How to connect with your Audience

Storytelling - Build a Bridge  for your Audience

   I mentioned in a previous blog on my entertainers Facebook page that it was vitally important for a storyteller to connect with their audience. To build a bridge that they can cross over into your story, a connection. Of course it is not always possible to connect with all of the audience all of the time but you should be able to connect with most of them,most of the time.
   But how do you connect ? What is the magic ccalixure for storytelling.
   Well there are many factors but the main one would be the age of your group and your selection of stories.  Every school I've ever worked I tried to keep the groups small and within a grade of each other. It didn't always work out that way but that was my goal. Libraries are much more challenging. I always prepare a selection of stories to work from and decide what to use after I get there. The festivals are a given depending on your status. You can pretty much use any material you want there within reason.
  So what is the connection factor?
   The connection factor is your Choice of stories AND how you tell them.
   Why is ' story choice ' important?
     I was once having lunch with DeeCee Cornish in Fort Worth , one afternoon , and we were discussing storytelling styles. DeeCee was describing a high school situation with some kids that he was going  to be performing for and started off by just talking with them. He intentionally guided the conversation so that he could reminisce about his own youthful experiences. In short order he had them in the palm of his hand and began telling stories about his youth that they could connect with. He made storytelling personal and accessible to them, he created a connection.
  Most times we don't have the luxioury of gabbing with our audience especially a specific one like that. So this is where experience plays big time.
     Learning to read your audience.
    I always come prepared to a general gig with a variety of stories in mind but sometimes I get there ( I always try to get there early to access my audience)  and I'll do a complete reversal and select different stories based on my observations.
  The big issue is to put your own personal wishes or desires aside so that you can tell the right stories for that audience.When I first began I would select my stories ahead of time and stick to that plan like glue but I wasn't always connecting with my audience and I knew it. I could see and feel it. So experience plays a big part in reading your audience. After a while I learned the importance of reading my audience and being flexible.
 So the Key to connecting with your audience is simply to tell stories that they have something in common with.
 Your style of telling.
  All storytellers develop a unique style and this is what often creates followers. In the beginning you must find your own voice and style of storytelling. Style can help you connect with your audience. If your afraid or nervous that will be visible or noticeable to your audience.  Your style may rely on your voice, temperment, ease, intensity, passion. All of these things are connection points for your
audience.
  I have several specific programs that are history based.  In this case I try to design my material with  specific ages in mind. This decision becomes my way of connecting with my audience my building the program to connect with their age bracket. Again I am connecting. I am building a bridge.
 Storytellers must make a connection with audience to create value for their stories. Build a bridge, give them a way into your would.
 
Gary Whitaker The Storyman
Www.storymantales.com

 

Storyman Update 11/05/13

Blog 11/05/13

Storyman Update

  I had intended to do a lot of things recently but have been so busy with my life and storytelling that I just plain failed miserably. I had intended to film at least two more videos for my youtube efforts but that never happened but will eventually. I had started writing again but my I discovered that until I retire I just have too much on my plate to seriously pursue it. I need a new lap top and have been scouring the internet in search of that and there is always the proverbial squirrel that drags me off of my good intentions which includes family and other activities.

  This last October was one of the busiest I have had in years and surprisingly only a small portion of it had to do with ghost stories and that is awesome. One of the programs I became involved in is an after school program called Aspire. It is an after school educational activity prone program. I did one program for the younger kids of my Tall Tales shiny Buzzard Program and in pre-program I educated the kids about the concept of the tall tale before going into my act. Shiny was a big hit. The second program was for the older kids grades 3-5 and I was asked to do my Mountain Man program. In preparation for this program I gave the kids a short history lesson regarding the background that lead to and encouraged the mountain man trade before launching into the true stories. I also involved the kids in the stories by having them use pick up phrases. I had explained how Mountain men had their own kind of language  ( as all groups seem to do) and when I would use a particular phrase the kids had a refrain to repeat in follow up. This way the kids had to follow what was being said more intensely and it worked beautifully. As an example I would say “Old Ephraim” and the kids would respond.” Got Griz” or I would say,” Hold On!” and the kids would respond “I’m a comin!”  The response was so good that I am considering adding the program back to my website once again. I love doing the True Mountain men stories because there is such a sense of adventure and survival involved in them that today we really have no concept of.

   My most delightful experience was my drive down to the TTL Temple Memorial Library at Diboll Texas ( south of Lufkin)  where I performed an hour and a half Ghost Story Concert. I love these small town libraries and librarians. These libraries facilities are often excellent and they almost always generate a decent size audience. Mary Howell, the Librarian who hired me was as sweet as apple pie and took great care of me. My set up was excellent and so was my audience of around 60 adults and kids. It was just lots of fun. After the concert the Director of the library, Brenda Russell, who had attended the concert even stopped by afterwards to talk with me about my programs and to tell me how much she had enjoyed it.  Just doesn’t get much better than that. She promised me I would be back and that she would be telling others about me. That is all I ask.  I asked Mary if she could send me a review that I could post on my website and I had it in just a few days.  I wish I could get the same reaction wherever I went and if I did my website would be full of peoples thoughts about my storytelling.

   Lastly I would like to mention my PTA program at Grapevine Elementary that I did last month. I was asked to do my Fire Pit Tales program which is a collection of personal stories.  I had a good size audience for that program that night and got a very good response to the stories. None of the stories were meant to be knock down funny but there was lots of humor in the stories. Both stories were focused on my childhood and youth. I tied the two stories together with the theme of Exploration (frontiersmen)  and imagination. I really enjoyed telling those stories because I have a lot to say in them and I seldom get to use this program. I shaped these stories so that they are themed and they are making statements about life. I don’t do preaching. It is not my goal or intention but storytelling is about sharing ideas and morals and I think that all stories should ( even ghost stories) should reflect something about those concepts. I plan to devote more time to writing more of my Fire Pit Tales. I was a strange little kid and me and my best friend got into a lot of mischief.

  Lastly back to the videos. I plan to post a video of Medieval Max hopefully before the end of the year. I also intend to post a video of one of my Fire Pit tales early next year. I have yet to decide which story I will post but I am leaning towards Space Cadets. 

    I want to thank all who take time to read my blogs and to follow my facebook fan page and who are my friends on my regular facebook page. I appreciate your following and your time. A storyteller lives by word of mouth and without that I am nothing. If you like what I do and appreciate my efforts then please let others know.  I may be little more than dust in the wind when all is said and done but that doesn’t change the fact that some of what I do makes a difference in someone else’s life.

God Bless and Keep Safe

Gary Whitaker the Storyman

Preparing for Halloween

      Generally my most active month for general storytelling gigs seems to be October and of course ghost stories. Not surprising October is my fav month. I am a big ghost fan. Ever since I was a kid I relished the monster movies and stories everything from books like ‘Something Wicked this Way Comes’ to movies like Frankenstein. Even as a kid I wrote ghost / monster tales all the time.

      The trick for me is to find new stories to tell or new ways to tell old stories which admittedly can get tough some times. In fact sometimes it takes years for me to develop a story. A good example of that would be my tale of  The Erl King. Based on the poem by Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe written in the 17^th century.  

    To give you an idea of how a story could develop let me take you through the basic outlay of  my Version of the Erl King.

     I first told the tale in October of  2011 at the TSA Denton ghost Story concert for adults. This used to take place a the Denton County Court House which is an  awesome location for telling ghost stories.

  The Story did not come together till only weeks before the ghost story concert. The idea for the story first started back in 2007 when my wife and I vacationed in Oregon on the coast in a little town called Manzanita. The seed of an idea started in a little hidden copse that we found while making a stop along the beach.

      I began trying to find ways of employing that copse into a story. In the process of doing research I discovered the poem the Erl King by Goethe. I tried taking the Erl King and fitting him into the idea of the copse but could not make it work. In fact I wrote several short stories trying to incorporate the concept but failed miserably. Finally I had to let it sit and stew. A technique I have learned years ago when I get blocked. Just let her lie and wait it out.

     I really can’t explain how these things happen, they just do. I could never lay a finger on a moment and say this is where it happened. But somewhere along the line an idea sparked somewhere in the depths of this devious little mind of mine. I fed it fuel and it grew. The seed of the idea was to create my own back ground story for the poem to be placed within. Something that would fit together. I took in consideration what the poem was based on or how the Erl King worked. What his motivations were and what he needed. Then what kind of human background story might fit into that time period. I played with several ideas, orphans were common in that time period who were abandoned and mistreated. So at first my mind went there but then a better story grew out of that.

      I needed to focus on a child who should had been loved and was not for all the wrong reasons. A human interest story that made sense. A story that could work with the structure of the poem and that present day folk could  relate to. It took a few writings and brain bashings but the story took shape. I chose to tell it at that specific concert because it was a deep story and brutal.  It required an adult audience and a perfect setting. It was a perfect night, location and my timing and presentation was spot on. Can’t beat the perfect location. All the work I had poured into this story and presentation of it paid off.  I consider the Erl King to be one of my best stories but it took nearly four years for it to gel.  

    In the beginning good ghost stories rolled of my pen like running water. These days it is a bit tougher but when they come they are generally pretty good.  There is one story that I recently wrote that I have yet to perform and probably will have several opportunities to tell at one or several of the gigs where I will be performing this October.  I titled it ‘The Devils Tree.’ This is a boy hood tale that should give folk the hibbie jibbies, especially the kids. It is a version of the Hiding Seek story concept. Those kind of stories never end well.  Plus I have rewritten or re-conceived some of my older tales and might be cutting a couple of those loose during Halloween as well. I am hoping to get another chance to tell the Legend of Sleepy Hollow as I did last year at a Fort Worth Middle School at their PTA meeting.  That was lots of fun and went over quite well. Of course private audiences are welcome to call on me also.  I can only dream of the havoc I could cause amongst a bunch of teenagers at a private party. It would be so sweet.  

      If you would like to catch me locally ( Fort Worth Area) I will be at Nash Farm on October 26 with the Tarrant Area Guild of Storytellers from 7 to 9pm. This is a free event and all are welcome. The Nash farm is an old family farm that has been brought back to life and now is a working farm in the middle of Town.

  I will also be performing on Halloween Night at the Fort Worth Downtown Library with DeeCee Cornish telling ghost Stories. I believe that event starts at 8pm.  That should be lots of fun. DeeCee is an awesome teller and loads of fun.

   I will also be performing several out of town gigs one as far south as Diboll Texas at their local library. That should be fun.

  Hope all are well and keep safe.

Gary Whitaker the Storyman

Finding My BLISS

   Finding MY BLISS

     It was Joseph Campbell, the great Mythologist who said,  “Follow your bliss and the universe will open doors for you where there were only walls.”   Twenty years ago I had no idea what ‘ Bliss’ was for I had never heard that term before and probably could had cared less. According to Campbell ‘bliss’ is a term for finding what makes you the happiest and doing it. It is much more complicated or deeper than that but that is the gist of it.

    But if there was ever a man who understood the twisted world of myth’s and their applications to man in general it was Joseph Campbell. Unless you have studied the complicated world of myths you do not realized how twisted a universe it is in terms of depth and meaning. But that is not my point today. I am locking onto ‘finding your bliss’ because there is a story behind it, a story of discovery.

   Twenty years ago I was in deep turmoil artistically. I was in the mist of raising two kids and dealing with tons of financial issues. I had spent the best part of my life trying to find a niche in the art world in what I was specifically interested in, which was basically history. At that particular time I was mostly interested in doing colored pencil artwork of WW 2 aircraft. Despite my best efforts it was all coming to naught.  I was a fairly decent artist but admittedly nothing special. I had a imagination but not quite the equal in skill to back it up. Then one day after spinning my wheels for what seemed forever I gave it all up and told God (yes the big guy) that I was tired of struggling and beating my head against the wall. If He wanted me to be doing something else then He needed to hit me over the head with it, cause I quit. And I tossed all of my artwork and tools and went to work in the yard (which badly needed it) and the family.

  About a year later, in 1993 I had recently convinced my 12 year old son to go into scouts. My father had been an assistant scout master and had put all three of us boys through scouts though none of us ever made eagle. I loved scouting.  The first troop my son joined collapsed shortly after he joined them. A few months later we found another new troop 336 of the Keller district. The troop was only about 6 months old when he joined.  I had sworn to avoid being a doting father and had no plans of becoming involved with the troop other than just daddy function. I wanted my son to develop some skills on his own without me hovering over him and to have some of his own fun.

     But then I heard that they were going to Worth Ranch. A Scout camp out by Palo Pinto. I had gone there and even spent several summer camps over the years when I was a scout. I loved Worth Ranch. I begged to go and the Tony and Carl ( Tony was Scoutmaster and Carl Asst.) and they welcomed me. Understand that this was the first time I had been camping with scouts in over 20 years.  My wife and I had camped off and on over the years with the kids but nothing fancy. For those who have been to the top of Mt. Kyle where HUGO’s crack is at (as it is so fondly called out at Worth) they know that it is no mountain but a very steep hill and fairly high for sure. With a full back pack it is a tough climb. I was not properly prepared to ascend and most of my stuff fell apart before I was half way up.  In fact none of the adults were very impressive at that point in time. We were all heaving and sucking for oxygen as if we were ascending the Himalayas. Pretty sad.  Anyway that night the boys had built a camp fire down at the base of the hill to serve as our main campfire. It was an absolutely gorgeous night. Not a cloud in the sky and no moon. That night the Milky Way stood out like a Van Gogh painting, scattering billions of brilliant dots of lights all across the sky.  The boys got up and did skits, songs and stories around the camp fire  and of particular notice was the story of Hugo, our local monster of Worth Ranch. A story that our scout masters had told us when we were kids. Something inside me was going off sounding alarm bells and screaming inside my head. While I Listened, I was formulating my own version of the story of Hugo in my head based on how our scoutmasters told it to us when we were kids. I was in a battle as to whether to tell it or to let it go. The urge to tell was overwhelming to say the least…..

   In the last couple of years preceding this event,  I had been seeing articles in our local newspaper about a new annual event in Denton Texas called a ‘Storytelling Festival’.  Every time I saw that advertisement I had this incredible urge that I needed to go there and to see this. I can’t even begin to tell you how strong that urge was. I remember even telling my wife about it. This festival run by the Tejas Storytelling Association had been running since 1984. Every year that I saw that add, that same voice kept calling to me. Go..Go… but I didn’t. Mostly because I was a coward.

   That night as the fire had burned down to coals and surrounded by the woods and the night I told my version of the story of Hugo in 1st person. I really had no idea what I was doing but I told the perfect story that night. I managed to scare the crap out of a bunch of teenagers and a couple of cubs that happen to be along that night for the camp out. I feared that I had done something terrible but I had loved it so much. There is more to this story but essentially the fall out was that all the boys who had intended to sleep out under the starts with just a blanket suddenly found their father’s tents or huddled together for safety in numbers as close to the adult tents as they could. My own son slipped past me into my tent and went to sleep faster than I had ever seen him do in my life. He probably figured if I thought he was asleep I wouldn’t drag him out.  Later I figured I would catch it from Tony and Carl but to my surprise they laughed so hard they couldn’t contain their glee.

   There is a lot more to this story but basically the short of it all is that a few months later I became the 2nd Asst scoutmaster of the troop and the boys continued to ask me to tell stories. Sometimes I did good and sometimes not but after a while I began to figure out what I had done that first night and became better and better. This is where Tony , Carl and the adults of 336 at  that time were so helpful. They could had said ’no more’ or tried to restrict me but didn’t.  In fact they encourage me and because of this I grew as a storyteller. Shortly before I resigned as Asst. Scoutmaster in 97 I discovered the Tarrant Area Guild of Storytellers and with the help of a special few mainly Helen Garrison ( Granny G)  and Margaret Harkness, I found myself growing even more as a teller.   Eventually I turned this skill into a paying skill and I have traveled all over Texas since 1999 performing at schools and festival and in civic functions and on occasion some private functions. I am recognized as a talented ghost story teller and performer in general. Some folk call me a master storyteller. A term I do not take lightly.

  On the night of Sept. 18 1993 I did not realize what had happened out at Worth Ranch but God had answered my prayers. Doors would open and I went through. That inner voice that had been bugging me finally got through these thick walls and found a home.  I had found my bliss. I went home as excited as a school boy after the camp out, telling my wife all about it. It was as if I had found a long lost friend. I had never enjoyed anything (almost anything ) as much as I had this experience. It had been thrilling beyond my imagination. It would change my life and I haven’t stopped since.

  This Sept. 18, 2013 marks the 20th Anniversary of that night out on Kyle. That was the night that I found my BLISS and haven’t look back since then. Thank You God for answering my prayers. Thank you my wife for putting up with me. Thank you Carl and Tony for your support and thank you to the  boys of 336 (all adults now) for listening and encouraging me. And lastly especially thank you Joe for becoming a scout.

Gary Whitaker ,  The Storyman     08/01/2013

Breathin' life into Shiny Buzard

Shiny Buzzard Telling Tall Tales

    One of my new programs that I have added to my website is my cowboy tall tales program called Shiny Buzzard. After my experience working with the now Defunct Pantagleize Theater ( it is in limbo at present waiting for a new home)  in Fort Worth on the cowboy version of ’ A Midsummer Dream in Texas’  based on Shakespeare play with veteran director Violet O‘ Valley ( I played Snout the Tinker) I decided to revisit my cowboy routes and work up a new program. In my early days I was not very interested in tall tales because my focus was on history. So now I am some what aged and have 3 grandchildren at this writing and I find the concept of Tall Tales very appealing. Plus my stage experience ( my first ever play stage experience)  helped me to find the fun side of storytelling. This is something that has eluded me all these last 15 years. I have always leaned on the heavy and dark side.

   So I wrote a mess of stories and ideas and began playing with them. Drawing on my past experiences in storytelling and acting ( we did perform the play 7 times) I started developing ideas and concepts. The stories came first and the character developed out of the stories and then I refined the two together. The stories by the way are still on going. I based the stories on tall tale concepts and applied the old One Shot Story to my first completed tall tale based on Shiny’s character. I add in a little fact to the fiction as should be done in any storytelling scenario. One Shot got me going and the other stories followed easily.

   Shiny is a character for sure much like Snout in Midsummer Dream. I perform him in my cowboy duds and I’ve even added music ( painful music admittedly but it still music) in the form of my itty bitty guitar ( actually a Ukulele).  I start out with a painful rendition of ‘You are My Sunshine’ and get the kids laughing with my laughable efforts ( I have used music before in the past through my harmonica but I could never actually use it as part of the program).  Once I get the kids into Shiny’s Character I launch into the story usually laying a background as a frame work for the character. After that I have them.

  Shiny is extreme and fun.  He is loud, animated and just plain crazy. I have already performed Shiny in two different programs, a school program and an all day cub scout program with great success. I plan to push him hard in the following school year and to libraries. 

  I am working on the Itty Bitty Guitar to learn more songs so that I can integrate them into the program as it develops. Whether my  singing will improve is yet to be seen but assuredly the itty bitty guitar will. 

  Once I have Shiny Established I will start pushing Medieval Max. Another tall tale teller. He will be the focus of my next blog.

Medieval Max and his Tall Tales

Finding Medieval Max and his Tall Tales

    When I first began storytelling I tried several ideas in bringing Traditional Arthurian (King Arthur) tales to the general public through storytelling but all failed miserably and eventually I dropped these programs.  I love telling Arthurian tales but I have to have a program that an audience will come to hear or buy into and after years of experience I now believe that I have a way to bring King Arthur back to a modern day world.

    I decided to take the concept of the Arthurian stories and turn them into Tall Tales. Technically they are not that far away from that as they are.  Depending on what sources you use such as the Mabinogion tales, those stories are already tall tales by today’s standards. The traditional tales could be easily construed as such.

   But why would I bother? Why not let the dead lie? Good Question.

    The one reason why the Arthurian tales have survived all these centuries is because they strike a human chord that has haunted man all down through the ages:  An innocent boy who would be king, a man with power who does not abuse it, a man with power who believes in doing what is right for everyone not just the rich and powerful and those themes are just for starters.  These are all values that America was built on, values of right and wrong, values of justice and these were all issues that drove the powerful and the lowly during the medieval ages. In fact man has spent the last 4000 years ( pick a number any number  from 2000 years on back and you would be right) trying to get past these issues.

  So I feel that King Arthur and his stories are still of great value but how can I retell them in a Tall Tale fashion and make them fun and new for young and old audiences.  The problem is that many of the stories would be perceived as adult themes in today’s world. In truth they are grown up stories, whether you are looking at the traditional tales or the complicated stories of the Mabinogion.  Even though these stories were probably meant for family fare when they were 1st told, the value systems of that time was quite different than today. Plus folk of that time would have easily understood the values of those stories in that time because of the symbols utilized and references to what would had been modern day or recent events. Even though they have been construed with youth and children in mind for ages that is because the stories have been written and rewritten dozens of times. 

    So how do I turn the stories into Tall Tales, Easy, you change the story and make it accessible to the younger audience but keep the values.  As I said the stories are not that far from Tall Tales to start with.  It does not matter whether the stories were based on a real character or not.  The fact is what today we call Arthurian tales are little more than a cornucopia of stories.  Over the years the Arthurian tales took on their own life.  If you were to seriously study the Arthurian tales (as I have)  you would discover a strange labyrinth of twisted development as the stories bounced from one source to the other. Was there ever a real King Arthur, as far as history can say? No! Absolutely no proof of any such character.  No matter who claims what there has never been one hard shred of evidence to support his existence. Are the stories probably based on some character or characters that did live, odds are yes. Almost all legends are based on a real character. He was probably a leader in a small locality with noble ideas. He had to be a standout. There is no doubt of that. Also consider that the stories of Arthur started during the dark ages, a time when records were lost , destroyed or not even taken and when Britain was in great turmoil from invasions.

   One of my past goals was to create historical programs that encouraged kids to read and learn. Hopefully this program will have the same end. Even today the name of King Arthur brings to mind castles and knights to all who hear it. So that is my prime focus with Medieval Max and King Arthur‘s Tall Tales. Like a blacksmith creating a magic sword I will be the melting pot of King Arthur and his knights and all the good stuff that goes with it; Battles, jousting, horses, swords, dragons, trolls and of course magic and so on. I have re-conceived some of the stories and characters based on what I like and what I think the kids and adults would enjoy.  I have turned some of the characters upside down.  I have stretched some of the ideas to ridiculous regions. I have had lots of fun with King Arthur and his clan. Dragons shall attack, Trolls will destroy and battles shall be ensued. Still Arthur is noble and his followers are classic and they abide the kings rules even unto their own undoing, though none of his knights are all that particularly impressive because these guys are just plain human (sorta).

  With all this in mind I needed a delivery man for my stories. Just like Shiny Buzzard I wanted a specific character with back ground and style. Just like Shiny I am drawing on my past storytelling experiences and my short acting career to bring this character to life. Again I am blending the two to make a one.  Medieval Max is my storyteller for my Arthurian  and Medieval Tall Tales. He has the look of a man who knows more than he is telling ( a little too big for his own britches if you ask me) . He will mix historical facts with fiction and blend the two till you can’t separate one from the other.  Some will call him a magician because when he tells his stories they will seem to come to life. Others will say that he is just a silly old man who is prone to excessive imagination and has lost all his marbles. Well, both are true. 

MAX

p.s.     I will start pushing Max hard next year (2014). I plan to post a video of one of his stories a little later this year. Oh and watch your purses when he’s around. He’s a sneaky old devil.

    

Finding Shiny Buzzard and Tall Tales

Shiny Buzzard - Telling Tall Tales

    One of my new programs that I have added to my website is my cowboy tall tales program called Shiny Buzzard. After my experience working with the now Defunct Pantagleize Theater ( it is in limbo at present waiting for a new home)  in Fort Worth on the cowboy version of’ A Midsummer Dream in Texas’  based on Shakespeare play with veteran director Violet O‘ Valley ( I played Snout the Tinker) I decided to revisit my cowboy roots and work up a new program. In my early days I was not very interested in tall tales because my focus was on history. So now I am some what aged and have 3 grandchildren (at this writing) and I find the concept of Tall Tales very appealing. Plus my stage experience ( my first ever play stage experience)  helped me to find the fun side of storytelling. This is something that has eluded me all these last 15 years. I have always leaned on the heavy side.

   So I wrote a mess of stories and ideas and began playing with them. Drawing on my past experiences in storytelling and acting ( we did perform the play 7 times) I started developing ideas and concepts. The stories came first and the character developed out of the stories and then I refined the two together. The stories by the way are still on going. I based the stories on tall tale concepts and applied the old One Shot Story to my first completed tale based on Shiny’s character. I added in a little fact to the fiction as should be done in any storytelling scenario. One Shot got me going and the other stories followed easily.

   Shiny is a character for sure much like Snout in Midsummer Dream. I perform Shiny in my cowboy duds and I’ve even added music ( painful music admittedly but it still music) in the form of my itty bitty guitar 

( actually a Ukulele). When performing the program I start out with a painful rendition of ‘You are My Sunshine’ and get the kids laughing with my terrible efforts ( I have used music before in the past , through my harmonica but I could never actually use it as part of the program).  Once I get the kids into Shiny’s Character I launch into the story usually laying a background. After that I have them.

  Shiny is extreme and fun.  He is loud, animated and just plain crazy. I have already performed Shiny in two different programs, a school program and an all day cub scout program with great success. I plan to push him hard in the following school year and to libraries.

  Once I have Shiny established I will start pushing Medieval Max, 

another tall tale teller. He will be the focus of my next blog.

Shiny Buzzard
at Spicer Elementary 2013 picture courtesy of Cathy Linehan