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involvement, the emotional atmosphere in the hall and the presence of bore-
glasbenopedagoški zbornik ◆ letnik/volume 20 ◆ številka/number 41
dom, chatter, anxiety and other signs of children’s behaviour that could help us
understand if the operatic work managed to grasp the children’s attention and
allowed identification with the characters on the stage. The focus was on un-
derstanding if the power of the work was strong enough to emotionally touch
children and trigger their curiosity and identification.
The second part of the data gathering was held in the schools, during
music lessons held by teachers who accompanied children at the performan-
ce. Approximately one week after the performance, the children were asked to
draw a picture and answer some simple open questions about the performance.
The third part of data gathering was the teachers’ questionnaires, compo-
sed of closed and open questions, which were answered at the same time as the
children’s.
Teachers sent all the questionnaires and drawings to researchers who then
analysed the data.
All teachers provided parental consent and the personal information of
the children was coded.

Table 1
Research methods and types of data obtained

METHOD Type of data
Anecdotical record of children’s behaviour during the
Observation
opera performance
Analysis of Children’s drawings Basic elements of drawings
Questionnaires (qualitative data) Children’s and teachers’ answers

Results
Observation of children’s behaviour: anecdotal record

The children were pleasantly excited when they entered the auditorium and
were eagerly awaiting the start of the performance. They easily found their way
around the hall, and the teachers did not have to restrain them.
The very beginning of the show, with the arrival of the night watchman,
drew them in and they fell completely silent and let the action on stage take
over. They followed the action closely, and in places some of them lost focus,
started to look around or become restless (kicking legs, disturbing other kids).
But they sat quietly, maintained eye contact with the stage, and moved to the
rhythm of the music whenever one of the main characters sang a song (Mojca
especially caught their attention).
The set gave the show a very good focus; the change of the scenery on
the stage brought just enough change to allow the children to re-immerse

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