Assignment 4: Story Set

For my final assignment I chose 3 stories that I loved in my younger years. Little Red Riding Hood and the Three Little pigs were told to me many times by my family as we went on long boring walks on the weekends. I would request that my Dad tell a “mixed-up fairy tale” and thought that the little side notes that took the story out of the traditional were the funniest thing in the world (once he told me that the 3rd little pig flipped the switch to make the fire in the gas fireplace and I still think it’s hilarious). I was sure to add a number of silly asides for you.

The story “Lettuce is Too Flat” was introduce to me by my sister a few years ago. We owned “Garth Pig and the Ice Cream Lady” when we were growing up and were thrilled when we ran across a whole series of books about the 10 little piglets. I thought about creating a Big Bad Wolf theme for the storytelling set and using Garth Pig --the 10-seater bicycle is something to be marveled at, as well as the oddities of “chocolate woooshies”, but that would have put me way over the time limit (already broken), and “Lettuce is Too Flat” is one of my “favoruite” stories. I believe that Benjamin’s plight is universally understood.
I also chose these stories because of their repetitive bits in threes “What big… you have” and “Little Pig, Little Pig…” are wonderful repetitions and stick in your head. Benjamin Pig echoes this with “I don’t like…” which fits him in this triad of stories.

My goal for this storytelling set is to break away from my pure narration of storytelling and add some dialog. I’ve hear my classmates do wonderful things with the pitch tone, speed, and intensity of their voices to create characters, and so here I tried to emulate that. Let me know what you think!

Enjoy!

Here is my final storytelling set in internet explorer. For Firefox you can click here. It runs a little over 15 minutes (15 minutes and 11 seconds)

Evening of Storytelling!

Last night 2 classmates and I got together to perform stories for our friends and families. It was lots of fun, and I think it went really well.
We each preformed 3 tales, all of mine have been posted on this blog before, but I think it's really nice to hear it again with a different audience, in a different atmosphere than a library storytime. Let me know what you think about them, too!

If you're only going to listen to one I would suggest The Very Hungry Caterpillar, because for the first time it is performed in front of a live audience (who was very familiar with the story, and I thought would tell the whole thing for me. It was really neat).



Here also are Rabbit's Snow Dance and Popcorn, which are neat to hear again because the audience is different, and it's in a different location (and I've practiced a lot more).
Rabbit's Snow dance:


Popcorn:


Enjoy!

Assignment 3: The Very Hungry Caterpillar

For assignment 3 we are supposed to adapt a picture book to the storytelling format.
Inspired by Pete Seeger's Abiyoyo I decided to put mine to music. Unfortunately I don’t play the banjo (yet), but one of my co-workers, knowing my interest in the ukulele loaned me his for a couple of weeks. I quickly mastered 3 cords.
The theme of this Saturday’s storytime will be “Days of the Week” and so I broke out the Very Hungry Caterpillar flannel set from BCL, and made up a song for you to enjoy. Click here to view my 4 minute story in Internet Explorer. Click here to view my story in Fire Fox.


You may have to adjust the volume on your computer.
Let me know what you think!

Reading Up on Performance

As a break from preparing my stories I decided to so some reading last night. The first chapter I read was on Presentation from “Storytelling Art &Technique” by Augusta Baker and Ellin Green, 1987.(It caught my attention because same name as the course—I figured it may be relevant.)

This chapter is fairly practical for an amateur storyteller presenting to a class. It give a diagram for setting up chairs so that no child (yes, this story hour is aimed for children) will be directly behind another. What I found most interesting was the need to create an atmosphere around storytelling. I don’t think one needs a dark room with candle light, as they suggest (fire codes in my library won’t allow that), but the idea of creating a special place either in the building, or taking some moments to pause and get yourself and the audience into the storytelling (and story receiving) mood. (Man, I am all about the parenthesis today).

One section of the chapter answers the question “What is the best way to handle disruptions” that we have been discussion in class. These authors suggest first involving the children in the story, then telling the story directly to the disrupters. Not until the third disruption do they suggest stopping the story (and apologizing to the other listener), and upon the 4th disruption asking them to leave.
This the mode is fairly set for the classroom storytelling set up, rather than the family and age ranges of the storytimes I lead a the library, or adults (although it may work for adults as well). But I thought it was an interesting approach.


A book I’m working though now, that I really enjoy is Tell Me A Tale by Joseph Bruchac (1997). The same Bruchac that I used for my first story performance “Rabbit’s Snow Dance” and who has cropped up in many different places. This book is written for both adults and children (ok—maybe it’s written for children, but I still like it). Chapter 4, “Sharing” has some good tips such as using silence, involving the audience, and other things that have come up on the discussion board, but are presented here in different wording, just to help it sink in a bit. This is a quick and easy read, and I would recommend it to our class.

Today’s Books:
Baker, Augusta. (1987.). Storytelling : art and technique. New York : Bowker. (photo above is of the 3rd edition).

Bruchac, Joseph (1997.). Tell me a tale : a book about storytelling. San Diego, Calif. : Harcourt Brace.

Popcorn Storytime: Story 3

Today I did another family storytime at BCL. It had a lot more people then the last two times (about 20 people total!), and there were some really good participants. My sister also stopped by to take photos and watch me at work.

Because I’m trying to have a storytelling at each of these storytimes, I need to find some that fit the theme given to me. It was a bit difficult to come up with a story about popcorn. While doing a desperate Google Search I found this website. it is a neat little story so I decided to adapt that. In the style of Brian “Fox” Ellis (one of the storytellers I viewed for my storyteller’s critique, if you didn’t slog through the last post) I decided to add a little education and some audience participation, too. Here's the story:


The children have name tags so I picked a couple of the names to use for the children in the story. The brother, Alex and Cody were sitting in the back so were very pleased that they could be part of the story (Mom and Dad were really happy about that, too). I am really proud of that touch.
For this storytime I ran short on time so only read 2 books, sang 2 popcorn songs, and told my story, before we made our craft of popcorn clouds. The craft was a big hit (even through I told them not to eat the popcorn). Because they got to use liquid glue instead of our usual glue sticks. Exciting times.

Next week stay tuned for my evening of storytelling with members of our class, and "Days of the Week" at the library's family storytime.


Today’s Reading Rainbow Books Are:

Low, Alice. (c1993.). The popcorn shop. New York : Scholastic.

Oppenheim, Joanne. (1997, c1989.). "Not now!" said the cow. Milwaukee : Gareth Stevens Pub.

The story “Popcorn snow” is adapted from the story by A. R Scheinerman, http://scheinerman.net/judaism/popcorn/index.html
with help from:
De Paola, Tomie. (c1978.). The popcorn book. New York : Holiday House.
And
Kudlinski, Kathleen V. (1998.). Popcorn plants. Minneapolis, Minn. : Lerner Publications Company

Storyteller's Critique

Here's my Storyteller's Critique, it's Assignment 2 for this course.
Enjoy!

The performances I viewed were so unlike each other in audience and performance that I had three very different experiences. The first I saw was an evening performance of Eth-Noh-Tec, the team of two storytellers from San Francisco preformed five short folk tales from all over Asia. Despite it being part of the same festival and one of the same performers, the next story telling performance was as different as can be: Nancy Wang told just a portion of the story of her family’s immigration from China and acceptance (or lack there of) in the United States five generations ago. This performance was on a Saturday morning, and the audience was significantly older than the Friday night audience for Eth-Noh-Tec. The third performance I observed was video recording of Brian “Fox” Ellis performing a single story aimed at children ages 5-12. The live audience in the film was a class of second grade students, which required a different sort of storytelling than the audience of adults.

I bring up the audience first because, as Nancy Wang stated—in theater the 4th wall separate the audience from the performance, where in storytelling the 4th wall extends behind the audience, to include them in the excitement, and makes them part of the performance. The different ways the storytellers included their audience was intriguing to observe and participate in. For example the storytellers preformed age appropriate jokes, for the adult audience of Eth-Noh-Tec a passing remark on current events roused a chuckle, where Brain “Fox” Ellis lengthen out a moment in his story about what happens when water molecules leave the bladder for his second grade audience, and they went wild with delight.

Part of the excitement in the stories that I appreciated the most was the voices and characters that the storytellers gave life to. The folktales of Eth-Noh-Tec had a host of stock characters that were very distinct from each other with voice in pitch, speed, and timbre when these characters talked to each other (in the two person performance) it was instantly clear to see what sort of character we were dealing with. On her own, Nancy Wang used more subtle character voice, each character was still unique, but rather than calling attention to the characters voices allowed for the story to flow over them, to move the narration forward. Brian “Fox” Ellis had a story telling style much more akin to mine, with little to no dialogue between different characters, using instead pure narration: he still varied and used his differences in his voice, but he kept the story moving with pacing, speed, pauses, volume, and tone rather than dialogue.

On our class boards early in the term we discussed the pros and cons of memorizing your stories word for word, and in watching Eth-Noh-Tec I could see how beneficial memorization can be. There was poetry in the stories, and clear imagery through word choice. Memorizing the script also allows for planned mistakes as Brian “Fox” Ellis often used the phrase “Walter- I mean-Water” to keep the storyline in the mind of the audience while making a small tangent to other things. However, while memorizing a script lends itself to theatrical performances, they also shine a spot light on mistakes of stumbled words, and losing a place in the story. Memorizing the script may also cut down on the audience participation that can be achieved by taking the storyteller out of the moment and into a script.

Another fascinating part of the storytelling performances was how the storytellers used their bodies. There was everything from the choreographed dance in Eth-Noh-Tec, adding theatrical elements and grace to their stories, to the simple gestures of Nancy Wang that subtly added to the story, such as rocking her body to the waves, or gently pushing in an imaginary drawer, to the exaggerated action motions of Brain “Fox” Ellis as he kicked and ran a home run in a school yard kick-ball game. Each had their place in the story and was used to great effect.

Sound and music were also utilized in different ways by these story tellers. Eth-Noh-Tec used a variety of wind instruments to add back ground music, song, interlude, and sound effects to their tales, where Brian “Fox” Ellis, used only his voice to create a gulping of water or a suck of a tube. What was most effective in the stories was the way that sound effects and body movements could indicated a change in the story before the teller used words to describe it. It was like the audience gained a “sneak peak” at the next emotion they were going to feel before knowing why they were going to felt that way. It was really effective and I’d like to take that into my own storytelling.

In addition to using sound effects and body movements to enhance my story telling I’d also like to add music. Watching online clips of Pete Seeger, I am inspired to learn a stringed instrument, such as a guitar or ukulele to play while storytelling, and although I do not have the opportunity to master an instrument during this course, it will be something I will aim for to add in to my storytelling in the future. Just as inspiring, and something I can practice now, is taking techniques from Eth-Noh-Tec, Nancy Wang, and Brain “Fox” Ellis on how they warmed up the crowd, putting themselves and the audience at ease and taking away all self-consciousness so the stories can be experienced by all.

Storytellers and their Stories:

Eth-Noh-Tec presents: Of Sojourns and Shadows: Asian American Message In the Myth
Robert Kikuchi-Yngojo and Nancy Wang
Friday April 17 2009 at the Hillsboro Main Library. Presented in cooperation with WCCLS Hearing Voices Storytelling Festival.
Stories:
Trouble Talk—Korea—animals and humans brag over who is the most powerful until disaster strikes
The Long Haired Girl—China—girl sacrifices herself to help her village
Willow Tree—Japan—Man tires to save tree from being cut down
“Feed my Dog” –India—A god’s dog teaches a village the dangers of materialism
Monkey Moon—Tibet—rhyming tale of Monkey king who wants the reflection of the moon for his own


Lanterns on a Dark Moon Night: The History of Chinese Americans in Monterey
Nancy Wang
Saturday April 18 2009, at the Beaverton City Library. Presented in cooperation with WCCLS Hearing Voices Storytelling Festival.
Stories of her family coming from China, their children born in United States, and how they were accepted into and rejected form different aspects of American life


Ellis, Brian “Fox” (Performer). (2006). Walter the Water molecule’s exciting journey through the water cycle. The StoryWatchers Club: Adventures in Storytelling. Our planet. DVD.
Walter is a water molecule that travels through evaporation, condensation, precipitation, perspiration, and many other places.

StoryTime 2: Strawberries

I lead my second family storytime this last Saturday. I don't feel it went quite as well as the last. I was less practiced with the books, story, and songs, and the audience was much less actively involved, but I think they still had a good time. The theme was strawberries and I told the creation story of strawberries from the book “The First Strawberries: A Cherokee Story” retold by Joseph Bruchac (the same person who retold the Rabbit’s Snow dance from last week). But I found the same story in Pat Nelson’s “Magic Minutes: Quick Read-Alouds for Every Day.” Based on the attention span and interest levels of my audience I cut the story quite a bit (like the entire middle), but I think it was successful. Now I know to feel a bit more comfortable with my stories before telling them.
Here’s the audio of the story:




Today’s Reading Rainbow books are:

Bruchac, Joseph, 1942-. (c1993.). The first strawberries : a Cherokee story. New York : Dial Books for Young Readers.

Degen, Bruce. (c1983.). Jamberry. New York, N.Y. : Harper & Row.

Martin, Bill, 1916-2004. (c1983, 1967.). Brown bear, brown bear, what do you see?. New York : Henry Holt and Co.

Molk, Laurel. (1998.). Good job, Oliver!. New York : Crown Publishers.

Nelson, Pat, 1925-. (1993.). Magic minutes : quick read-alouds for every day. Englewood, Colo. : Libraries Unlimited.

Wood, Don, 1945-. (1998.). The little mouse, the red ripe strawberry, and the big hungry bear. Swindon, England : Child's Play (International).

Finding Stories

One thing I've really enjoyed about the course so far is the opportunity we have to look for and enjoy different stories.
I've spent time perusing the 398.2s and Parent/Teacher collections and have enjoyed reading the different tales available. One of my favorite resources right now is Margaret Read MacDonald's Three Minute Tales: Stories from around the world to tell or read when time is short. It contains different situations one might be in when a story is just the right thing to fill time, or to make a point such as going on a walk, or on a museum tour. The tales are short (3 minutes or under, with the "time it takes to tell" estimated at the top.) From the discussion boards I can see that we have lots of Margaret Read MacDonald fans in the class, so you can now count me in as one as well. (I've checked out her "Twenty Tellable Tales" and will start on that soon.)

A publisher that I'm starting to notice is "August House" with their "American Storytelling" and "World Storytelling" series. Those stories are also nice at a couple of pages each with black and white pictures along with them. Something from the same publisher I ran across this spring break was called "Greasy Grimy Gopher Guts" which followed the school-yard chants, and camp songs that may not be appropriate for adult ears. I don't believe they count as Storytelling in any way (as they don't tell a story), but reading through the article on Folk Literature for class, most defiantly fall into that category, as they are passed from person to person with only slight modifications, and so fall into the storytelling tradition.

There are many other books I'm using as well that I pulled out of the 398.2s. Right now I'm searching for stories that I can tell to fit the story time themes "Days of the Week" and "pop corn". Any Suggestions? (The little Mouse, ripe red strawberry, and the Big Hungry Bear was a great hit-- I used the book as the illustrations are what make that story.)

Today's Books:

MacDonald, Margaret Read, 1940-. (2004.). Three-minute tales : stories from around the world to tell or read when time is short. Little Rock, Ark. : August House Publishers. http://www.loc.gov/catdir/toc/fy0710/2004046257.html

Sherman, Josepha. (1995.). Greasy grimy gopher guts : the subversive folklore of childhood. Little Rock, AR : August House Publishers.

Rabbit’s Snow Dance: My First Planned Storytelling

My story time went really well today-- I was nervous that perhaps I had prepared to much to do and the story time would go on forever, but I had just enough. I felt very confident in the story of Rabbit's snow dance, having told it 3-4 times in front of people before, and twice as many to myself. I felt better about the words I used, (sometimes in practice I would repeat a word over and over as if I was stuck on it, like “snow”, and “dance") I'll have to listen to my recording to see how it really went, but I got a lot of complements on it, so Huzzah! We started with our opening song, then I read a story about dancing and we did the Hokey Pokey. Then it was time for my story. I had my rabbit with me, but I put it to the side after introducing it, and brought it back at the end. The kids seemed to get into the song, (as you can hear in the recording one kid wanted to repeat it every time, but we didn't). The rest of the story time went well, too, I read more books, and we sang more songs. I forgot to sing the closing song, but I did remember the crafts, so Success

Now I'm really excited for next week! It's going to be awesome!

Here are a couple of sound clips from story time. Because of privacy and technology issues I cannot video record them, but this should work well.

Here is the story of Rabbit's Snow Dance:


This is one of the best Storytime songs there is (in my opinion). When I did toddler storytime they all got a huge kick out of snapping the monkeys.



Today's Reading Rainbow Books are:

Bruchac, Joseph, 1942-. (c1995.). The boy who lived with the bears : and other Iroquois stories. New York : HarperCollinsPublishers.

Durango, Julia. (c2006.). Cha-cha chimps. New York : Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers.

Ford, Bernette G. (2008.). Ballet class. New York : Boxer Books.

Jones, Bill T. (c1998.). Dance. New York : Hyperion Books for Children.

London, Jonathan, 1947-. (c1999.). Wiggle, waggle. San Diego : Harcourt Brace.

Nancy Wang

This morning I was able to see Nancy Wang tell the story of how her family immigrated to America from China 5 generations ago. It was very different from the performance that I saw her and her husband do last night as Eth-Noh-Tec, as this was a very serious piece, and rather than short stories that had a beginning, middle and end, her story created more vignettes of the lives of these people, and even were stories with in stories, as the performance started with the story of her great aunt Mary telling her these stories of their ancestors. The images were very strong even through the physical motions she used were small, and while her voices did have us traveling along the Ocean in a Junk Boat, the words were not the musical memorized and repeatedly rehearsed words from last night, but more like a spontaneous storytelling rather than a theatrical performance.
(During the Q and A it was reviled that this was her first performance telling this particular story as the Hearing Voices festival was wanting some immigration narratives to go along with the Stubborn Twig Oregon Reads book, and through personal events in Nancy Wang's life (the death of her mother last week) the story was not as well rehearsed as she would like), although it was still moving, and very educational.

For myself I felt more compelled to learn about the people she was telling us about because the were REAL people with complexities, not one dimensional "bird" and "monkey" that we were told about yesterday, and because I knew that their story continued it make it much more exiting, and more like my own life, or people I know.

Because of time constraints we only got through a about a generation and a half of her family line, (1849-1871ish). Because the show was so different the audiences Q and A were also different, rather than wanting information about storytelling they wanted to know more about her family’s experience, her father's side, her personal experiences, the laws and prejudged they faced, and the audience wanted to share their own stories of when their family's came to America. It was a very interesting experience, and, were I setting up the event I probably would like to have more discussion time-- but we were already running at over an hour and a half (and I had to run to get to work!). I believe there were different discussion groups that met throughout the festival as well.

Eth-Noh-Tec

I just saw Eth-Noh-Tec at the Hillsboro Library for part of the Hearing Voices Storytelling festival, and it was amazing. Robert Kikuchi-Yngojo and Nancy Wang are a husband and wife story telling team, some comes from a dance background and he from music so they incorporate much kinesthetic movements and music use of flutes and recorders to their stories, and also vocal music (certain words had a singing quality even if they couldn’t really be said to have been sung).

Tonight they told 6 stories of varying length. The first was a origin story (like the one I’m going to tell tomorrow about rabbit) but this was called “trouble talk” about how human has to work where as no other animal does. Each animal and human character was clearly defined, as well as each scene’s mood. It was a very good story to open with.

The second story was from China about Long Haired Girl and how she saves her village by finding fresh water. The physical gestures were amazing in it, each character having a particular pose to express themselves.

The Third story was a sad one from Japan about a Willow Tree. This one incorporated audience participation with song and movement (like I’ll do tomorrow with Rabbit’s Snow Dance). It was a graceful story and very different from the next from India about an enormous Dog that ate everything (and I mean EVERYTHING) it was really funny, and had the entire audience laughing along. The contrast between these two stories was remarkable.

And the final story they told was called Monkey Moon from Tibet- this was a story in rhyme, and with a particular rhythm to it as well, it would have fit right in a Seuss book.

During question and answer portion Nancy Wang discussed how story was different from theater, in one reason because in theater there is the 4th wall separate the audience from the performer, where as in storytelling the 4th wall extends behind the audience. I had never thought of it that way before. The audience as participating in the story-- I like to think about it like that now. I did notice that with eye contact with these performers- they were always talking directly too audience members. It was very personal.

One difference I noticed between these story tellers and our story telling experiences in residency were the ways that these stories were defiantly memorized-- there were moments of slight improvisation, but for the most part these stories were choreographed and had a precise language to them that certainly added to the performance aspect, but did cause a few “slip-ups” that may not happen in non-memorized pieces.

I’m really excited to see Nancy Wang perform tomorrow at the Beaverton library, and to perform my own story at Family story time. I was so pumped after the performance tonight that I told it to myself out loud in the car on the way home, and then to my father when I got home. He said it was very long, so we’ll see how it goes (now he has me doubting myself, but there has to be a first time for doing a story with out a book to protect me!)

Another thought that struck me during the performance tonight was that none of these stories ended happily ever after. They all came to a fulfilling conclusion but it wasn’t a happy one. It did make me feel better about Rabbit’s Snow dance, which, too, does not end exactly happily. Why do I have it in my head that stories for children have to end happily?

You can check out Eth-Noh-Tec here http://www.ethnohtec.org/

The ball is rolling

I’m very excited for this coming Friday and Saturday! It’s going to be a storytelling filled couple of days.
Friday I’m going to see my first storytellers "Eth-Noh-Tec presents Of Sojourns and Shadows: Asian American Message In the Myth" for part of the Hearing voices Storytelling Festival, then Saturday morning I’m checking out "Nancy Wang - Lanterns on a Dark Moon Night: The History of Chinese Americans in Monterey"
Saturday afternoon I’m covering Storytime at the library where I work and I’m going to throw a story in there. The theme is Dance and now I like the story “Rabbit’s Snow Dance” a native American story about how rabbit lost his tale, and gained big ears and basically how he looks today. This is my first non-spontaneous story telling in front of an audience, is I’m going to be practicing all I can on friends and family (and in my head).
Tune in next weekend to see how these events are!

Time for Story 1

While the regular librarian is out I'm in charge of Saturday's "family storytime" at the BCL on April 18th, and 25th. (I'm also taking a couple more in May)

The themes she is giving me are "Strawberries" and "Dancing" so I'm looking stories that pertain to those themes. (any suggestions?)

I've found the zen one about the man being chased by tigers and hanging from a vine off the edge of a cliff on the brink of death and tasting a sweet strawberry-- It's good, action-packed, and thought provoking, I'm not sure it's conclusive enough for 2-7-year-olds. (I mean, "a strawberry never tasted so sweet"? If I were five I'd be upset the strawberry didn't give him the energy he needed to climb the vine and make the tigers his friends (or make them into tiger pancakes)).

I think "Dancing" will be fairly easy to find stories about.

I'm a bit nervous to be up in front of everyone without a book to protect me, so I'm inclining towards using a puppet or two for props. When I've used puppets in songs I've had good experiences, so this may be a good way to ease into storytelling for a new audience.

I know that some would say that using props is cheating, but, oh well...

I'm also working on figuring out this digital voice recorder I got for Christmas, that way I can record my storytimes, and post them here!

Welcome!

Welcome to my Digital Storytelling Journal created for LIS 561 Storytelling: Art & Techniques through the ischool at the University of Washington.
Here I will blog about my experiences as audience, researcher, and teller of stories, and anything else that relates.
I'm excited to see where this course will take me, and what I will learn about the tradition of storytelling, and how I can use technology to capture it.
Thanks for stopping by!