Joseph Salvalaggio, Teaching Artist

Joseph Salvalaggio, Teaching Artist Babu Press combines storytelling and live classical music to create dynamic concert programs for kids

Joseph Salvalaggio combines storytelling and live classical music to create dynamic concert programs for kids. Interactive and educational, these curriculum-based programs present fundamentals in science, math and language while introducing young audiences to the great classical composers. In addition to providing fun concert experiences for kids, he is also a vital resource for the classical musi

cian who is dedicated to engaging young people through art. Joey's story Building Residency has grown from its humble Memphis beginnings to currently serve Sudbury's Rainbow District School Board and the Canadian National Institute for the Blind.

Week three of my Story Building with Music Camp at the GSPL was a great success! We had a trio of live classical musicia...
01/25/2025

Week three of my Story Building with Music Camp at the GSPL was a great success! We had a trio of live classical musicians, learned about alliteration, brainstormed more story ideas, and we created more art. This depiction of the All Animal Academy for Aspiring Astronauts depicts students at the school. I love the detail and the colour in this child's artwork. What a great pleasure it is to get to do this work with young people. As always, thanks to the Greater Sudbury Public Library, the Ontario Arts Council, and the kids and parents who are participating in the program. We had two new students this week, and three to four parents actually stay for the sessions, one of whom even participated in today's art prompt :)

Week 2 of my new Story Building with Music Camp at the Greater Sudbury Public Library is in the books. I'd forgotten wha...
01/19/2025

Week 2 of my new Story Building with Music Camp at the Greater Sudbury Public Library is in the books. I'd forgotten what an important part art work can play in the process of developing story elements. Here is the main character from our emerging story, Bubbles. He is a fish attending the 'Every Animal School for Aspiring Astronauts'. I love the attention to detail in this student's work and, although I inadvertently cut it off in the picture, Bubbles' greatest fear is the word caviar. Kid's not only creative, but funny :) Thanks to the GSPL and the Ontario Arts Council for making this work possible.

01/11/2025

So, today was the first session for my first post-covid live teaching experience in a classroom. Every time I begin a new creative endeavour with kids I'm pretty anxious. Will they respond to me? Will they be creative? Turns out our first session left me with so much creative content that I already have an entire story outline. One of the parents came to pick up her child and I heard her say, "Oh, to be that creative again...it just gets lost." It doesn't. We all still imagine. We all still have the capacity to play and to create. I think I may need to adapt the program for grown ups.

So, I can finally announce a wildly exciting piece of news in my journey as a Teaching Artist. I'm a recipient of a 2024...
11/04/2024

So, I can finally announce a wildly exciting piece of news in my journey as a Teaching Artist. I'm a recipient of a 2024 Northern Arts Projects grant from the Ontario Arts Council! This generous grant will enable me to expand my work inspiring young people to engage with literacy and storytelling using classical music as inspiration. I will deliver two 8-week residencies for the Greater Sudbury Public Library, beginning in January 2025. There will be a concert and enrolment event on December 16th at 6:00 at the Mackenzie Street branch to get things started with a musical story, audience participation and lots and lots of great music! Updates and more information about the residencies coming soon!

I was hired last fall by the CNIB to write a radio play with a group of kids. It was an amazing and challenging project ...
04/18/2024

I was hired last fall by the CNIB to write a radio play with a group of kids. It was an amazing and challenging project that I will share soon. In the meantime, I have just started creating, with that same group, a sequel. As yet untitled, it takes one of our primary characters from the original story and has him thrust into a strange world inhabited by talking flowers...and who knows what else. This video is an example of how wildly creative this group is. The content in this excerpt was captured in just one session last week. I threw together this recording to model how the narration will feel when set to music. Students will eventually record all of the narration for our final product. I rarely post about my work these days because I am simply too busy trying to get that work done but using music to encourage kids to embrace literacy and creativity is just so exciting to me that I thought I'd share just a bit. There are many unanswered questions in this short video. In time all will become clear. Although not even I know how the story will unfold. That's exciting and terrifying in equal measure, I assure you :)

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Babu Press combines storytelling and live classical music to create dynamic concert programs for kids. Interactive and educational, these curriculum-based programs present fundamentals in science, math and language while introducing young audiences to the great classical composers. In addition to providing fun concert experiences for kids, Babu Press is also a vital resource for the classical musician who is dedicated to engaging young people through art. We offer digital downloads of complete prepackaged chamber music shows for purchase as well as consultation to develop your own unique program for your chamber group. Visit our website at www.babupress.com.