I’ve played this center once every summer, so it was good to pick up a school year gig as well. …and on a Monday morning, too.
They had suggested doing the session outside, and I said sure. It turned out to be a sunny day and, perhaps the nicest day of the year so far.
I took time to acknowledge the sun, asking the kids and teachers to face the sun and say ahhhhhh. It was also a treat to see the kids come out into the warmth and react as kids do.
I went with the good stuff for this age and size of audience. That’s okay in my book. I can’t experiment with this age group. The teachers had put together ‘maracas’ for the kids – two plastic spoons around a plastic Easter Egg with beans inside, all taped up with colorful duct tape. Good stuff that actually looked like tulips. They also saved me from distributing my bag of instruments, and the in-fighting that goes on when they have to decide. All for the good.
It was nice to be done by 11 am, though the ‘check’s in the mail’. I also got to perform for the YMCA director who hired me, but had never seen me work. She was impressed, so that’s a plus for future gigs.
A nice spring day to play outdoors.