Educational Outreach Music
Interactive Musical Storybook Pieces for Narrator and Chamber Ensembles
Fire in the Big-Top!
for narrator* and brass quintet
Make it stand out.
Performances by outreach chamber ensembles from the Portland Symphony, Long Beach Symphony, and by the Epic Brass Quintet and Fenway Brass Quintet.
“I liked the scary part where the big top caught on fire. It made my heart beat.”
“I remember the tiger crawling on its belly to avoid the smoke.”
-comments by children, quoted in the Bangor Daily News
INFORMATION
Duration: 30-50 minutes, depending upon optional cuts.
Note: Fire in the Big-Top! may be cut to fit shorter time-frames, as needed.
*If a separate narrator is not available, the spoken part may be modified to allow it to be performed by a member of the quintet.
Intended audiences: Pre-school to adult
The Story:
In this exciting original tale, two courageous young children save their town when a fire breaks out at the circus. Along the way, they meet the ringmaster (the narrator), watch the circus parade, hear an original ragtime tune, and even come face-to-face with a Bengal tiger - who ends up helping them in ways they never could have imagined! Set in Portland, Maine in 1906, the geographical and historical setting may be changed as appropriate.
The Event:
During the performance, the children are encouraged to help the narrator by making “fire sounds” and also to sing along with the Ringmaster to an original circus march. Integrated into the narrative is an optional section in which the performers demonstrate their instruments as members of the circus band, using musical examples drawn from the composition.
Curricular Connections:
1.) STEM connections in physical science, such as combustion, oxidation, conservation of energy, etc.
2.) Fire safety: In performances in Massachusetts and California, real firefighters have attended the shows, demonstrating their equipment and distributing information to reinforce these principles. The photos at the top of this page are from a performance that took place inside a fire house!
Click to download the handouts for children and teachers created by the Portland Symphony Orchestra.
Lighthouse Keeper
for narrator and strings*
BIG NEWS! PALAVER STRINGS, which performed Lighthouse Keeper in August of 2024 on the Screen Door Festival, has just been nominated for a GRAMMY!
Performances by outreach chamber ensembles from the Portland Symphony Orchestra, Canberra (Australia) Symphony Orchestra, Long Beach Symphony Orchestra, and Sebago-Long Lake Chamber Music Festival, as well as by the Cassatt Quartet, and Aurea Ensemble.
Click to download a score (version for string quartet)
“The kids were there open-mouthed for most of the concert!” - Eloise Fisher, Director of Community Engagement, Canberra (Australia) Symphony Orchestra
"I brought my 6 year old twin sons and 3 year old son to hear Lighthouse Keeper at the Children's Museum of Maine. It was simply fantastic. I was breathless nearly the whole time. From the fantastic music & musicians, to the children-friendly instrument introduction and narrator, and the flags for interactivity - it was the best program we've attended at the Museum. - Email from a parent
INFORMATION
Duration: 30-50 minutes, depending upon optional cuts.
Intended audiences: Pre-school to adult
The Story:
Based upon the inspiring, true story of Abbie Burgess Grant (subject of the classic children’s book Keep the Lights Burning, Abbie) the teenager who heroically tended a lighthouse off the Maine coast during one of the greatest Noreasters of the nineteenth century, saving the lives of countless sailors. The courage and determination of this young girl in the face of extraordinary adversity made her a cult hero in 19th-century America.
The Event:
In this interactive performance, children sing along with the narrator (Abbie), urging her to face her fears as she climbs the lighthouse stairs, chips the ice off the great windows high above the raging sea, and steadies her hand as she lights the wicks of the great beacon. Under the direction of a teacher, they can construct and color meteorological flags before the performance in order to wave at the appropriate times to signal the increasing intensity of the storm. Integrated into the narrative is an optional section in which the performers speak about and demonstrate their instruments, playing the key themes in the composition, and teaching the students about when to wave the appropriate weather flags.
Curricular Connections:
1.) Meteorology. In particular, children learn about the four degrees of intensity of maritime storms by constructing and waving the appropriate flags.
2.) Nineteenth-century American history and culture, particularly the role of women in society.
Click to download the handouts for children and teachers created by the Portland Symphony Orchestra.
Don’t worry about sounding professional. Sound like you. There are over 1.5 billion websites out there, but your story is what’s going to separate this one from the rest. If you read the words back and don’t hear your own voice in your head, that’s a good sign you still have more work to do.