A Favorite Book Comes Alive Through Song

LIS 5th graders wrote songs that were ultimately presented in a final dramatic performance by professional singers from New York City.

"From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler", by EL Konigsburg, is a book many people have loved. Bringing the story to life is just what some fifth graders at Lawrence Intermediate School have been doing this spring.

At the initiative of fifth-grade teacher Jane Fetter, with a grant from the Lawrence Township Education Foundation (LTEF), all 320 students in the fifth grade were supplied with the book and were given a chance to go beyond simply reading the story, taking part in a creative process to breathe life into the characters of the book. Drawing from the experience of a similar project in 2001, it was Mrs. Fetter's inspiration to have the entire fifth grade work from the same book, making it possible to integrate the work of several classes into a cohesive whole. In collaboration with professional artists and musicians, the fifth graders created a series of Broadway-style songs that explored the feelings and thoughts of characters drawn from the book. The songs were ultimately presented in a final dramatic performance by professional singers from New York City.

For the money-saving brother in the story they created a hip-hop style song titled "Ching Ching", describing the sound of jingling coins; a sound that also echoed throughout the refrain. Another song explored what it means to be a friend, asking, "Why didn't he tell me he was going away? Aren't friends supposed to share secrets that way?" Other songs were about the excitement of having a secret, a blues piece about the unhappy burden of chores and responsibilities, and other songs about various characters from the pages of the book. All of the songs touched on feelings familiar to the fifth graders who drew on their own experiences, enhancing their personal understanding of, and connection to, the story as they wrote the songs.

The creation of these songs came about with the help of Arts for Anyone, an organization dedicated to implementing cutting-edge arts education programs in primary and secondary schools. Arts for Anyone was founded in 1994 by then Lawrenceville resident, Bruce Taylor. The organization draws together professional artists enthusiastic to share their love of the performing arts with young people. With Mrs. Fetter coordinating the project on behalf of the school, Arts for Anyone served as the link to the professional artists and musicians. Bill Gotshall, a professional composer, and Connie Koppe, a lyricist (who is co-founder of Arts for Anyone and who also teaches at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia) each came to the school to meet with the classes and brainstorm ideas for the words and music. Each song was the creation of two classes, one that wrote the lyrics, the other the music. With ideas in hand, the composer and lyricist took the raw outlines of the songs back to the studio to transform them each into a professional quality piece. For the final performance four professional singers and actors came to the school on May 10th.

In the audience at the performance the children's excitement was unmistakable. Fifth grader Rachel Wallitt bubbled with enthusiasm, saying it was her favorite book ever, excitedly anticipating the performance of the song for which her class had written the words. Each piece was introduced by two students; one from each of the classes involved in its creation. With pride the children spoke about how they had come up with the ideas behind the songs.

The way to measure learning from a project of this kind is not always clear, but recent studies have found that arts education strengthens critical thinking skills (see "The Arts and Critical Thinking in American Education", Olson and Smith, 1999). This particular project encouraged learning on many different levels, from the basics of reading the story, to working as a group while learning about musical and lyric composition. The students also learned about different musical styles, and had the opportunity to see another interpretation of the same material by attending a Theater Works performance of the story at The College of New Jersey. The seed for future learning has also been planted through the 320 copies of the book that were purchased for this project and that will remain with the school.

Appearing onstage, the skill of the performers shone through, making each song seem a masterpiece worthy of Rogers and Hammerstein. But unlike a performance on Broadway, these artists were accessible afterward to answer the children's questions - and the inquisitive students had many! Was it hard to learn the songs by heart? How long had the performers practiced? When did they start learning to sing? It didn't take much to imagine the influence of the experience on possible budding performers in the audience. And to keep the memory of the day alive, each child will take home a recording of the songs, along with a realistic understanding of the stages in a song's production. Sheet music is also available to the students.

After the performance, a group of the student songwriters discussed the performance. Not everyone felt that the performance came out quite as they expected (Astrid Parys thought a rap version would have been better than the operatic style that was used), but the entire class agreed that they had learned from the process, and given a chance they would do it again. Now that they know more about songwriting they were convinced that they could do even better next time. Watch out Broadway!

The Lawrence Township Education Foundation has been in existence for eleven years and during that time has contributed over a million dollars to the Lawrence public schools. These funds have supported more than 220 programs and projects. For more information about the LTEF, please visit the Web Site at www.ltefnj.org or contact Diane Senerth, Executive Director, at 219-0340.