It was a beautiful day in between holidays, so folks made the effort to come out to this nice, interactive children’s museum. I’ve done a couple of shows about this time for the last couple of years. Gabrielle is a fellow Young Audience roster member and is an active part of this venue. I was scheduled for two shows in a newer room, much better for a concert (not in an active part of the hands-on activities, as before) so I was all set to go.
The first set involved a lot of young couples with toddlers, a few grandparents with older kids and even some older folks in for the show. It started out close to full, but, by attrition and short toddler attention spans, we came down to 15 folks at the end of 45 minutes. I talked with the people running the program and suggested we do more sets, but shorter ones. It really affects my ability to sell CD’s, pass out business cards, etc. if folks don’t stay til the end. But it is a function of the museum for people to roam from room to room.
I noticed that I was a little rusty on some of the material, since I hadn’t done a school show in a month or so. I had been doing the holiday stuff for weeks. There ya go. It’s never automatic, and I shouldn’t assume it’s there at my professional level. I did pick it up, but it was worth noting.
One interesting thing happened towards the end of the first set. Two young couples with two toddlers in tow were seated on my right on the floor. They were engaged for a while, but eventually the two dads started chatting with each other, and diverted my attention. After one particular song, I mentioned that they should be quiet, a simple ‘hush’ motion with my finger to my lips, and mentioned that the parents attention is important to what I do, and, by extension, important to model for their kids. I should have let it pass, but I’ve got this ‘artist’ thing going.
The second set at 1 pm was smaller in attendance, but an older group of kids. I was able to do more movement and dance, more interaction with rhyming games, and was able to make the 45 minute span work for me. It was a good set all together.
I left feeling that I had done a good job and thankful for the gig, especially after a very slow December. I only sold one CD, so the CD market is definitely in the tank these days.