more questions for your perusal

Maddy’s & Fabiola’s
Questions & Answers
Why does the Queen of Night, Pamina’s mother, ask Pamina to kill Sarastro, the King of  Light?
Answer: The Queen of Night asks this of her, because, as the Queen of Night, she thinks that light is dangerous or evil. As for Pamina, she knows that to kill is wrong, but wants to obey her mother. Sarastro assures her that the reason for her kidnapping is for her safety, saving her from her mother.   

 2. Why does Tamino remain silent even though Pamina arrives?
Answer: Tamino remains silent because he is under a vow, which Pamina does not understands, and is heartbroken, which she states her the song “Now my heart is filled with sadness.” He keeps his silence, also, because he is worried about Pamina’s safety, and does not want to do anything that might put her in danger.


3. Why does the Queen of Night think she has the right to try to kill, Sarastro, the King of Light?
Answer: The play is set in a fantasy world and time, which is a land between sun and moon. As in most fairytale stories, there is always a good and evil. The evil will think the good is weak and pathetic, which will make them think they can take them on (the good), finish them off and rule the land. As she is the Queen of Night, she thinks of the same, and asks Pamina to kill the King of Light. 


4.  Who’s the play about?
Answer: You might be saying that the play is about Pamina, or maybe about Tamino or the Queen of Night or Sarastro, but really, the play is about good and evil, and Pamina is the gap between those two. Pamina is the daughter of the Queen of Night, but is kidnapped by the King of Light, and her mother sends Tamino to rescue her. Sarastro, the King of Light, assures Pamina that he is trying to save her from her mother. Then her mother asks her to kill Sarastro, but Pamina knows that killing is wrong, even though she wants to be loyal to her mother. Pamina is the only thing between her mother and Sarastro. So, basically, the play is about Pamina because she is the daughter of the Queen of Night and she is asked to kill the good guy, but wants to obey her mother. She needs to make the right decision for the plot to turn out right.


5. What did Papageno do after he gives up on the initiation? 
Answer: Papageno broke the vow that he and Tamino made by drinking water. After that he gave up on the whole idea about the initiation and longed for a wife instead. He settles for the old lady and when he says he’s going to be faithful to her a young and beautiful Papagena appears but disappears immediately. He tries to hang himself but is saved by three spirits and they remind him that if he rings the bells he will be happy. He rings the bells and Papagena appears and in the song “Pa-pa-pa-papageno!” they start family plans. 


         6. Why does the Queen of the Night and her
three ladies, and Monostatos attack the temple but fall into a hole and disappear?
Answer: You might think because she wanted the girl to kill her but the true statement is that the lady wanted the girl into her own hands that she can have the power so she could control It. 




7. Why does Monostatos
tries to kiss the sleeping Pamina but all of a sudden the Queen of the Night appears?
Answer: Why the Queen walked in is because in the story she was coming to check on Pamina but then she sees that Pamina was trying to get kissed by  Monostatos.


8. Why does Papageno tries to hang himself on a tree but is saved by the three spirits, who remind him that if
he uses his magic bells he will find true happiness?
Answer: Why he wanted to hang himself is because he wanted to
commit suicide and why the three spirits was actually trying to save him and remind him that if
he uses his magic bells he will find true happiness.


9.Why did  the ladies give a magic flute to
Tamino?
Answer: The ladies give a magic flute to
Tamino because in the text is says, “ The ladies give a magic flute to
Tamino and silver bells to Papageno to ensure their safety on the journey and appoint three
spirits to guide them (Quintet: “Hm! hm! hm! hm!”). And so that shows the answer to my question.


 10. Why did Tamino want to know who killed the creature
Answer: It says in the texted that He boasts to Tamino that it was he who killed the creature.
The ladies return to give Tamino a portrait of the queen’s daughter, Pamina, who they say has
been enslaved by the evil Sarastro.

How do you teach people to ask profound questions?

I have been trying to teach my students to ask profound questions for several years.  I have studied how to do this, and I have worked on asking my students to think about asking questions that could not be answered in one word.  This does not mean that students find this easy, or even worthwhile to do.  I gave this group many days to complete their questions about The Magic Flute, and here they are today, most of whom did not even start these questions.  I am giving them today to work on them, even though I gave them a week of tlts to complete them last week, or at home, or at any other time, ..

so I was losing it that day, and now the world is redeemed.  Read these amazing examples of questions created and answered by some students.

Q: Why didn’t Tamino break his vow of silence when he meets up with Pamina, the woman he loves?
A: He is determined to be accepted into the brotherhood, even if it means that Pamina becomes upset with him. He values his loyalty to the brotherhood, and will complete the trails, even if it means breaking Pamina’s heart.

Q: Why do Papageno’s bells grant him true happiness? How does this relate to Mozart?
A: Papageno’s bells give him true happiness because the bells play music. This relates to Mozart and his life because one of the only things that could bring him happiness was music.

Q: Why does Papageno break his vows almost immediately?
A: Papageno is more of a care-fee, “go with the flow” person. If he prefers to drink a glass of water, he will. He isn’t as loyal to the brotherhood as Tamino.

Q: What could be a reason that the spirits are incorporated into the story?
A: It is known that Mozart was scared of the paranormal. In his last years, he wrote funeral music that was requested by a man he thought was a ghost. This could tie into the part near the end, where the ghosts tell Papageno to play his bells and make music.

Q: Who is Tamino?
A: Tamino is a prince, who is saved by the three lady servants of the Queen of the Night. Once he is shown
A picture of Pamina, he falls in love. He eventually helps defeat the Queen on the Night.

Q: Why did Pamina refuse to follow the Queen of the Night’s -her mother- orders to kill Sarastro?
A: Although Pamina loves her mother and would obey her, she knows that murder is wrong, and those kind of morals that could affect someone’s life so dearly like that come before her obedience to her mother. I believe when the Queen of the Night asked her to do this and she refused, it made her see how evil her mother could be.

Time Signatures

It is so interesting how little my sixth graders know about time signatures.  If you ask a random selected group of sixth grade general music students, what does the top number mean in 4/4 time, you will usually get the right answer:  It means there are four beats in every measure.  If you ask a random selected group of these students what the bottom number means in 4/4 time, you will get several answers, almost none of them will be correct!  They will say it means there are four measures on every line, they will say there are four beat measures, they will say each measure has four notes in it..none of these are even close to being correct. 

Therefore, I have taken it upon myself to make sure that before the year is over, these sixth graders will be able to explain what the bottom number means in 4/4 or 2/2 or 6/8 time.  My first plan of action has worked quite well.  One of the reasons they don't know what the bottom number means is that the 4 is always on the bottom, they never have noticed any other number there.  I will show them now what it means to have a 2 or a 6 on the bottom. 

When they first witness the 2 on the bottom, it is really playing with their heads.  The way you count it is different than they have ever learned before, but they begin to see the light.  They begin to understand what happens to the counting if you change the 4 to a 2.  They then begin to realize that if you change it, you have the half note as the unit of beat, or that a half note equals one beat.  If they understand that, then they can by proxy begin to understand what it means to have a quarter note equal one beat.  The minute something changes and can be changed, that is the minute they say, "Oh, now I get it!!"  It is very exciting to watch, but I am thinking and kicking myself that I never started this process before now.  I will give them a quiz at the end of the quarter, and I believe they will ALL be able to explain the idea of the time signature, both top and bottom numbers.

Great lesson on how to count music

Enrichment activity - Where do you Stand?

I don't know if I have talked about this activity on this blog before.  I have a class that is a creative drama class, and it has from 20 to 25 students in it per quarter, some come two days a week, some come three days a week, and some only come one day a week.  I am always finding new ideas and creative activities to share with them for class.  Where do you stand? is a way to figure out how people think about different statements, and I am always happy to play this game.  You have two rows of chairs.  You say the statement, "I prefer cats to dogs" for example, or "If you find money on the street you should be able to keep it" or "You can't change your personality" or "Precious jewels are more valuable than trees", just to name a few.  If you agree with the statement you sit in the front row, if you disagree with the statement, you sit in the back row.  Then, you discuss it with the group.

We have had some amazing conversations about these statements, and I have gotten to know my students better with this.  At this point, I am giving them the statements, and they are now writing speeches about the statements, that they will share with the class. I look forward to hearing what they say about these different statements, and about what they believe.  They definitely are opinionated, and this gives them a chance to write about something that they truly believe in.