Before John Was a Jazz Giant: A Song of John Coltrane

By: Carole Boston Weatherford

"Young John Coltrane was all ears. And there was a lot to hear growing up in the South in the 1930s: preachers praying, music on the radio, the bustling of the household. These vivid noises shaped John's own sound as a musician. Carole Boston Weatherford and Sean Qualls have composed an amazingly rich hymn to the childhood of jazz legend John Coltrane."

Awards:

• 2009 Coretta Scott King Illustrator Honor Book

• 2009 Bank Street - Best Children's Book of the Year

Discussion Questions:

• Ask the class to speak softly, then loudly. List soft and loud sounds they hear everyday

• According to the author, John Coltrane tuned into the sounds of his life. What are the sounds of your life?

• Look at the circles in the illustrations. Why did the illustrator use them?

• To say a person is “all ears” means he or she listens well. Which of your five senses is the most important to you? Are you “all eyes” or “all nose”?

• John Coltrane had a musical gift. It has been said that everyone has a gift of some sort. What are your gifts? Imagine how you will use your talents when you are a grown-up.

• What would you want to ask John Coltrane?

Activity:

Homemade Instruments

• Use old tin foil pans to make cymbals, attaching strings as handles.

• Fill film canisters or other plastic containers with dried beans, popcorn, or rice to create a shaking percussion instrument.

• Make a harp from an old shoebox by stretching different sized rubber bands around the box.

• To make it into a guitar, attach a ruler or stick to the back of the box. Plucking the rubber bands produces different sounds.

• Use a paper towel holder as a tube that children can hum into to produce kazoo-like sounds. They can decorate the tube with markers, too.

• Make a tambourine using two paper plates. Have the children color the bottom of the plates. Then place beans, rice, or pebbles between them. Staple the plates together and shake!

• Make a comb buzzer by folding a piece of tissue paper over the tooth edge of a comb. To play, hum through the tissue paper.

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