“Daniel’s school time performance was fantastic! He had a group of about 350 pre-K through 3rd grade students laughing, singing, and dancing. The kids were focused for the full 40-minute performance. Because his show interspersed storytelling, music, and comedy, classroom teachers had ample opportunity and material to link components of the show to lessons in their classrooms.”
MUSICAL ADVENTURES WITH HALF NOTE
Grades Pre-K to 3rd
What happens when a master musician meets a hapless fool – in ONE person? The answer is Half Note, the alter-ego of award-winning pianist/composer Daniel Kelly.
In this 40-minute solo performance, Daniel brings the audience on an entertaining romp into his musical world - blending jazz, classical and pop music with physical comedy, musical storytelling and outrageous keyboard sounds.
In the first part of the program, Daniel presents a musical-storytelling of the Ukrainian folktale, The Mitten, in which a boy loses a mitten in the woods and a series of animals squeeze into it, each one larger than the last. In Daniel's musical version, each animal has a musical theme that layers on top of one another - building up into a symphonic bang!
A classically trained pianist-turned jazz musician, Daniel also presents an enlightening and joyful ride through the history of jazz music - from Scott Joplin to Duke Ellington and Miles Davis to hip-hop.
Finally, Daniel uses technology (looping pedals and effects) to build a modern piece of music layer by layer, illustrating the elements of rhythm, harmony and melody. Members of the audience will have the opportunity to create loops and grooves at the microphone.
A fan of Charlie Chaplin and Victor Borge, Daniel ties the program together with hilarious physical comedy gags that will delight audiences of all ages.