Tuesday’s Family Kitchen Session was another learning experience and I’m grappling with the “live” part of the show. Again, I pressed the wrong “go live” button, only to find, six minutes in, it was only live to me. There’s the BIG RED one at the bottom. Hopefully, the second goof will be the charm.
I started with my Watermelon set: Watermelon on the Vine and the Watermelon Slurp tune. That set up nicely. I asked for some dance moves for an up-coming song but the chat box didn’t seem especially active except for John and Wendy. So glad to have their feedback, so to speak.
I followed with I’m Gonna Tell which went well. I’ve been doing this one a long time.
Next up, a dance tune Jimalong Joe. I went online and found two extra verses that are wonderful and give the tune some historical perspective about minstrel show/riverboat dancer Jimalong Joe. I put those up front with the two I know already. With no suggestions from the chat room, I went with hop, skip, twist and through in floss. It’s a much stronger song now that I’ve revisited it and will do it again, hopefully with more response.
I introduced Fuzzy Wuzzy Was a Bear as a poem from my past. Again, its a very playful and short piece that ties in with my being a kid. Again, I went on line and found some extra verses, some of which border on adult themes, but that’s fine. It worked well as a performance piece and the vocal play is rich. This is another one that can be explored further.
“Fuzzy Wuzzy felt so loosey, Sat Fuzzy Wuzzy in Jacuzzi, Fuzzy Wuzzy had two doozies, with Lucy and Suzy in Jacuzzi.”
I then did my Sally set: Sally Go Round the Sun and Little Sally Walker. The first one is a one-verser with opportunity to vocalize the ‘Whooooops!” while tossing scarves in the air. I then spent some time with Little Sally Walker and got to explain how a playsong works. It seemed to work fine but, as it is with these virtual broadcasts, hard to gauge its effectiveness. Just have to trust it.
John Christie’s son Nathan at home.
I finished with a short version of We Gave Names to the Animals and asked for animal suggestions in future posts. It was a strong way to finish off, with a good dance beat.
I finished up in 31 minutes and reached 312 people but only engaged 117. It’s interesting but humbling to check the stats on these shows.
I come away thinking that the presentation quality isn’t up to professional snuff, but, by writing this blog, I find myself realizing that the material is okay and delivered in my own style. There was some new additions to the material that I can keep on using. I shall persevere.