Contact: Allison Griffin
Public Relations Associate
503-416-6347
December 11, 2006
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Portland, Ore. … Musical story times with Oregon Symphony musicians will continue at the Fairview-Columbia branch of the Multnomah County Library on Saturday afternoons in January 2007. The program is as a result of an ongoing innovative partnership between the Library and the Symphony’s Department of Education and Community Engagement. The hour-long Storytimes begin at 2 p.m. on January 6, 13, 20 and 27. The Fairview-Columbia branch is located at 1520 N.E. Village Street.
Symphony musicians will accompany music-related stories read by Youth Services Librarian Kim Carrol. 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 program will continue on Wednesdays at the Capitol Hill Branch Library in February and the St. John’s Branch Library in March.
Each of the Storytimes will feature stories that will be enhanced by music from one of the four families of instruments: strings, woodwinds, brass and percussion. On January 6, violinist Julie Coleman will represent the string section featuring stories such as, “Berlioz the Bear” and “Barn Dance.” On January 13, oboist Karen Wagner will represent the woodwind section featuring stories like “Top Cat” and “Edward the Emu.” On January 20, trombonist Alan Pierce of the brass section will present stories like “Tacky the Penguin” and “The Thing That Annoyed Farmer Brown.” The series concludes on January 27 with percussionist Tom Sessa demonstrating the various instruments of the percussion section with stories such as “Max Found Two Sticks” and “Three Billy Goats Gruff.”
In collaboration with the librarian, each Symphony musician will choose music for his or her Storytimesession that illustrates the narrative of the story in an imaginative, compelling way. In addition, each musician will introduce themselves to the children and explain how their instrument “works,” including how to hold it and helping 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 and tie into the library’s inventory of books and CD’s. Symphony Storytimes are geared toward toddlers and preschool-aged children and their parents.
The concept for the Symphony Storytimes 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. This program has led to the creation of a new Storytime model 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 each 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.