"True art is an expression of the human being's search for a relationship with the spiritual, whether the spiritual longed for when his soul leaves the body, or the spiritual which he desires to remember when he dips down into a body, or the spiritual to which he feels more related than to his natural surroundings, or the spiritual as manifested in colors when outside and inside lose their separateness and the soul moves through the cosmos, freely, swimming and hovering, as it were, experiencing its own cosmic life, existing everywhere; or ... the spiritual as expressed in earth life, in the relationship between man's soul-spirit and the cosmic ... " - Rudolf Steiner
Course WC/ART
Art of Storytelling
Lesson 4
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Course Outline
Art of Storytelling
Lesson 1: Getting Ready for Storytelling Lesson 2: Practicing the Art of Storytelling 1 Lesson 3: Practicing the Art of Storytelling 2 Lesson 4: Advanced Storytelling 1 Lesson 5: Advanced Storytelling 2 |
Introduction
Einstein said, “Imagination is more important than knowledge”. Yet, in the current climate of testing and even our own desires to teach our children “well”, we are missing a great opportunity to foster the growth of this vital tool, imagination, in favor of filling our children with information rather than a sense of creativity. For most of human history wisdom was passed down orally, and while the printed word is a most useful and vital invention that has contributed so much to the spread of knowledge, we are hard-wired to hear and imagine; our brains grow and our minds expand as the spoken word falls from the lips of our teachers, parents, relatives and elders, enters our consciousness and joins us to the collective unconscious. If we continue to rely almost exclusively on the book as our primary means to pass on knowledge, especially for young children, we cheat them out of their human birthright, to creatively imagine for themselves the images we describe. Noting the rapid decline of language skills over the past two generations, child psychologists and educators are now actively championing storytelling as an ideal method of influencing a child to associate listening with pleasure, of increasing a child’s attention span and retention capacity, of broadening a child’s vocabulary and introducing a child to the symbolic use of language. As children hear a story they form pictures in their minds to go along with the words, each one different. As their imaginations receive exercise, minds grow, and become more creative and flexible. A vibrant imagination is not only important for creative expression through the arts, but in understanding scientific concepts, from atoms to stars; and for interpersonal skills, imagining how someone else may feel; indeed imagination is vital in every aspect of life. As scientists continue to unravel the profound mysteries of brain function, it seems clear that any efforts we make to keep them healthy will serve us in the long run.
Storytelling uses the left brain’s functions (language, a story line, sequences of cause and effect) to speak the right brain’s language of symbolic, intuitive, imaginative truths. For example, the small bird sits on the shoulder of the boy lost in the woods and tells him how to go home. The left-brain says, “I understand the words, but birds don’t speak.” The right-brain says, “What did the boy say back to the bird?” It understands these impossible developments as facts. Thus, storytelling helps the brain to integrate its two sides into a whole, which promotes health and self-realization. There is a very practical reason to use story telling as the primary means of imparting knowledge. Children will imagine the troll in “The Three Billy Goats Gruff ”, for example, just as scary as they need to so as to get what they need from the story, no more and no less. If we show them a picture of a horrible scary troll in a book, it may give them nightmares and they will have a net loss of value. Or, if they are a little older and see a not so scary troll, the story will not have the intended impact, to show the life-saving value of quick-witted intelligence of the littlest and middle brothers in tricking the troll and the strength and protection of the biggest brother, making the world safer for us all. These are powerful archetypes for young ones. They help children experience these ideas on a deep and profound level. They get so much more out of it than if they were simply told how great it is to be quick-witted or strong. The message gets into their psyches, not just their minds where the message could easily be misunderstood. “There is no need to be concerned that what is learned may be forgotten once school is finished. What matters is that what one teaches bears fruit and forms the character [of the child]” ( - Rudolf Steiner in "The Education of the Child"). The printed page has the potential to stand in the way of the imparting of the wisdom lessons traditional stories provide. The beauty (or lack thereof) of the artwork distracts us from the heart of the story. Of course there is a place for storybooks and art of all kinds in children’s lives, the true measure of a society is the quality and prevalence of its art. But it is of great importance that the book does not completely sublimate another art form, the art of the storyteller.
There is no need to be overly dramatic in telling a story. Most of the stories we tell are very old, some as old as humanity itself, we can let humanity speak for itself without infusing too much of our individualism into it. The telling of a story is a gift! And we should present it as such, with a bit of ritual or ceremony. We should tell stories with reverence and respect for all those who have gone before us and for the collective unconscious to which they belong. We can tell stories with feeling and humor and warmth, but in most cases it is probably best to avoid being much more than a humble messenger of ancient wisdom.
In many ways the real purpose of stories is to connect us, that we might learn from each other and continue to improve this human condition.
Storytelling uses the left brain’s functions (language, a story line, sequences of cause and effect) to speak the right brain’s language of symbolic, intuitive, imaginative truths. For example, the small bird sits on the shoulder of the boy lost in the woods and tells him how to go home. The left-brain says, “I understand the words, but birds don’t speak.” The right-brain says, “What did the boy say back to the bird?” It understands these impossible developments as facts. Thus, storytelling helps the brain to integrate its two sides into a whole, which promotes health and self-realization. There is a very practical reason to use story telling as the primary means of imparting knowledge. Children will imagine the troll in “The Three Billy Goats Gruff ”, for example, just as scary as they need to so as to get what they need from the story, no more and no less. If we show them a picture of a horrible scary troll in a book, it may give them nightmares and they will have a net loss of value. Or, if they are a little older and see a not so scary troll, the story will not have the intended impact, to show the life-saving value of quick-witted intelligence of the littlest and middle brothers in tricking the troll and the strength and protection of the biggest brother, making the world safer for us all. These are powerful archetypes for young ones. They help children experience these ideas on a deep and profound level. They get so much more out of it than if they were simply told how great it is to be quick-witted or strong. The message gets into their psyches, not just their minds where the message could easily be misunderstood. “There is no need to be concerned that what is learned may be forgotten once school is finished. What matters is that what one teaches bears fruit and forms the character [of the child]” ( - Rudolf Steiner in "The Education of the Child"). The printed page has the potential to stand in the way of the imparting of the wisdom lessons traditional stories provide. The beauty (or lack thereof) of the artwork distracts us from the heart of the story. Of course there is a place for storybooks and art of all kinds in children’s lives, the true measure of a society is the quality and prevalence of its art. But it is of great importance that the book does not completely sublimate another art form, the art of the storyteller.
There is no need to be overly dramatic in telling a story. Most of the stories we tell are very old, some as old as humanity itself, we can let humanity speak for itself without infusing too much of our individualism into it. The telling of a story is a gift! And we should present it as such, with a bit of ritual or ceremony. We should tell stories with reverence and respect for all those who have gone before us and for the collective unconscious to which they belong. We can tell stories with feeling and humor and warmth, but in most cases it is probably best to avoid being much more than a humble messenger of ancient wisdom.
In many ways the real purpose of stories is to connect us, that we might learn from each other and continue to improve this human condition.
Tasks and Assignments for Art of Storytelling Lesson 4
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1. Please listen to the audio recording (see below) of the Brothers Grimm Fairy Tale: "The Raven."
2. A. Listen to the audio recording of the Brothers Grimm Fairy Tale: "The Raven." While listening please write down your observations and insights concerning this tale in the following way: Create a page for each "frame" of the tale where you write down your reflections on the questions listed below. You will need to listen to the segments repeatedly and/or stop the recording to complete the work on each page. Label each page with the date and the appropriate description of the frame. (With frames we mean what can be termed as scenes. For instance: "The King's Daughter" or "At the Old Woman's House" or "The Giant's House," etc.) I. What? - What is being related? What is the scene? What are the circumstances? What is the event? What is the sequence? Etc. II. How? - How do the people or animals behave or act? How are they expressing things? How do the mechanics work? How is there action or events? Etc. III. Why? - Why are things happening in a certain way? Reasons? Why do the people or animals behave or act in certain ways? Why are certain aspects related, not others? Deeper meaning? Etc. IV. Who? - Who are the participants in the tale? Who are they really? Who do they represent? Who do they relate to in a symbolic or metaphysical sense? Etc. 2.B. Create your own audio recording, retelling the story from memory as you would to a group of children. 3. Repeat the exercise (pages and recording of the retelling of the story from memory) a second time on a different day (ideally during the same time of day, for instance morning or afternoon). 4. Repeat the exercise a third time on a different day (ideally during the same time of day, for instance morning or afternoon). Submit your completed pages and the audio recordings via the submission form or via email. |
Audio Recording of "The Raven"
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Please submit files of completed art project(s), comments and questions via the online form or via email.