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Holladay Library Preps for Olympics with Music Program

Aug 08, 2016 04:15PM ● By Kelly Cannon

Kids hold up colored hoops to represent the Olympic Rings. —Kelly Cannon

Holladay, Utah - Children from Holladay got excited about the upcoming Summer Olympics during a special musical program on July 21 at the Holladay City Library. Led by former music therapist Paige Moore, the children learned about classical music, foreign countries and the Olympics in general.

 Moore worked as a music therapist at Jordan Valley School but quit nine years ago after her daughter was born. She began taking her daughter to various programs provided by the Salt Lake County Library System.

 “My professional self was thinking, ‘I would do this a lot differently.’ I took a lot of the things that I did as a music therapist and I revamped it into a more of a presentation rather than a therapy environment,” Moore said. “I then wrote a proposal to the Salt Lake County Library Services. I have been doing programs throughout the Salt Lake County Library System since 2009.”

While Moore does a handful of programs each year, she always does a special program in the summer that coincides with the summer reading program theme.

 “This year’s summer reading theme is ‘On your mark, get set, read.’ That’s why I did the Olympics, to tie into the theme,” Moore said.

 Moore began the program by explaining what the Olympics are to the young crowd, including the concept of the Olympic torch starting in Greece and then moving around the world, finally coming to where the Olympics are being held that year. Moore then played “Olympic Fanfare” by John Williams, the theme song to the Olympics. The children moved freely about while passing inflatable torches to each other. Five children were selected to hold up colored hoops to re-create the Olympic rings.

 The program continued with Moore talking about the countries where different pieces of classical music came from, then tying the music into a sport played at the Olympics. For instance, Moore introduced France by playing “Clair de lune” by Claude Debussy. The music was tied to synchronized swimming while the children danced around while Moore blew bubbles.

 Another portion of the program featured Russia with the “1812 Overture” by Pyotr Ilych Tchaikovsky. This was tied to volleyball — the children used a giant parachute to bounce balls up into the air.

 Moore moved from Midvale to Boise, Idaho in 2013. However, she and her family come back down to the Salt Lake County for one week in the summer and one week in December. In December is when she provides her “Nutcracker” program.

 “I always send out an email to the librarians saying I’m available for this break and I’m available for this week,” Moore said. “I still get to do the stuff here because I love that there are families who remember me because they come back and they were impressed with my programing and they want their kids to be part of it.”

 One of the main goals for the program for Moore is to introduce various forms of classical music to young children.

 “One thing I always want to do as a presenter in the libraries is to make it so classical music is more hands-on and kids can be introduced to it and see that it’s not some big scary thing. It’s just part of the world,” Moore said. “I think that by putting in so much fun with it, they do enjoy it and they do know they like it and they do remember.”

 Moore also wants the children to learn something about classical music when they attend her music programs.

 “In this specific program, I put in lots of little tidbits of things. The ‘Battle of 1812’ was written in a wartime, that it has cannons in it and it has church bells in it,” Moore said. “In the future when they read about it or they hear about it, they will know about it, they will know about this and they will be aware of this. They will be familiar with this music already.”

 To learn more about programs provided by the Holladay City Library, visit http://www.slcolibrary.org.