Little Melba and Her Big Trombone

Posted on 21 July 2017 by Katheryn Russell-Brown

Melba Doretta Liston loved the sounds of music from as far back as she could remember As a child, she daydreamed about beats and lyrics, and hummed along with the music from her family s Majestic radio At age seven, Melba fell in love with a big, shiny trombone, and soon taught herself to play the instrument By the time she was a teenager, Melba s extraordinary gift for music led her to the world of jazz She joined a band led by trumpet player Gerald Wilson and toured the country Overcoming obstacles of race and gender, Melba went on to become a famed trombone player and arranger, spinning rhythms, harmonies, and melodies into gorgeous songs for all the jazz greats of the twentieth century Randy Weston, Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Billie Holiday, and Quincy Jones, to name just a few Brimming with ebullience and the joy of making music, Little Melba and Her Big Trombone is a fitting tribute to a trailblazing musician and a great unsung hero of jazz. Free Read eBook Little Melba and Her Big Trombone Author Katheryn Russell-Brown – kino-fada.fr I read this picture book biography because it s about a female trombonist I d never heard of Melba Liston before, but she was born in 1926 and grew into a professional jazz musician who composed and arranged music in addition to touring with the likes Billie Holiday and Quincy Jones I don t read a lot of picture books, so I don t have much to compare it to, but dang, it s hard to adequately address issues like racism and sexism in such a brief work I like that these issues are brought up, tho I read this picture book biography because it s about a female trombonist I d never heard of Melba Liston before, but she was born in 1926 and grew into a professional jazz musician who composed and arranged music in addition to touring with the likes Billie Holiday and Quincy Jones I don t read a lot of picture books, so I don t have much to compare it to, but dang, it s hard to adequately address issues like racism and sexism in such a brief work I like that these issues are brought up, though, in both the text and illustrations I really like the illustrations by Frank Morrison, by the way They remind me of the Harlem Renaissance paintings by Archibald Motley.I learnedabout her life from the afterward, but the main story is charming I love the Hooooooo...I feel like in the past year I ve read a good crop of picture books highlighting African American historical figures All of them have been so interesting and made me want to read and learnabout these fascinating people Melba Liston was a self taught trombone savant I...Illustrations marvelous Beautiful movement and expression, beautiful colors Text meh It was just sostraightforward and stark.Music is so central to the book, but can be hard to depict on the printed page These illustrations swoop and swing and really come alive The opening scene is of Jazz age Kansas City, and it gives an idea of how environment can influence a child I don t know if Melba Liston would have been such a prodigy somewhere else, but...A picture book about trombonist Melba Liston by Katheryn Russell Brown with illustrations by Frank Morrison I m a trombone player, so this was a must read I loved it.This book is a inspiring story to read In this book it shows what the support of a loving family can do to a child In this story Melba was just a little girl when she picked out a big trombone Even though she had a hard time in the beginning mastering this large i...The book Little Melba and Her Big Trombone is about a girl who loves music and wants to play an instrument of her own One day she finally got a trombone and taught herself how to play and ended up touring the country making, and playing music on here trombone This book would be considered a biography because it is based on the events that happened in Melba Doretta Liston s life I would use this book in any grade level above 2nd especially as a read aloud I would highly consider using this The book Little Melba and Her Big Trombone is about a girl who loves music and wants to play an instrument of her own One day she finally got a trombone and taught herself how to play and ended up touring the country making, and playing music on here trombone This book would be considered a biography because it is based on the events that happened in Melba Doretta Liston s life I would use this book in any grade level above 2nd especially as a read aloud I would highly consider using this book as a read aloud in my class because it would bring up some really great discussion points about perseverance, other character traits, and discrimination and bullying This is necessary to talk about in elementary school classrooms, even though it may be a touchy subject area, because it is a real world problem Another way I might would use this in my classroom is to lead into a social studies unit on bi...INTERVIEW WITH KATHERYN RUSSELL BROWNat Bookseedstudio c 2015 by Jan Godown Annino, all rights reservedI met the author of LITTLE MELBA and HER BIG TROMBONEafter sweet trombone sounds accompanied her lively library talk.It was the most musical children s book signing I ve ever attended.Extra fun floated through the room because Dr Russell Brown sdaughter Sasha, a fifth grader, stood proudly on stage, playing selectnotes on her very own big trombone.When the author kindly asked if a little boy INTERVIEW WITH KATHERYN RUSSELL BROWNat Bookseedstudio c 2015 by Jan Godown Annino, all rights reservedI met the author of LITTLE MELBA and HER BIG TROMBONEafter sweet trombone sounds accompanied her lively library talk.It was the most musical children s book signing I ve ever attended.Extra fun floated through the room because Dr Russell Brown sdaughter Sasha, a fifth grader, stood proudly on stage, playing selectnotes on her very own big trombone.When the author kindly asked if a little boy in the enrapt audiencewanted to try out Sasha s big trombone, he did It almost felt like itcould be a scene from the author s lyrical Coretta Scott King honor book,illustrated beautifully by Frank Morrison with signature elongated touches.Some background, from the storyMelba Doretta Liston grew up pushing the pedals on a player piano, whilebeloved aunties danced in the living room She was blessed with a mom whobought the seven year old g...Whoa Look at the front cover of this book, Little Melba and Her Big Trombone, by Katheryn Russell Brown It looks like the little girl, Melba, is really into playing that huge instrument It s bigger than she is Read pages 1 2 Look at the pictures What does it look like the people are doing Are they enjoying themselves What would it be like to hear music on every street corner During the 1920 s jazz music became popular and musicians would play their instruments anywhere for people to he Whoa Look at the front cover of this book, Little Melba and Her Big Trombone, by Katheryn Russell Brown It looks like the little girl, Melba, is really into playing that huge instrument It s bigger than she is Read pages 1 2 Look at the pictures What does it look like the people are doing Are they enjoying themselves What would it be like to hear music on every street corner During the 1920 s jazz music became popular and...Little Melba and Her Big Trombone is a fun biography to read with students in grades 3 4 This book tells the story of a young girl and her love for playing the trombone She grows up and is able to overcome the obstacles that she faces being a young, black girl to achieve her dreams of becoming a famous trombone player This would be a great book to talk about overcoming obstacles with students It would also be a good book to include in a lesson about biographies Students could read a variety Little Melba and Her Big Trombone is a fun biography to read with students in grades 3 4 This book tells the story of a young girl and her love for playing the trombone She grows up and is able to overcome the obstacles that she faces being a young, black girl to achi...

English
21 July 2017

Katheryn Russell-Brown