it.
I do that a lot.
- Mm hmm Lily looked, listened, and learned.
Now we all know that kids can go to the opera
and that they can also be in the opera.
- Oh Auntie Lena, can I go with you
to the opera sometime?
- You sure can, you'd really like it.
There's so much to experience.
You'd love the music and seeing the fun
and colorful costumes.
- Costumes like when I was a witch on Halloween?
- Yes, the opera singers dress up
and pretend to be someone else.
- Oh, I love playing dress up.
- I like playing dress up too.
That's why I like wearing my opera gloves.
I feel so elegant.
- Oh, can we play dress up today?
- We sure can.
Let's go to the Seattle Opera Costume Shop
and see what Miss Bel and our friends are trying on.
- Hi friends.
Hi Miss Bell.
- Hi Jasmine, welcome to my magic closet.
- I'm here for my costume fitting.
- I picked out a bunch for you.
Would you like to pick a couple?
- Yeah.
- Okay, let's do it.
We have a crocodile, we have a colorful ball costume.
We have a clown, and we have this beautiful dress.
Which one would you like?
- This one looks nice.
- Do you like that? - Yeah.
- Okay, what else?
This one also looks pretty.
- You wanna give it a try?
- Yeah.
- Okay, are you ready to go?
Yeah, let's do it.
- How do I look Miss Bel?
- Oh my goodness, Jasmine, you look amazing.
You're so brilliant and shiny.
- Thank you.
- What does that make you feel like?
- I feel like frosting on a cupcake.
- You are the frosting on the cupcake.
- Thank you.
What am I wearing?
You are wearing a costume from the Rootabaga Country Opera
which is the land of the balloons.
And so the kids go to the land of the balloons,
and then after that they go
to the land of the clowns
and then they get to Rootabaga Country.
Are you ready for your next costume?
- Yeah. - Let's do it.
- How do I look Miss Bel?
- Oh my goodness! You look so cute so polka-dotty.
- Thank you.
- What does that make you feel like?
- It me feel like cotton candy.
- Oh, you are cotton candy.
And do you know who you are, do you remember?
- No.
- You are the clown and you guys are going
to the land of the clown,
and then to the land of the balloons,
and then you arrive to the Rootabaga Country.
- Oh, that's so cool.
- Isn't that cool?
- Yeah, I like your hat.
- I like to dress up too, every day.
Is that time to say goodbye to our friends?
- I think so. - Okay.
- Bye friends. - Bye friends.
- [Possu] It's time for Movement Minute.
(Possum bouncing)
- Hi friends, welcome.
My name is Coach Catherine.
Today I'm here to show you guys a plié squat.
So step one for plié squat
is to turn your toes out the sides of the room.
Step number two, can place your hands on your hips
if you would like.
Then step three, is to bend your knees,
go down low and you want,
you can always add on a little extra hand movement
going all the way up and slowly, slowly coming down
and you're just gonna repeat it
as many times as you would like.
So for this plié squat, you wanna get down low,
as low as you can, maybe down to a 90 degree bend.
Get low and slowly press through your feet,
press through the soles of your feet
and even into the heels of your feet.
You can use your hands to lift up
and slowly bend your knees all the way down.
And there you have it, that's our movement minute for today.
Thank you so much, friends for joining me, bye.
(cheerful music)
(Possum laughs)
- Did you hear about the big fame pickle?
He was a big dill.
- Knock, knock.
Who's there?
Orange.
Orange, who?
Orange you gonna let me in the door.
- What do you do to make a tissue dance?
Put a little boogie in it.
- Playing dress up and trying on costumes is so much fun.
I love pretending to be an orchestra conductor.
(both laughing)
- And in my opera gloves and tiara, I feel like a queen.
- Oh, and you look like a queen.
Did you play dress up as a kid Auntie Lena?
- I sure did.
My favorite costumes were an astronaut and Tina Turner.
- Oh who's Tina Turner?
- Oh she's the queen of rock and roll music.
She sings.
♪ Rolling, rolling, rolling ♪
Oh, my voice is cracking.
Oh you know I can sing a little bit better
when I warm up my voice.
- Oh warm up your voice?
- Yes, singers warm up the muscles in their throat
to prepare for a show.
- Oh, just like I do when I play soccer.
We have to warm up before the game
so we don't hurt ourselves.
- Right and just like soccer players
have to warm up their legs,
opera singers have to warm up their voices.
Hey possum, do you wanna try one more new thing today?
- You know I do.
- Oh, goodie, let's join Miss Gemma at the Seattle Opera
and learn how to do vocal warmups.
- Hi friends, my name is Miss Gemma
and I'm here at Seattle Opera.
Today we are going to be learning about Solfege.
What's Solfege?
Well, you know how you learn your ABCs
when you're starting to read,
well, Solfege is like the ABCs for music.
Each Solfege syllable has a hand signal and name,
we are going to learn all seven of them.
There's not 26 like our regular alphabet just seven,
and at the end they repeat.
They go do, re, mi, fa, sol, la, ti,
and then back to do.
They go like this.
♪ Do ♪
Can you sing that with me?
♪ Do ♪
Next comes re, we're heading up the scale,
so our hands tilt up.
♪ Re ♪
♪ Do, re ♪
Next comes mi, it's a very strong note in the scale
so it gets a nice sturdy hand signal.
♪ Do, re, mi ♪
After me comes fa.
It's a weaker note in the scale so it gets a thumbs down,
but that doesn't mean it's a bad note,
that's just the hand signal.
♪ Do, re, mi, fa ♪
Next comes sol, sol looks like this.
♪ Do, re, mi, fa, sol ♪
After so comes la, la means we're almost to the top,
and so our wrists reach up.
♪ Do, re, mi, fa, sol, la ♪
Last is ti, ti is reaching up to the top so we point up.
♪ Do, re, mi, fa, sol, la, ti ♪
And then we repeat at do at the top.
Let's see if we can do all the Solfege syllables together
with their hand signals.
♪ Do, re, mi ♪
♪ Fa, sol, la ♪
♪ Ti, do ♪
Well done, we can also sing them very softly.
The word for quiet in music is piano.
Can you sing your Solfege syllables
in your most piano voice?
♪ Do, re, mi ♪
♪ Fa, sol, la ♪
♪ Ti, do ♪
Well done!
Opera singers also sing very loudly,
the word for loud in opera is forte.
Can you sing your Solfege syllables
in your most forte opera voice?
♪ Do, re, mi ♪
♪ Fa, sol, la ♪
♪ Ti, do ♪
How did it feel to use your forte opera singer?
Voice opera singers use Solfege syllables
to help them learn their music.
Keep practicing your Solfege syllables and your opera voice.
And someday you could be an opera singer too.
Bye friends, see you at the opera soon.
♪ La la la la la la la ♪
♪ I'm doing a vocal warmup ♪
- Are you thinking about becoming an opera singer like Lily?
- Nah, I just like singing.
♪ La la la la la la la ♪
(Auntie Lena laughs)
- Well, it sounds like you really enjoyed
learning about the opera today.
- Oh I did and playing dress up was so much fun.
I can pretend to be so many different people.
- You sound like an actor in the making.
- Well, I'm not sure what I wanna be
when I grow up, Auntie Lina.
- Oh, I was just teasing you possum.
You have lots of time to think about
what you wanna be when you grow up
and while you're doing it, just keep trying new things.
- Oh, like the opera.
Oh, thank you for saying you'll take me to see one.
- You're welcome, Possum.
And friends, thank you for taking the time
to look, listen, and learn with us today.
Remember, you are the best you
that the world won't ever see.
- Bye for now.
(cheery music)
- [Auntie Lena] Please stay tuned after the credits
for Auntie Lena's Parent Tip
(bright music)
(cheery music continues)
- [Announcer] Look, Listen, and Learn is brought to you
in part by Thistle Theater.
Thistle Theater is a local
professional puppet theater for families.
We feature an ancient Japanese style
of puppetry called Tabletop Bunraku.
Learn more at thistletheater.org.
(cheery music)
- Just try it, please?
Trying new things is a constant topic with early learners
and like Lily in today's story,
our early learners are always a hundred percent sure about
what they will and won't try, like, go, do, or eat.
And it's at this intersection of the adult pleading,
"Baby, won't you please?"
And the child, "Please don't make me."
That magic can happen.
As caring adults, we can recognize, identify,
and name the emotions our little ones may be experiencing
in their, please don't make me moments.
When we help them to name those feelings,
we have the opportunity to transform the,
I don't want to's into, okay and I'll try.
This is the magic moment
where we help our early learners
work to move from a fixed mindset to a growth mindset
and help them to understand the benefits
of trying new things to be the best that they can be.