What is a Crankie?

Crankies are a wonderful, rather magical, way of illustrating a story or song.  A long roll of paper or fabric allows the images to slowly scroll by while live performers play, sing, or recite. While they have no fixed tradition, crankies have been enjoyed in homes, Vaudeville stages, and  radical puppet troupes.  In the past decade they have been experiencing a renewed wave of interest. They provide a beautiful opportunity to come together, to collaborate, and make art. All ages and all talents levels welcome and encouraged.

 

Here’s a collectively made crankie from the Oly Old Time Festival

Here's a crankie made by my partner and child

Here’s an example of when crankies get fancy.

 

What will the workshop be like?

At this workshop, all ages of people will come together and collectively make a crankie. It’s kind of like a music jam, but no musical (or drawing) talent necessary.  At the end, we will sing our song and crank our crankie and know we did good work. We will have fun together, and make a beautiful thing. This workshop is for adults, young children, youth and everyone else. This is a great workshop for family reunions, festivals, and other gatherings of mixed ages and mixed interests.  It is truly a lovely opportunity to collaborate intergenerationally and enjoy the experience of collectively making music and art.

 

The facilitators

This workshop is co-facilitated with Paul Silveria, aka Professor Banjo.  Paul is a unique and versatile performer who engages audiences of all ages with interactive traditional music. Paul has been playing banjo and calling square dances up and down the west coast for over 15 years.

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