#49 SOUND STORIES
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(Just click on the category you want to view)Sound Stories: "The essence of improvisation and creativity reigns in this form of story telling." - Deborah Jeter ***********************************************************************
Sound Story: ANTONIO
Deborah Jeter, author unknown
Here is a musical lesson for reinforcing rhyming words by using instruments:
Maracas/woodblocks - on the underlined words
Triangle/bells - on the bold syllables.
Antonio, Antonio was tired of living alonio. He thought he would woe, Miss Lissy Maloo, Miss Lissy MaLucy, Malonio.
Antonio, Antonio, rode off on his polo ponio. He found the fair maid, in bowery shade, a sitting and knitting alonio.
SOLO:
Antonio, Antonio, said if you'll be my ownio. I'll love you true and buy for you an icery creamery conio.
COUNTER SOLO:
Oh, nonio, Antonio, you're far too bleak and bonio! And all that I wish, you singular fish, is that you will sweetly begonio.
Antonio, Antonio, he uttered a dismal moanio. He ran off and hid, I'm told that he did, to the fartherest Antartical Zonio.
The melody:
so - mi re - do so - mi re - do
so - mi mi - re re - mi re - do
so - mi mi - so so - mi mi - so
so - mi mi - re re - mi re - do
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***********************************************************************AH CHU!!
Ah Chu! By Erin Mack and D. Jeter Long ago and many lands away, there was a small town named CHU and in it there lived a fat, old man. This fat, old man was very grouchy, and he had the annoying habit of sneezing every time it rained. In the town of CHU, the skies sent down their rain for days and weeks at a time. every time this happened, the fat, old man would become even grouchier. However, for some strange reason, there hadn't been very much rain this particular season and that was a great concern, for this was the planting season. If there was no rain, then the crops would die and the people would starve. So, the leaders of CHU got together to decide on a plan of action. They talked and talked for many days but came to no decision. They still did not know how they would save their crops. Then one of the leaders said, "Let's ask the fat, old man what to do because no one knows more about rain than he does." A messenger was sent to the fat, old man. When the messenger told him why he had come to visit him, the grouchy, fat, old man yelled, "The reason it has not rained is because I have not decided to sneeze. Of course, this was a lie.
Then the fat, old man got a devious idea and said, "The only way I can sneeze again is to have some gold dust placed under my nose." That was another lie, but the messenger left hurriedly to tell the leaders of CHU what the fat, old man had said. The leaders were quite alarmed but they agreed that the idea was worth a try. After all, they had observed in the past that every time it rained, the fat, old man would sneeze. Some gold dust was taken to the fat, old man, but it produced no sneeze, and the fat, old man said he needed more gold dust. More gold dust was brought to the fat, old man and still no rain! This situation went on for weeks and weeks. Soon the people of CHU became very poor, while the fat, old man became very rich. He was rolling in gold dust! He would sit in his hut and play with his gold dust, while screaming at the people of CHU to bring him more and more gold dust.
Then one day, as he was pushing a wheelbarrow filled with gold dust around town, pushing small children and kicking dogs out of his way, a miraculous thing happened. The rain clouds that had been far away in the land of Chang came back to the town of CHU. The clouds had traveled so far that their swollen bellies were anxious to be rid of the weight. The skies opened up and sent the glorious rain. They also delivered upon the town of CHU another gift. A great lightening bolt, golden and shining came streaking down to earth, cutting through the sparkling drops of rain and struck directly on the head of the grouchy, fat, old man, knocking him dead. And he never even had a chance to sneeze.
The End
These are merely suggestions as to which instruments you can use for this activity. Feel free to use your own ideas. Be creative!
Fat, Old Man - tone blocks or bongos
CHU - whole class says, BONG!
Rain - jingle bells
Sneeze - tambourine
Grouchy - guiro
Gold Dust - glockenspiel (glissando)
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***********************************************************************THE LITTLE CATERPILLAR
(I wrote this story to incorporate movement and rhythm instruments. I had one group be the caterpillars and assigned the rest of the kids to A, D, E, F, X, Y, or Z. The kids chose instruments ahead of time for each element. I had them sit in groups on the floor and directed them but you could put the letter names with element name on board and point to each.)Far off in the distant field on a very special plant, there was an egg.(A) Now the leaves on this plant were soft and green. And they were filled with a milky white liquid. The little egg(A) on this plant was hiding underneath a leaf. It was very small and shiny and white. It has been on this plant, on this leaf and in this field for many months waiting....and growing. And there it remained thru the long hard winter...through the cold, and snow, and wind. But now it is spring and the winter has gone. Gone are the cold(X), the snow(Y) and the wind(Z). Spring has taken hold and new weather is here. There is a warm breeze, a blazing sun and a refreshing rain. And with all the weather that comes with spring, something new is happening to that little egg(A)!
The egg is beginning to move, and wiggle and soon a little tiny caterpillar climbs out of it's small eggshell. He hardly notices the warm breeze(D), the blazing sun(E), and the refreshing rain(F). He has only one thing on mind.....FOOD! He begins to chew on the edge of a leaf. The same leaf that held him so faithfully thru the cold(X), the snow(Y) and the wind(Z). He munches and chews and bites day after day. He begins to grow and gets bigger, and bigger, and bigger until one day......he can eat no more! What now?
Slowly he begins to turn and wiggle and spin around and around. A little silken thread is covering his whole body! Before long he is covered completely in a grey chrysalis. We can no longer see that little, I mean big caterpillar! He doesn't move and he doesn't wriggle but simply goes to sleep. His silken shell will protect him. The wind blew(D), the sun shone(E) and the rain drizzled(F) and poured down on that little silken cocoon. But the little caterpillar slept and slept until one day when the cocoon began to move. It wiggled and wriggled and all of a sudden out popped one little wing. A wing? From that big caterpillar?
Soon another wing appeared and then the wings began to open.
The sun shone down(E)
and the little caterpillar (I mean 'butterfly') began to slowly flap her wings. She flapped and flapped
her wings until she rose into the air. She flew up and around the flowers and plants. She began to
look for just the right plant. The sun shone, the wind blew and the rain came down and still the little
butterfly searched and searched for just the right plant to lay her egg. Before long, the spring and summer were but a memory and again came the cold(X), the snow(Y) and the wind(Z).
Le Finis
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***********************************************************************FALL STORY
Here's a sound story for fall time! Group the kids in different instrument groups according to the characters and read the story. When you read their word or character they play the sound effects! :)Fall Party Trees - Temple Blocks, claves, wood blocks
Enchanted Forest - Wind Chimes Fairies - glockenspiels
Woodpeckers - xylophones
Owls - metallophones
Troll - drums
Once upon a time, there were some beautiful forest trees that lived in an enchanted forest. Every time autumn came around they were so proud of their new bright colored leaves that they wanted to throw a fall party and invite all of the woodland forest guests. The Birch offered some of its white bark to make out the invitations. The trees thought this was a wonderful idea and wrote out invitations for all the animals to join them in the middle of the forest as soon as the sun went down.
The first group to get the invitation were the fairies. They were so excited to be invited that they danced all around the enchanted forest, hanging beautiful fairy lights to brighten up the party.
The second group to get the invitations were the woodpeckers. They also wanted to help with the party so they gathered all of the fresh berries and nuts around the enchanted forest for food at the party.
The owls also got an invitation and since owls are so wise, their job was to make sure everyone in the enchanted forest knew about the party and came on time.
But, the one person the trees and forest animals could not invite was the angry troll who lived under the bridge in the enchanted forest. If the troll knew about the party, he would come and eat the fairies, woodpeckers, and the owls.
Well the day of the party arrived. The whole enchanted forest was excited about the festivities. The fairies arrived and lit the fairy lights all around to brighten up the party, the woodpeckers arrived with their fruit and nuts and the owls arrived with all of the rest of the forest animals. The trees were so magnificent in their beautiful colors of gold, red, purple, and yellow and were so happy that this party was such a success.
The animals had a wonderful time and sang and danced all through the night!
But, as you might have guessed, the troll did find out about the party. He heard the noises of the singing and dancing and was so mad and hungry he decided to go crash the party and eat the guests! After all, owl meat was very satisfying, woodpeckers tasted delicious and fairies were always a tasty desert! When the troll arrived at the party, all of the guests froze.
No one knew what to do! Should they run? Should they hide? Just when the troll was about to make his move, the trees noticed something in the sky....the sun was coming up!!!
Now if any of you know anything about trolls, when the sun comes over the trees, trolls turn to stone! Just when the troll was about to catch an owl, the sun came over the trees and turned the evil troll into a stone statue!! All of the animals were happy again and they lived happily ever after in the beautiful enchanted forest! The end! -- RaeAnna Goss Heritage Elementary Music www.wcs.edu/hes/goss/goss.htm
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***********************************************************************THE GHOST CATCHER
Add a sound to repeated words or phrases. Here is what we did:Barber - all say "snip, snip, snip" with a hand motion like they are holding scissors.
Ghost - all say "ooooooooooo", in a ghostly manner, with a rising voice and right hand, palm down, shaking and rising to the right.
Tom - the person playing Tom says, "That's me!".
razors - pull one cheek down and make a scratching noise with a motion like shaving.
scissors - all say, "cut, cut, cut", with one person saying "ouch" immediately after.
brushes - all say, "brush, brush, brush", while brushing hair with hand.
comb - all say, "comb, comb, comb".
mirror - all put hands together, (little fingers touching), and look into palm and sigh, "ahhhh", descending voice, as if looking in a mirror and admiring themselves.
Add other sound effects as students suggest them.
We actually did this with a girl playing Tom, so we changed her name to Tammy.
THE GHOST CATCHER
Narrator: Now, this is a very old story.
However..... Tom's father was a barber. And when Tom's father died, all he left his son was his bag of barber tools and razors, scissors, brushes, combs and a mirror. So what could Tom do? He tried to be a barber too. In those days, you had to do whatever your father did. Well, Tom was a clever boy, but he wasn't a good barber. And after a while, people stopped coming to him.
All: He is not as good a barber as his father . . . (shake heads)
Tom: I'd rather be a farmer, but if I have to be a barber, I will leave this town. I will go to the city where no one knows that my father was a better barber than I.
All: Leave, leave, leave.
Narrator: And so Tom picked up his bag of barber tools and razors, scissors, brushes, combs and a mirror and set off for the city.
Tom walked all morning [ Tom acts like he is walking, temple blocks do a clip clop sound]
and he walked all afternoon. When night came, Tom sat under a willow tree to rest. The city was still a long way off, and Tom decided to spend the night under the willow tree. He lay down on the ground and fell asleep at once. As luck would have it, that very willow tree was haunted by a ghost. And soon after Tom fell asleep, the ghost floated down from the treetop crying, "BOOOOOOO!" [flexitone]
Narrator: Tom woke up at once.
Tom: What a bad dream,
Narrator: He said to himself.
Tom: I dreamed this willow tree was haunted by a ghost.
Narrator: "BOOOOOOO!", [flexitone] cried the ghost again. Now he was right at Tom's ear. This was not a dream! Tom had to think fast.
Tom: I've got to think fast.
Narrator: Yeah, that's what I said. Anyway, Tom said quickly . . .
Tom: Don't you come close to me, ghost. D-d-d-o you know what I am? I-I-I-I'm a GHOST CATCHER!
[all play: d(dotted 1/4), e(1/8), f(1/4), d(1/4) rest, rest, d(dotted 1/4), e(1/8), f(1/4), d(1/4), a (whole note rolled)]
Tom: That's what I am! I catch ghosts and put them in my ghost bag.
Narrator: And with that Tom opened his bag of barber tools and pulled up the mirror.
Tom: Here, let me show you one ghost I've caught tonight,
Narrator: he said. Tom held the mirror up to the ghost's face.
Tom: I think I'll put you in the bag to keep him company.
Narrator: The ghost looked into the mirror - and what did he see?
All: A wicked witch? [percussion sound]
Narrator: No.
All: A sandwich? [percussion sound]
Narrator: No (a bit annoyed)
All: A bicycle! [percussion sound]
Narrator: No, silly! (very annoyed now) His own face, of course. But he didn't know that.
He thought the barber really did have a ghost in the bag.
"Oh, please," begged the ghost, "don't put me in your ghost bag. I'll give you anything you want. Just let me go."
Tom: Anything I want? Hmmm, then I want a bag of gold.
ALL: Is that all?
Tom: Ok, make it two bags of gold then.
Narrator: Zip! [metallophones and glocks gliss. low to high]
In a wink, two bags of gold were at Tom's feet.
Tom: Good enough . . . [temple blocks, two sounds]
Narrator: Tom said.
Tom: I promise not to put you in my bag this time. But remember, if you bother me again, into the ghost bag you go.
Narrator: As soon as Tom let the mirror fall back into the bag , the ghost was gone. And they lived happily ever after.
All: No, no, no, there's more to the story.
Narrator: Ok, Ok, Ok. (speaking very quickly) Tom never did go to the city. He took some of the gold the ghost had given him and he bought himself a farm. He bought cows and pigs and horses and chickens. Tom was a fine farmer. He didn't have to cut hair or shave faces anymore. But Tom kept his bag of barber tools, and he lived happily ever after.
All: Go on, there's more.
Narrator: Ok, Ok, Ok! As luck would have it, the ghost met his cousin one day and told him everything that had happened. At the end of this story, the cousin burst out laughing. FIVE LITTLE MONKEYS - kids helped tell the story. 5 monkeys jumping on bed- bounce lightly 5 times on the bars. One falls off (glissando down) , bumps his head (hit side of instrument) ,Mamma calls the dr. and the dr said - shake mallet while saying "No more monkeys jumping on the bed!". Then repeat for 4,3,2,1 and finally, Mama gets to bounce on the bed. This gave them lots of opportunities to hold mallets and "pop" on the bars and glissando. THE THREE BEARS: hit low, middle, high bars for Papa, Mama, baby bear. Bears go for a walk (walk up and down bars) , While they are gone Goldilocks comes to call- she knocks at the door (knock on side of instrument). No one answers so she goes in and walks up the stairs (walk up bars). When she gets to the top she finds the bear's beds and goes to sleep in the baby bears' bed. She snores (tremelo on highest bar) She dreams (swirling on bars) . The bears come home- they ask "Who is in our house!". Up the stairs they go and find Goldilocks. They roar- and she runs quickly down the stairs and out the door! (Hit side for door slam). SLEEPING BEAUTY: Once there was a mean witch (play low and loud) who didn't like a lovely princess (play lightly up high) . She decided to use magic (swirling ) , to make her fall asleep. The Princess (play lightly up high) fell into a deep sleep. A prince heard about her. He rode up hills (play up the bars) and down hills (down the bars) until at last he found the sleeping princess. He gave her a kiss (!) (one light tap on bars) and she woke up! She jumped on the back of his beautiful white horse and off they rode up and down the hills until they got back to his castle- where they lived happily ever after! THREE PIGS- in the same vein, sounds for the brick, stick and straw houses, when wolf huffs and puffs we "swirl" up and down . House falls down (glissando down) with a clunk on the side of the instrument. After he blows down two houses, he climbs up to the roof of the brick house, slides down the chimney into the pot, and thats the end of him! -- President, San Diego American Orff Schulwerk Association, Visit our SDAOSA website at http://www.sbsd.k12.ca.us/~slloyd/index.htm
Note: This story was written at the request of one of my four year olds. (He was enamoured with the idea behind the song (in Wee Sing) "A Little Skunk's Hole.") Matthew was very insistent that the skunk's "stink" be included in the plot, hence it is. However, you may find the reference offensive or silly. Feel free to delete that portion of the story. I didn't delete it for you because my pre-school class of all boys really got a 'kick' out of it. The blanks are intended to give time for the child (or children) to briefly play their instrument.
winds: chimes; leaves: maracas; branches: guiro
Jennifer the skunk: sand block wolf: congo drum boy: triangle
woodpecker: woodblock bear: bass drum
head, eyes, etc., (pentatonic cluster chord on s. xylo)
TEAMWORK IN THE WOODS inspired by Matthew Holmes (age 4)
Deep in the forest where the winds were gentle___, where the leaves rustled in the air___ and the branches swayed oh, so gently___, there lived a young skunk named Jennifer. Now Jennifer ____ was not your average skunk. She liked to cavort around with her friend the bear, ____, run with her friend the wolf,____ and sometimes even knock on the trees with her friend the woodpecker,____.
She spent her days looking for food when she wasn't playing with the bear, ___, the wolf, ___, and the woodpecker, ___. She loved to lay in the crook of a tree trunk just looking up at the sky. She would feel the gentle wind,___ brushing against her fur. She watched the leaves and the branches of the trees moving oh, so gently way up above her, ___(both sounds).
Her days were very busy what with looking for food, knocking on trees with the woodpecker, ___, running with the wolf,___ and cavorting with the bear,___. She did little else.
But one day, she was walking thru the forest and she heard something a strange sound (boy)___.
It didn't sound like the leaves rustling, ___, or the branches swaying,___, and it certainly didn't sound like the wind blowing through the
trees. ___. It didn't sound like her friends the bear___, the wolf,___ or the woodpecker____. What could it be?
She listened again: (boy)___. Then she started to walk toward the sound. After walking past many trees with the wind blowing ___, the leaves rustling ___, and the lovely tree branches swaying ___, she came upon a clearing where there were no trees but only tall grass, beautiful flowers and sunshine! Then all of a sudden, she saw it right where her house was standing! The sound was coming from a large figure (larger than her that is!) of a BOY, a HUMAN BOY!
Jennifer scuttled over and walked all the way around the boy____.
But there was no hair____, no eyes___, no ears____, no nose ___, no mouth ___, and NO HEAD____!
She scurried over to where she thought the head might be (she stood by the boy's feet because HER head is very near HER feet!) and said, "Ummm, Hi!," and she heard the boy say, "I'm over here!" So she ran to the other end of the boy (the part with no head) and said to herself: "Well, you learn something new every day!" She said, "Is there more of you?" (Which I think a reasonable question, don't you?) And the boy,___, answered,___ "Of course there's more of me! My HEAD is stuck in this hole!"
Now you have to understand that this "hole" was Jennifer's home and shouldn't be surprised when she said in a rather irritated voice: "THAT IS NOT A HOLE, THAT IS MY HOME!" ____. The boy then said in a rather apologetic voice, "Excuse me, I mean your HOME! Can you please help me?"
Jennifer thought for a moment, _____ and said, "Well, I'll try, but I think you need more than just me so I'll be back!" As she was scurrying away, she yelled out, "Now stay right there!" (The boy thought, "Now there's some really great advice!"____.
Soon Jennifer returned with the bear, ___, the wolf, ____, and the woodpecker,___. The bear said, "I can help," _____, and he pulled and pulled on the boy but the boy didn't budge. The wolf said, "I can help," ____, and he pulled and pulled on the boy but the boy didn't budge. Then the woodpecker said, "I can help,"____ and he pulled on the boy but the boy didn't budge. Then the boy said, "Woe is me! I'll never get my head out of here!"____.
Well, Jennifer sat right down in the middle of the path and thought and thought____. Then she got up on her four legs and announced, "We're going to pull altogether!" So, Jennifer got directly behind the boy and asked everyone to get behind her. And do you know what happened next? No.....one......moved an inch! Why? Well you have to understand something about skunks. They're awfully cute but there's one problem. What is it? (allow time for response)
Jennifer said, "What's the matter?"____ Well, the woodpecker looked at the wolf,____, and the wolf looked at the bear,____ and the bear looked at Jennifer and said, "Well, er, that is.......you're a skunk and what if uh, by accident, er....."
"Ah," said Jennifer, "Say no more, I understand." Ok, I'll get behind!" And so the bear got behind the boy, the wolf got behind the bear, the woodpecker got behind the wolf and Jennifer got behind the woodpecker. They all grabbed each other and began to pull. (Those 4 sounds____)
WELL, the wind, the leaves and the branches were not to be outdone and began to make noises of their own while the animals continued to pull____, and pull,___ and PULL, _____! (All sounds on each of these.) And such a racket had never been heard in (not wanting to be caught under the wolf) flew up and out of the way, ____, and Jennifer quickly scurried out of the way.
Then she ran around to meet the head of the boy that had planted itself in her house! The boy showing his whole self for the first time looked at the animals and said, "Thank you!"____ and do you know what the animals said? "You're welcome! (LE FINIS)
Cousin: Hoo, hoo, hoo, No man can catch a ghost. And there is no such thing as a ghost bag. You have been tricked.
Narrator: Well, go and see for yourself," The ghost said. "But don't blame me if that man puts you in his bag." The cousin floated over to Tom's house and peeked through the window. Tom was eating his supper. He felt a cold breeze and looked up.
Tom: Another ghost!
Narrator: Tom ran to get his bag of tools. Quickly, he opened the bag and pulled up the mirror. Then, he held the mirror against the window and shouted "Come on in! I'll put you in the bag too!"
Tom: Come on in! I'll put you in the bag too!
All: Could we finish the story, please?!!!!!!
Narrator: Alright, alright, alright! The cousin took one look at the ghost in the bag and floated off as fast as he could go. From that time on, Tom lived in peace. He was clever enough to keep his bag of barber tools handy, although he never had to use them again.
All: And they all lived happily ever after! [chord fanfare]
Narrator: Yeah.
All: THE END!
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ORFF TALES
We had so much fun in music class today! This week is introduction to the Orff instruments week. I have 9 instruments so we have to take turns, but things went very smoothly. With the little ones (K/1) we had fun telling stories. I made up little Orff tales to several stories and it was a "hit" (get it?!) I asked them for stories and these are the ones they suggested.Each group did one story. On the spur of the moment this is what we did- BACK to Sound Stories topics
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TEAMWORK IN THE WOODS
I thought some of you working with younger children might enjoy reading this story with the children on percussion instruments. I wrote it in the style of some of the published stories in the Orff-Kodaly For the Elementary School.BACK to Sound Stories topics