Storytelling
Sept, 2011 Bradbury
My Grandpa’s housekeeper…Betty Middlesworth. Rough, scrawny, chain-smoking ex-Moose guide from Canada. Told story of one of her hunting expeditions. Rain started…(audience does it).. Ran into a tin shed. State Mental hospital. (stomping feet)
Our newest IESA event…and actually the oldest event in the world. I truly think it’s the purest event at contest…I think it’s the easiest event. …… and few people enter it because they don’t know what it is. Most fun to perform…Monologue or duet: focus on memory…Storytelling: focus on creativity…the speech changes with each audience..
For your students who don’t memorize easily… For your first-time speech students… For your students who are highly experienced and need a new challenge… For your students who won’t shut up in class…. For your students who always have a story to tell you on Monday morning while you’re trying to get class started.
AND…the easiest event to work into your curriculum I’ve made it an assignment as a part of the language arts curriculum
Read the definition E. Storytelling The student will present a story from his/her own life experience, from folk literature, from his/her family's oral tradition, or from any other source. Storytelling is unique from most other contest events in that it should have a very spontaneous quality encouraging audience participation/interaction. The presentation should have a clear beginning, middle, and end; and demonstrate the customary attributes of characterization, stage presence, body and facial expression, articulation, pronunciation, fluency, and eye contact. The presentation may include multiple characters and sound effects.
So..What’s the difference between a monologue and storytelling? Not seem memorized word-for-word and audience interaction is permitted. Erases the customary distance between the audience and the performer.
In other words, from two sources… already established stories or the student’s own experience. Established: Three Little Pigs (I’ll hug and I’ll puff), Johnny Appleseed, Paul Bunyon “Hey Paul!”, Headless Horseman. (galloping horses)
HANDOUTS…..
Uncle Harris… undertaker… Lappy Six…Mrs. Wilson, blown all over hell. Gangrene in leg…buried it, “See you later” Man and son in car wreck…two suits..
Hiney the Mule “Some Forty Miles Down to Edinburgh town.” (clop, clop)
If nothing else, ask the audience questions… Saw a boy once who did his entire speech with suggestions from the audience. There was this old man named _________. Lived way up on top of a hill in _________. A hermit. One night the strangest thing happened. He’d just blown out his lantern for the night when he heard a knocking at my door. He opened the door and there stood a ________________.
Demonstrate: Circle of Sound
Aunt Lizzy…Ricky the Mule
To coach the event: Begin with brainstorming. Get others involved.. Pick the stories you want to explore with an eye to audience participation. Let the story develop as you rehearse… let it grow… practice in front of a live audience and they’ll tell you which bits work.
Stories your dad, mom, or grandparents told you.. Toss ball… ---A story your grandparent told you. ---A frightening moment when you were young. ---The worst your dad or mom ever embarrassed you. ---What scared you most when you were little? ---Your fondest memory of one of your grandparents. ---One of the biggest lies your parents every told you. ---A defining moment for you…changed you forever