Work in Progress: Bringing “Storytime” to Life
At the Center for Future Audiences, we believe that music has a unique way of telling a story—sometimes even better than words alone. That is why we are thrilled to give you a behind-the-scenes look at our newest “work in progress”: Storytime, an upcoming pilot program for K–2nd grade students debuting in March 2027.
The Collaborative Process
On July 7th, Joye Levy and Karl Heffernan from the CFA team sat down with two incredible Colorado Springs Philharmonic musicians, Erin Napier and Matt “Diek” Diekman, to begin the creative process.
Our goal was to curate a selection of picture books that blend music with social-emotional learning (SEL). With over 20 books on the table, the team spent the day reading, reflecting, and—true to the nature of creative work—sharing plenty of smiles, nods, and even a few emotional tears. It was a rigorous process of finding the right “rhythm” for each story.
The Selections: “Because” & “My Mouth is a Volcano!”
After much deliberation, we narrowed our initial pilot focus to two wonderful books:
Because by Mo Willems: This story about the domino effect of music and the hard work behind artistic mastery resonated deeply with our musicians. Erin and Diek began mapping out the narrative, even finding “silly” ways to use their violas to mimic the action on the page—from the sound of a rehearsal mishap to the creak of a door opening.
My Mouth is a Volcano! by Julia Cook: This book provides a fantastic opportunity to teach children about self-regulation and respecting the voices of others. It’s the perfect match for music, where listening and waiting for your turn to play are just as important as the notes themselves.
Just the Beginning
As we started to see these musical ideas come to life, we realized just how much potential this program has. While we have much more work to do—more books to select, more meetings to hold, and more “improvisational” brainstorming to tackle—it was a highly productive start.
Storytime will be available to local schools in March 2027, but this is only the first chapter of the story. We look forward to sharing more updates here on the Journal throughout the season as we turn these musical seeds into a full-grown program!
Storytime programming is made possible, in part, by generous funding from the Lane Foundation.
