New York, 1930s: Harry, a barber, holds some prejudiced views. These seem to change due to the magic of music.
Writing Ideas
- Write some dialogue between the barber and his first customer or between the barber and the trumpeter.
- Write a narrative for the story.
- Write a story about another musical instrument.
- Carry out some oral storytelling – children giving musical instruments magical powers.
- Write about the magic trumpeter – who is he, what is his name, and how would you describe him?
- What other problems could the trumpeter solve?
Whole class oral storytelling activity:
Give the children a musical instrument to study, e.g. violin, guitar etc. Start off a story – someone finds the instrument in the street. Choose a child to say who found it. The next child describes this person – what are they like, where do they live? For example, they could say his name is Jason, he is homeless, he is lonely, he looks scruffy. Set a rule such as: the character cannot play the instrument at all. The next child describes what happens next – where does he go, who does he take the instrument to? The next child describes this new character and so on…
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