Bringing the joy of opera to elementary students

While walking through Levy-Lakeside Elementary School in Merrick in the early morning, you might be surprised to hear opera music flowing through the halls, emanating from the Cubs’ Cave, in the school’s gymnasium.

And, if you step into the Cubs’ Cave and hear the overpowering sound of Giacomo Puccini’s “Madama Butterfly” echoing off the walls, you might think you had stepped into a bygone era. But it’s still 2011, and it’s opera class at Levy-Lakeside.

Opera class has been under way at Levy-Lakeside for the past six years. The class, which is funded by the Levy-Lakeside PTA, takes place on select mornings before school, and is only open to sixth-graders. Peggy Weinstein, who was the music teacher at Levy-Lakeside for 14 years, teaches the class.

“Opera combines everything,” said Weinstein. “Music, dance, theater, orchestra. It’s the total musical experience.”

Although Weinstein said she had always included opera in her teaching, she wished to create a class devoted solely to opera following her retirement as a music teacher in 2004.

About 45 sixth-grade students take part in the six-session class. In December, the class will travel to the Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center in Manhattan to see a live opera.

“[The children] are exposed to the best of the best in the greatest opera house in the world,” said Weinstein.

During the class, Weinstein plays operas and then dissects the pieces with her students. She also teaches them about opera’s various themes and voices, as well as its terms, like “recitative” and “aria.”

“I’ve had a very positive experience,” said Weinstein. “In the trips to the opera house, the Lakeside students have been so well behaved. And it’s because they know what’s going on and they know what opera is.”

Weinstein has clearly been able to instill an appreciation for the age-old art in the sixth-graders. “You get to hear all the music you don’t really get to listen to in everyday life, and you get to learn what the play is about and what the music actually means,” said Levy-Lakeside student Katrina Shapiro.

“You get to watch people perform, and not in the usual place you hear them sing,” said sixth-grader Kayla Braccio. “And it’s in a different language.”