Contact: Allison Griffin
Public Relations Associate
503-416-6347
October 6, 2006
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Portland, Ore. … Musical story times with Oregon Symphony musicians will begin at Multnomah County Library branches Saturday mornings in November as a result of an ongoing innovative partnership between the Library and the Symphony’s Department of Education and Community Engagement. Beginning with weekly events at the Holgate Library, Symphony musicians will perform to music-related stories read by Youth Services Librarians Deborah Gitlitz and Barbara Head.
Symphony Storytimes are scheduled on Saturday, November 4, 11, 18 and 25 at 11 a.m. The free Storytimes 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 Holgate branch of the Multnomah County Library is located at 7905 S.E. Holgate Boulevard Portland. The Storytimes project will continue in 2007 at the Fairview-Columbia Library in January, Capitol Hill Library in February and St. John’s Library in March.
Each of the Storytimes will choose stories that will be enhanced by music from one of the four families of musical instruments: strings, woodwinds, brass and percussion. The first Storytime, hosted by cellist Trevor Fitzpatrick on November 4, will feature the string family musically illustrating stories such as “The Cello of Mr. O.” On November 11, oboist Karen Wagner will present instruments of the woodwind section along with stories like “Top Cat” and “Edward the Emu.” On November 18, principal horn player John Cox will talk about the different instruments of the brass family featuring stories like “The Things That Annoyed Farmer Brown” and “Tacky the Penguin;” the series concludes on November 25 percussionist Tom Sessa demonstrating the various instruments of the percussion section with stories such as “Rap a Tap Tap: Here’s Bojangles-Think of That!” and “Max Found Two Sticks.”
In collaboration with the librarian, each player will choose music for his or her Storytimesession 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; 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 CD’s that feature the instruments from the Storytime. These recommendations tie into the library’s inventory of books and CD’s.
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 Storytimesmodel for children that combines music with literature as a means of enhancing the learning process.
Seating is available on a first-come, first-served basis. Free tickets are available at the library thirty minutes prior to the Storytime.
For more information call 503-228-4294 or visit the Symphony’s Web site at www.orsymphony.org. Support for Symphony Storytimes is provided by Comcast, the Anne A. Berni Foundation and Juan Young Trust.