Fountain Hill Afterschool hit its third session, and it was time to get to work on the 7 Habits song. But, I led off with a recall of the kids’ Cat Came Back verse that was still on the music teacher’s board. I decided to see if I could stretch this into a warm up, and it developed nicely. I introduced my purple electric guitar as an opener and it was, again, a good centering device to start with. We sang the verse through several times, but I felt we gotta move, so I got them up to sing the chorus with movement. I picked one girl to lead the chorus with snaps and steps. She wasn’t quite ready to lead, but I picked an older girl I had some issues with attention spans to take the lead. It was exactly the right person to engage and she jumped at the chance and nailed the session. We worked on singing the chorus at a diagonal in the room, added a “wave” and a finale. Great energy for the task ahead.
Time to write lyrics. I came up with “At My Best” for an entry into the “Best Practices” school curriculum. We had talked last week and developed a list of when I’m feeling at my best. We came up with three verses from last weeks discussion and actually got some good work in. I added a chord progression on guitar (as the battery died) and put something together. Added claps and a couple of other interactive chops. We’re on our way.
I’m at my best when I’m feelin’ great. //
Like an ice cream cone on a summer date. //
Like pencil all sharp, ready for art. //
Like a game of soccer on Fountain Hill Park ……………… //
I’m at my best when I’m in my groove, //
Like a new paint brush, nice and smooth. //
Like my guitar when it’s in tune, //
Like basketball dunk, bam, ka boom……………………..//
I’m at my best when I’m really pleased, //
Like a pizza party, pepperoni and cheese, //
Like a summer day down at the pool, //
Hanging’ with friends when there’s no school!………………. that’s cool.
As I scurried to write down the lyrics from the board, the kids got to try the electric guitar (no amp) as they lined up to leave. They had a great time, even if it wasn’t amplified. Cool.
Blues Jam at Godfreys at 7 pm.