Just booked a show to play for my daughters 2nd grade class! Should be fun!
I was setting up for a restaurant gig once and this young girl was watching me for awhile, then came up and started asking questions about what I was doing. I told her I was going to play some music and then played a little blues riff on the guitar. Her eyes got big and she said "I've never heard a guitar sound like that before!" Then I played some harp for her and she thought was pretty cool too. After the encounter I thought about how sad it was that she had "never heard a guitar sound like that before." So I am going to try and play in some of the local schools. My daughters elementary will be the first!
I am more excited for this gig than many of the others I have done lately!
I am going to give a brief history of the blues and then just play some tunes for them, and maybe do a question and answer thing. Any suggestions on content or what I should do or say?
When I was about 17, my very first band was asked to play at the end of school for a class of 7 year olds. I think of all the gigs I've played, that is the one I remember being the most fun!
Ask the teacher if they have percussion instruments that the kids can play along with and then get them to form a 'rhythm section' for you.
Mercy, I've done quite a few of those. Work in an elementary school every day, too. Kids love this. Walk in like you own place. Smile a lot. On the percussion thing, OK, you can try that. Save it for the end. They'll be hard to control if they get them early, plus they probably aren't going to be able to keep a beat very well, so you don't want that going on the entire time. One thing I always did was explain about harmonica history how a harmonica works and teach music theory. I had various old harmonicas to show, they really liked those. How I showed how a reed worked was with a ruler. I explained how a reed worked, then put the ruler on a desk and plinked it - it vibrates just like a harmonica reed... the show that by shortening it (pulling the ruler so not so much is sticking out past the edge of the desk) that the reed gets higher. Some reeds are long, some are short, to make their notes. Others have weights on them - I took a little piece of folded up paper and a rubber band, attached it to the end of the ruler, then they could see it vibrated lower. They really like that.
You'd be surprised what they like. They like simple stuff. My biggest elementary school hit was a chromatic boogie, they just go nuts kind of like this:
They're also going to like songs they already know... happy birthday, ABCs, and the like. I would bring my 48 chord in and they loved that. Another thing I did was try to teach them about chords. So I'd have four or five harmonicas in different keys (sanitized previously) and have different configurations of kids playing and they would make different chords. For instance, I'd have three kids play the one blow on C, E, and G harmonicas. Then, they could hear the C chord, a normal sounding chord. Kind of cool, sure, but then I would throw in an A note from the chromatic and BAM! that C chord becomes an Am7 - then stop playing it and it's a C chord again. The shift of feeling just from that one note really blows their little minds. I know they won't remember ACEG is AM7, but they get an idea of the possibilities of musical expression.
I have been a school teacher/performer in the schools for over 30 years. My advice is this- be yourself. Kids love honesty. Forget what others think is right. If you listen to all this stuff you will be a wind up toy of a soul. I have seen so much of this done to kids it makes me sick. Performers fear they might lose the kids if they don't do the standard stuff most all do with kids. It basically teaches them to not be themselves and to doubt who they are. We teach through through sharing our unfiltered soul, not words. Be you and you will be cherished in their hearts forever. I play the Creekeside Jazz/Blues fest next month on the kids stage. I have a blast everytime. Kids love honesty and will follow you anywhere when you are honest. Walter ---------- walter tore's spontobeat - a real one man band and over 1 million spontaneously created songs and growing. I record about 300 full length cds a year. " life is a daring adventure or nothing at all" - helen keller
Thank you all for the input. Some great ideas and advice here!
I agree with you Walter, about being honest with kids. I would ad to that don't sell them short. Too many times adults (even teachers) have preconceived ideas about what a child can understand and retain.
As a member of the International Brotherhood of Magicians, I've performed magic in schools. Audience participation will form a desireable bond and the kids won't forget the great time they had with you. Whatever you do, don't make fun of a kid while he/she tries to play a harp - you're in a teaching environment (not a bar and grill where besides playing, you can do a Don Rickles act), and you don't want the other kids to pick on him/her because you made fun of him/her. As stated, be yourself, and be assured that you will probably change some lives in a positive, musical way.
@electricwitness You'll have fun with this. I've done it several times at my kids' school, and it's a blast. Kids jumping up and dancing spontaneously, having a ball, others watching intently everything you do. And the teachers really appreciate it because of the variety it brings into the classroom for them. We did some fun kids stuff, but always brought serious songs to them as well, songs that tell stories, and the kids appreciate it. Good luck!
@whiskey I took my chrom down to the shelter when "interviewing" my current pet, as I did not want a dog that "sang" along. Several years later now, Pierre still has the decency not to compete with me . . .
I had to theink of the Elk River Harmonicas recent logo when the kid mentioned her creative writing project was about sending a blues mand to the moon!
Haven't been on in a bit, just wanted post that it went really well! The kids loved it and were clapping and dancing and stuff. The teachers loved it too and asked to to "play a couple more!" All in all it was really a blast. I will probably be booking more of this kind of stuff during the coming school year.
