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Storytellers |
Some of the best children's story tellers will be submitting articles to kidzmusic.com. We currently have articles by the following story-tellers:
- Paul Tracey — "The Musical Fisherman"
- Paul Tracey — "The Frogs Who Asked for a King"
- Naomi Leithold — "Story Creation" with ideas for stories that you can create
- Jay O'Callahan — "Artist Showcase: Jay O'Callahan"
- Dianne de Las Casas — "Ten Tips for Working with a Story"
- Clare Ham Grosgebauer — "Once Upon a Time"
- Dianne de Las Casas — "It's Recorded; Now What Do I Do With It?"
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Paul Tracey:
“The Musical Fisherman”
published on web April 2000
"Storytelling is a form of animation—the teller brings a tale to life, which after its telling has new life in the hearts and imaginations of its listeners."
So says David Novak, a storytelling artist who tries to make stories come to life through clowning, juggling, mime, puppetry, props and audience participation.
Here is Paul Tracey's adaptation of an Aesop's fable. Read the story through several times, then read it aloud to your family or classmates. Try to make the story come to life, just as Novak would.
There was once a fisherman who was not a great fisherman. In fact, he didn't really know how to do his job at all. One day he went out to work and took with him a fishing net and a clarinet. He sat down beside the river, took out his clarinet and began to play.
When the fisherman shook the fish from his net out onto the ground, the fish flipped and flopped. "What funny things you are!" he told them.
"The fish are going to love this," he thought to himself. "They're all going to dance up to the surface, and I will catch myself a feast." But nothing happened at all, and soon he grew tired of playing.
So he put away the clarinet and flung his fishing net out over the water. Before you could count to 10, his net was filled with fish of all sizes and colors. He pulled in the net and shook the fish out onto the ground, where they jumped around flipping this way and flopping that.
"What funny things you are!" the fisherman cried. "When I played, you wouldn't dance; now that I've stopped, you start!"
Moral: Some people never do what you expect.
—Adapted By Paul Tracey
The above activity was taken from "Artsource: the Los Angeles Music Center's Study Guide to the Performing Arts," written for teachers of kindergarten through eighth grade. Visit its Web site at www.musiccenter.org. Paul Tracey can be contacted at Scambig@aol.com.
Kidzmusic.com is proud to announce the addition of multi-talented Paul Tracey to our Cyberfest. We look forward to his stories and musings. Welcome aboard!
About Paul Tracey
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Paul is married and has three adult children. He and his wife, Susan Cambigue-Tracey, founded P.A.S.A. (Professional Artists in Schools Awards) to commend artists who go largely unrecognized for their work in schools (EDITOR'S NOTE: John Wood was a first-year recipient!). Paul's hobbies include gardening, gourd and beadwork.
Paul Tracey:
“The Frogs Who Asked for a King”
published on web May 2000
Here is an adaptation of an Aesop's fable. Read the story through several times, then read it aloud to your family or classmates. Try to make the story come to life, just as a storyteller would do.
Many years ago there was a pond, and in this pond there lived dozens of frogs. They argued with each other, they fought each other, they tipped each other off the lily pads...they were not...happy...frogs. They looked at the butterflies...they seemed happy enough; they looked at the newts...they were just fine; they looked at the dragonflies as they darted across the pond having a grand time.
"Why can't we be happy like the butterflies? Why do the newts have what we don't have? How come the dragonflies get on so well?"
The wind whistled back the answer: "Because you have no ruler!"
"Then we must get a ruler at once!" cried all the frogs in one great croak, and they chose a messenger to go off to see Jupiter, the king of the gods.
"Don't forget to tell him that we want a king of our own," they yelled at him as he hopped away.
The frogs asked Jupiter for a king, and he sent a log. But the frogs didn't like it, so an angry Jupiter sent a stork.
Now when Jupiter heard this story, he chuckled to himself saying, "Foolish frogs, I know what I'll do for them." And instead of a king, he sent the frogs a large log of wood, which he dropped into the middle of their pond. When the frogs saw it, they were so frightened, they dived to the bottom of the pond. But after a while, they saw that the log didn't move, so they came closer, and closer — and one or two of them even climbed out of the water on top of it. Soon they were all sitting on it. But it wasn't long before they became tired of sitting on it, and they all decided they wanted a better king than the one Jupiter had sent.
"Go back and ask for a better king," they told the messenger. So off he hopped again, and he told Jupiter what the frogs had demanded.
"No respect for my frog king?" roared Jupiter. "I'll see about that!" And this time he sent down a stork, which ate every single one of those frogs.
And that is the end of the story.
Moral: Rely on yourself and not so much on others.
—Adapted By Paul Tracey
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