What Our Students Discovered About Rock Opera
Rock opera was our Music Tech & Learning Lab theme in August! Throughout the month, students explored a genre that combines rock music with storytelling, theatrical elements, and plenty of creative freedom.
As they listened and learned about the history of rock opera, our students noticed everything from electric guitars and dramatic vocals to unusual instruments, different languages, and songs that tell stories. They also discovered something important: rock opera can be difficult to define because no two examples have to sound alike.
Here are some of their observations from the month.
Rock Opera Tells a Story
Storytelling was one of the biggest ideas our students noticed.
Maddox A. observed that rock opera “tells a story” and that the story “can be about anything.” He also preferred the songs with more words.
Graham G. made a connection to another form of musical storytelling. He described rock opera as “like a musical without being a play.”
Ellie M. had a similar observation. She said it “sounds like a play, but it’s a song.” Later in the month, she noticed “a lot of storytelling” in the music she heard.
Beatrice V. discovered that songs could explore past struggles. She also described the genre as free-spirited and creative, noting how different two songs within the same genre could sound.
Guitars, Drums, Piano…and More
Unsurprisingly, our students heard plenty of rock instruments.
Haley N. noticed “a lot of guitar and drums,” along with a strong beat created by piano and drums. Sydney T. also heard plenty of guitar and repetitive beats.
Blue D. noticed lots of piano and drums, with much of the music focused on singing. Elise A. heard lots of guitar, while Sebastian H. described the sound as “opera with electric guitar, piano, and drums.”
Other students picked out instruments they didn’t necessarily expect.
Shubham K. heard violin. Beatrice V. noticed string instruments, and Bryn M. heard drums and guitar more prominently than she was accustomed to hearing them.
Charlie M. was especially intrigued by one guitar sound. It sounded different from the rock or country guitar he had heard before. In fact, he thought it sounded almost like a flute!
Big Voices and Big Sounds
Rock opera isn’t necessarily opera in the traditional sense, something several students picked up on quickly.
Freya W. described the style as combining the heavy guitars and drums of rock with “big voices like theater or opera.” She also noticed that the lyrics were easy to understand.
Hunter H. thought the singing sounded more like rock than opera. He also noticed plenty of variety in both languages and subject matter.
Bryn M. heard lots of high singing voices, while Ellie M. noticed multiple voices singing together. She described some of the sounds as electric, “boomy,” and lively.
Iris C. especially liked being able to understand the words clearly.
One Genre, Many Different Sounds
Perhaps the most interesting discovery was just how much variety students found within rock opera.
Freya W. noticed that songs could be “big, epic, angry or rushed,” while Hunter H. said all the songs sounded different.
Students also heard music in different languages. Beatrice V. and Hunter H. both noticed this variety.
Bryn M. compared the music to what she plays during her piano lessons. The rock opera examples used many more instruments, but she could still recognize some familiar beats.
Aleksander S. learned that rock opera developed during the late 1960s and 1970s. He noted how artists used rock music and instruments to explore emotional themes, big questions, and stories through individual songs or collections of songs.
During his history work, he connected those ideas with examples including Bohemian Rhapsody, Queen’s A Night at the Opera, The Who’s Tommy, Jesus Christ Superstar, and “Welcome to the Black Parade.”
Music Can Create a Mood
Our students also paid attention to how the music made them feel.
Elise A. thought some of the music sounded sad. Sebastian H. noticed that most of the songs he heard were sad, although one was happy.
Mila J. connected Romanticism and love songs with some of the music she explored. Sebastian H. also considered the influence rock opera has had on later music.
Not every student loved the genre—and that’s part of exploring music, too!
Hayden C. decided rock opera wasn’t his type of music. Some songs took too long to introduce the vocals for his taste, and he sometimes found the number of instruments overwhelming. However, he did enjoy the way instruments were arranged in several songs.
Listening critically isn’t about deciding that every kind of music is your favorite. It’s about figuring out what you’re hearing, what you like, what you don’t, and why.
Music You Can See
The visual side of the music caught students’ attention, too.
Some examples featured dancing, while others used pictures or slideshows rather than traditional music videos. Iris C. enjoyed seeing how pictures and videos worked with the music.
Charlie M. had the opposite reaction to a few examples. He thought some of the videos didn’t seem to match their songs.
These observations led students beyond simply listening for instruments and rhythms. They were also considering how visuals can support—or sometimes distract from—the story a piece of music is trying to tell.
Breaking the Rules
Rock opera gave our students a chance to explore what happens when musicians combine genres, experiment with storytelling, and stretch the boundaries of what a song can be.
They heard familiar instruments used in unfamiliar ways. They compared rock opera with musicals, opera, rock, and the music they study in their own lessons. Some loved what they heard. Others didn’t. Most importantly, they listened closely enough to explain why.
Beatrice V. may have summed up the month’s discoveries best when she described rock opera as “free spirited” and said, “you can do what you want.”
For a genre built around big stories, big sounds, and creative experimentation, that’s a pretty fitting conclusion.