Family Programming
This delightful music programming for ages 3-7 is a live musical storytime event featuring the Click Clack Moo! book by Doreen Cronin set to original music by Helix Collective resident composer, Phil Popham, with narrator Rena Strober. Come meet musicians, explore an instrument petting zoo, and hear Click Clack Moo come to life!
ABOUT THE PROJECT
An educational concert featuring the Click Clack Moo! book set to original music by Helix Collective resident composer, Phil Popham. This original musical work set to the popular book Click Clack Moo by Doreen Cronin was commissioned by the West Michigan Symphony. This popular concert for children (ages 3 – 7) has been performed by that symphony for ten years running with enormous success.
Helix Collective will bring this delightful educational concert to children in the Pasadena area with a performance in the Spring of 2024.
This high-quality music programming for young children is a live musical-story time event. Children will meet musicians, learn about basic music concepts, interact with the narrator throughout the story and hear live music performed, specifically written for the Click Clack Moosic program.
The program introduces one instrument from each instrument family (brass, string, piano, percussion, woodwind). Each character is represented by an instrument so the young audience can get to know each instrument through the character’s personality. Each character has a featured section to highlight what that instrument does best. This updated version of the classic programs like Peter and the Wolf covers more diverse styles of music including salza, a ho down, waltz, and blues.
Through the story, children learn about working together, collective action, and how one small voice can make a big difference.
PRE-CONCERT LEARNING PROGRAM
Our primary goal with this first concert in the series is to engage young learners with an introduction to the instruments and learning about how music expresses emotion. The instrument petting zoo before the performance allows each child to see and touch instruments up close and interact with the musicians that make music through each instrument.
At the start of the program, the narrator and conductor will lead the children through a series of exercises where they learn to recognize and name emotions through the tone of voice and word emphasis they hear. They then each get to try this themselves using their own voice. Then the program brings this concept to storytelling through music.
We will engage with young audiences in deep learning with the musical story. Young attendees will gain a firm understanding of the different instrument families and be able to recognize the nine instruments by ear. They will understand the role of the conductor and how different types of music express different moods and moments in the character’s journey. They will discover how music can be used to tell a story, celebrate, express emotions, and bring people (or farm animals) together.
ABOUT THE KEY PROJECT PARTICIPANT
Phil Popham, Music Director
Click Clack Moosic Music Director Phil Popham is a co-founder of Helix Collective. He composed the music for and conducted the world premieres of his Click, Clack, Moosic children’s concerts with the West Michigan Symphony Orchestra. The four programs (Click Clack Moosic, Giggle Giggle Quack, Dooby Dooby Moo, and Click, Clack, Ho! Ho! Ho!) include his original music accompanying the narration of the stories.
He has conducted the Los Angeles Live Score Film Festival for 8 years and has conducted the scores for over 30 films. Dr. Popham holds graduate degrees in both Composition and Performance with studies in Music Industry and Production Music from the University of Southern California and the Peabody Conservatory of Music.
Rena Strober, Narrator
Rena Strober is a Broadway/TV actress whose voice is also heard on hundreds of animated cartoons & video games. Some favorite Broadway credits include Les Miserables, Fiddler on the Roof and Beauty & The Beast. TV fans know Rena from her recurring roles on Disney’ Liv & Maddie and Nicky Ricky Dicky & Dawn, VEEP & SHAMELESS. Rena’s award winning Sesame Street album IMAGINE THAT features Jason Alexander, French Stewart and a choir of young blind children that Rena taught while working at the Academy of Music for the Blind. When Rena is not working as an actor or teaching music, she is studying to become a Cantor with the AJRCA. www.renastrober.bandcamp.com | www.renastrober.com
Sarah Robinson, Co-founder, Administrator, and Flutist
Sarah Robinson is the flutist and co-founder of Helix Collective. She is the author of Clubbing for Classical Musicians, a guide to presenting music in alternative venues which has been called “enlightening, instructional, and inspiring.” As a flutist she has recorded scores for television, video games, commercials, and several albums. She holds degrees in flute performance from the Royal Northern College of Music (UK), the University of Illinois, the University of South Carolina, and the Chicago College of Performing Arts. Dr. Robinson has been a panelist and presenter at several conferences on the future of classical music including the 21CMPosium at DePauw University and “Are We Listening – a symposium on music, change, and challenge” at Boston University. Recent speaking engagements and workshops include visits to the Curtis Institute of Music and the Peabody Conservatory.
Doreen Cronin, Author
Doreen Cronin is author of the Click Clack Moo which will be narrated during the Click Clack Moosic performance. Doreen Cronin is the author of the Click, Clack series, The Duck Squad Series, the Bug Diaries, and many more books for kids and middle graders. Nine of Cronin’s books are Junior Library Guild selections: Click Clack Moo: Cows That Type, Diary of a Worm, Diary of a Spider, Diary of a Fly, Smick, Click, Clack, Quack to School, Click, Clack, Peep, Click, Clack, Surprise, and Click, Clack Rainy Day. In 2015, The Chicken Squad was named one of the best books of the year by Bank Street College of Education.
Kathryn Eames, Piano
Helix Collective core member and faculty at the Pasadena Conservatory of Music, Kathryn Eames will serve as pianist for the Click Clack Moosic concerts. Dr. Kathryn Eames earned her DMA in Piano Performance at the University of Southern California and enjoys an active career in Los Angeles as a soloist, collaborative pianist, and orchestral keyboardist. She has performed under the baton of conductors such as John Williams, James Conlon, David Newman, Gerard Schwarz, and Carl St. Clair. She is principal pianist for the L.A. Opera’s educational outreach series. Dr. Eames has been on the faculty of the Pasadena Conservatory of Music since 2014, where she teaches piano and music theory.
Matt Ordaz, Percussionist
Matt keeps a busy schedule performing as a freelance musician in many venues throughout Southern California, including The Disneyland Resort and The Ahmanson Theatre. When not performing, he is often recording in his home studio for clients worldwide. Matt is the Percussion Ensemble Director at Biola University, teaches privately through his home studio, and holds a Master’s Degree in Percussion Performance from Cal State Fullerton.
