Hannabelle's Butterflies is the story of a young girl with terrific musical talent, and an equally terrific fear of sharing it in public. On the night of her school talent show, she finds her music-minded friends doing the oddest things right before show time. Is it possible that she is not alone in her experience of unwelcome butterflies? Can she find a way to perform at her best in spite of the nerves - and possibly even make those butterflies dance?


While performing features regularly in the musical lives of children, most instruction focuses on making music and not on the experience of sharing that music with others in a public context. In Hannabelle's Butterflies, the differences between making music and performing music are explored and the experience of performance anxiety is normalized. Hannabelle and her friends introduce a variety of strategies that real children use in preparing for and presenting musical performances, and for performing well in spite of any anxiety they may feel.