Children learn from a master to tell a story through music
 

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[July 11, 2015]  ATLANTA - On July 6-10, 2015, 20 children between the ages of seven and 12 participated in a music camp at the Atlanta Public Library. In its second year, this program helps children learn about musical techniques and assist the music teacher in composing song that tells a story. At the end of the week, the children perform the song for parents.

On Thursday morning, as they worked together to write a song based on the story Pete the Cat, guitarist and singer/songwriter Brian Davis of Peoria asked the children, "Should we sing with attitude? Should we sing with a Taylor Swift attitude?" He then quoted lines from the song with this 'attitude' -- "Me worry? Goodness no."


Brian Davis

The children practiced singing the first verse and the chorus, clapping along. Davis reminded them that the chorus is the part everyone remembers. He noted that the chorus is like a Beethoven tune because it is smoother than the rest. They then chanted "Pete the Cat," clapping along with the chanting. Moving into the chorus, the children sang, "Pete's never been to the library. Does he worry? Goodness no!" The children suggested Davis use a different chord for the second chorus. They also suggested Davis end the song with a long legato to convey Pete's excitement about going home from school.



The first part of the week, the children learned about some musical terms and techniques from a Julliard student named Andrew Roistein. Using Igor Stravinsky's "Rite of Spring," he demonstrated utilizing musical techniques to tell stories without words. Learning terms such as legato, staccato, and tremolo, and the major, minor, and seventh chords, the children were able to apply these terms as they used music and mood to write a story based on these techniques.


Cathy Maciariello, center

Library co-director Cathy Maciariello said that last year, the children wrote theme songs for various characters and played them on the recorder, similar to the style used to tell the story "Peter and the Wolf."

In the weeks before the music camp, there was an art camp and theater camp. Maciarello said that in the art camp, the children learned to do artwork in the style of [Henri] Matisse, [Jackson] Pollock, and [Vincent] Van Gogh. At the end of the week, they set up an art gallery of the children's works influenced by these styles and had a fancy party like they do in real art galleries.

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J.R. Simpson

In the theater camp, the children learned theatrical terms and production, improvised characters, developed scripts, made costumes and sets, composed and wrote songs all adapted from the book Creepy Carrots. They performed the play at the end of the week. To provide an example of the children's work at the theater camp, Maciariello shared one chorus from the play--"Carrots, carrots, we love being carrots. Big ones, small ones--we all have our merits. We're orange on the bottom. We'll keep on creeping and never stop." She said another song had the bunnies from that story. Seven-year-old J.R. Simpson, who has attended all the camps this summer, stated, "the art, theater, and music are all really fun.

During these camps all combined, a total of 80-90 children are involved with several children attending more than one camp. Maciariello explained that a major grant from the Illinois Prairie Community Foundation allows the library to keep registration fees low so they can provide access to more children--otherwise, it would cost four times as much.

Maciariello said that the camp provides a place [for children] to come to have fun, learn to work with other kids, and learn about art. She also noted that the content is pretty sophisticated and it helps kids develop a deeper appreciation the arts, a sense of community, and more self confidence.

Davis stated that he enjoyed exposing the children to different styles of music to give them bigger landscapes. He mentioned that the kids like the darker music and that as they listened to Beethoven's "Moonlight Sonata," it stirred up images of rain. The children also reportedly were fascinated by the story of the riots that occurred at Stravinsky's concerts when he first introduced "Rite of Spring."

As the week of music camp draws to a close today, Friday, July 10, a pre-show begins at 11 a.m. with children talking about what they learned at the camp. This will be followed by their performance of an original song and a pizza party to celebrate their work. The event will be held at the Methodist Church in Atlanta.

[Angela Reiners]

 

 

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