Ron - Hi, I think we're here to talk about musical plays.
Laura - Hello Ron - I love your plays
Ron - Hi Laura, thanks very much. What grade do you teach?
Laura - 4th
Ron - It's interesting to us that 4th grade teachers seem the most open to doing plays. More so than primary teachers.
Ron - Paula, and Sue, how about yourselves?
Laura - I'm finding that many of them fit in with our Social Studies units
Paula - Hi Ron.. I teach a group of absolutely wonderful Grade 4/5 students.. there are 20 in the class... I would love to do a musical production with them and wondered if you had any good suggestions. (I have a good background in music and dance.)
Ron - Well, we're sure trying to write material that connects with the social studies curriculum.
Ron - Paula, I can probably suggest 10 good plays, so maybe you have more idea of what you want.
Paula - hmm...
Ron - We always think it's best to do a play that somehow is connected to what you're already teaching. It's a way of building on the material.
carol - Is there a site to see some of your scripts?
Paula - true
Paula - well the fours are doing a medieval unit.. and the five's are doing ancient civilizations
Ron - Carol, you can see our scripts (and listen to sample songs) at www.badwolfpress.com I can also suggest other places to get good plays.
Laura - I've ordered my first play (Westward Movement ) and while I am waiting for it - was wondering - are there usually a lot of props involved?
Ron - Paula, we have a play based on the ancient Greek story of Theseus and the Minotaur.
Ron - Laura, funny you should ask about props. What people usually worry about are costumes.
Laura - lol, that was my next question
Ron - Here I am, all ready to preach the gospel of "limited or no costumes" and you want to know about props! Hmmm...
Paula - cool.. greek mythology is fun.. does it have upbeat music? and how many characters? greek chorus?
PiedPeiper - I am one of those Primary (K) teachers that really worry about children and scripts, any suggestions???
Ron - So anyway, props....no, very few are needed. Nothing that will take any real effort.
keebaler - i need some activitys for the 100 day of school.....anyone have any ideas
Laura - sounds great
Ron - Hi PiedPeiper. So what exactly are you worrying about? Are you asking for suggestions on scripts or is there a specific concern?
Ron - Paula, yes, the Theseus play certainly has upbeat music. Listen to the sample songs at our website and make up your own mind.
Paula - keep it simple for primary piedpiper ... fairy tales even
Ron - PeidPeiper, what about children and scripts are you worrying about?
Laura - Do you find that the children do well with memorizing their parts? I have only done short plays before.
Paula - what is the website?
Ron - I think it's not worth worrying about memorizing specific dialog and narration. As long as they get the gist of it, then I'm happy.
lori - yes, what is the web addy?
Dean-Earth Sci. - I am a student teacher in Delaware and am interested in finding interesting Earth Scince related activities for my students....Any suggestions??
Ron - http://www.badwolfpress.com You can read chunks of each script and listen to sample songs for each of our shows.
lori - thank you, Ron
Ron - I Dean-Earth Sci. Hmm, right this second I can't think of any earth science musicl plays, but give me a few minutes.
Laura - are you thinking of adding more plays in the future (for example in other curriculum areas?)
Dean-Earth Sci. - Is this room centered on the arts??
Ron - Just so you all know that there are other excellent publishers, you can get catalogs from several different companies.
Ron - I like Popplers Music, 1-800 437-1755
Ron - Another company you should know about is Educational Record Center 1-800 438 1637
Ron - Laura, yes we're certainly going to be writing more shows. What areas should we be covering?
Laura - I think it would be exciting to produce shows in science areas or even Language arts (singing and dancing nouns? lol)
Ron - Pretty much all of our plays were written because teachers have asked for specific content. Clearly, Dean wants earth science. Is that important to any others?
Ron - Laura, what areas of science are you thinking of? We already have a weather, an oceanography, and a garden/environmental show.
Laura - We cover the solar system and some earth science in 4th grade
Ron - Well, while you're thinking, let me get back to costumes.
Ron - I truly believe that fear of costumes is the biggest thing holding teachers back from doing more work in this field.
Ron - My favorite kind of costume is a little sign dangling around someone's neck that says who they are. It takes no effort, it's comfortable to wear and the audience actually likes it.
Laura - I like that idea!
Ron - The difference between movies and theater is that in theater we expect the audience to use their imagination. And so the simplest costumes are very good.
Ron - Another thing that's really simple is decorating baseball caps, or painter's hats.
lori - Ron-How do you feel about student made costumes (i.e. paper bags)? When we have used these the children have a real sense of ownership in the play
Ron - For those of you who aren't real clear on this, any musical play always comes with a recording.
Ron - Lori, I'm all for student ownership of the play. My worry with paper bags is that they rattle and make a lot of noise.
Laura - Ron - about how long are most of your plays?
Ron - The recordings for any publisher's musicals always have the songs performed (so you and your students can learn the songs) and then the same songs minus the voices. You don't need to read music or play piano or have any musical skills at all.
Laura - Ron - that is what sold me on your plays. The music coming with them pre-recorded.
Ron - Laura, you asked about play length. Ours run between 15 and 45 minutes. Most are in the 20-25 minute range.
Ron - Hi Olive, we're talking about musical plays for classroom use.
Ron - So Laura, you mentioned the solar system. Are there other topics that any of you would like to see in musical form?
Paula - your best bet is to get a hold of all the curriculum documents and match them with the plays... advertise your plays as such also... example.. give a list of how they correspond
Paula - teacher's like to see the correlation
Laura - Ron - have you heard of any schools getting static from administration about musical plays having no place in the curriculum? I haven't approached my principal yes, but I know she can be difficult to pursuade sometimes.
Ron - Paula, thank you for your suggestions.
Ron - Laura, no I'm not familiar with teachers having problems with their principal. Probably most teachers choose materials that are connected. Principals tend to be thrilled.
Paula - that is a shame Laura... they should be thrilled to have teachers like you who will take initiative
Laura - that's good to hear
Paula - plus... a play can meet many aspect of the Arts curriculum
Ron - Most principals would love their teachers to be doing more of this sort of thing, but it's very hard to mandate it. Sometimes principals do demand performances, and the teachers tend to resent it.
Laura - Well, our prin. tends to think these kinds of things are "just a distraction" even if they are connected to the curriculum.
Ron - Just a distraction? I'm really shocked. There are so many benefits. For one, they bring parents into the school and build a community of volunteers.
Laura - But I plan to forge ahead! I think my kids will love their play.
Ron - Another strong benefit is they work well with kids who aren't strong in English---or you can have gifted and special ed kids working together beautifully.
Laura - Ron - I'm planing to have my students present the westward movement play at the end of the year along with a show of all the projects they have done about our state history (4th grade soc. st. curriculum)
Ron - Another really important benefit is the classroom management angle. After kids have been in a play together, they tend to treat each other a little better. It's not the ANSWER to management, but it really really helps.
Laura - We're in Missouri, so it fits in perfectly.
Ron - Laura, my one suggestion is to not practice the play from now until the end of the year. I think 4 weeks is a good amount. Any more than that and everyone gets tired of the material.
Laura - Good point. Thanks for the suggestion.
Ron - I really want to stress that the point of doing plays is NOT to have perfect performances. You're not changing $50 a ticket and the point is not to impress your principal. It's for the kids.
Ron - Lori, have you done any kind of plays with your kids? Or do you ever sing together?
lori - We sing in class, and they LOVE to sing with our tapes in the room, so this excites me.
Ron - Good. Singing with little kids is great, because nobody is judging how well we sing.
Laura - I haven't checked out the fable plays - but our school does character education assemblies each month. We often use non-musical play adaptions of the fables to demonstrate the character traits. Are any of your fable plays ones that would fit into character education?
lori - although some have told me that they are too young, but they absoultely love it..and it allows them to show their abilities, expresss themselves , and to HAVE FUN
Ron - Once kids sing about a subject, they tend to remember it. It's another sneaky way to teach them material. (Of course, the musician in me thinks that singing is good in of itself.)
Ron - Laura, our Aesop's Fables Deluxe play will work for character education. Although we leave it to you and your students to draw your own conclusions from the stories.
lori - We also have an oustanding music teacher who is letting all the students write and sing their own music. They are putting it together and making CDs.
Laura - Does it include several of the fables in one pack then?
Ron - I'd like to see every class do several plays in the course of a year. Not all of them musical. And they shouldn't all be big perforances. Just for you and your class.
Laura - Lori - that sounds like a great project!
Ron - Laura, yes, Aesop's fables deluxe has nine fables in the show. Do as few or as many as you want.
lori - Laura, Yes its exciting!
Laura - I'm hoping our music teacher will get involved and help me out
Ron - It's amazing how CDs can be made so easily now. I'm impressed that the kids are writing their own songs. Is it just their own lyrics, or are they actually writing music?
Ron - Laura, if you show the material to your music teacher and ask for help, I think you'll be pleased.
Ron - Lori, I'm still curious about the kids writing songs. Are they actually writing music?
Laura - Yes - I think she will like it. She might even decide she can use some of your plays for her fall, Christmas, and spring shows every year.
Ron - Christmas shows are an interesting problem for many of us. Here in California, there are many people who do not celebrate Christmas---Jews, Muslims, and many other religions.
Laura - true
lori - Ron-Yes
Ron - In your communities what can you do regarding christmas?
Laura - We usually just sing lots of carols - some traditional but most not religious
Ron - That satisfies most people, but certainly not all. It's a tricky problem: we've never come out with a christmas show because of it.
Laura - Yes - I can understand that. Maybe just a winter theme?
Ron - You're probably right. Is there anything else I can do for you? Other questions?
Laura - no - I should let you go. Thank you for making these wonderful plays. I'm excited to get started!
Ron - Thank you! Let's call this chat a victory and close up for the night. Goodbye.
