October 4, 2002
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Portland, Ore. … Storytimes with live musical accompaniment by Oregon Symphony musicians will begin at Multnomah County Library branches in November, as a result of a new partnership between the Library and the Symphony's Education and Community Programs department. Beginning with weekly events at the St. John's Library, Symphony musicians will perform live to music-related stories read by Youth Services Librarian Janie DeNunzio; the events are scheduled on Wednesday, Nov. 6, at 3 p.m. and on three consecutive Tuesdays, Nov. 12, 19 and 26, at 7 p.m. Each of the free series of stories told through music will be followed by an opportunity for kids to play the musical instruments themselves, as well as to make arts-and-crafts versions of the instruments. The St. John's branch of the Multnomah County Library is located at 7510 N. Charleston Ave, Portland.
Each of the Storytimes will focus on autumnal and seasonally-related tales using music from one of the four families of musical instruments: woodwinds, strings, brass and percussion. The first Storytime, co-hosted by oboist Karen Wagner and DeNunzio on Nov. 6, will feature the woodwind family. On Nov. 12, Denise Huizenga will introduce kids to the violin and the string section. The following week, on Nov. 19, horn player John Cox will bring in his French horn; the series concludes on Nov. 26 with percussionist Chris Perry, who will help the kids become acquainted with several different kinds of percussion instruments. Each player will choose music for his or her Storytime session that illustrates the narrative of the story in an imaginative, compelling way. In addition, each musician from the orchestra will introduce themselves to the children when the storytelling is over, explain how their instrument "works," demonstrate how to hold it, and help the children try out a real instrument brought to the session for them to use. Kids can then participate in a crafts activity in which they make their own instrument out of common household materials; kids and parents will also be given a specially printed bookmark with suggested readings and recommended CDs that features the instruments they have been studying. These recommendations tie into the library's inventory of books and CDs.
The concept for the musical Storytime grew out of the Symphony's three-year participation in the Creative Empowerment Program, funded by a grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, which explores ways in which people learn to open their minds to creative expression and the exploration of new ideas. The Creative Empowerment Program emphasizes the use of one's own prior emotional experience in creating a "point of entry" to the study of a new subject, which has led to the creation of a new Storytimes model for children that combines music with literature as a means of enhancing the learning process.
For more information call 503-228-4294.