I traveled out to Zionsville for my last session with my pre-K kids at their ‘graduation’ ceremonies on Friday night. First of all, I was glad that they accepted me as part of their community as a monthly visiting artist, paid me as a professional and gave me the chance to work on my chops as a teaching artist.
Held in a community church in this small PA town, the festivities were held in the church proper, with family and friends in attendance. My section was with the kids half way through on a ‘stage’ to the left of the proceedings. The curtain was lifted to an area for dance and song. The kids filed in.
We had practiced an African community dance song which I morphed into ‘All Around the Village’ with various circle and couple dance moves. The kids had various complications doing this, but they got most of them down, with amazing guidance from Wendy, the teaching aide. The whole point was to see the kids interact through singing, dancing together in a social situation. Cute points, too.
We finished up with Magic Penny, a Malvina Reynolds classic, and we sang the chorus well. I sang the verses, and the kids sang the chorus, with hand movements. As the song wrapped up, I made sure that I dropped my voice out and let the kids’ voices ring out into the sanctuary by their selves. That was the peak moment for me, and, I assume, many of the folks in the audience. I was proud of my kids for singing out. There ya go.
As we adjourned for cake and ice cream down in the basement, several folks came up and thanked me for the music. I accepted that as more than for the music.