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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] |
