Our Holland Community Opera Fellowship (HCOF) is committed to being a creative and artistic resource to our community. Usually this takes many forms and Opera Omaha’s HCOF Fellows lead creative workshops and programming for all ages. In spring 2020 the pandemic meant we couldn’t be in the community in person, so we adapted and created a few of our #HCOFCreativityPrompts for your use at home. These activities can be done alone or with others. Creativity is not just for kids, and these prompts are written for a wide variety of audiences so feel free to modify as needed!
If you have a printed booklet, below are links to additional resources for a few of the prompts.
BIRDSONG AND HAIKUS
Read “Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird” by American modernist poet Wallace Stevens (1879-1955).
If you are feeling adventurous listen to a composition of the same name by German-American composer Lukas Foss (1922-2009).
Learn more about birds in Nebraska and to hear the what they sound like.
Cross Sensory Listening
Life is Art, an Al Fresco 4’33”
Learn more about John Cage’s 4’33”, good places to start: NPR and johncage.org
PICASSO PORTRAITS
Learn more about Picasso’s Self-Portraits
YOU ARE ART
You can stream the entire episode of Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood entitled “Everybody’s Special” for free.
Read the entire “I sing the body electric”
For more information about Frida Kahlo and to see some of her self-portraits visit frida-kahlo-foundation.org.
CRAZY LINE STORY
Need more examples? Click to see lists of more story beginnings and endings. With your expanded options, select a different beginning and ending and repeat.
To See a World
English composer Benjamin Britten (1913-1976) set this poem to music in his set of songs called “Songs and Proverbs of William Blake.”
Read the full “Auguries of Innocence”.
Color Symphony
Arthur Bliss’s A Colour Symphony (1932).
Be old fashioned, send a thank you
The American composer, Aaron Copland (1900-1990), composed a beautiful and short orchestral work called “Letters From Home.”
Here’s an online collection of letters by the composer Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)
Draw A Song
Learn more about graphic notation
Here are a few beautiful examples of graphic scores:
Example 1
Example 2
Hug a Tree, Make a Friend
For more information on this topic:
Health benefits of being in nature
Forest bathing
Hug a tree
Colors: Spots, Dots, and Feelings
To discover more about the correlation between colors and feelings check the “Mood Meter”
Yale’s Mood Meter Overview
Full Mood Meter
