- I'm Heather Hjelle from Barrett, Minnesota.

With being a dramatic soprano, I get to sing longer lines, there's less movie notes, lots of legato singing.

(Heather singing) I was always surrounded by music.

My grandmother loved playing hymns.

My grandfather listened to poker music.

My mother was into '80s rock, and finally I was introduced to the musical, Grease, and there began my love of musicals which stemmed into opera eventually.

I did my undergraduate degree at Bethany Lutheran College in Mankato, and there I majored in theater, actually.

So I took voice lessons and was in choir and discovered my love of opera, and then I auditioned for grad school and began singing in Chicago at North Park University.

From there, I was assigned more and more roles and fell more in love with the art form.

I think when approaching opera, we need to not be scared to ask questions.

Oftentimes, artists are more than willing to talk to someone that has never experienced this art form before.

- Hello, my name's Nathan Berg, and I'm one of the general music teachers here at Kennedy Elementary, located in Fargo, North Dakota.

I teach general music, which consists of a variety of things, from singing, dancing, or playing instruments.

Hey, Heather, some of my third graders haven't had much exposure to opera, so here's a couple questions from them.

- Hello, my name is Jahmila and I wanted to know how did you learn how to sing in so many different languages?

- Thank you for your good question, Jahmila.

It took a lot of practice.

When I went to school, we had had to learn something called the international phonetic alphabet.

And for each letter in our alphabet, there is a symbol that makes a universal sound, and we learn how to put those symbols to words in other languages so that we know how to pronounce them correctly.

So I know what I'm singing about in these songs but I'm not very good at speaking the languages.

A lot of operas are in other languages because that style of music originated in Italy.

But now there are a lot of new operas and American composers writing a lot of operas in English.

So that's very exciting that opera is still growing.

- Hello, my name is Griffin.

I've been wondering how many different places have you sang at.

- Well I've sung in Italy.

I've sung in France.

I've sung in Canada.

I've sung now in North Dakota, also Minnesota, Colorado, California, New York, Florida, across the United States.

More fingers than I have to count it out for you.

My favorite place to perform was in a church in Italy, and it was this beautiful church that I couldn't even see the back of when I was up front.

And it was a role where I was playing a nun and it really made me feel connected to the character and the dramatic things that were happening to her, and it was just the most beautiful setting I'd ever been in.

- Hello, my name is Mia.

I was wondering how long have you been singing for?

- I have been singing for probably at least 15 years.

So in opera, the voice categories are a little bit more specific than we when we talk about choral singers, which we have soprano, alto, bass, baritone, tenor.

In opera, we get to classify and sub-classify.

So for example, I'm mainly a soprano but under that category, I would be considered a dramatic soprano, which means that I sing a bigger style of repertoire louder.

The orchestras usually has more pieces in it, bigger, fuller.

- Hello, my name is Gavin and I was just wondering how long have you practiced for.

- I practice probably an hour a day.

And that doesn't always mean that I'm singing during that time.

It means I'm practicing the languages and the rhythms and on the piano.

But then I sing for part of that time as well.

- Hello, my name is Zoey.

I just wanted to know how do you sing so long?

- That's a very good question, Zoey.

It actually takes many years.

It's kind of like when you first start working out in phy-ed class, you can't go as long because your muscles aren't as strong, and then you realize you can go longer.

It's the same thing with singing with your body and your throat.

Those muscles need to build up.

So you do that throughout your years of training.

- Hello, my name is Aria.

I was wondering if you've ever lost your voice.

- Aria, what a beautiful name and a good question!

I have lost my voice, and it's usually because of getting a cold or something like that.

And then you have to be very quiet, which isn't fun, but it comes back eventually.

- Hello, my name is Stella.

I was wondering if you have ever played a different instrument.

- I used to play piano when I was very little and also clarinet, but I am not as good as the lady you've heard playing with me today.

Now I'm just better at singing.

(soft piano music) I actually am a teacher right now.

I'm a part-time professor down at Bethany Lutheran College, my alma mater, and I teach voice lessons there.

And I also teach each private voice lessons back in Barrett.

I would love to help you find your next steps if you wanna start to learn more about your interest in this art form.

Your career is not gonna look like everyone else's.

You just gotta stay on your own path.

(Heather singing) - [Narrator] Funded by the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund with money from the vote of the people of Minnesota on November 4th, 2008, and by the members of Prairie Public.