Story Songs
Story Songs is a 40-50 minute educational program of musical performance, visual art displays, and collaborative activities designed to get young students thinking creatively about storytelling and the relationship between art and language. The idea emerged out of Friedland’s Household Items project, which combines music, illustrations, and photography to dramatize everyday items such as product descriptions, ingredient lists, instructional manuals, and even his own childhood poetry. Friedland was inspired to transform his music into an educational experience after noticing how his piano students seemed to especially connect with the idea .
In Story Songs, Friedland gears his Household Items concept to young audiences by presenting vivid multimedia experiences and creating fun, participatory activities that demonstrate how music affect can affect our emotions and thoughts. To help students focus on how music and storytelling can interact, he teamed up with children's author and illustrator Jen Galante, creating a multimedia version of her story "Myles the Shy Rooster." In addition to presenting this new work, Friedland also performs child-friendly music from his Household Items repertoire, teaching that music can be found in all kinds of language. In the first activity, students are asked emotive suggestions to help Friedland create different versions of traditional melodies on the piano (listen to "twinkle variations," below, for examples). That is followed by a collaborative exercise to show how music can influence our understanding of a text: Students are asked to reflect on the emotions or mood of a story, poem, or product description, whether it is a provided pre-existing one or their own work, to direct a musical commentary improvised by Friedland while a volunteer narrates. Through these activities and performances, Friedland hopes to impart to students a deeper appreciation of the power of music and art in storytelling, encourage their creativity, and entertain them all at once.
Story Songs is appropriate for all elementary and middle school students and is tailored to fit specific age groups through selection of materials, activities, and discussion questions. It requires nothing other than a power supply and space to set up a projector and sound equipment. While Friedland can present the show alone, Story Songs can also be configured to involve other musicians (vocals, bass, and drums) and children's author/illustrator Jen Galante (weekends only). Please view the multimedia materials and texts below for more details about content. For questions and booking inquires, please use the contact form.
In Story Songs, Friedland gears his Household Items concept to young audiences by presenting vivid multimedia experiences and creating fun, participatory activities that demonstrate how music affect can affect our emotions and thoughts. To help students focus on how music and storytelling can interact, he teamed up with children's author and illustrator Jen Galante, creating a multimedia version of her story "Myles the Shy Rooster." In addition to presenting this new work, Friedland also performs child-friendly music from his Household Items repertoire, teaching that music can be found in all kinds of language. In the first activity, students are asked emotive suggestions to help Friedland create different versions of traditional melodies on the piano (listen to "twinkle variations," below, for examples). That is followed by a collaborative exercise to show how music can influence our understanding of a text: Students are asked to reflect on the emotions or mood of a story, poem, or product description, whether it is a provided pre-existing one or their own work, to direct a musical commentary improvised by Friedland while a volunteer narrates. Through these activities and performances, Friedland hopes to impart to students a deeper appreciation of the power of music and art in storytelling, encourage their creativity, and entertain them all at once.
Story Songs is appropriate for all elementary and middle school students and is tailored to fit specific age groups through selection of materials, activities, and discussion questions. It requires nothing other than a power supply and space to set up a projector and sound equipment. While Friedland can present the show alone, Story Songs can also be configured to involve other musicians (vocals, bass, and drums) and children's author/illustrator Jen Galante (weekends only). Please view the multimedia materials and texts below for more details about content. For questions and booking inquires, please use the contact form.
Story Song timelineTotal time: 40-50 min
Introduction: demonstration of how music can change our perception of familiar melodies or disguise it completely. Students suggest melodies, mood, or alternate storylines (5-8 min) Brian discusses how music can be made from any place we encounter language, performs excerpts from Household Items Songs. (10 min) Brian has students help him decode the emotions of selected short stories, poems, or product descriptions (students choose which) or student’s pre-selected materials, original or otherwise, and improvises music aided by suggestions while a volunteer narrates. (10-15 min) Brian presents Myles the Shy Rooster and asks students questions about the video regarding the relationship of music and art to the story. Re-do a couple scenes with new music based on student suggestions and volunteer narrator (10-15 min) sample texts (products & poetry)
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multimedia materialsvideosaudiotwinkle variations"Peaceful" (Lullaby)"happy" (Jazz/boggie-woggie)"mystery" (cinematic) |