In a show created to re-introduce young people to the works of Scotland’s national poet, Robert Burns, Scottish Opera’s Primary Schools Tour visits Schools with the Bard’s classic, The Tale o’ Tam o’ Shanter.
The fully booked tour heads to 120 schools in Glasgow, Ayrshire, Edinburgh, Falkirk, Stirling, the Highlands, Clackmannanshire, Aberdeen, Angus, Fife, Lanarkshire, Argyll and Bute, East Dunbartonshire, East Renfrewshire, the Scottish Borders, West Lothian and Shetland, as well as Newcastle.
Based on the poem Tam o’ Shanter, the adaptation featuring original lyrics by Ross Stenhouse and music by Karen MacIver, was written especially for children in primaries 5, 6 and 7, and was last performed in 2017.
Forming part of a suite of Scottish Opera’s digital offerings for schools, which includes The Curse of MacCabbra Opera House, How The Dragon Was Made, and Vikings! The Quest for the Dragon’s Treasure, The Tale o’ Tam o’ Shanter has been re-imagined and expanded to make it even more accessible and adaptable for all schools in Scotland to take part.
Schools are provided with high quality, online teaching resources in advance, including a teachers’ support pack to help introduce the songs from The Tale o’ Tam o’ Shanter to pupils. A team of Scottish Opera performers and arts education specialists then spend a day rehearsing and preparing the pupils for a 30-minute, choreographed, fully costumed performance for family and friends, helping teachers deliver aspects of A Curriculum for Excellence.
Schools can now engage with the production as a digital only learning and teaching experience, using online resources currently available on Scottish Opera’s website, to prepare the children for all aspects of presenting a performance to an audience.
This online delivery method, which includes Scottish Opera singers appearing on screen in classrooms to sing alongside the class, makes the project even easier and more affordable for teachers to engage with, particularly in those schools without specialist music teachers at primary level.
With 50-plus years of experience in classrooms, Scottish Opera’s Outreach and Education Programme has developed this approach because it recognised that the in-person learning Primary Schools Tour experience reaches capacity very quickly each year, so a complementary strand of the programme has been created in the form of a set of exclusively online resources, so that many more schools across Scotland can participate at a much lower cost per pupil.
Scottish Opera’s Director of Outreach and Education, Jane Davidson said “Our children’s operas make learning both enjoyable and challenging, giving pupils the opportunity to engage their creative and expressive capacities. Originally commissioned in 2002, this vibrant interpretation of Burns’ iconic poem enables a new generation to explore the culture, identity and language that remain key to the enduring appeal of Scotland’s most famous poet. With the aim of making Tam accessible to many more schools, the project is now available in two formats, and both involve downloading digital resources which prepare them for performance.”
The Tale o’ Tam o’ Shanter is supported by The Jean Armour Burns Trust, The David and June Gordon Memorial Trust, The Harbinson Charitable Trust, The W M Mann Foundation and Scottish Opera’s Education Angels.
Tour dates: 3rd February until 27th June
For more information visit www.scottishopera.org.uk/join-in/opera-for-schools/the-tale-o-tam-o-shanter/
Irene Brown
Radio Summerhall Arts 