The Secret of the Xylophone Dancer

The Secret of the Xylophone Dancer, by author, composer and music educator, Susan Calkins, is the second episode in the series Octavia’s Incredible Music Room Adventures—stories with original music chronicling the misadventures of Octavia, a precocious spider who resides in an elementary school music room, where she watches the eccentric music teacher Mr. Brio and his students at the Forest Friends Elementary School.

From her hiding place, Octavia sings and dances along with them. She laments the fact that she can’t have friends or play marimbas and drums like the ‘other children.’ When alone in the room, Octavia ventures out to explore the instruments on her own. In spite of her agility and resourcefulness, she manages to get herself into a series of harrowing predicaments.

The Octavia’s Incredible Music Room Adventures series is targeted for upper elementary students. The stories are imbedded with rich vocabulary and musical content and deliver positive messages regarding a wide range of social/emotional issues that are bound to surface among students in a culturally diverse school community.

Sheet music, songs for children’s voices, and Orff instrument arrangements accompany each story, serving as an excellent curriculum resource for music educators. The audiobook version includes incidental music and sound effects performed by live musicians. The printed book is beautifully illustrated in ink and watercolor renditions by Robin Baird Lewis that bring the characters to life.