TEXT OF PETER MENTA’S PRESENTATION:

“USING MUSIC TO ENHANCE STORYTIMES”

DELIVERED AT THE C.L.A. CONFERENCE - APRIL 2005.

© 2005 BY PETER MENTA

I would like to share with you today the ways that I discovered music and singing to be an effective component of story times. We all know that story times with a multi-media component are very potent. Traditionally children’s librarians have used arts and crafts as the enhancement component to story times and have spent a lot of time developing their abilities in these activities. I believe that music and singing, because of their tie into to both oral and written language, can also be used more creatively. It might be well worth the effort for children’s librarians to explore this area and possibly develop some new talents. I think with all the budget crunches and staff shortages we all face that it is important for children’s librarians to nurture relationships with their educational, artistic and business communities to continue to try and present the most exciting and engaging programs possible. So a fancy subtitle of this presentation might be: “How can the children’s librarian become the collaborative leader in presenting a multi media approach to interactive story times?”

I will talk a little about the background of my musical storytime Nobody Owns the Sky and after we show the video, I will share some examples of other uses of music, songs and collaborations in my programming.

I first started using music as a storytelling tool while student teaching kindergarten in Branford, Connecticut. They had a very creative music teacher whom enjoyed collaborating and he told me that more educators would see the value and interrelationship of music in the teaching of reading and oral language skills. A couple of years later I found myself as the acting children’s librarian at the Stetson Branch of the N.H.F.P.L. Stetson has an outstanding African American collection. I wanted to come up with engaging storytimes for all ages and since I also worked the circulation desk, I did not have a lot of time to put together labor-intensive crafts. So I drew on my musical experience as my main enhancement activity. I was always inspired by the great blues artists and admired the tremendous obstacles that they had to overcome to create their music which through rock ’n’ roll and hip-hop has become the dominant force in pop music. During Black History Month I wanted to come up with story times that were inspirational and historical but fun so as not to seem like work for the kids. They had enough of that in school. Through my experience on our bookmobile, I enjoyed positive relationships with many library media specialists.

Occasionally a teacher would take a pro-active response to my approach and ask me to come up with songs for a particular theme. Nobody Own The Sky, by Reeve Lindberg, came across the circulation desk at the library and I was captivated immediately: what a great idea for a Black History Month storytime! Bessie Coleman was the first internationally licensed female African American pilot who died tragically pursuing her dreams.

The book was written as a poem and suggested songs to me. I fiddled with the very first verse and used a traditional gospel melody to create the introduction song. Then I started reading more about Bessie Coleman from other sources and drew upon this information to write other songs including a reworking of Amelia Earhearts’s Last Flight. I knew the library media specialist from Wexler-Grant School who originally came up with the idea of projecting the book’s images on the screen to accommodate 100 kids. Another advantage was that I would not have to hold the book; I could keep the guitar in my hands. When I student taught 5th grade at the Helene Grant School a few years before this same person was the library media specialist and became familiar with my approach to musical story mapping. So she came up with the idea of using Kidspiration software to create a story map drawing on what the kids learned from the book and songs. The post story discussion was at least as much fun as the singing because the kids love to see their ideas and contributions projected on the big screen.

I always welcomed teacher participation in my storytimes and would always allow a teacher to break in at any point to contribute an insight or even steer the pre or post

discussion in another direction. I would always try to get them the books or songs I was using in advance.

The collaboration with our head librarian was an obvious choice to me. We were both guests at a pajama story hour. I could tell he was a talented storyteller with a unique approach. We stared telling stories together at various community functions when asked. We had worked together several times before we taped the storytime that resulted in this video. I would say that I was fortunate enough to have a library director and branch manager who liked my approach and supported me. Also as word got out among the schools of my work, I started to get a lot of visits from pre-K on up and this kept me developing new work and interacting with teachers I will talk about the different ways I used music and stories after the video in the hope that I may interest more librarians in incorporating this tool in their enhancement activities.

Before I get into some specific examples of my use of music in storytimes there are a few points I would like to emphasize:

Ø Most children’s librarian can sing to a degree. By using a guitar or keyboard you can pull the kids into your singing even further. If you don’t want to take the time to learn those instruments then I would recommend an autoharp. It’s easy to play, has a beautiful sound and can be strummed or picked. Another instrument I’ve introduced, the harmonica, can be used effectively as a rhythm accompaniment and has potential for kids to play.

Ø There are many levels that music can be used to enhance story times. From the simplest use of singing and movement as a warm up for a pre school class to writing and performing story map songs by the children of their favorite books in cooperative groups.

Ø Music making with storytelling creates an instant community of shared experience and creativity.

Ø Using a mixed media storytime gives a kid who is stronger in one kind of intelligence a chance to participate and shine.

Ø Children retain information when it is set to music.

Ø Singing like storytelling increases phonemic awareness. Phonemic awareness is not the same thing as phonics. Phonemic awareness deals with sounds in spoken words, whereas phonics involves the relationship between sounds and written symbols. Phonics deals with learning sound-spelling relationships and is associated with print. Most phonemic awareness tasks are purely oral.

Ø On my resource page I have a web site for Homespun Tapes and Videos, which have very user-friendly instructional resources on learning to play many instruments

Ø If you are absolutely convinced that you will never be able to sing or play you can still create musical storytimes. More about that later.

Now we will look at some examples of ways I use music in storytimes.

When I do a story time based on alpha bet books for a preschool, I try and get a copy of the ABC Rock by Greg and Steve to the preschool teacher so they can teach the children the tune. Once they are familiar with it, I have a really engaging alphabet song that the kids will often request.

If blues and rock’n’ roll is not your thing you can try more traditional children’s songs. I might ask the teachers if the students know “I’ve been working on the railroad” that begins with “Someone’s in the kitchen with Dinah.” This leads to a great sing along. “Fe- Fi-Fiddly-i-o” becomes “Be-Bi-Biddly-i -o” or “Ke-Ki-Kiddly -i-o” etc. The kids love singing silly lyrics to familiar songs and they spontaneously contribute sound variations. The familiar melodies provide a comfortable context for children to sing new lyrics that explore new sounds.

The Senegalese folk song Guabi Guabi, I use with the folk tale Anansi and the Moss Covered Rock. This song is perfect for the story thematically and I eventually translate it for the students. But while we sing it in Senegalese, it shifts their attention away from the content of speech to the form of speech. They love the words and phrases like “ize widgy le banana.” So an African folk song becomes an exercise in phonemic awareness. When you get your storytimes in synch with the teacher’s curriculum and still make it a treat for the kids you will get them banging at your door for more.

At this point I will take out the auto harp and play a little of this song to show how easy this instrument is. The autoharp is not too loud for the younger children and is ideal for more standard children’s song like This Old Man.

I always look for books that lend themselves to a musical presentation. As mentioned before the harmonica is also as an effective musical tool that can be used. Children love the sound and often ask me for lessons. When I read Say Hey Willie, the story of Willie Mays, the song suggested the Bo Diddly rhythm on the harmonica and I slightly altered the text to turn the written verse into a song. The call and response routine is a hook that really helps focus the kids. Say Hey Willie is an example of using music throughout the story rather than at the end. Sort of the equivalent of using a story kit or a flannel board to make the story interactive as you go along. I ‘d like you all to take the kid’s part. I put an extra “Willie” in the chorus. It scans better to the music. The kids are usually singing along by the second chorus. Sometimes they start singing the entire book. At that point even the reluctant readers don’t see reading as a chore, if they want to be part of the party, they have to read.

(Now I want all you reluctant readers to sing along with me.)

Mastering a simple blues lick on the harmonica can open up all kinds of song writing and book talking possibilities. The trick is to learn some of the blues song forms.

See my resource page where I give examples of books with blues songs in them.

After encountering a special needs class that was not attentive, I came to the conclusion that sometimes songs, lyric sheets and rhythm instruments are the only way to be effective with certain groups. I always try to buy instruments that are fun to play but not too noisy. Homemade instruments are also appealing to kids. My Stetson Library Rhythm Band was a way to get older kids to have fun and participate in a story time for younger kids. We used to have a dog theme that worked really well this way. For Bertie Was a Watch Dog we reworked How Much is That Doggie in the Window? For Chewy Louie I rewrote Louie Louie as Chewy Louie. So rewriting classic rock’ roll songs to go with a story is one of my standard routines. Once a hit, always a hit. The music and rhythm of a song like Louie Louie captures kids today just like it did teenagers decades ago.

If you are convinced you are devoid of any musical talent you still can create musical

storytime programs One suggestion might be to write a grant for an after school program where you can a higher a musician to help the kids build and play the instruments and work with you the librarian whose role would be the storyteller. There are talented songwriters out there who can write songs to fit a theme or book. There are plenty of musicians who need the work and like interacting with the kids. Go to the local open mic in your town and start networking.

Another way to go is to read books based on a song, and play the song as you turn the pages. The first time through you read, the second time through play the song, the third time everybody sings. Or if the book-song has a repetitive chorus that is where everybody sings. I am thinking of City Of New Orleans by Steve Goodman, This Land is Your Land by Woody Guthrie and The Little White Duck, adapted by Walter Whippo. There are many versions of the song John Henry that you can play while reading the folk tale and the different verses intersperse nicely with the narrative. At this point your are just pressing play on a boom box.

Many songs have a particular spin that connects them to the historical period when

they were written. A non-fiction story time on the American West could feature Jesse James, Pretty Boy Floyd, and John Wesley Harding; songs that you could sing yourself or play versions of while handing out lyric sheets. This could prompt a discussion along the lines of: whose point of view were these songs written from or why were these guys heroes to some people?

Kids can and will write songs about there favorite books and heroes. A great after

school activity: book talking through songs, or practicing for a book bowl contest by

writing song-story maps of the books. Make friends with the music teacher and explain the concept of blues and rap music story mapping. I discovered that the blues form lends itself to the first three elements of a story map, the rap form to the events and a final blues song to the solution. You can help the kids write the songs and work with the music teacher to put the music together. They can help you lay down instrumental tracks for the kids to sing over using standard blues and rap forms. What could be more fun than reading Scieszka’s True Story Of The Three Little Pigs and following it with a rap version of the Three Little Pigs. Nathaniel Talking by Eloise Greenfield makes a great read aloud and rap aloud. Kids love showing off their ability as rappers and once one child breaks the ice everyone wants to participate. I believe we might as well try and use this energy to promote literacy, writing and self-expression. Hip-hop is popular everywhere. It has now become an urban and suburban folk music.

I am always trying to develop relationships with the educators to enrich my programs and get more kids to attend. Not all respond but I try to network. I don’t always connect with the school librarian; sometimes it might be the reading teacher. I try to see where the needs are: preschools without libraries, parochial schools without a modern library, schools that have grants to work with a public library, summer school programs that are looking for activities, and media specialists who are spread to thin and don’t have as much time for storytelling.

One of my dreams would be a combined songwriting, storytelling and musical performance project: a three-way collaboration between the children’s librarian, the language arts teacher and the music teacher. You have to take chances and put these ideas out there. I’ve walked in cold to a principle’s office after I could not get her on the phone and put my presentation in her hand. I’ve scheduled meetings with the head of the P.T.O to lean on teachers who won’t set up visits to my library. Whatever it takes. Usually a lot of work and perseverance but in the end it’s the kids who win.