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Using Musicals to Retell a Fable with a Moral

9/27/2025

My elementary classroom teacher friends have been kind enough to offer suggestions for Lesson Plans for my Mini-Musicals. In many states, so much of the curriculum is scripted to meet the Common Core Objectives. They find that it is exhausting to add anything beyond the well-stated goals. It is simply too hard to justify "fluff' and "fun." They are too busy trying to keep up with all of the mandated requirements. And many teachers are so overwhelmed, they rely solely on commercially prepared pre-made worksheets and packets.

This is such a shame! As I have read the National Common Core Objectives, there seems to be a lot of room for creativity and fun. For example, one of the ELA objectives for 1st-3rd grades is to retell a story or fable with a moral. What better way to meet this objective than to present a class play? And if the songs reinforce the concepts of the moral plus other Language Arts ideas, that is all for the better. For example, the opening song in "The Tale of the Three Billy Goats Gruff," contains an idiom that is introduced along with many other puzzlements, "Why is Grass Always Greener on the Other Side?" This song is a good jumping off point for a discussion about asking questions to get information using the words "who, what, where, when and why."

In the Mini-Musical "The Tale of the Musicians of Bremen," the moral has to do with Age and Change. Children may not recognize how difficult it is for older people to grow old and feel useless. Older people often stubbornly resist change. The old farmer and his wife in the story have to face Age and Change in themselves and for their animals. This story shows the animals taking a proactive step to avoid their certain fate (death). The animals are likable and do silly things, but also allow for a discussion about important life lessons, particularly Age and Change.

The City Mouse and the Country Mouse discover that both of their homes have pros and cons. The Country Mouse visits the City with her cousin and is terrified at the noise and hustle-bustle and all of the hidden dangers of the City. She decides that the "cons" far outweigh the "pros" of City Life. She races home to the Country where she already knows what to expect. "The Tale of the City Mouse and the Country Mouse" begins Comparisons
of Likes and Dislikes discussion.
Through explorations in acting and singing, the students can draw comparisons from the story and their own experiences to become better at determining their own preferences.

Retelling a story or fable with a moral is what these Mini-Musicals are all about. According to the advice of my teacher friends, I have included ideas and worksheets to help meet some of the Common Core Objectives for ELA. The best accolade I ever got from mounting one of these shows came from two little boys. The confided to their dad that they did not know why I kept telling them how proud I was of their hard work. They did not feel like it was work at all. They were having so much fun!

Who says learning can't be fun?

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Choreography or Choral-ography

9/14/2025

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You have all heard of Choreography, of course. But "Choral"-ography is something a bit different. It is coordinated, but limited, movement for a chorus of singers. Sometimes it t is just a synchronized gesture or turn of the heads, other times actual full-bodied movement. The key is to make the movements fit the words of the song and not be too boisterous as to confuse the singers or hamper their singing.

Many Chorus teachers will use gestures to help teach a song to young students. Teaching a song with hand motions or even modified sign language can be helpful tools. However, when blocking a large Ensemble of children on a stage in a show, doing CHORAL-OGRAPHY is better. The gestures and body positions must "read" from a fair distance, so they need to be large and coordinated to be seen from the last row of the audience

When composing a song for an ensemble of young children, I try to think about it in terms of choral-ography. In other words, I always try to imagine how the children would interpret the song on stage. The words come across best when simple gestures can be used to emphasize the meaning. Words suggesting a direction such as "up" or "down" I make sure have a gesture or body movement to emphasize that. Lyrics about joy or love or happiness might have a gesture of clasping hands at the heart. Lyrics about sadness might use slumped shoulders and frowning faces. Words with abstract meanings are the most difficult to interpret. I usually save the simple generic hand and arm motions for those lyrics --- arm out left, arm out right, both arms up, one arm up in back and one down front with "jazz" hands (fingers wiggling), etc.

First-time actors are generally not trained dancers. So only very simple foot movements can be used. Variations of walking, sliding, or spinning are about the extent of full body motion that can be safely used. Kids usually have trouble with Right and Left and other stage directions, so I try to remember to keep it consistent by always starting on the same foot or turning in the same direction with succeeding passages. It is crucial that when you begin teaching choreography of any kind, you continue practicing what you started. Making a lot of changes just confuses them and they don't know what to remember. Most kids tend to remember the movements you taught them first. So figure it all out before you get started. With enough practice time, it is surprising how proficient kids can get at their movements.

And remember that if you work in front of the group facing them, you must "mirror" their motions. If you use your right hand, expect them to use their left hand. Be prepared to reverse that if you turn around to face the same direction as the group. Using "Choral"-ography is a great way to have your group interpret the songs and give a polished performance!

These pictures come from a performance of "Momotaro" a Tale of Bravery at the Sego Lily Elementary School in Lehi, Utah. A very talented photographer snapped these pics.

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Folk Songs Can Be Deceptively Simple

9/10/2025

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Folk songs are important repertoire for a beginning vocal student. Most folk songs have poignant messages of love or loss or yearning or hope or just plain poking fun at the human condition. The tunes seem ageless, as if they always existed. Enhancements in beautiful settings by modern composers make these folk songs wonderful material for vocal students to learn and perform. The melodies almost sing themselves. Though not exactly predictable, the tunes seem to lead to the only possible next note and so on. In that way, they are easy to learn and leave the singer fulfilled.

What makes folk songs seem so timeless? The melodies and harmonies seem so simple as if anybody could have created them. Deceptively simple, as if the song always existed or was born from no particular skill at all. But if anybody could write a tune that could last through the ages, why doesn't every composer have a hit with each new song? Most composers never even see one of their songs have longevity. Why have the seemingly casually constructed folk songs endured through the ages? What is our connection to them and why are we drawn back to them over and over again? These are questions that may never be answered. Maybe, it is true that some music is timeless and has always existed and we are the ones who just uncover the wonderful gifts through song.

Just to illustrate this point, the first Children's Theater show I wrote was Stone Soup. The first cast had two 5 year old boys and seven girls under the age of 8. I basically wrote the show on the fly, tailoring it to the abilities and talents of that very young cast. The songs had to be very short, catchy and fall within an octave range. The main song "Stone Soup" needed to sound as if it had just come into being casually, and as if anyone could join in effortlessly.

Several years later, in another production of that show, my assistant director was explaining to her husband about the play. He wondered how hard it was to write a song for a little children's show. Without hearing any music from the score, he bragged that he could write a song and started singing "stone soup, I'm gonna make stone soup..." in the very same rhythm and nearly the same melody that I had created years earlier for that theme song for the show. That actually proved my point that folk songs really do spring from nowhere in particular ... or they have already existed and we just uncover them. I was actually delighted that what I called "my song" really felt like an authentic folk song. Hopefully, the other songs from the score have that flavor as well.

So, if you are hankering for some homespun yarns and yummy fixin's, check out Stone Soup - A Tale of Cooperation for your next School or Children's Theater production.

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Using Musicals to Retell a Fable with a Moral

Choreography or Choral-ography

Folk Songs Can Be Deceptively Simple

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