Press Play to hear this interview that was recorded as a conference call on 11/13/2007 with storyteller Heather Forest on sharing musical folk tales with young children.

Heather Forest writes…
I am looking forward to conversing on the topic of sharing musical folktales with young listeners. Music and children are an exuberant match. I have found in my storytelling experience with young people that melody, rhythm, rhyme, and repetition of musical refrains keeps young listeners listening. When my son Lucas was a three-year-old and already quite experienced listening to stories, he loved our story times and would often clammer, “Mama, sing me a story!.” From his listening point of view, speaking and singing in storytelling were all part of song. I named my first recording for young listeners “Sing Me a Story” after his way of 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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Interview with Cynthia Changaris performed on Sunday, July 3rd, 2007.

Songs, rhythms and rhymes are a strong way to connect to children. I use singing and rhythms, finger-plays and rhymes in my work to develop an immediate response from the children, to connect to their previous knowledge, and to let them know this event is going to be fun and interactive. It allows me to issue an invitation, “Come on! Come along with me.”

When babies are in their mother’s womb, they are exposed to sounds, music from the outside, banging, etc. But, the most regular sound they are exposed to, which is a constant for them is the beat, beat, beat of the mother’s heart. This sound is often accompanied by the rocking of the Continue Reading »

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