The fish, whose scales are multi-colored and sparkling, is the most beautiful in the ocean, but he also may be the loneliest. Not until he realizes he must share his beauty — those scales — does he make friends. A big lesson from the children’s book The Rainbow Fish by Marcus Pfister is about sharing, becoming part of a community, working together.   

Children’s books and their themes were set to music this winter by members of the Loomis Chaffee Orchestra for a project centered on the all-school theme, the Power of Storytelling. Orchestra Director Netta Hadari divided the ensemble into nine groups and asked each group to produce a musical track to accompany a children’s book of their choice. 

Senior Will Chun, junior Deron Lin, freshman Balian Buttimer, and freshman Ethan Liu chose to set music to The Rainbow Fish. Books chosen by other groups included Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, The Three Little Pigs, Horton Hears a Who, The Grinch Who Stole Christmas, No David!, Kolobok (Russian children’s tale), The Hare and the Tortoise, and Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus. 

The purpose of the project, according to Netta’s instructions, was multi-pronged: work well in a group, produce a two-minute musical product together, learn how to use electric string instruments, learn the basics of the music creation software Garageband, take feedback and improve the project, meet deadlines, and think outside the box. 

“I want to make sure that students see themselves as creators and not just interpreters, and that they can use their instruments and work with others to create music of their own,” Netta said.  

That rainbow fish had an ego until he learned his lesson. In this project, there was no room for ego.  

“There’s teamwork,” Will said. “You're working in a group, collaborating, figuring times to meet up, being respectful of other people.” 

Ethan also talked about the power of working together. 

"As a freshman, it is crucial to listen to others but nice to voice your thoughts,” he said. “My favorite part was seeing it all come together, seeing how we turned nothing into ideas, and ideas and thoughts into music and a result we were really proud of. … I was happy we got to share it with other people and brought joy to them, and I also really enjoyed listening to all the other projects.”  

Will described his group’s method as trial and error. 

“You experiment,” he said. “And that is the most fun process. ...  You don’t know what you will make, what it will sound like. So it’s about improvising, trial and error, and making music with your friends. And then you have a product you’re proud of. For a lot of people, they have never made their own music before, so it's a good chance to get insight into using music editing software, combine sounds, use different features in Garageband.” 

Will said part of the focus of his group’s music was “an eerie theme representing the deep, dark ocean, the ocean waves." In the book, the rainbow fish meets a wise octopus who encourages the fish to share his scales. “That is where we make the music very stark to represent this revelation,” Will said. “After that we stray from eeriness to a more triumphant hero journey as the fish is giving scales to each of the fish, and then finally a calm, peaceful melody.” 

All tracks were required to include at least some narration from the book, according to the project outline, as well as text without music, music together with text, and music on its own. Everyone must contribute musically.

The Three Little Pigs by Annabelle, Alice, Pragnya, and Andy

The Rainbow Fish by Balian, Ethan, William, and Deron

Freshman Katherine Welch's group set music to the children’s book No David! by David Shannon using "many fun elements that were out of the box," she said. "We overlapped our voices screaming, inserted short clips of random instruments, and even included rambunctious drumming in the background. I think it was our mindset that led us to have so much success in creating a risky and different song that still made sense. Going into the project, my group wanted to have as much fun with the song as possible and produce something that would not only reflect the book but also be entertaining to listen to. No idea was too ridiculous, which led to the creation of some wild ideas while brainstorming. In the end, I was able to take away the important idea of not taking things too seriously and to not strive for perfection. I don’t think our song would have been as cohesive and amusing if we had perfected every note and overthought each decision."

There also was a first draft of the project, for which Netta provided feedback.  

Netta said the projects, all of which he played in class, “made me smile and laugh out loud.” He said many “were very inventive and surprising. I was also impressed with how they took my feedback from the first draft and implemented it to create the final project.” 

Will said his group’s first draft “was a mess.” 

“Mr. Hadari gives us a preliminary score as if we were submitting this as the final,” Will said. “I think we got 3.5 out of 7, which is not good. But he gave us detailed feedback on where we lost points and how to improve.” 

One of those tips from Netta was the use of panning, which is defined as “shifting sounds from the left speaker to the right speaker and anywhere in between to give the track a sense of space and depth.” 

That helped the team get a top score, Will said. So, in the end, the project went swimmingly. A storybook ending.