Joshua Payne: Future Guitarist for the Teller

Thanks to the Daniel Day Trio for granting permission to post their picture.
(Left to right: Dave Bowen, Joshua Payne, and Daniel Day.)




Two months ago I talked with Clive Romney about the "Family Famine: Hunger for Love" narrative production and how I imagined a musician, perhaps a guitarist, to accompany me during the story "Forsaken Brother", an Ojibwa tale.

He asked for an impromptu telling of tale, which I did, and then gave his recommendation: Joshua Payne.

The whole Payne family is musically inclined with Marvin Payne, the father, being the most famous as folksinger and actor. Marvin had been nicknamed "The Troubadour" with all his masterpieces.

His sons quickly turned to rhythm and cadence.

One of his sons, Sam Payne, performed at the Timpanogos Storytelling Festival with guitar at the knee and later collaborated with Clive Romney, Nancy Hanson, and Tammy Robinson for the performing arts show that combined song, storytelling, dance and even quilting in "The Ghosts of Gardner Village".

Another of Marvin's sons, Joshua Payne, who has also played at the Timpanogos Storytelling Festival, joined his guitar talents with Daniel Day on drums and Dave Bowen on bass as part of the Daniel Day Trio. This group specializes in 80s, Contemporary, Jazz, and Neu-Jazz and original pieces upon request.

I called Joshua and left a message on his voice mail. I noticed that the Daniel Day Trio would perform at a restaurant about 20 minutes away from where I lived. Luckily, Joshua called back so I could let him know my plans to hear his group play and to introduce myself at the end.

I invited my neighbor, Teresa Cutler, to join me to hear the Daniel Day Trio as well as to enjoy some Japanese cuisine at the Tona Sushi.

Though I was able to hear some clips of music online from them, nothing replaces going in-person. The three musicians swung to the rhythms and grooves so that I found myself tapping my feet and nodding my head.

Afterward, I gave Joshua a copy of the "Forsaken Brother" story so he could see if it would be a story he would be inspired to create sound effects and songs. The printed version would not be the presented piece on stage. At least Joshua had somewhere to start.

Joshua expressed, "I am extremely interested. Rarely do I get a chance for creative pieces and that is what I love the most."

He even suggested that a friend of his may also be interested in the project and asked if I would be open to that thought.

I was thrilled by the idea and have yet to hear if his friend truly would like to participate.

In the meantime, I am pleased that it is likely that Joshua Payne will be joining my venture with the "Family Famine: Hunger for Love" narrative production.

I called Clive Romney to thank him for the recommendation of Joshua Payne. Clive needed to know that I did remember though it had been two months to act upon it.

Until we tell again,

Rachel Hedman

Professional Storyteller

Former Co-Chair of Youth, Educators, and Storytellers Alliance (2005-2008)

Tel: (801) 870-5799
Email: info@rachelhedman.com

URL: http://www.rachelhedman.com

How-To Blog: http://storytellingadventures.blogspot.com

Performance Blog: http://familyfamine.blogspot.com
Other places to find me: Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, LinkedIn, Professional Storyteller

Lullaby of Love: Song of the Gardener's Wife

Songs and lullabies rushed to my mind after choosing "The Gardener's Wife" story for the grand finale piece of the "Family Famine: Hunger for Love".

In a matter of moments, I could envision the gardener's wife rocking a baby in her arms. This image quickly switched to me caressing a baby. As my husband and I do not have children yet, such an image stirred emotions of great excitement.

The words came out of my mouth and I could see them sung to my future children.

In the story, a baby is sent to the gardener and his wife by the river. Water is also an essential part to birth.

So the words that came to me:
Oh my child, my precious child
The waters sent you here
Oh my child, my precious child
To have you close and near

This lullaby is short though such a song of love is often that way.

I called my storytelling friend, Holly Robison, and told her my discovery. I sung the lullaby to her and asked if she could sing it as a duet for a certain part of the story. We have told tandem tales before where we harmonized.

She said yes.

I explained that when the song is first sung, I would sing it. Then Holly would harmonize with me for the second time. She would "oooo" the tune while I narrated that throughout the village other mothers and fathers sung the song. This would be a hint to the audience to join in. As they would have heard the words twice and there are four lines with two lines repeating, then it would be simple enough. The words--though few--would also be in the program.

I may have an ASL interpreter so we would have the song in sign language.

Something happens when everyone sings together.

As the adopted children of the gardener and his wife grow up in the story, then the song will be sung again though not in such a dramatic way as the first time. However, the audience would be familiar with the tune and the words and could join in each time.

As the gardener and his wife wanted children for a long time, it seemed natural that the wife would have another song--a grieving song--while waiting for that moment.

The words and tune have yet to come to me.

There is a line that I feel must be part of it:
There's a hunger in my soul. I yearn for more.

As I explore the story more, then more inspiration will come.

Until we tell again,

Rachel Hedman

Professional Storyteller

Former Co-Chair of Youth, Educators, and Storytellers Alliance (2005-2008)

Tel: (801) 870-5799
Email: info@rachelhedman.com

URL: http://www.rachelhedman.com

How-To Blog: http://storytellingadventures.blogspot.com

Performance Blog: http://familyfamine.blogspot.com
Other places to find me: Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, LinkedIn, Professional Storyteller

The Grand Finale Story: At Last it is Found

Though I listed the Colombian story "The Three Sisters" in a previous post, today was when inspiration struck.

Sometimes stories need to be set aside so that the right paths to take can be found on the creativity map.

The original story starts with three sisters giggling and teasing about who they would want to marry. The oldest sister would like to be with the king's baker as then she can have sponge cake all day. The middle sister would like to be with the king's steward as then she can have anything in the pantry to eat. The youngest sister would like to be with the king himself as then there is quite a feast to eat for every meal.

This conversation is overhead and reported to the king, and the king has these idle wishes to come to pass. The oldest and middle sisters are jealous though they do marry their respective grooms. Eventually, the king and the youngest sister, now the queen, have a child. The two jealous sisters switch out the baby for a dog and then put the baby in a wooden coffin and send it down the river.

Then we meet a gardener and his wife who are unable to have children. The baby is found and they praise God for the blessing.

The king and queen have a second baby. The jealous sisters switch out the baby again, this time for a cat, and send the baby down the river. Again, the gardener and his wife are blessed.

A third time the king and queen have a baby. The jealous sisters switch out the baby for a piece of wood. The gardener and wife are joyous beyond measure as a third child comes down the river to them.

There is much more to this story, though I discovered that I had the most compassion on the gardener's wife. As my husband and I want children of our own and have started the adoption process, I could hear the sounds of joy that the gardener's wife must have shared when her husband walked through the door with a baby, and then a second one, and finally a third. The story came alive and it was at that moment I knew this story had to be part of the "Family Famine: Hunger for Love" narrative production.

For this reason, I will rename this story from "The Three Sisters" to "The Gardener's Wife".

I looked at the back of the Latin American Folktales: stories from Hispanic and Indian Traditions edited by John Bierhorst for any notes or hints of other versions and variants. As this was a book published by Pantheon Books, there was guidance.

I learned the following:

• Aarne-Thompson Motif Index is type 707 of The Three Golden Sons
• Versions with this type 707 could be found in California, Chile, Dominican Republic, Mexico, New Mexico, Panama, Puerto Rico, Europe, India, and the Middle East
• Colombian version found in this book is close to the one shared in Thousand and One Nights

Naturally, I will search out these other kinds as well as research the Colombian culture.

I have found the final destination with the "Family Famine: Hunger for Love" narrative production--this story!

Until we tell again,

Rachel Hedman

Professional Storyteller

Former Co-Chair of Youth, Educators, and Storytellers Alliance (2005-2008)

Tel: (801) 870-5799
Email: info@rachelhedman.com

URL: http://www.rachelhedman.com

How-To Blog: http://storytellingadventures.blogspot.com

Performance Blog: http://familyfamine.blogspot.com
Other places to find me: Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, LinkedIn, Professional Storyteller

Dough between the Fingers: A Story Considered

Have you ever kneaded dough or rolled up a bunch in your hands?

When the dough squishes through the fingers and you feel a little bit of flour that did not quite get mixed up with the rest of it? That sensation had new meaning when I read the story called "Two Sisters" from Latin American Folktales: stories from Hispanic and Indian traditions edited by John Bierhorst.

A poor sister worked in the kitchen for her rich sister. As the woman rolled the dough and made the many tasty morsels, she was careful not to wash the dough from her fingers before heading home to her thin and hungry children. Once the children were gathered about, she would wash the leftover dough into a bowl and that would be supper.

Ironically, this type of meal made her children round in the bellies while the rich sister wondered how this could be as her own children were skinny despite having plenty to eat.

I seriously considered this story as part of the "Family Famine: Hunger for Love" narrative production. The story, though beautiful, was too short for me to develop. Then again, I have known storytellers like David Novak who have taken a few lines of a nursery tale or song and created 30-minute or more masterpieces from them. As for me, I wished that the "Two Sisters" story would have had more scenes so that I could feel more comfortable in transforming it into a more encompassing piece.

In the end, I have chosen not to tell this story for this program. I do enjoy the image of the dough washed from the mother's fingers and may incorporate that part into a different story told.

Until we tell again,

Rachel Hedman

Professional Storyteller

Former Co-Chair of Youth, Educators, and Storytellers Alliance (2005-2008)

Tel: (801) 870-5799
Email: info@rachelhedman.com

URL: http://www.rachelhedman.com

How-To Blog: http://storytellingadventures.blogspot.com

Performance Blog: http://familyfamine.blogspot.com
Other places to find me: Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, LinkedIn, Professional Storyteller

Hansel & Gretel and Their Other "Homes"

While listening to the Hansel and Gretel opera created by Engelbert Humperdinck, my mind wandered into the story and then back to the "Family Famine: Hunger for Love" narrative production.

Though the opera was sung in German, I was familiar with the tale and imagined what was happening. I realized that the Hansel and Gretel story had two elements: family abuse/abandonment and the lack/excess of food. Interestingly, the lady who sings for the Mother is often the same one to sing for the Gingerbread Witch.

Some people may think that the story involves a stepmother, though originally the mother was the one who sent the sent the two children into the forest to die. As this story was based on the Medieval times, it was not uncommon for parents to leave their children in the forest so there were less mouths to feed. Storytellers are aware that fairy tales have many elements of truth to them.

Though the Hansel and Gretel story intrigued me, I was not interested in telling the German version. I wanted to find a story with similar motifs and themes from another culture. The trick was to find a version that was authentic to the culture rather than being an adaptation of Hansel and Gretel that used another name.

Then "The Storyteller's Sourcebook: A Subject, Title, and Motif Index to Folklore Collections for Children 1983-1999" edited by Margaret Read MacDonald and Brian W. Sturm flashed to mind. At the time, only "The Storyteller's Sourcebook" was the title I remembered and the connection to MacDonald. When I arrived at the library, this book was in the Reference Juvenile Literature section.

The book used the Stith Thompson Motif Index, the enlarged version of classification of fairy tales, rather than the original Aarne Thompson Motif Index.

Since the Hansel and Gretel story was so common, I knew I could look up the title and see what motifs were listed. Then I noticed other categories where I may find other stories appropriate for the "Family Famine: Hunger for Love" narrative production.

These were the codes found for Hansel and Gretel:

• G412.1.1
• Type 327A
• R135
• G526
• G512.3.2
• B469.4

These categories caught my attention:

• G400-G499 = Falling into Ogre's Power
  
• G500-G599 = Ogre Defeated
  
• C200-C299 = Eating and Drinking Tabu/Taboo
  
• T0-T699 = Family Life, which includes: Love (T0-T99), Marriage (T100-T199), Married Life (T200-T299), Chastity and Celibacy (T300-T399), Illicit Sexual Relation (T400-T499), Conception and Birth (T500-T599), and Care of Children (T600-T699)

Any combination of C200-299 with T0-T699 will likely be stories to pursue for the "Family Famine: Hunger for Love" narrative production.

These codes and categories will act as my compass to find the other "homes" where stories like Hansel and Gretel may appear.

Until we tell again,

Rachel Hedman

Professional Storyteller

Former Co-Chair of Youth, Educators, and Storytellers Alliance (2005-2008)

Tel: (801) 870-5799
Email: info@rachelhedman.com

URL: http://www.rachelhedman.com

How-To Blog: http://storytellingadventures.blogspot.com

Performance Blog: http://familyfamine.blogspot.com
Other places to find me: Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, LinkedIn, Professional Storyteller

Student to my Rescue: Research Assistance

When approached to be part of the Weber State University Storytelling Festival Board, I was honored.

Then I realized how many other projects and positions I had and wondered if this was too much.

Finally, I was promised that in return for work with the festival, an undergraduate student would be found within the Department of Education to assist in research for the "Family Famine: Hunger for Love" project.

Today I received the telephone call from the student.

We did not chat for long, though we were able to discuss the main ideas of the project and the goals. Eventually, we will meet in-person to get to know each other better and see how we could mutually benefit from the exchange.

She is majoring in Elementary Education with a minor in American Sign Language. I did not think about it while speaking with her, though afterward I wondered about the possibility of having an ASL interpreter at the premiere. A couple months ago this idea intrigued me. I forgot about it. . .until now.

In the meantime, I am requesting to see the senior project guidelines to make sure "Family Famine: Hunger for Love" will match what is required of the university. Interestingly, this narrative production connects to achieving my Storytelling Masters.

Until we tell again,

Rachel Hedman

Professional Storyteller

Former Co-Chair of Youth, Educators, and Storytellers Alliance (2005-2008)

Tel: (801) 870-5799
Email: info@rachelhedman.com

URL: http://www.rachelhedman.com

How-To Blog: http://storytellingadventures.blogspot.com

Performance Blog: http://familyfamine.blogspot.com
Other places to find me: Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, LinkedIn, Professional Storyteller

Official Venue: I have Covey Center for the Arts!

I learned that the Covey Center for the Arts signed their half of the venue contract.

Now it is official: I have the place for my premiere on February 9, 2009 at 8:00pm!

I will wait to send out invites through Facebook, Twitter, Professional Storyteller, and other online avenues until the information on the "Family Famine: Hunger for Love" narrative production is on the Covey Center for the Arts website. By November 26th the page will be up, if not earlier. When I receive notification, then I will also submit the event to online calendars including NowPlayingUtah.com.

Each event that takes place there has their own page to post a few pictures, description, and list any websites connected to it. Of most use is link so people could order tickets online.

Perhaps I should not have stalled to work on the "Family Famine: Hunger for Love" logo. I wanted to have the venue in place first as the location's information would be needed for posters, fliers, and postcards. The logo itself did not need those details. Still, there is a certain security to waiting when things are more in stone.

I could always have the logo uploaded on the Covey Center for the Arts website as I get it. In the meantime, I will submit the picture of me looking back over my shoulder. This is the same picture used for my Facebook support group.

I expect to have pictures of my accompanist and possible someone to sing duet with me for a song or two. This will be more clear as the structures of the stories progress.

Until we tell again,

Rachel Hedman

Professional Storyteller

Former Co-Chair of Youth, Educators, and Storytellers Alliance (2005-2008)

Tel: (801) 870-5799
Email: info@rachelhedman.com

URL: http://www.rachelhedman.com

How-To Blog: http://storytellingadventures.blogspot.com

Performance Blog: http://familyfamine.blogspot.com
Other places to find me: Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, LinkedIn, Professional Storyteller