December 2, 2005
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Portland, Ore. … Musical story times with Oregon Symphony musicians will continue at the Woodstock branch of the Multnomah County Library on Saturday afternoons in January 2006, as a result of an ongoing innovative partnership between the Library and the Symphony’s department of Education and Community Engagement. A musician from each of the Symphony’s four instrument families will perform live to music-related stories read by Youth Services Librarian Joan Smith. Volunteers with Friends of the Oregon Symphony help organize Symphony Storytimes, which are co-sponsored by Health Net of Oregon and Comcast.
The free Symphony Storytimes are scheduled on Saturday, January 7, 14, 21 and 28 at 3 p.m. 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 Woodstock branch of the Multnomah County Library is located at 6008 S.E. 49th Ave., Portland. The Storytimes project will continue at the Northwest Library in February and Belmont Library in March.
This popular program is a favorite of children and parents alike and several of the Storytimes have attracted capacity crowds. “The Storytimes provide exciting aural illustration of the characters and plot,” said one parent. “The music adds emotion and helps generate excitement in the story,” noted another. The youth librarian and Symphony musician 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 cellist Tim Scott on Jan. 7, will feature the string family musically illustrating stories such as “Berlioz the Bear” and “The Cello of Mr. O.” On Jan. 14, oboist Karen Wagner will present instruments of the woodwind section along with stories like “Mouse Count” and “The Lady with the Alligator Purse.” The following week, on Jan. 21, Principal Horn John Cox will talk about the different instruments of the brass family featuring stories like “Little Toot” and “Where the Wild Things Are.” The series concludes on Jan. 28 with percussionist Chris Perry demonstrating the instruments of the percussion section with stories such as “Shake, Shake, Shake” and “Three Billy Goats Gruff.”
Each player will choose music for his or her Storytimesession that illustrates the narrative of the story in an imaginative, compelling way. In addition, each musician 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 they have been studying. These recommendations tie into the library’s inventory of books and CDs.
The 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 Storytimesmodel 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.
