Musical Storybooks
Storytime with Live Music for All Ages
Parents: Find a Musical Storybook at a library near you
Teachers: Reach out to bring a Musical Storybook to your classroom
Librarians: Reach out to bring a Musical Storybook to your library
Impact
With a catalog of over 20 titles, every season Musical Storybooks reaches 1,200 people throughout Southwest Michigan.
What is a Musical Storybook?
Our Musical Storybooks program is the perfect way to introduce audiences to live music. It presents favorite storybooks alongside great music performed by Symphony musicians.
Each storybook program includes a narrated story told with music and interactive learning led by Symphony musicians and staff.
Bring Musical Storybooks to Your Classroom or Library
Musical Storybooks program is included for Marvelous Music and KSO Partner School participants.
Reach out to our Education Team to learn more about the Musical Storybooks program!
Explore Our Musical Storybook Reading List
The library includes Storybooks from past performances. Please contact the Education Team to learn which Storybooks are currently touring!
The story of a girl who heard a Symphony Orchestra and was inspired to become a composer. What does it take to become a composer? Lots of hard work, scores of behind-the-scenes people, and a little bit (or maybe a lot of luck). Music from traditional composers like Beethoven, along with contemporary female composers Florence Price and Grażyna Bacewicz, follows the journey of our heroine as she discovers her love for music and develops into a master musician, composer, and conductor.
A classic tale paired with Berlioz’s fiery opera score from Carmen, Ferdinand tells the story of a young bull who finds himself on the opposite side of his bullish collective.
Will he give in to peer pressure and fight like the other bulls, or will he embrace his true nature and keep smelling the flowers? The music, performed by a string quartet, moves from dramatic to sweet with plenty of foot-tapping opportunities and melodies you will be singing on the way home. The story encourages everyone to be themselves and let their light shine.
Follow our giraffe hero, Gerald, as he learns to dance to his own music!
Waltzing warthogs, lions doing the tango, and a chimpy cha-cha are just a few of the musical styles explored in this story, which encourages the audience to embrace who they are without judgment and dance like nobody’s watching.
This program by our storybook trio, best for younger children and families, tells the story of a young person who just wants to make something at the beach. She is continuously interrupted by strangers, friends, and family and is challenged to express how she feels about these interruptions. This show includes an opportunity to think about how different music makes you feel.
This fun story evokes life in the city with a variety of musical styles. Performed by a special ensemble of Trumpet, Cello, Clarinet, Trombone, and Percussion, it follows a young boy and his Grandma as they ride the city bus through the streets. The music describes the various people and places they see along the way.
This is a new program performed by a String Quartet (2 violins, viola, cello). We use the book Octopus’s Garden, written by Ringo Star, and weave Beatles’ tunes throughout the story. There are opportunities for audience participation and singing. Songs include “Yellow Submarine,” “With a Little Help from My Friends,” “Let It Be,” “When I’m 64,” “Hey Jude,” “All You Need Is Love,” and “Octopus’s Garden.”
Explore different ways to see and hear the world with the string quartet!
In this symphonic fairy tale written by Sergei Prokofiev featuring a Woodwind Quintet (oboe, clarinet, bassoon, French horn, and flute), the characters come alive in the music. In the orchestra biz, this is called “Leitmotif” where each character has a musical theme that is used to create the score. Come on an imagination exploration with us and meet our musical friends in the middle of their adventure.
Explore Chamber Music Programs
The flagship program of our KSO Brass Quintet (2 trumpets, trombone, French horn, and tuba), this is truly a carnival that celebrates the sounds, squawks, and swells of the animal kingdom. Featuring poetry by Jack Prelutsky and music by Camille Saint-Saëns, you will meet the regal lion, lumbering tortoise, elegant swan, and many more.
Take a journey into art with the KSO Brass Quintet. This program can be paired with existing art or art created by local artists or students of art. The music, created by Modest Mussorgsky in honor of an artist friend, depicts in sound what he experienced when seeing various paintings. You can imagine you can promenade through the art gallery and experience what it is like to hear the art on the walls.
Performed by our largest ensemble, the KSO Pros on the Go, this program takes you on a journey in the life and music of composer Scott Joplin. From his Treemonisha Overture to the famous Maple Leaf Rag, we tell the story of how Scott Joplin became the King of Rag (Ragtime Music). The ensemble includes a string quartet, oboe, clarinet, trombone, and percussion.
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