About the Author..(From the Author’s Website www.bingalum.com)

Irena Kobald was born in Austria and has a master's degree in Russian. By the time she came to Australia at the age of 26, she had picked up English while living in other countries.

She has worked in a wide range of remote schools in the Northern Territory and taught German in Queensland high schools and English as a Second Language to both adults and children, so her understanding of how language is acquired is both personal and technical, experiential and academic.

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My Two Blankets includes the themes of friendship, family, feelings, cultural diversity, integration, and social issues, to name a few. It succinctly describes what it feels like to learn a new language.While the book falls into the category of a 'children’s book’, adults also find it highly inspiring due to its underlying messages of change, adaptation, loneliness, resilience, and rebuilding your identity in a ‘strange’ or new environment.

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About this Setting...

This setting, used with permission, was requested by Ruth Meints. Ruth Meints has been the Executive Director of the Omaha Conservatory of Music (OCM) since 2005 and authored the String Sprouts curriculum launched in 2013. She is also the author of the newly published book, The Music Teacher's Little Guide to Big Motivation (2021) https://omahacm.org/artist-faculty/ruth-meints/

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About the Composer...

Stephen Hill (b.1958) was born and raised in Southern California. His compositional lineage includes the likes of Roy Harris, Ingolf Dahl, Clifton Williams, Bernard Rogers, and Howard Hanson through study with Philip Westin (Cerritos College, 1976-1978) and most notably with W. Francis McBeth at Ouachita Baptist University in Arkadelphia, Arkansas (1978-1980). Stephen continued with graduate work at California State University, Los Angeles (1980-83) with composers Dr. Byong Kon Kim and William Hill. He composes for the simple joy of it. 

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For over 40 years, Stephen taught K-12 instrumental music concurrently in both the Private Christian School (Whittier Christian) and a Public School (California High School) settings. Though semi-retired, Stephen still works with students by continuing to teach part-time at California High School and maintaining his private music studio, where he plays and teaches Woodwinds, Brass, Strings, and Piano. Stephen also plays with the church orchestra at Calvary Chapel, La Habra, Ca. where he attends. When teaching full-time, he was primarily a "summer" composer. No longer teaching full-time, Stephen has the privilege to compose beyond just the summer months and publishes through his company, SARAHTIM–a title which comes from simply combining the name of his daughter Sarah and son Timothy. 

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Instrumentation

Narrator

Violin 1

Violin 2

Viola

Cello

String Bass

Piano

Percussion