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Yesterday I had the privilege of being a judge at the annual Singapore youth storytelling competition at the Woodlands Regional Library on Singapore Island. My fellow judges were Rosemarie Somaiah, a talented teller and teacher and friend from my earlier visit to S’pore, and Sid Barkat, a teller and director at her own Acropolis English Centre, a contest organizer.

It was a pleasure to see the children excited to be and anxious about sharing their stories. The theme for the storytelling contest was “Our Earth: Our Gift, Our Responsibility.” The younger children (Div 1 = 6-7 yrs., Div 2 = 8-9 yrs.) were cute and lively in their presentations. Most of the tellers started out very formally, as they might at a formal graduation ceremony or other serious presentation: “Dear Sponsors, Esteemed Judges, and fellow tellers and pupils, my name is La Tee Dah, from Wonderland Academy. Please be so kind as to listen as I share this story of ‘The Evil Polluter!’…” Something like that. It was so cute to see the little 6 year olds speak so formally.

The second place winner in Division 1!

One little girl spoke and moved like a programmed doll. One boy presented Shel Silverstein’s “The Giving Tree” wearing a tree costume and giving it from the tree’s perspective. He used a 2-sided hand puppet to represent the boy who grew into a man. One of the Div 2 winners told a personal story of shooting game with his family in India, in particular “the large Asiatic lion”. When they spotted a lion, his father aimed and took the shot! He had a beautiful trophy – a photo of the majestic lion. “For dear listeners, you should take only photos, NOT a life!” He then showed the picture his father had taken that day.

The young "hunter" with his coach (right) and a lovely representative from one of our sponsors, Pearson Publishers (left).

The first boy in the 3^rd Div. (10-11 yrs.) started into his story and accidentally hit the microphone with his hand during a gesture. Under his breath, but clearly in the microphone he exclaimed, “Ah, s#*t!” A chill went through the air! He continued his story as if it had not happened, but with a lot less confidence and enthusiasm. Needless to say he was a “runner up”!

The 3^rd Div. Kids were very moralistic with their stories; hammering home their messages with great intensity. One girl started out very well, but her story was only about 3 minutes and her impassioned, over-anxious plea for everyone to be more Earth conscious and how they could accomplish that lasted 5 minutes. Though articulate she was not placed, because she seemed to forget the purpose of the contest.

It was a neat experience for me. I found that the other 2 judges from S’pore, felt much the same way about the tellers as I did. It was very reassuring to know that, even in this culture so far from what I was accustomed to, this art form of storytelling was not so very different in its form and presentation than the stories I hear at home.

However, there is a debate about the value or merits of storytelling competitions! Some will say that it benefits the art by establishing standards and criteria for what makes a good story. Others will say that the “competitive nature” of such an event deters from the natural communicative character of the storyteller and unfavorably compares “apples to oranges”. What do you think?

On Father’s Day Sunday I spent the day with my son Nathan and his wife and daughters Emma and Lily. Soon after I arrived at his home, Emma (5) told me that she wanted to read me a story. Emma has just finished kindergarten. She opened Diane Goode’s Book of Scary Stories and Songs to her favorite story “The Green Ribbon”. I thought that she would “read” the book as many young children “read”, by reciting the words that they have memorized from hearing the story multiple times. I was amazed as Emma actually read the story, word for word, from the book.

It is a short story of a little boy who falls in love with a little girl who always wears a green ribbon around her neck. They grow up and marry, and though he asks her why she always wears the green ribbon, she defers his questions to later. Finally in their old age, as she is lying on her death bed, she tells him to untie the ribbon. Slowly and carefully he unties the green ribbon and as he does… her head falls off!

Emma loves this story (we have a rather strange sense of humor in our family). She read it at least twice that day. Then at bedtime, she told me the story again, this time in her own words.

I was so impressed with how she understood the story’s plot line, the vocabulary of the story, the flow of the words. She did not recite the whole piece verbatim, but you could tell those portions that had made an impression as she used nearly the exact phrases she had read earlier.

After Emma’s story, she and Lily asked me for a goblin story. I will go into more details about this series of stories later, but in brief, Goblins capture a naughty child and the distraught parents call for Randel McGee and Groark (the dragon) “Goblin Busters”. Groark and I arrive, follow the trail, and rescue the child using some trickery for the goblins, and some positive behavior modification for the child. Emma and Lily love the Goblin Stories!

The next morning before I left for my home, Lily wanted to tell me a Goblin Story. It followed my story closely of the naughty child being captured by the goblins and the parents called for…The Princess Barbies who then rescued the child and saved the day! She had adapted the story to fit what she was most familiar with.

The point I want to make is that stories have a dramatic impact on the development of children’s ability to understand the world around them and to find reasons for the way things are. Storytelling enhances their understanding of sequential events, cause and effect, good versus bad, and the list goes on.

What experiences do you have in sharing stories with children and then hearing them share them back to you or others?

This is an article I wrote for an online school performers blog back in 2003. I think it is just as useful today:

Not long ago I had the opportunity to attend a school assembly featuring a noted author of children*s books. His books and works have been very popular, even featured on national TV programs in years past. He had some very entertaining elements in his “live” presentation, but soon the children were becoming restless. They responded inappropriately to his vague questions. He got them excited about participating, but then did not seem to know how to guide their excitement to a positive involvement. He became rather perturbed with the students* behavior and let them know that he was. The “fun” of the program left and he had to drag himself through the rest of his presentation, which ended up being shorter than the teachers had planned on.

What went wrong? As a professional entertainer of children for nearly 25 years myself, I thought about this presentation and the techniques that were missing that could have made his handling of the audience a much more successful and positive experience. I started making a list of techniques that I have found to be extremely useful in holding my young audiences’ attentions and guiding them into a mutually enjoyable experience.

In sharing this list I must add a few disclaimers:

Every performer, no matter how professional, trained, and talented, will have an audience, at some time, that is not going to respond well to the show, no matter what techniques you use.

The techniques that follow, like most artistic techniques, are suggestions that must be used in a delicate mix of good judgement, the artist*s sensibilities, the audience*s character, the venue, location, current affairs, etc., etc.

So here we go with a veritable “ABC” of audience control:

Acknowledge…

Where you are: Your audience loves to have you mention their town, school, library, etc.

Who you*re performing for: Adjust to their age level, understanding, & community sensibilities

Minor Distractions: These occur - make funny (but not derogatory) comments that tie them into your show

Kids will ask questions or make comments aloud - answer them or comment on them immediately, briefly, in character, and then get back on track

Kids will raise their hands to speak or ask a question: Tell them they can ask later at a better time and then remember to let them ask before you leave the stage

Good behavior and participation: Praise them or thank them for good responses

Those responsible for bringing you there: Be sure the sponsors get a good word

Balance…

Passive and involved activities: Passive activities are listening and looking presentations. These can still be very engaging. Involved activities include: question & answers, call and respond stories or songs, actually choosing audience members to participate on stage ( a tricky venture, to be sure!), etc.

Concentrate…

Keep your own mind focused on your presentation and the audience.

As in a “juice concentrate” - Condense your show or story to the essence of what you want to share and work from there, expanding or contracting as the situation dictates.

Direct…

Their attentions to those elements that you want them to focus on by using vocal inflections, hand gestures or facial expressions.

Tell them what you expect them to do. Example: “I*m going to do a song now that I know you*ll like”

Ask rather specific questions that they can respond to in only positive or specific ways. Example: “You all know the story of the 3 Billy Goats Gruff, right?”

Enthusiasm…

Your total belief and involvement in what you do are key elements in how involved the audience will become.

What effective techniques have you used to keep your audience focused or to handle a problem situation?

Look for the 4 P’s of Performing for Children in another blog note soon.

The following is an excerpt from an article I wrote for an storytelling blog early in 2008:

In his article “Storytelling as a pedagogical tool in higher education” (“Education” April 1998)* Craig Eilert Abrahamson cited the work of noted hypnotherapists Milton H. Erickson and Ernest Rossi and their studies of storytelling’s effects on listeners. They proposed five stages of thought processes or “conversational hypnosis” characterized by storytelling that lead to a simple hypnotic-like state. These five stages are: fixation of attention, depotentiating habitual frameworks and belief systems, unconscious search, unconscious process, and hypnotic response (Erickson & E. Rossi, 1976).

Fixation of attention is what happens when the storyteller appears before the audience and then through the power of his or her performance skills grabs their attention or engages the minds and hearts of those listening. The listener is focusing on the immediate experience of the story. Depotentiating habitual frameworks and belief systems means that the listener is re-examining what he or she usually accepts as normal or “real”. Most people call this “suspending reality”; or opening the mind to the suggestion that fantasy might be a form of reality. An Unconscious search occurs when a listener compares the incoming information of a story with what he or she already knows and understands. This is a very subtle, almost subliminal, process. Unconscious process is the storyteller’s insertion of information, ideas, and values as a natural part of the story that can be likened to a hypnotic suggestion. The listener absorbs the teller’s feelings or opinions about the information and then quietly decides if he or she agrees with the teller. The Hypnotic response describes the effect that the storytelling experience has had on the listener. Without really understanding what has happened, a listener comes away feeling sympathy for the teller and enthused about the messages that were carried by the stories. The listener retains large portions of information given and feelings shared, because he or she was involved with the experience on many levels of consciousness.

What do think of these “thought processes?” Do you recognize these processes as you analyze your story telling or listening experiences?

For our intents and purposes we use the following definitions:

A story is an account or narrative in prose or verse intended to entertain and/or teach a listener or reader.

Storytelling is a live, interpersonal presentation for the purpose of entertainment and/or sharing of information, life skills, insights, or social values. This presentation may include a spoken narrative, a poem or song, a skit, play, puppet performance, or any other live expression of a story.

A storyteller is anyone who is making a live, interpersonal presentation of a story to one or more people. Beyond the spoken word, a storyteller may use vocal characterizations, facial expressions, body language and gestures, musical instruments, costumes, masks, puppets and other props to convey his or her story.

An author is a storyteller who has set his words down in print. The written word is also a powerful means of sharing a story. The experience of reading a story is inherently different from the experience of hearing a story told by a living presenter. We will make a point of identifying those times when the story we discuss is in printed form.

Though many worthy stories and themes are presented well through the media of television, motion pictures, radio and other recorded and electronic media, we will not focus much attention on these forms of story presentation.

After months of planning and preparation we are finally up and running!

We hope that you will find this an interesting and useful resource.

In the weeks and months ahead we will be discussing:

· techniques for effective storytelling

· the use of stories in working with children and young adults

· how to use personal experiences to teach important concepts and values

· how to use stories in business presentations and office communication

· how to intensify the impact of your sermon or church talk

· the effect of storytelling on various audiences

· highlight famous storytellers to see what techniques they use to communicate and teach effectively

· and much more!

What experiences do you have in using stories to teach, uplift, motivate, and inspire?

Who has affected you the most with the stories they tell?