ALONE ON A WINDY RIDGE: Good storytellers

Monday, April 04, 2005

Good storytellers

...are fascinating to watch and listen to, but try as I may to study their techniques and see what makes them so effective, I always get caught up in their stories and carried away from any objective stance. Today I ran across Kevin MacKenzie, the SWG's Storyteller-in-residence in "Storytellers celebrate Andersen's birthday" in the Star Phoenix. Last fall I had the pleasure of introducing Kevin MacKenzie's "Tell It! An Introduction to Oral Storytelling" workshop at the SWG conference. In the workshop I gained a better understanding of storytelling and what makes the good storytellers so good. That night I saw him in action. I was determined to focus on his technique, but he immediately had me hooked and ultimately lost in the story.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...: Thanks Brenda,
I, too, met the storyteller for the first time last fall at the SWG conference and was blown away by the fact that there didn't appear to be any technique in his telling, but then again, when the method is good, perhaps one doesn't notice that the technique doesn't appear. A bit like a magician. I prefer to think maybe it's the strength of the teller combined with the confidence in the story that does it. But what do I know these days.; 4/4/05 8:42 PM

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"This is a skilled poet having good fun, and inviting us all to join the party." - Shelley A. Leedahl, SaskBooks Reviews. Read more.

"Employing a variety of forms and the culvert stories — who knew? — of numerous people, she digs beneath the obvious roads to find out what keeps the water — the subconscious, the unconscious — flowing smoothly, discovering a variety of things about herself, notably the everyday masks we wear and the aging process we won’t always admit to." - Bill Robertson, The Star Phoenix. Read more.

"For Schmidt is indeed a poet. Readers can expect to encounter many visual and acoustic delights along the way, from internal rhymes to arresting images." - Trevor Cook, The Antigonish Review #196.

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"In Grid, moments are approached in their apparent stability only to be swept away in song rife with interruption and fresh stimuli, lending a new perspective. It is as though the familiar ground is an eye glancing back and the reflection only a nodal-point, open to opportunity and play." - Justin Dittrick, SPG Book Reviews. Read more.

"There is grit in these poems, so much that it seems unfair to think of them as nature poems; like the best nature writing, they undo our expectations of nature rather than uphold them." - Tanis MacDonald, Arc Poetry Magazine. Read more.

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