K. Sean Buvala writes
My techniques to facilitate storytelling with adolescent boys.

It might be difficult to understand the benefit of storytelling to adolescent boys if the unique nature and difference of the teller’s art is not understood. Storytelling to this population requires some specific techniques.

1. Make storytelling presentations without precursor, introduction or warning. I refer to this technique as “stealth” storytelling. In other words, announcing that “we are going to have a story” may result in the audience of boys turning off their ability to listen. My stories to a group of boys just begin with little or no framing or introduction. To begin by saying, “I almost ran a drunk over in the parking lot last night” has much more power than, “Let me tell you a story that I think will help you…”

2. Tell personal, true tales. Boys benefit by hearing how adult men (and women) have handled the “shadow” or difficult Continue Reading »

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Recorded on Tuesday the 24th of October - Fran is an amazing storyteller who will dazzle you with her narrative skill and storytelling heart!

Fran Stallings writes…

My main concern with this topic is the observation that many of our Environmental tales are DOWNERS. While our storytelling ancestors probably used them as Continue Reading »

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Press Play to hear this interview that was recorded as a conference call on 10/10/2007 storyteller Brother Blue appeared on the Art of Storytelling with Children to talk about street storytelling and storytelling from the heart.

Brother Blue is one of three storytellers in the country whose work and style have directly influenced my own storytelling style and flavor. I am very proud to bring you this conversation about street storytelling and everything else related to storytelling with storyteller Brother Blue.

Eric Wolf

—–storyteller Brother Blue

Hugh Morgan Hill
(Brother Blue, Storyteller/Street Poet)

He is Dr. Hugh Morgan Hill, but everyone knows him as Brother Blue. He is called by many “the world’s greatest storyteller.” He says he wants his stories to be “bread for the mind, the imagination, the heart, the soul.” He says, “I speak my stories from the middle of the middle of me to the middle of the middle of you” [the people].

Brother Blue received his undergraduate degree from Harvard College (with honors) and a master’s degree from the Yale School of Drama. For his Ph.D. degree from the Union Institute, his final presentation or Project Demonstrating Excellence (PDE) was “Soul Shout,” a storytelling concert in a prison, accompanied by a musical band of over twenty inmates.

Storytelling festivals include the Corn island Storytelling Festival, in Louisville, Kentucky; Day for Sam, in Wrentham, Massachusetts, a festival commemorating the life and death of a five-year-old boy; Sharing the Fire, sponsored by the League for the Advancement of New England Storytelling; Toronto Festival of Storytelling; Vancouver (B.C.) Storytelling Festival; and the Yukon Storytelling Festival. He has also appeared several times at the National Storytelling Festival in Jonesborough, Tennessee; and at “In the Tradition…”, the festival/conference of the National Association of Black Storytellers, held in a different city each year.

He has taught storytelling in prisons, and in schools and colleges throughout the Continue Reading »

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Press Play to hear this interview that was recorded as a conference call on 10/09/2007 storyteller Karen Czarnik appeared on the Art of Storytelling with Children to talk about how to use songs with storytelling in your storytelling practice.

Karen Czarnik is an amazing singer and storyteller in her own right. I saw her present a workshop on this topic at the Ohio Storytelling conference and was so impressed with her I had to being her on the Art of Storytelling with Children so that she could free up all of our voices for singing…

Eric Wolf
—–Karen Czarnik wirtes…
Although most people love to sing, not everyone feels confident singing in public. We sing in the car, sing in the shower and we sing when we are alone. Everyone has a primitive connection to sound, song and rhythm. Rhythm, sound and pattern are in all things made natural by our earth and our maker. It is instinctive that we make sound and music. It is instinctive that we sing.

As performers we have the opportunity to ignite an audience with poignant, inspirational, or amusing stories and songs. We do however encounter audiences who are sometimes reluctant to Continue Reading »

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