9

Music
Quarter 4:
Week 1

Department of Education - MIMAROPA Region

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 9
MUSIC
Quarter IV – Week 1
7
Vocal Music of the Romantic Period:
Plot, Musical and Theatrical
Elements of an Opera
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CONTEXTUALIZED LEARNING ACTIVITY SHEETS

SCHOOLS DIVISION OF PUERTO PRINCESA CITY
Music – Grade 9
Contextualized Learning Activity Sheets (CLAS)
Quarter IV–Week 1: Vocal Music of Romantic Period:Plot, Musical and Theatrical
Elements of an Opera
First Edition, 2020

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 Lesson 1
Vocal Music of Romantic Period:Plot, Musical
and Theatrical Elements of an Opera

MELC: Narrates the plot, musical and theatrical elements of an Opera.

(U9OP-IVa-g-1) (Week 1)

Objectives: 1. Identify the musical and theatrical elements of an Opera

2. Discuss the musical and theatrical elements of Romantic Operas

Let’s Try
Directions: Read the questions below. Write the letter of the best answer on the line
provided before each number.
_____1. Which of the following is the basic vocal music quality of the Romantic period?
A. Emotional balance C. Romantic balance
B. Emotional subjectivity D. Romantic subjectivity

_____2. Which of the following means beautiful singing?

A. Bel Canto C. Sound
B. Head Voice D. Language

_____3. What is considered the highest female voice?

A. Alto C. Soprano
B. Contralto D. Tenor

_____4. What do you call the solo singing part that the public will remember best when
leaving the opera house?
A. Aria C. Recitative
B. Libretto D. Score

_____5. Which of the following are the texts of an opera?

A. Aria C. Recitative
B. Libretto D. Score

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 Let’s Explore and Discover
Singing can be a fun thing to do for those who know-how, but how about those who
don’t? In this CLAS module let us discuss some history and basics of singing during the
Romantic Period.
Unlocking of Difficulties

Embellishment - a
How do you express decorative detail or
your feelings? feature added to
something to make it
more attractive piece,
segment.
I can express my
feelings through
writing, painting,
dancing, singing or
acting.

VOCAL MUSIC OF THE ROMANTIC PERIOD 1820-1910

Vocal music is one of the best tools for expressing one’s feelings. This form of
expression became more evident during the Romantic period. Romanticism coincided with
the Industrial Revolution in Western Europe that brought about the rise of socialism and
capitalism. The Romantic Period’s basic quality is emotional subjectivity.
Composers explore feelings of grandiosity, intimacy, unpredictability, sadness,
rapture, and longing. Romantic vocal forms like art songs and operas were about fantasy,
supernatural, romance, and nature as a mirror of the human heart. Virtuoso performers
are not only instrumentalists but also singers. One singer sometimes sounds like several
characters by use of different vocal registers.
The parallelisms of music and literature were evident in almost all forms of vocal
music during the Romantic period. Composers interpret poems, mood, atmosphere, and
imagery into music.
Musical compositions such as the art song were written for solo voice and piano.
Like all program music, art song has its inspiration from poetry in this period.
• The mood is often set at the beginning with a piano introduction and concluded with
a piano postlude.
• MELODY: Long, lyrical melodies with irregular phrases. Extensive use of
chromaticism; vivid contrasts and has a variety of melodic ideas within one
movement.
• RHYTHM: Frequent changes in both tempo and time signature.
• TEXTURE: Homophonic
• TIMBRE: Great variety of tone color; woodwind and brass sections of the orchestra
increased; rich and colorful orchestration.

Vocal music in this period requires singers to perform a greater range of tone color,
dynamics, and pitch. Because of this, Opera became an important source of musical
expressions. The birth of the opera houses came. It was the place where all the arts
converged: not only music but poetry, painting, architecture, and dance as well.
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THEATRICAL ELEMENTS OF AN OPERA
ROMANTIC OPERA
Opera became increasingly popular during the Romantic period. Often, there are
operas with overtures, preludes, prologues, several acts, finales, and postludes. During
each Act, the story unfolds through the music that the singers sing. Sometimes there is
spoken dialogue without music. Different roles in Operas are created taking into account
different types of voices. Each role requires a different type of singer, not only able to sing
a given vocal range but also with certain voice characteristics, color and power. Most
dialogues are sung or in recitative style. Certain Aria or solo singing part is what the public
will remember best when leaving the opera house. Properly and well sung, a beautiful aria
can bring an audience to its feet and decide the fate of an entire opera.
Components of an Opera:
• Libretto - the texts of an opera. The librettist and the composer work closely
together to tell the story.
• Score - the book that the composer and librettist put together. The score has
all the musical notes, words, and ideas to help the performers tell the
story. Often, there are operas with overtures, preludes, prologues,
several acts, finales, and postludes.
• Recitative - declamatory singing, used in the prose parts and dialogue of opera.
Different roles in operas are created taking into account different types
of voices. Each role requires a different type of singer, not only able to
sing a given vocal range but also with certain voice characteristics,
color and power.
• Aria – an air or solo singing part that the public will remember best when
leaving the opera house. Properly and well sung, a beautiful aria can
bring an audience to its feet and decide the fate of an entire opera.

Voice Classification
It is also important to know the types of voices of singers. This will serve as a guide
for singers on their choice of songs and vocal quality expected of a singer or opera
character.
Male Voice:
 Tenor- highest male voice
 Baritone- Middle male voice, lies between Bass and Tenor voices.
It is the common male voice.
 Bass- lowest male voice
Female Voice:
1. Soprano- highest female voice
 Coloratura-highest soprano voice
 Lyric-bright and full sound
 Dramatic- darker full sound
 Mezzo-Soprano
-most common female voice;
-strong middle voice,
-tone is darker or deeper than the soprano
 Contralto- lowest female voice and most unique

Dynamics and Vocal Embellishments - were used to further affect the way singers sing.

Some musical terms are used like:

• A Capella - one or more singers performing without instrumental accompaniment.
• Cantabile - In a singing style
• Capo - Head, the beginning
• Coda - closing section appended to a movement or song.
• Dolce - sweetly
• Falsetto - a weaker and more airy voice usually in the higher pitch ranges.
• Glissando - sliding quickly between 2 notes/
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 • Passagio - parts of a singing voice where register transitions occur.
• Rubato - slight speeding up or slowing down of the tempo of a piece at the
discretion of the soloist.
• Tessitura - the most comfortable singing range of a singer.
• Vibrato - rapidly repeated slight pitch variation during a sustained note, to give a
richer & more varied sound.

Vocal Techniques
Training to sing for opera usually requires a long process of voice lessons or study.
It also requires a lengthy time of practice for you to master your voice. The list below shows
you the different aspects that you need to learn as you train for opera.
• Sound:
For opera, the performance is about the quality of sound that the singer
makes. Singing opera requires you to sing long phrases and to sing loud enough to be
heard over an orchestra in large halls.
• “Bel Canto” technique:
When singing opera, the focus of the performance is on the singing technique.
The Opera technique is called bel canto, which means beautiful singing. This is done by
singing with your mouth and throat wide open and used with the proper breath support
to project the voice through the entire hall.
• Language:
Opera singers often sing in Italian, French, German, or Russian. You don‟t
have to be fluent in all these languages, but you want to be familiar enough with them that
you can easily sing and sound like you are fluent in these languages.

Fundamentals of Singing:

A. Breathing
There are two sides of breathing-inhaling and exhaling- and both play an important
role in singing. Breathing is a natural biological function but you can control how you
breathe to develop your best singing voice. Learn how to expand your lung capacity, control
your exhalation, and release air without making breathing noises.

B. Controlling Tone Quality

The timbre of the voice describes its tone quality. Some singer‟s refer to “head” and
“chest” voices. Generally, the lower the pitch, the lower it resonates. The voice often
“breaks” and the tone quality changes on certain pitches. The key is to realize that the
registers are not a separate mechanism, just have different levels on a continuous scale.

Chest Voice
This part of our voice is the most easily developed and recognized because it is used
in everyday speech. It is termed chest voice because of the sound resonating and vibrating
in the chest cavity. Take a moment to put your hand on your chest and speak as if you are
in a conversation. Being the most natural and common register there is a tendency for
novice singers to take their chest voice too high. This will result in a yelling sound and will
cause vocal fatigue. A “changing of gears” is required to allow the voice to freely ascend
into higher singing.

Head Voice
For the voice to ascend into higher singing a “gear change” needs to occur. Your chest
voice will eventually change as you take the chest voice up. There will be a point where you
cannot sing any higher. This point is where you need to switch to your “head voice”. It is
termed head voice because the vibrating sensation moves from your chest cavity to the
cavities in the face and nose. It is a much thinner sound and feels lighter.
(Source: Mary Grace J Badiola, et al., Grade 9 Music and Arts- Learner’s Materials Pasig City:
Department of Education- Bureau of Learning Resources, 2014,112-118.)

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 Let’s Practice
Check-In
Directions: Identify if the statement is TRUE or FALSE. Put a check (/) in the Column of
your answer.
STATEMENT TRUE FALSE
1. Dynamics and vocal embellishment are musical element
during the Romantic Period.
2. Libretto is the text of an opera.

3. The Romantic Period’s basic quality is emotional subjectivity.

4. Different roles in operas are created without taking into

account different types of voices.
5. Vibrato is the rapidly repeated slight pitch variation during a
sustained note, to give a richer & more varied sound.

What do you think is the importance of learning the

information about the vocal music of the romantic
period?

Let’s Do More \

Tell Me
Directions: Match the musical elements in Column A with their descriptions in Column
B. Write the letter of the correct answer on the line provided before the number.
A B
_____1. falsetto A. highest male voice.
_____2. score B. one or more singers performing without
_____3. acapella instrumental accompaniment.
_____4. art song C. the book that the composer and librettist put
_____5. tenor together.
D. was written for solo voice and piano.
E. a weaker and more airy voice usually in the
higher pitch ranges.

How do the elements of vocal music in the Romantic Period differ from the Classical Era?
_______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________

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 Let’s Sum It Up
Directions: Fill in the blank with the correct word/s that will make each statement correct.
Choose your answer from the box below.

vocal Embellishments art song tone quality

harmonies emotional subjectivity bel canto

1. The Romantic Period’s basic quality is _______________________.

2. Musical compositions such as the _____________________was written for solo voice
and piano.
3. Dynamics and _____________________ were used to further affect the way singers sing.
4. Opera technique is called _____________________, which means beautiful singing.
5. The timbre of the voice describes its ___________________.

Let’s Assess
Directions: Read the questions below. Write the letter of the best answer on the line
provided before each number.
_____1. Which of the following means beautiful singing?
A. Bel Canto C. Sound
B. Head Voice D. Language

_____2. Which of the following is the basic vocal music quality of the Romantic period?
A. Emotional balance C. Romantic balance
B. Emotional subjectivity D. Romantic subjectivity

_____3. Which of the following are the texts of an opera?

A. Aria C. Recitative
B. Libretto D. Score

_____4. What do you call the solo singing part that the public will remember best when
leaving the opera house?
A. Aria C. Recitative
B. Libretto D. Score

_____5. What is considered the highest female voice?

A. Alto C. Soprano
B. Contralto D. Tenor

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 Answer Key

Let’s Try
1. B 2. A 3.C 4. A 5. B

Let’s Practice
1. True 2. True 3. True 4. False 5. True

Let’s Do More
1. E 2. C 3. B 4. D 5. A

Let’s Sum It Up
1. Emotional subjectivity 2. Art song 3. Vocal Embellishments
4. Bel Canto 5. Tone quality

Let’s Assess
1. A 2. B 3. B 4. A 5. C

Harmonies

References

Book

Badiola, Mary Grace J., Mary Ann C Vicencio, Danilo S. Duyan, Althea May B. Bongcawil,
Jenny C. Mendoza, Gail Josephine P. Bustillo, Ace Suaden B. Pambuan, and Lourdes
R. Siobal A Journey through Western Music and Arts Grade 9 Music and Arts-
Learner’s Materials, Pasig City: Department of Education- Bureau of Learning
Resources, 2014.
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