28K 56K 256K HTML Transcript

Listen as Lawrence Aripa tells of Coyote and the Green Field. Learn what can occur when you are too greedy, and seek the easy way. Part 1 (originally developed as part of the 1993 Me-Y-Mi-Ym Project; recorded and edited by Dan Kane; project director Rodney Frey)

There is a wide assortment of storytelling techniques used by the elders. Among them is the skillful use of voice and intonation fluctuations, distinguishing one character from the next and adding a dynamic to the telling. Sometimes the storyteller would change his voice, alternating it with each of the characters in the story. Along with animated hand gestures and body language, the judicious use of tempo and pauses helps build tension and spot-light the actions of characters. Silences can be just as meaningful as spoken words. While more commonly practiced in the past, a storyteller would continue telling the story only as long as the listeners were indeed participants. The involvement of listeners was cued by periodic signals to the storyteller from the listeners, such as voicing or giving the hand sign equivalent to, "yes." Should such acknowledgments cease so too would the story, regardless of whether the story was completed or not.

28K 56K 256K HTML Transcript

Listen as Lawrence Aripa continues telling of Coyote and the Green Field. Part 2

As you listen to these stories, it's okay to talk to your computer! Periodically acknowledge your participation in the stories by saying, "yes." Don't be too self-conscious.

28K 56K 256K HTML Transcript

Listen as Lawrence Aripa continues telling of Coyote and the Green Field. Part 3

When the elders re-tell the stories they are "re-membered" stories, and never memorized stories. To re-member is to bring life to the story, allowing the participation of the audience. A memorized story is too rigid, inhibiting that participation. This is not to suggest that the storyteller is free to make-up anything he wants. After all the stories have been handed down from the First Peoples and it is the responsibility of the storyteller to be true to that narrative account. As one Schitsu’umsh elder said, "you have to keep all the bones in the story, not adding some or deleting others. But it is the storyteller and the audience who add muscle and skin to those bones - breathing life into the story." The storyteller and the audience each contribute some of their unique personalities to the telling.

< previous | next >