Storytelling Lessons for Kids: 5 Ways to Go Beyond What Piano Can Give Them

Thanks to my nephew, sister-in-law, and mother-in-law for allowing permission to post the pictures.

Throughout all ages of time, parents have encouraged and sometimes "forced" their children to receive piano lessons.

I was one of those kids who took piano lessons.

Currently, I do not have a piano in my home, which I plan to rectify soon. A home is not complete without a piano.

In the meantime, much of my piano skills have gone by the wayside, though the memories sustain me.

Despite the moments when I would rather do chores than practice the piano, I also had moments when I played and played and could not wait for the recitals.

I always was a child who enjoyed the spotlight.

Walking onto that stage was glorious, but once I got to the piano bench, I had to turn my back or side to the audience. Even if the piano was turned in such a way so that I could look at the audience, the piano was too tall to truly connect with the people out there.

Sure, I heard the applause after I played a number, but I missed the continuous reactions from the audience.

Then came high school.

I was a sophomore when my theatre friends encouraged me to look into the National Forensics League, which had several categories in public speaking contests.

One of those categories was storytelling.

Finally, I had an art form that would allow me to look at the audience the whole time.

Nowadays, most children are in front of the computer or television so often that sometimes they forget the joy of looking at the people around them.

They can comfortably interact with a video game or "talk" to online characters through virtual realities.

Then they stutter and stumble in front of real people.

While playing the piano improves creativity and develops a type of work ethic and commitment in the child, there is one art form that can easily adapt and apply to whatever the child pursues in life: storytelling.

Parents celebrate as they see their youth tellers have more sophisticated research skills and the ability to speak smoothly in front of a crowd due to the boost of confidence. Parents and teachers perhaps love the improvement of listening skills the best.

As the child becomes a young adult and must find work, the child will exemplify these skills, which are exactly what employers desire and request.

So where can youth turn for storytelling guidance?

Here are some ways:
1. Clubs
2. Camps
3. Festivals
4. Contest and Showcase Events
5. One-on-One or Small Group Lessons

Clubs
I wish there was a storytelling club during my elementary, middle, or high school days. At least I had the storytelling category through Forensics. In some ways, the other people in my category were part of a "club".

Fortunately, the creation of storytelling clubs for youth is on the rise across the nation.

The best book is Raising Voices: Creating Youth Storytelling Groups and Troupes co-authored by Kevin Cordi and Judy Sima. Youth clubs with a focus on fun and games will have the most success, and Raising Voices has plenty of games to choose that work from Kindergarten to high school students.

As an adult, you will be tempted to play these games, too. Go ahead and give yourself permission.

Members of storytelling guilds could be pro-active to encourage more youth clubs. The Utah Storytelling Guild is considering a youth chapter where kids across the state could gather and meet each other at least once a quarter.

Camps
The strongest states in youth storytelling usually have some form of camp dedicated to the art in order to satisfy the hunger that kids have to tell stories.

The Florida Storytelling Association organizes the most famous Story Camp. The event is mainly attended by adults and workshops are led by national tellers. Five youth are selected as scholarship recipients as a result of the Youthful Voices Storytelling Contest. Each youth has an adult storytelling mentor.

In Nebraska, the guild endorses a camp limited to 15 youth led by a national teller. For 2009, the theme is "In Our Own Voices" geared for 4th to 9th grade students and taught by award-winning singer-songwriter and storyteller Andy Offutt Irwin.

Utah has also had a surge of week-long Story Camps organized by professional storytellers Cherie Davis, Debi Richan, and Nannette Watts. They provide one type of camp for ages 8-12 and another for ages 12-18. They are able to give reduced rates to residents of Orem and Highland due to some generous grants.

Usually these camps are scheduled in the summer time when children may not have as many extra curricular activities and homework.

Festivals
There are always fetivals looking for youth performers on a local, regional or national basis.

These festivals tend to first think of dancers, musicians, and singers, but many are making way for youth tellers. It may be up to you to hint at the storytelling possiblities.

Many cities and towns have art festivals. Contact the director. Have the youth teller share stories for them. Then watch as the director schedules a slot or two for them.

Though some artists volunteer, the festival may offer to pay for the storytelling services of your youth. It does not hurt to ask.

Contest and Showcase Events
Nothing tends to motivate a child more than when it comes to a contest. In the storytelling arena, usually the word "showcase" is put in place of "contest" to indicate that each child is a winner.

The most popular kinds are tall tale and liar contests.

Perhaps parents are not as keen to these kinds as to what they imply, but as these tales are hilarious and high-energy, kids love them. In fact, if given the chance, kids like ot create their own stories rather than telling the classic tales of Paul Bunyan or Pecos Bill.

Then there is the National Youth Storytelling Showcase. Dr. Flora Joy, one of the founders, said, "Tomorrow's storytelling lies in the talents, interests, and motivations of today's youth."

Each state has a representative that forwards videotapes of their top five youth tellers to the Headquarters in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. Of the thousands of entries, about 15-20 youth are invited to tell in connection with the Smoky Mountain Storytelling Festival. All youth are celebrated as finalists, though one is chosen as the Grand Torchbearer of Youth Storytelling for the year.

One-on-One or Small Group Lessons
Since you are familiar with how weekly piano lessons work, then the same format could work for storytelling lessons.

From a 2008 survey of 300 parents, 209 said they would be willing to pay for lessons or after-school programs in the arts reported by the Helicon Collaborative, a New York City-based arts nonprofit consulting group. Economy may be rough but parents want their art.

Most likely the parents first think of piano or dance, but there is a demand of life-skills that storytellers could pursue.

With many schools slashing out the arts, it is sometimes up to the parents to make sure art is experienced. Connect with a professional storyteller and ask if they would be willing to coach your child.

In fact, I will offer storytelling lessons to youth starting Fall 2oo9. I am considering in-person as well as e-lessons in combination of webinars so that location is not a factor. A workbook will be available for the participants.

As for piano lessons, I fully support them. I had piano lessons and continue to be glad I had them.

Remember that it is not always possible to have a piano on the journey of life.

Stories, especially the ones your youth tell, are for forever.

Until we tell again,

Rachel Hedman

Professional Storyteller

Former Co-Chair of Youth, Educators, and Storytellers Alliance

Tel: (801) 870-5799
Email: info@rachelhedman.com

URL: http://www.rachelhedman.com

How-To Blog: http://storytellingadventures.blogspot.com

Performance Blog: http://familyfamine.blogspot.com
Other places to find me: Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, LinkedIn, Professional Storyteller

Storytelling: The Forgotten Art in BSA & What Mothers Have Known for Ages

Thanks to Patrice Killpack for allowing me to post our picture. Patrice is a cool mom with four kids (two of them boys) and another little one on the way. The quotes and stories from the other mothers were also appreciated.

"Storytelling is as basic to a boy as breathing and frogs...and as necessary to Scouting as run-ons and skits," stated Diana Mulligan, a mother and an author from Fresno, California.

She upholds the written word while recognizing the importance of oral storytelling to strengthen communities, homes, and individuals.

What comes naturally for Mulligan and other mothers has been slow to be acknowledged by the Boy Scouts of America. The storytelling merit badge has yet to be created.

Meanwhile, several women, such as Girl Scout Leader and Storyteller Karen Czarnik of Detroit, Michigan, were quick to join the "100,000+ BSA Storytelling Supporters" Facebook group. Czarnik pointed out that the Junior Girl Scouts have the "Now and Then Stories from Around the World" patch.

This may seem like "the boys" are behind on the merit badge endeavor. . .until you take a look at Scouting history. The World Scout Founder, Lord Baden-Powell, wrote the first Scouting manual in a story format and used and encouraged stories as the primary teaching tool of youth.

Storytelling must have been--and continues to be--so much a part of the Scouting culture that they forgot to make a merit badge for it.

Here are Glimpses of Storytelling in Scouting Today:

• Scoutmaster Minutes
• Campfire Programs and Yarns
  
• Pow Wow Leadership Training with Specific Storytelling Course
• Skits and Run-ons
• Communications merit badge with option to tell a personal story
• Indian Lore merit badge with option to tell short story of an Indian culture

Storytelling is that forgotten yet ever-present art in Scouting.

Whether or not there is a specific time labeled as "storytelling" in the Scouting world, youth are telling stories. Storyteller Kristy Price was proud when her oldest son, an Eagle Scout, did storytelling in his youth. Her 12-year-old son has followed his brother's example and tells stories at present.

In 2005, when gathering signatures in support of the creation of the BSA storytelling merit badge, several Boy Scouts and Cub Scouts asked when the merit badge would be available. Some vowed to be the first to earn it.

I sighed every time I heard this wish. As a Wolf Den Leader, I knew that the BSA would take years before the merit badge came into being as I knew it was only a matter of time before the badge came into existence. I could not promise the boys that the merit badge would be there in time for them. I told them that perhaps they could be future storytelling merit badge counselors.

Then, with 4,315 signatures and a stack of letters of support, the storytelling merit badge proposal went before the National BSA Advancement Committee in May 2006.

It was denied for one reason: the committee could not distinguish the difference between the Communications merit badge and the proposed Storytelling Merit Badge.

When I received the email, I was confused by this response and asked in what way they felt this was the case.

It was obvious to me that the committee did not have a true storytelling experience.

There could have been unsaid reasons of why this committee did not see storytelling's importance such as:

1. Everyone Has The Ability To Do It
When asked to make a list of your strengths, you may list skills such as throwing a football, singing, dancing, etc. Would you remember to add eating, sleeping, and breathing? Along with these basic skills is that of storytelling. Our minds tend to mentally cross off something that we do not think is unique enough for such a list.

There are different levels of skills in being a storyteller. We have probably heard the boring and what seemed like "long" stories mixed with the fantastic ones. The storytelling merit badge would strengthen the skills that are ingrained in us as humans.

Many mothers include storytelling as their list of skills. Yet, it is often the father's example that has stronger influence on whether a child will enjoy reading, writing, or storytelling. Parents need to be "caught" telling stories.

The Watts Family in Highland, UT are a storytelling family. Nannette Watts leads and guides these skills for all her kids. Three have become National Youth Storytelling Showcase finalists while two more have had various awards for their tellings. In their home there is even a "designated stage area". It may not be the kind that you see in a theatre or museum, but it is enough to inspire this art.

2. "Storytelling" Is Not Often Looked At As A Job Skill
People like to use "public speaking" or "presentations" in the job interview setting. Though, if the company wanted star employees, they would want to ask about "storytelling".

While on Facebook, a guy wrote to me, "The whole point of merit badge is to (A) prepare them for life, or (B) give them a glimpse into that profession. I don't know about you, but I don't know any professional storytellers."

I responded to him that I was a professional storyteller and that there were thousands more like me. Even with this fact, he said he did not see a storyteller as a "real profession".

However, I stressed that applied storytelling was key.

As for the Watts Family, one of Nannette's oldest boys no longer pursues storytelling. However, when he completed a career questionnaire in high school, he ranked high in enjoying talking in front of people. We need more youth who have that confidence as they enter the work force.

Applied storytelling in careers is more important than if boys became professional storytellers.

In the health industry there is narrative healing. Education always has a boost in test scores when teaching is story-based. Corporate storytelling has increased sales.

The number one "profession" should be parenthood, and storytelling is an art and a skill that can build relationships between parent and child. These skills would be worthy for any Boy Scout to know.

3. Storytellers Do Not Often Share The Stage With Other Arts
The big stage tends to leave an honored space for theatre, dance, and music. The exception is of the storytelling festival circuit. What is forgotten is that without the stories, we would not know how to act or to move or to create sound. Storytelling is the overarching art.

Why else do we hear people from filmmakers to authors to stand-up comedians to dancers as "storytellers" if it was not an all encompassing art?

In certain places, only the mother keeps the status of storyteller as an honored one. Perhaps this is why when people think of the word "storytelling" that the image of a lady reading stories to preschool age kids is popular.

Elizabeth Ames Jones, Railroad Commissioner of Texas, said, "Storytelling has, in recent years, become less predominant in our society. Its ability to educate our youth is unrivaled. As a mother I understand the value of storytelling to children to develop listening, imagination and comprehension skills."

Do we need more mothers and grandmothers to remind their sons and grandsons of the importance of storytelling?

Yes, we do.

We also invite fathers and grandfathers to do likewise.

Storytelling: it's about family.

What You Can Do About the BSA Storytelling Merit Badge:
1. Join the "BSA Storytelling Supporters" site on Ning and invite all your friends
2. Join the "100,000+ BSA Storytelling Supporters" site on Facebook and invite all your friends
3. Spread the word of this movement to your local, regional, and national BSA offices
4. Send complimentary tickets of storytelling festivals to the National Office of BSA (especially the Advancement Committee)
5. Email me at info@rachelhedman.com for specific projects or assignments

In the meantime, Paschal Baute from Kentucky sent another proposal (can be seen on his site) in May 2009 on the storytelling merit badge that should be seen by the National BSA Advancement Committee soon.

Let us create a buzz to help this work along. Prayers are welcome. After all, the Lord is an amazing storyteller Himself!

Until we tell again,

Rachel Hedman

Professional Storyteller

Former Co-Chair of Youth, Educators, and Storytellers Alliance

Tel: (801) 870-5799
Email: info@rachelhedman.com

URL: http://www.rachelhedman.com

How-To Blog: http://storytellingadventures.blogspot.com

Performance Blog: http://familyfamine.blogspot.com
Other places to find me: Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, LinkedIn, Professional Storyteller

Marketing Storytelling Fools: 3 More Tricks We Play on Ourselves When We Don't Ask--Part 2

Note: Part 1 focused on questions to ask the sponsor. Part 2 are internal questions for the storyteller. You may ask, "Why is not Part 2 then Part 1?" I believe most storytellers either want to ignore or to forget these internal questions because they are hard to answer. Some storytellers who have told for two or more decades still struggle with the following questions.

Sometimes "niche" is as naughty a word as some of the colorful language that can be heard up and down high school hallways.


Every storyteller needs to know who they are as a teller, and once we get over the shock of hearing the word "niche", then it is time to explore what it means to us. . .before we look like fools.

1. What is my niche?
If you answered "everything", then think again. You could be one of those curious people who love any subject or story that you hear. However, a sponsor asks "What kind of stories do you tell?" and expects to hear some specifics. They want to know that they can count on you as an expert to match their intended theme.

You may have more than one niche, though in the beginning there is less stress as a performing artist and as a business owner when you have one.

Remember that each niche requires its own press kit and marketing plan. Michael Port, the author of Book Yourself Solid, has urged people to have a full schedule of appointments and presentations in one niche before you add another niche.

2. I still cannot figure out my niche. Now what?
Breathe. It is perfectly natural to be confused. We are always questioning ourselves.

Here are some hints to guide you--

• What types of stories/programs do you already offer? What other types of stories/programs would you like to offer?
  
• What audiences do I tend to attract? What audiences do I wish I could attract?

It is possible that you tell so many different kinds of stories that placing labels or categories on them are difficult.

Ideally, niches delve into your passion and energy for the subject. Sometimes niches develop because you receive the same requests from various sponsors. They usually start the conversation with, "You are the person who tells ____________ kind of stories."

3. How do I find the right words to describe my niche?
There are three areas that inspire how to say what your niche entails to others--

• Topic
• Audience
• Result

You could think these areas like T.A.R. as in the niche should stick to your mind and heart as much as the sticky black goo itself.

Though you could say "I tell ghost stories" or "I tell Appalachian ballads", this is not as strong as if you said, "I tell ghost stories to adult in order to scare their socks off." Now you have topic, audience, and result. Your name would buzz around as "the storyteller" for this kind of program.

There is a warning about result-inspired niches. The teller can only do so much to inspire their audience to "scare their socks off" or whatever kind of result chosen. The audience members will take what they will when the actual telling takes place. However, if the sponsor realizes that your intention is for the majority of the audience to react or respond a certain way due to the stories you share, then the sponsor may be more likely to hire you.

The danger is when we seem to guarantee certain results and then we fall short. We must always exceed the expectations of the sponsors.

The T.A.R. way to discover your niche can also work the opposite way. What topics, audiences, or results do you not want?

I would never recommend myself as someone who "tells ghost stories to adult in order to scare their socks off". However if someone wanted a safe yet entertaining environment to address family social concerns to middle school to college students through storytelling, then I would say, "Yes, I am an expert in that area."

At times, I wish I had a list of every storyteller in the world with their corresponding niche next to their name. Then, when I get a call or email asking for stories or programs that I do not share, then I could pass along contact information.

Perhaps this is a trick we play on ourselves as a storytelling community. What if we shared our niches with each other so to create one huge database?

In the meantime, let us focus on ourselves as individuals and encourage our friends to do likewise.

In time, "niche" will not be such a naughty word after all.

Until we tell again,

Rachel Hedman

Professional Storyteller

Former Co-Chair of Youth, Educators, and Storytellers Alliance

Tel: (801) 870-5799
Email: info@rachelhedman.com

URL: http://www.rachelhedman.com

How-To Blog: http://storytellingadventures.blogspot.com

Performance Blog: http://familyfamine.blogspot.com
Other places to find me: Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, LinkedIn, Professional Storyteller