NE students learning facets of opera for workshop class
by Tami Abernathy, reporter

    Students on NE Campus are learning what it takes to put together an opera while earning class credit.

   The NE Opera Workshop is teaching students every facet of opera, from picking out costumes, designing the sets, managing budgets and performing the opera.

   This semester the class will perform A Game of Chance by Seymour Barab in the NE Playhouse Monday-Tuesday, Dec. 9-10, at 7:30 p.m.

   The 40-minute performance is a moral lesson illustrating what happens when one gets what he wishes for.

   The five-member cast includes four women knitting while discussing their wishes and a messenger who grants those wishes.

   The workshop’s instructor, Pam Cochrane, has been singing for more than 30 years and teaching professionally for more than nine years.

   Cochrane received her bachelor’s degree in music education from the University of Oklahoma and her master’s in vocal pedagogy at Texas Woman’s University.

   “I love to teach and have known since I was 5 years old that music would always be a part of my life,” she said.

   In addition to the campus workshop, Cochrane manages and oversees the Regale Opera Company, giving local performers and artists a place to practice their art.

   “Performing opera is not like singing pop music. It takes vocal conditioning and a lot of study,” she said

   The NE Campus workshop’s goal is to teach students the various angles of opera by letting them construct the opera from start to finish, including performing it, Cochrane said.

   “This semester the class is extremely small, only five students, but it enables us to be very versatile,” she said.

   Nicole Hans, 17, has been Cochrane’s student for seven years and is part of the Regale Opera Company as well as the NE Opera Workshop.

   “This workshop is a great opportunity for me to familiarize myself with opera and can help me decide if opera is right for me,” she said.

   Hans, a full-time student on NE Campus has known since she was 6 years old that she wanted to sing opera.

   She recommends that students interested in opera start taking voice lessons as soon as they can.

   The NE Opera Workshop runs from September through December and meets Tuesdays and Thursdays for 90-minute classes.

   According to Cochrane, that is barely enough time to put together a performance.

   “There is so much that goes into a performance and so little time. The students do everything, so they must be very dedicated,” she said.

   Cochrane recommends that student wanting to take the class in the future have a background in music.

   She also pointed out the ability to read music, a basic understanding of music history and voice lessons are helpful.

   “The class is really fast paced, and if a student is not on the same level as the rest of the class, it would be very difficult for them,” she said.

   Cochrane said although the class is hard work, anyone interested in opera should consider it because the best way to determine if opera is the right choice is to try it.