Simply Music & Musicopolis Presents Play-a-Story
Play-a-Story is a musical journey in which teachers and students travel through a storybook world. It uses the piano as its mode of travel, creating sounds, melodies, harmonies and rhythms to express the story… literally, students create their own musical soundtrack. Using the piano, students learn to interpret mood, color and nuance as the story unfolds. Play-a-Story teaches this by providing a foundational, systematic and creative experience that harnesses children’s intuitive, musical appreciation and interpretation.
The Musicopolis Play-a-Story program presents a journey into a new world.
In this world, every imaginative thought, every emotion and every dream is an opportunity to express ourselves musically. In this world, musical self-expression is our language… a language far more profound, intuitive and descriptive, far more meaningful and pure than any other.
In the Play-a-Story program, every student is immersed in the culture of a world that believes that music has the power to emerge naturally from within. The journey begins before students ever learn to play another composer’s music; they begin with the opportunity to discover their own musical ‘story’.
As early as age 4, students are given musical sounds, motifs, styles, shapes and dynamics, laying down a comprehensive, improvisational foundation that equips them with the sounds of their new musical language.
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The Musicopolis Butterfly
The Play-a-Story program uses the Musicopolis butterfly as a symbol of freedom, imagination, transformation, grace, emerging potential and individuality.
In a world where so much learning is directed and assessed through academic achievement, the Play-a-Story program allows musicians of all ages to move freely through a world of imagination, expression and creativity.
Just imagine… a humble, little caterpillar becoming a magnificent, dazzling, winged creature. Surely this is the product of the wildest, most extravagant and playful imagination possible! The Play-a-Story program strives to emulate that imagination.
The change from caterpillar to butterfly requires a radical transformation. Such a transformation in musicianship occurs when a player makes the choice to express music from the heart, not merely the mind. This paradigm shift in thinking results in musicians who are true to themselves, who honor their unique, musical interpretation and contribution.
The graceful wings of the butterfly provide a perfect example of a natural hand position for playing the piano. Children’s animated, imitation of flying butterflies, with thumbs crossed, provide the artistry of graceful, piano hands.
Everything the butterfly will be, is already written into the DNA of the caterpillar. So human beings have everything they are, written into their DNA. Musicality is stamped there; a signature blueprint… musical potential awaiting discovery, fulfilment and pleasure.
Every butterfly’s wing is made up of many layers. These are as unique as our fingerprints. Scientists refer to these as ‘nanoscale variations’, and these variations contribute to the exquisite, opalescent color in a butterfly’s wings. Every musician has this unique musical coloration. The Play-a-Story program generates foundational micro layers which, one by one, provide the resources for students to play, to experience and to celebrate their unique gifts.
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- The many advantages of shared lessons.
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