Vox Daily The Official Voices.com Blog

Storytelling Through Spoken Word and Song

By Stephanie Ciccarelli

July 16, 2009

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Heather Forest Are you a fan of folklore, fairy tales, and nursery rhymes?

If you are particularly fond of storytelling and are looking for another creative outlet, recording stories is a wonderful way to have your cake and eat it too.

By combining your passions, you might just even find another way to prosper by your talent! Hear about one woman who has done just that and how you can do it as well here at VOX Daily.

Listening Is At The Core of Storytelling

No other time in our lives is nearly as whimsical as childhood, particularly in the preschool years. Everything is larger than life, the five senses are heightened, and imaginations run freely. There is also no greater time to be introduced to music and find your own musicality through rhythm, lilting text and repetition.

While at BookExpo America this spring, David and I met a number of interesting people, many who were narrators and some who were musicians who incorporated spoken word into their recordings.

Meet Heather Forest

One such artist is Heather Forest, Ph. D., a musician and master storyteller based in Huntington, NY who weaves singing and voice over together into melodious, heartwarming, minstrel-like ballads.

On her website, Heather Forest describes storytelling as one of humanity's oldest art forms, noting that every culture has a rich resource of oral tales that have shaped and preserved values and folklore across generations. Forest affirms that even in our fast-paced, mass media filled world, simply listening to a story remains a compelling, imaginative experience. Identifying the storyteller as a guide, listeners join the storyteller on a dreamlike journey, filled with characters, colors, landscapes and meaning as detailed and complex as the creative listener devises.

While at her booth at the book expo, David was given a complimentary award-winning CD "Sing Me A Story" featuring some of Heather's music, retelling folklore from around the world including "The Little Red Hen", "Three Billy Goats Gruff", "Stone Soup", and many more. When her children were small, she arranged these tales for them and later had her work published for sale in the marketplace.

Heather Forest also gives storytelling concerts, writing workshops, and author programs.

How Can You Bring Your Passion For Storytelling To Light?

There are a number of ways you can share, perform and promote your work. Here are just 5 ideas:

à¹ Interpret and record a collection of nursery rhymes
à¹ Assemble a number of fairy tales and retell them as either classic or updated versions
à¹ Go the troubadour route and sing these stories interspersed with voice over narration
à¹ Sell these recordings in the Voices.com Store
à¹ Give concerts or storytelling workshops

Remember that every interpretation is unique so don't be afraid that the market is already saturated with recordings of this sort... there is always room for more, inspired storytelling!