October 14, 2005
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Portland, Ore. … Musical story times with Oregon Symphony musicians will begin at Multnomah County Library branches Wednesday evenings in November, as a result of an ongoing innovative partnership between the Library and the Symphony’s department of Education and Community Engagement. Beginning with weekly events at the Gregory Heights Library, Symphony musicians will perform live to music-related stories read by Youth Services Librarian Amy Clark. Health Net of Oregon and Comcast are co-sponsors of Symphony Storytimes.
Symphony Storytimes are scheduled on Wednesday, November 2, 9, 16 and 30 at 6:30 p.m. The free Storytimes will be followed by an opportunity for kids to play the musical instruments themselves, as well as to make arts-and-crafts versions of the instruments. The Gregory Heights branch of the Multnomah County Library is located at 7921 N.E. Sandy Blvd., Portland. The Storytimes project will continue in 2006 at the Woodstock Library in January, Northwest Library in February and Belmont Library in March.
Each of the Storytimes will choose stories that will be enhanced by music from one of the four families of musical instruments: strings, woodwinds, brass and percussion. The first Storytime, hosted by a member of the Symphony’s string section on Nov. 2, will feature the string family musically illustrating stories such as “The Bat Boy and His Violin” and “The Cello of Mr. O.” On Nov. 9, instruments of the woodwind section are featured alongside stories like “Living Flute” and “The Lady with the Alligator Purse.” The following week, on Nov. 16, a member of the Symphony’s brass section will talk about the different instruments of the brass family featuring stories like “The Things That Annoyed Farmer Brown” and “Tacky the Penguin;” the series concludes on Nov. 30 with percussionist Chris Perry demonstrating the instruments of the percussion section with stories such as “Rap a Tap Tap: Here’s Bojangles-Think of That!” and “Max Found Two Sticks.”
In collaboration with the librarian, each player will choose music for his or her Storytime session that illustrates the narrative of the story in an imaginative, compelling way. In addition, each musician from the orchestra will introduce themselves to the children; explain how their instrument “works,” demonstrate how to hold it, and help the children try out a real instrument brought to the session for them to use. Kids can then participate in a crafts activity in which they make their own instrument out of common household materials; kids and parents will also be given a specially printed bookmark with suggested readings and recommended CDs that features the instruments from the Storytime. These recommendations tie into the library’s inventory of books and CDs.
T he concept for the musical Storytime grew out of the Symphony’s three-year participation in the Creative Empowerment Program, funded by a grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, which explores ways in which people learn to open their minds to creative expression and the exploration of new ideas. The Creative Empowerment Program emphasizes the use of one’s own prior emotional experience in creating a “point of entry” to the study of a new subject, which has led to the creation of a new Storytimes model for children that combines music with literature as a means of enhancing the learning process.
For more information call 503-228-4294 or visit the Symphony’s Web site at www.orsymphony.org.